Digital Library
The Ewell Sale Stewart Library of the Academy of Natural Sciences houses many rare, beautiful, and important works on the natural sciences; books and archival materials that most people will never see. They were created and/or published over the last five centuries and document the discovery of plant and animal species by early explorers as they traveled the world. By publishing the digital images from these books and archival materials on the web, the Library hopes to share these early works with scientists, scholars, and the public.
Imaging of these materials is done at the Academy's Albert M. Greenfield Digital Imaging Center for Collections. Two grant-funded imaging projects are presented in detail. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has funded a project (see IMLS Project) to digitize images from the works of American Naturalists during the first half of the 19th Century. The Getty Grant Program has funded a project to digitize the Library's art collection.
The Library has made many illustrations from its rare book collections available online through its Digital Collections, a series on online exhibits presented elsewhere on this website.
Albert M. Greenfield Digital Imaging Center
Research scientists have always had access to the Academy’s library and specimen collections through loans of specimens through the mail and on-site visits. Traditionally, the Academy has dedicated 20% of its institutional efforts to open the collections and research for community education and enrichment. However, with new technologies the Academy can open virtually unlimited access to the collections for scientists, education and the general public through the power of the desktop computer.
To meet the demand for greater access to the library and archival collections, as well as for the more than 20 million biological specimens housed in the Academy's systematic collections, the Academy has established an in-house digital imaging resource center. The Albert M. Greenfield Digital Imaging Center for Collections was funded by the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation. The center uses digital and Internet technology to open the doors to the Academy’s wealth of natural sciences content for scientific research, K-12 education and the general public. The use of this technology also benefits the protection, conservation and archiving of priceless collections and their records of knowledge —minimizing damage and loss from lending and shipping.
See Imaging Projects for a sampling of work done at the Greenfield Center