ProPublica: Nepal Wants a Sacred Necklace Returned. But a Major Museum Still Keeps It on Display.. “Questions about the origins and ownership of some Asian artifacts in a key collection at the Art Institute of Chicago have cast doubt on the museum’s commitment to keeping its galleries free of stolen antiquities.”
Trinity Western University: TWU celebrates the legacy of BC Christian media pioneer Lloyd Mackey with new online archival collection. “Journalist, author, and educator Dr. Lloyd Mackey has close to half a century of experience in community, faith-based and leadership journalism, including 15 years working out of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa. In honour of Dr. Mackey’s lifetime of service to Canada and to Canadian Christian communities, Trinity Western University is pleased to unveil a new digital collection of his works in the TWU Archives, the Lloyd Mackey fonds.”
Christianity Today: John Stott: ‘Evangelical Traditions Are Not Infallible’ . “The public will soon have access to a digital collection of hundreds of John Stott’s recorded sermons and transcripts spanning five decades.”
Fordham University: Center for Jewish Studies Launches Bronx Jewish History Project . “In the first half of the 20th century, the Bronx was home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish residents, many of whom had immigrated with their families in the late 1800s and early 1900s from Europe. More than 600,000 Jewish people lived in the borough in the late 1940s, but by 2003, just about 45,000 were left, according to a 2002 Jewish Community Study by UJA-Federation.”
Forward: YIVO to digitize millions of documents from Jewish Labor Bund. “Now, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research will digitize the Jewish Labor Bund archive, some 3.5 million pages of documents, photos, flyers and correspondence from revolutionary leaders like Emma Goldman and David Dubinsky. The digitization will make these artifacts accessible to anyone with an internet connection.”
This is from last November but I just found out about it and it’s too good to miss. From the National Library of the Netherlands: KB launches Religion and Philosophy of Life web collection. “The National Library of the Netherlands (KB) has launched a new web collection: Religion and Philosophy of Life. In it you will find 580 websites about religion, spirituality and philosophy of life, or how people view life. It is the largest Dutch web collection on this subject.”
Vatican News: Secretariat of State publishes full “Jews” series of historical archive online. “The Vatican Secretariat of State has completed its virtual reproduction of a collection of 170 volumes preserving the requests for help addressed to Pope Pius XII by Jews from all over Europe after the beginning of Nazi-Fascist persecution.”
The Tennessean: Firm named to create Southern Baptist Convention database of ministers accused of abuse. “A Southern Baptist Convention leader announced details Monday of the creation of a database containing names of ministers credibly accused of sexual abuse, a major milestone in the denomination’s effort to implement abuse reform.”
Associated Press: Ethiopia’s social media blocked amid church split tensions. “Widespread tensions caused by a rift within Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christian church have resulted in the suspension of access to social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook and Telegram.”
Times of Israel: Bosnia’s Jewish community putting together an archive for an eventual museum. “As their numbers dwindle, Bosnia’s Jewish community is creating an archive of Balkan Jewish history, including documents, photographs, artifacts, and genealogies to preserve the Bosnian Jewish story.”
The Alabama Baptist: Historical TAB issues now available to view online. “Thanks to a new resource at Samford University’s Special Collection, you can now view whole pages of every existing issue of The Alabama Baptist published from Feb. 4, 1843, through 1902…. The 1,463 available issues can be browsed by date or by a keyword search.”
Clark University: Can A.I. learn empathy? . “Seeing the growing popularity of artificial intelligence like ChatGPT, a chatbot launched by OpenAI in November, Rabbi Joshua Franklin ’06, M.A. ’07, engaged his congregation in a quirky, but poignant, experiment. Franklin asked ChatGPT to write a sermon based on a Torah portion dealing with the idea of vulnerability and read it to his congregation. No one could guess who authored the text.” This is a summary article for a podcast. Unfortunately, I can’t find transcripts for the podcast, it appears to be audio only. If you notice a transcript please drop a comment.
Stockton University: Center to Preserve Jewish Farming History Receives Grant. “The Alliance Heritage Center will use a new grant to create a public digital database of its collection documenting the history of Jewish farming in southern New Jersey. The New Jersey Historical Commission recently awarded more than $300,000 to 14 organizations to explore under-represented history in the state, including $24,500 to the Alliance Heritage Center at Stockton University.”
Associated Press: UN: Parts of internet becoming `toxic waste dumps’ for hate. “The U.N. chief warned on the day to remember victims of the Holocaust that ‘many parts of the internet are becoming toxic waste dumps for hate and vicious lies,’ and urgently appealed for guardrails against hate speech. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that anti-Semitism is everywhere, and it’s increasing in intensity.”
Europeana Pro: Discover how the J-Ark project connects data aggregation with preservation. “The J-Ark project aims to explore how aggregation of cultural heritage content can be connected with its long-term preservation. Find out more about the project’s work, discover how its insights are relevant to data spaces, and join an upcoming event which explores this topic.”
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