In the news this week, the National Library of Medicine announces its student volunteer internship program, teachers add over 1,700 activities in six months to the National Archives DocsTeach site, and the Hagley Museum and Library has digitized Enron documents. Then, read about the benefits of peer review, an interview with Robert Darnton on the Digital Public Library of America, and what conference goers want out of a mobile app. Finally, look back at the first electric car, learn about changes in remembering the Civil War in Charleston, hear the story behind old Australian mug shots, and travel back to 1900s Europe.

News

• NLM History of Medicine Division Announces New Volunteer Internship Program
  Undergraduate and graduate students interested in archiving and cataloging materials, creating exhibits, and preserving and digitizing documents may be interested in the National Library of Medicine’s hands-on volunteer internship program. It’s an opportunity for students to gain skills and learn more about what a future career in the archives may entail.
• National Archives’ DocsTeach: Expansion of New Online Site by Teachers Nationwide
  The National Archives recently announced that their DocsTeach site, which launched last year with two dozen activities, has in just six months increased to 1,700 activities contributed by teachers who’ve visited the site. See our post from September 2010, where we examine many of the elements of this site.
• Hagley Museum and Library: Herbert S. Winokur, Jr., Enron Board Records Collection
  Hagley Museum and Library has digitized its collection of Herbert S. Winokur, Jr. Enron Board Records, which span from 1997 through 2001 and document this landmark case of corporate bankruptcy.

Insights

• Guest Post: Defending Current Practice
  Matt Karush (an associate professor at George Mason University) considers the often ignored benefits of the current peer review system in a guest post at The Aporetic.
• An Interview with Robert Darnton on the Digital Public Library of America
  Randall Stephens at The Historical Society blog sits down with Robert Darnton to discuss plans for a Digital Public Library of America.
• Reader Input: Mobile App for Conferences?
  ProfHacker at the Chronicle asks readers what they’d like to see in a mobile conference app, and receives some interesting responses.

Looking Back

• The Electric Taxi Company You Could Have Called in 1900
  The Atlantic remembers the first electric car: the Electrobat. Hat tip.
• Emancipating History
  Signs of slavery abound around Charleston, but until the 1990s they were often missing from museums there.
• Eerily Beautiful Mug Shots From 1920s Australia
  NPR tells the stories behind some mug shots from the early 1900s taken from the New South Wales Police Forensic Photography Archive, Justice & Police Museum/Historic Houses of NSW.
• A history of Europe in pictures
  The Guardian presents a look back at Europe in the early to mid 1900s.

Contributors: Miriam Hauss Cunningham, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Matthew Keough and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.