142 Access to American Cultural Heritages / Michael Buckland (buckland@sims.berkeley.edu )

Cultural Heritage Resources on the Internet - An Introductory Guide

This guide was created for students of the InfoSys 142 Access to American Cultural Heritages class in order to help them find resources and materials for their portfolio.

It is intended to provide a highly selected guide to web resources relating to issues in the preservation, description, and use of tangible forms of cultural heritage: Documentation, ownership, and control of access to cultural heritage resources in the U.S.A. Cultural groups, cultural identity, cultural policies, and cultural institutions (libraries, media, museums, school, historic sites, etc.).

Table of Contents

1. General Resources / How to Find Materials

1.1 UCB Library - General guides and catalogs

• An Undergraduates Guide to the Library - Read this first!
• Know your library workshops - Fall 2003 - If you want personal instruction.

• Library Research Guides - How to use the catalogs, subject-based guides for finding useful databases and other information resources provided by the library.
• Doe Reference Center - 3rd floor of main library - friendly librarians to answer all your questions. Web site also contains guides to searching and finding materials.
• Library Pathfinder Catalog - For books and journals on the Berkeley Campus.

1.2 Directories and Search Engines

• Librarians' Index to the Internet - Reliable, trustworthy, librarian-selected Internet resources.

1.3 Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Note: Some of these online dictionaries and encyclopedias are licensed especially to the UCB system and are accessible from university computers. However, you can also access them from home. Read the guide about accessing from home.

• Oxford English Dictionary

• Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Encyclopedia Americana

• American National Biography
• World Biographical Index

1.4 Country Information

• Travel Document Systems - Provides good up-to-date entry information about all countries of the world. Included are basic links to official country websites.
• The World Factbook - Provided by the CIA, has up-to-date information about every country in the world.

1.5 Library and Archive Directories

Library websites often have high-quality and verified information for their users. Search national library websites for information regarding certain countries etc.

• Unesco Libraries Portal
• The National Libraries of Europe - List with descriptions and links to catalogs.

• Online Archive of California - Manuscripts, photographs, and works of art held in libraries, museums, archives, and other institutions across California

1.6 Museum Directories

Museums often have informatory web pages about exhibitions and their collections.

• Museum Computer Network - Links to over 1,700 international museum and museum-related WWW sites.
• Museums USA - Contains a searchable directory of more than 15,000 museums nationwide.

1.7 News on the Web

Search newspaper archives for recent articles on a cultural heritage topic.

• sfgate.com - S.F. Chronicle and Examiner website for the Bay Area.
• Google News - Search 4,500 news sources.

2. General Cultural Heritage Resources

• Access to American Cultural Heritages: A Study Guide to Issues of Representation, Delivery and Control by Janice Woo. - Guide to print sources specifically created for this class. (From 1997)

2.1 Ethnic groups

• Ethnic Groups and Culture, Library of Congress - Good guide to special ethnic collections at the Library of Congress
• Google Directory on Ethnicity - Alphabetic list of links to different ethnic groups.

2.2 Cultural Heritage Organizations

• Folklife Sourcebook - Directory of Folklife Resources of the United States
• Museum and cultural heritage information standards and organisations - Great compilation of current international cultural heritage projects.

2.3 Ethnic Studies Resources

General link lists from several university departments. Maybe helpful in finding more specific material.

• Resources in Area and Ethnic Studies- provided by New School University Library
• Area Studies and Ethnic Studies - provided by University System of Georgia Libraries

3. Resources about Specific Ethnic Communities

3.1 Africa and African American

• African-American Studies: Web-based Resources provided by the UCB library
• Article Databases for African American Studies - provided by the UCB library
• African and African American Collections at UC Berkeley
• African and the Middle Eastern Reading Room, Library of Congress - Good resource to collections and links to African and Middle Eastern cultures from the Library of Congress.
• Resources for Research in African American Studies - Great resource for links to libraries, research centers, research guides and collections and from the Association of College and Research Libraries.

• Resources on African Studies - University of Michigan
• African American Studies Web Sites - Howard University
• African American Research Guide Internet Resources - Yale University
• Afrocuba Web -Website of the Organization of Africans in the Americas
• Africana.com - Broad coverage of Africa and people of African descent throughout the world.
  
• Libraries on the Web - Africa and Middle East - provided by the UCB library
• Google Regional Web Directory - Africa
  

3.2 Asia and Asian American

• General Asia Reference Resources - provided by the South/Southeast Asia Library
• Article Databases for Asian American Studies - provided by the UCB library
• Asian Reading Room, Library of Congress - Great resource to collections and links to Asian cultures from the Library of Congress

• Bookmarks for Asian Communities - Great link list created by Corliss Lee from UCB.
• The Asian American Cybernauts Page - provides selected links to the Asian Pacific American (APA) community on the Internet.
• Slavic, East European, and Former USSR Resources - Various resources from the Virginia Tech Libraries, including Asian republics of Russia.

• Libraries on the Web- Asian Libraries - provided by the UCB library
• Google Regional Web Directory - Asia
• Open Directory Project: Asia - Ethnic, Religious and National Index Listing of various genealogy organizations and resources. Includes small ethnic minority groups.

• By country:
  • Chinese American Heritage
  • Japanese Heritage
  • Korean American Heritage
  • Philippino Heritage
  • Russian Heritage
  • Tibetan Heritage

3.3 Europe and European American

• The European Union Collections Bibliography - provided by the UCB library
• European Reading Room, Library of Congress - Great resource to collections and links to European cultures from the Library of Congress

• Libraries on the Web - European Libraries - provided by the UCB library
• Google Regional Web Directory - Europe
• FEEFHS Resource Guide - Ethnic, Religious and National Index Listing of various genealogy organizations and resources from the Federation of East European Family History Societies. Includes small ethnic minority groups.
• By country:
  • Jewish-American Resources
  • Luxemburger's Heritage
  • Polish Heritage
  • Russian Heritage

3.4 Hispanic, Chicano, Latino

• Hispanic Reading Room, Library of Congress - Great resource to collections and links to Latin American cultures from the Library of Congress

• Chicano Studies Internet Resources - at UCLA
• Latin American Network Information Center - at the University of Texas
• La Raza - Major organization of Latinos in the United States
• Chak: Chicano Humanities and Arts Council - Organization dedicated to propagation and preservation of Chicano/LatinoCulture

• Libraries and Archives of Latin America - Gateway to major libraries of Latin America
• Latin American Collections and Libraries - Links provided by University of Texas
• Google Regional Web Directory: Caribbean
• Google Regional Web Directory: Central America
• Google Regional Web Directory: South America

3.5 Arab American

• The Arab American Action Network

• Google Directory on Arab Americans
• Google Regional Web Directory: Middle East

3.6 Native American

• Native American Resources - provided by Doe Reference Center
  
• Native Culture - a comprehensive portal site for Native American resources on the Internet.
• Native American Sites
• Index of Native American Resources on the Internet
• Native American Genealogy
• American Indian Resource Center Los Angeles
• Native American Indian Art Museums - Directory of Indian Museum Resources related to Native American cultures

4. Resources about Specific Topics

4.1 Mixed race, intermarriage

• Resources on Interracial Marriage and People of Mixed Race - UCB Teaching Library Guide

Last updated: 10/09/2003 Vivien Petras