USPTO: Patent Public Search tool – a streamlined way to search all U.S. published patent applications. “With the launch of PPUBS, you can now search the text of all published U.S. patents and U.S. Pre-Grant publications (PGPubs) remotely in one streamlined system.”
Houston Chronicle: See every book Texas schools banned and challenged in our interactive database. “Explore books that were challenged across Texas schools. Filter by book title, school district and whether or not the books were ultimately removed from circulation. Books that are removed from some grade levels but not all are listed as ‘partially removed.’”
New-to-me, from MakeUseOf: How to Explore Ancient Landmarks With Yorescape. “Flyover Zone is a ‘virtual tourism company’ that digitally reconstructs world history sites in 360-degree virtual environments. They’ve been at this for a while now, but a platform and app system called Yorescape collects all of their content and publishes it all in one place.”
The Canadian Encyclopedia: How to Make an Oral History Podcast. “This toolkit has been created to help you through the steps of creating an oral history podcast: how to conduct research, how to interview subjects, and how to incorporate an interview into a script that tells a story. It introduces activities, in-person or virtual, that guide students in planning their own podcast episodes.” A 12-page resource presented as a digital booklet. Looks like it would be useful for teachers, but also for genealogists; it provides lots of ideas about interviewing people for their oral histories.
Laughing Squid: An Amazing Playlist of the Entire MTV ‘120 Minutes’ Catalog Featuring Over 2,500 Music Videos. “Chris Reynolds put together an amazing video playlist featuring every alternative music video that was played on the classic MTV series 120 Minutes. The series first ran from 1986 to 2003 and was resurrected for a short time in 2011. This remarkable archive includes 2,512 music videos and was made with Tune My Music, a service that transfers playlists from other resources to YouTube.”
Department of Health and Human Services: Federal Health Agencies Unveil National Tool to Measure Health Impacts of Environmental Burdens . “Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), in partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Environmental Justice, announce the release of the Environmental Justice Index (EJI). The EJI builds off existing environmental justice indexes to provide a single environmental justice score for local communities across the United States so that public health officials can identify and map areas most at risk for the health impacts of environmental burden.”
WWLP: Massachusetts Criminal Justice database open to the public. “The Baker Administration has announced a new online dashboard aimed at consolidating data from the state’s criminal justice system. It was initially part of 2018’s criminal justice reform law and is designed to increase transparency and public access to this type of data. The dashboard records inmate populations both in individual counties and the state’s department of corrections.”
Digital Library of Georgia: Family Papers Documenting The Lives Of Enslaved People In Liberty County, Georgia, Dating Back To The 1700s, Are Now Available Online.. “In partnership with the Midway Museum, the Digital Library of Georgia has just made the Julia R. King Collection available online…. The collection includes essential documents related to slavery, including estate appraisals and inventories that include the first names of enslaved African Americans. It will be of particular interest to those doing family research on people enslaved in Liberty County, Georgia.”
Nintendo Wire: Online exhibition lets you explore the world of Pokémon Trading Card Game illustrations. “The Pokémon Trading Card Game has been going strong for well over 20 years now and it’s showing no signs of stopping. The illustrations on each card play a large part in the game’s lasting appeal – whether you collect old favorites or seek out Full Art cards, there’s plenty to appreciate. Now a new website has opened up in partnership with Anique that lets you interactively explore the world of Pokémon Trading Card Game illustrations.”
Middle Tennessee State University: Places and Perspectives: MTSU library collaborates on African American communities digital history project. “Long-lost history does not have to stay lost, as long as people are willing to work together to pinpoint the past. ‘Places, Perspectives: African American Community-building in Tennessee, 1860–1920’ is an ongoing project that combines the resources and expertise of James E. Walker Library with help from the Department of Geosciences, MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), and a dedicated group of community historians.”
Vermont Biz: National Digital Archive project absorbs Vermont music album art. “Vermont Business Magazine The ‘Green Mountain Digital Archive’ (VT-GMDA) is a collaborative statewide initiative to bring Vermont’s digital cultural content to a highly visible national platform, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). Big Heavy World, with the generous expert support of staff at Middlebury College, recently channeled digital images of approximately 5,000 Vermont-made musical recordings into this national digital collection.”
Dickinson University: LGBT History Project Housed at Dickinson College Celebrates 10th Anniversary by Unveiling Digital Exhibit. “The LGBT Center of Central PA History Project is marking its 10th anniversary in August with the unveiling of an extensive digital archive for the public that opens a window on LGBTQ+ history in central Pennsylvania. The Project, which can be explored online, is a collaboration between Dickinson College’s Archives and Special Collections and the LGBT Center of Central PA.”
Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury: Updated Mapping Tennessee Education Site Provides New Insights. “The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has released new interactive online dashboards on K-12 education. The dashboards provide updated education data on schools and school districts for the 2020-21 school year. There are two dashboards: one for public schools and one for non-public schools. The dashboards include data on teacher salaries, student enrollment, school building quality, and state and local funding.”
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA): CISA Releases Toolkit Of Free Cybersecurity Resources For Election Community. “The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its ‘Protecting U.S. Elections: A CISA Cybersecurity Toolkit’ today, a one-stop catalog of free services and tools available for state and local election officials to improve the cybersecurity and resilience of their infrastructure.”
Railroad Commission of Texas: Millions of Historic Oil and Gas Production Records Now Online on Railroad Commission Website. “The Historical Imaged Annual Production Records database includes oil production dating back to 1931 and gas production going back to 1937. More than 1,300 rolls of microfilm containing about 2.2 million images housed in RRC’s Central Records were digitized for the project.”
