Postcards from a Librarian
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Showing posts tagged history
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beautiful maps and public transportation. this is sort of one of my favorite things.
npr:
The Evolution of the London Underground Map;
Above left to right - 1908, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1927, 1933, 1937 and the present day. (Old maps are from here)
Before the development of the iconic diagram style map in 1931 the tube map was constantly changing, never sticking to a consistent style. Some maps showed what was going on overground too and most of them attempt to be geographically correct, showing the curves and turns of the lines. By 1927 the map has become much clearer and easier to follow.
The problem was that the train lines were getting longer and this made it impossible to fit everything into one map. Keeping it geographically accurate would have meant that the centre became smaller and harder to read, and the centre is the most densely packed and most important part. In comes Harry Beck in 1931, inspired by electronic circuit diagrams he had the idea of scrapping geographical accuracy and making all lines straight with only 45 and 90 degree angles. Design history was made and the map has barely changed since, becoming an icon and one of the easiest to use maps in the world!
Interestingly some people think the map should be more geographically correct once again, have a look at this article for more on that. Personally I dont think the tube map needs changing. But if they could include a seperate geographically correct version of the centre of London on the pocket tube map, people would see how close some stations are together and it would encourage walking. But the map itself, isn’t broke so why fix it!
You just gotta love London, right? —Wright
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travelin’ cat!
mlle fifi became the first cat (passenger) to fly across the english channel on august 23, 1910
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email is copyrighted? really? huh interesting. well i guess the idea is but the function would have to be patented.
Happy 29th birthday, email! The original Copyright Registration submitted by V. A. Shiva in 1982
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Mystery surrounds loss of records, art on 9/11
I think that is most important to realize the loss of human life was devastating. I am intrigued by this piece because it is interesting to think of what could have been stored in those buildings. We may never know what was there, why it was there or who put it there.
Letters written by Helen Keller. Forty-thousand photographic negatives of John F. Kennedy taken by the president’s personal cameraman. Sculptures by Alexander Calder and Auguste Rodin. The 1921 agreement that created the agency that built the World Trade Center.
Besides ending nearly 3,000 lives, destroying planes and reducing buildings to tons of rubble and ash, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed tens of thousands of records, irreplaceable historical documents and art.
In some cases, the inventories were destroyed along with the records. And the loss of human life at the time overshadowed the search for lost paper. A decade later, agencies and archivists say they’re still not completely sure what they lost or found, leaving them without much of a guide to piece together missing history.
» via Yahoo! News
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Happy repeal day! Don’t forget to have a drink to celebrate your ability to have a drink. ;)
Prohibition Ends!
On December 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment was ratified, as announced in this proclamation from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment of January 16, 1919, ending the increasingly unpopular nationwide prohibition of alcohol.
Read more about Prohibition and the 18th Amendment
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Quietly, Google Puts History Online
Just checked this out online and it is very good digitization work. I went to see the scrolls on exhibit when they visited Houston. I was amazed at their condition and the conservation work that had been done. I know how culturally important these documents are but I was really amazed by the amount of scotch tape used on the darn things.
When the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls, reopened last year after an extensive renovation, it attracted a million visitors in the first 12 months. When the museum opened an enhanced Web site with newly digitized versions of the scrolls in September, it drew a million virtual visitors in three and a half days.
The scrolls, scanned with ultrahigh-resolution imaging technology, have been viewed on the Web from 210 countries — including some, like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, that provide few real-world visitors to the Israel Museum.
“This is taking the material to an amazing range of audiences,” said James S. Snyder, the museum’s director. “There’s no way we would have had the technical capability to do this on our own.”
» via The New York Times (Subscription may be required for some content)
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Ain’t no sunshine ☔ #houston
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#Houston #Texas #downtown #skyline
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When I was a kid someone told me someone jumped off that building and was impaled by it’s spikes....
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Hello, Texas Medical Center. #houston
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#downtown from #street #view #houston #texas
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#houston #texas #architecture #buildings #canon #5dii
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#houston #texas #architecture #buildings #canon #5dii
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#houston #texas #architecture #buildings #canon #5dii
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Picture day (Taken with Instagram)
