We start off this week with news of a series of micro-webcasts on “The Future of Primary Sources” from the Center for Research Libraries. Then, in honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage this month, we link to two articles: “Why a Fourth Grader Knows More About Henry Hudson Than You Do” and “Titles Fit for a 400th Anniversary.” We also bring you a mini-roundup of September 11th related articles from last week. Check out the Make History site, a Washington Post article about a new generation’s look at 9/11, and the Boston Globe’s Big Picture site tribute. Finally, for fun, take a look at infographics from the 1930s, some letters of note, and Al Franken’s impressive map drawing skills.

News

• The Future of Primary Sources: A Series of Micro-Webcasts for Researchers
  The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is conducting a series of case studies, funded by the National Science Foundation, to examine the longevity of digital resources. To obtain scholarly input on these studies, CRL is hosting a series of brief (22.5 minute) online forums for researchers in the fields of history, social sciences, and chemistry. These micro-webcasts are free and open to interested researchers and scholars, and cover the following topics: The Historical Record in the Post-Newspaper Age; Political Science, Sociology, and Economics; and Chemistry.

400th Anniversary of Henry Hudson’s Voyage

• Why a Fourth Grader Knows More About Henry Hudson Than You Do
  Peter C. Mancall asks “are you smarter than a fourth grader?” when it comes to Henry Hudson’s voyage 400 years ago.
• Titles Fit for a 400th Anniversary
  The New York Times recommends books to check out for the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage.

September 11th
Last Friday, people took time to remember the September 11th terrorist attacks from eight years ago. Here are just a few related resources and articles.

• Make History with the National September 11th Memorial & Museum
  The Official Google blog takes a look at Make History, “a website created by the National September 11th Memorial & Museum in partnership with design firm Local Projects”.
• 9/11 as a Lesson, Not a Memory
  From the Washington Post, an article about how a new generation knows about 9/11 only through their history books.
• Remember September 11th
  The Boston Globe’s Big Picture blog remembers September 11th with breathtaking photos.

For Fun

• Vintage Infographics From the 1930s
  The Flowing Data blog takes a look at the 1939 book Graphic Presentation, and examines how graphs were done without the help of a computer in the 1930s. One example is the Sankay diagram, where “One thousand strips of paper are set on edge to represent 100% and are separated into component parts of 100%.” See more scanned pages from Graphic Presentation here.
• Letters of Note
  The blog Letters of Note posts scanned letters (along with transcriptions) from famous figures. Hat tip.
• Intermission: Senator Al Franken’s Impressive Hand-drawn U.S. Map
  Regardless of your politics, this is pretty impressive.

Contributors: Elisabeth Grant and Arnita A. Jones

This post first appeared on AHA Today.