The Scout Report -- Volume 25, Number 10

The modern countries of Syria and Iraq (among others) are located in what was once Ancient Mesopotamia, and as such, they are home to numerous valuable cultural heritage sites. In recent years, political struggles in both countries have placed many of those sites at risk and some have sadly been destroyed. Project Anqa, whose name means "phoenix" in Arabic, is an initiative begun in 2015 that aims to "use new technology to create accurate 3D recordings of heritage sites at risk and to contribute to capacity building in [this] region, the transfer of knowledge, and the creation of permanent architectural inventory units." In February 2019, Project Anqa launched its website, where visitors can digitally explore seven (as of this write-up) cultural heritage sites in Damascus, Syria, "covering the pre-Islamic era to the 18th century." Visitors can choose to experience these sites, which include the 12th-century hospital Bimaristan Nur al-Din and the 18th-century Al-'Azm Palace, through virtual tours or via photographs and case studies. Those interested may also download documentation data, such as lidar scans and panoramic photographs, for each preserved site. Project Anqa is a collaborative initiative led by ICOMOS, the International Council of Monuments and Sites. [JDC]

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Introductory physics students and teachers may appreciate this extensive collection of Physics Interactives available on the well-known website The Physics Classroom (see the 11-12-2004 Scout Report). This resource features well over fifty interactive simulations, exercises, and games to help users explore and understand different physics concepts. The interactives are organized by topics such as momentum and collisions; circular motion and gravitation; static electricity; and waves and sound, with most topics containing multiple interactives. Many of the interactives also include a notes page containing teaching ideas, suggestions, and links to related resources (including some classroom-ready printable pages) from other sections of The Physics Classroom to complement the lessons imparted by the interactive. Created using HTML5, the Physics Interactives collection was launched in 2014 with the intent of producing a group of interactive, scalable resources that will work equally well on smartphones, tablets, and Chromebooks in addition to computers. [JDC]

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Scholars and fans of nineteenth-century British literature (as well as those with an interest in the representations of different dialects and cultures) may be interested in Dialect in British Fiction, a digital humanities project from the University of Sheffield. This project describes itself as "a database which has been designed as a tool for identifying and analysing the representation of dialect in 100 novels published between 1800 and 1836," a time period during which literary dialect usage was just beginning to be popularized. Dialect in British Fiction seeks to examine why dialect speech is represented in English literature and why it has been represented in these particular ways. Visitors can query the database by searching the metadata for the novels and their characters or by searching the actual text of speech extracts from each novel, which have been tagged with markers such as the character's place of origin and social role. Dialect in British Fiction was led by Dr. Jane Hodson, a professor in the School of English at the University of Sheffield, with funding through the Arts & Humanities Research Council. [JDC]

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For readers with an interest in creating maps, the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is a great resource. Describing itself as "the foremost collection of geographic information from around the globe," the Living Atlas offers a curated collection of maps, apps, and data layers that have been contributed by Esri partners and users. Visitors can search the Living Atlas by keyword, or they can browse the collection by content themes such as basemaps, boundaries, people, and environment. Readers curious to see how all this can be used will find roughly a dozen apps highlighting examples, such as Intact Habitat Near Me and the USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer. Those interested in learning more about using content in this collection should check out the What's New section on the main page, as well as the link to the Living Atlas blog. While the majority of the offerings in the Living Atlas are free, some require an organizational ArcGIS account for access. Those interested in contributing to the Living Atlas can upload their content for consideration (and receive suggestions for its metadata) at no charge. [JDC]

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Ellen Oredsson, an art historian and content creator for M+ Stories (a blog from M+ Museum in Hong Kong), says, "I started this blog to make art history a bit more accessible, posting updates explaining a variety of art history topics." The categories on the website reflect Oredsson's stated mission: art history 101, artist features (focusing primarily on women and artists outside western traditions), and reader questions. In Art history 101, readers will find includes posts such as "5 Examples of Animals Acting Like Humans in Art History," in which Oredsson discusses five different examples of anthropomorphic animals in art. These examples include C. M. Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker (1894) (which depicts dogs playing the card game), the depictions of cats in Japanese ukeyo-e woodblock prints (created during the Edo period, which spanned from 1615 to 1867), and the "strange recurring motif in Flemish 17th century art of birds sitting in the treetops and singing off a piece of sheet music." Other 101 topics include the female nude, how to look at an artwork, and the difference between genres and genre painting. Some recent reader questions Oredsson answered include: "How can I love artists like Gauguin when I know so much of his work was exploitative and racist?," and "I have a question - I hear a lot of people say that those old fashioned portraits are the equivalent of selfies today, mostly in retaliation to people calling selfie-culture vain, frivolous, etc. What do you think?" [DS]

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Clara Barton, who lived from 1821-1912, is well-known as the pioneering nurse and humanitarian who founded the American Red Cross, but she was also a teacher, philanthropist, women's suffrage advocate, and one of the first female federal employees. Those interested in learning more about this remarkable woman and her legacy would do well to visit this extensive collection of Barton's papers, made available by the Library of Congress. Here, readers can peruse the collection's approximately 62,000 items, which include Barton's personal papers (diaries and journals), official papers (financial and organizational records), and assorted other media (including scrapbooks of contemporary newspaper articles). The majority of this collection dates from 1861 to 1912, though the full collection spans the years 1805-1958. It is organized into eleven series, and the Library of Congress has helpfully provided a finding aid in both PDF and HTML format containing links to the collection's digital content. In addition to this trove of primary resources, educators may also want to check out the related teaching resources, as well as the expert resources, linked in the left sidebar. [JDC]

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STEM and history teachers at a range of levels may be interested in Getting with the Program, a lesson plan created by the National Women's History Museum (NWHM). This standards-aligned, interdisciplinary lesson uses both science and history to introduce students to the history of computers and women's roles as programmers and the effects of gendered job classifications in the past and present. With a suggested timeframe of three 20-minute sessions, the lesson opens with a discussion of women's employment opportunities during World War II before moving on to hands-on demonstrations of parabolic curves and electrical circuits. From there, the lesson discusses the earliest electronic computers and the women who programmed them, then explores the shift in perceptions of programming that occurred when personal computers were first introduced in the late 1970s. Getting with the Program, which incorporates the use of the NWHM's digital exhibit by the same name, was created with students in grades 3-8 in mind and includes suggestions for homework activities for grades 6-8. Founded in 1996 and based in Alexandria, Virginia, the nonprofit and nonpartisan NWHM "envision[s] a world where women's history inspires all people to have equal respect for everyone's experiences and accomplishments." [JDC]

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The Jewish Women's Archive (JWA) provides free online access to this extensive encyclopedia of Jewish women's history. This encyclopedia is based on a 2006 CD-ROM version of Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia and has since been updated and expanded. Here, readers will find "over 1,700 biographies, 300 thematic essays, and 1,400 photographs and illustrations on a wide range of Jewish women through the centuries." Organized alphabetically, visitors can filter the entries by broad topics such as art, science, and sports, then again by sub-topics such as painting, engineering, and athletes. It covers well-known Jewish figures such as US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as some who may be surprising, such as Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp, wife of gunfighter Wyatt Earp. Each entry includes a bibliography of sources, and the encyclopedia also includes a short glossary of terms that may be helpful for visitors unfamiliar with Jewish culture. This valuable resource will be of interest to students and educators, as well as the generally curious. Educators may also want to check out JWA's many lesson plans and teaching tools. Based in Massachusetts, JWA is "a national organization dedicated to collecting and promoting the extraordinary stories of Jewish women." [JDC]

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Located in Amsterdam, the Atria Institute on Gender Equality and Women's History describes itself as "a national knowledge institute [that] collects, manages and shares the heritage of women and, on the basis of research and facts, promotes equal treatment of women and men in all diversity." Here, readers can explore highlights from Atria's extensive collections, many of which stem from the International Archives for the Women's Movement founded in 1935 at the end of first-wave feminism. These highlights showcase 80 objects from Atria's collections and include multiple items from the Aletta Jacobs collection, which features the Netherlands' "most prominent feminist" and has been recognized by UNESCO with inclusion in its Memory of the World Register. In addition to these and other first-wave artifacts, such as books and pamphlets from the Dutch Association for Women's Suffrage, these highlights also include objects from feminism's second wave, such as postage stamps from Rwanda issued for International Women's Year in 1975. Each item highlighted includes one or more images and a brief description in English. While this section of Atria's website does not include options for more detailed searching specifically within the highlights, they are enjoyable to browse, and Atria's entire website is searchable for those interested to learn more. [JDC]

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History scholars and educators may be interested in the Coordinating Council for Women in History (CCWH), an educational nonprofit which "seeks to broaden both the organization of women historians and the study of women's history to represent as fully as possible the diversity of women in the United States and internationally." Graduate students and early career historians should check out the awards section, where they can learn about and apply for the six monetary awards offered by CCWH (the current application deadline is April 2, 2019). College-level history instructors may want to check out the history syllabi page, where they will find several examples shared by CCWH members and links to syllabi resources at several US colleges and universities, as well as the section on public history for teaching suggestions and links to additional resources. Originally founded in 1969 as the Coordinating Committee on Women in the Historical Profession, the CCWH is affiliated with multiple professional associations of historians, including the American Historical Association and the International Federation for Research in Women's History. [JDC]

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Originally featured in the 8-18-2017 Scout Report, Click! continues to be an engaging and rich resource for learning about women's history.

In 1971, Jane O'Reilly penned an essay called "The Housewife's Moment of Truth," which was subsequently published in the premiere issue of Ms. magazine and in New York magazine. O'Reilly described the experience of the "Click! moment" in which one "perceived the basic disorder in what has been believed to be the natural order of things" and came to question traditional gender roles. This online exhibit from Clio Visualizing History is named in honor of O'Reilly's "Click! moment" as well as the "clicks" that we use to navigate the internet. Here, visitors will find a wealth of resources relating to women and gender from the 1940s through the present day, including detailed Wikipedia-style entries, video clips, photographs, links to outside resources, and more. This exhibit is largely authored by prolific writer and historian Susan Ware and features contributions from several other academics and filmmakers. Visitors can browse topics by category (politics & social movements, body & health, workplace & family) or via an interactive timeline. This engaging, accessibly written resource will be of interest to the general public, as well as to scholars of women's and gender studies or other instructors of high school or college-level students.

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