http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/sthome.html
Reviewed: July 2003
Mounted: August 4, 2003
By Michelle Thick
"Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860," is part of the American Memory collection of the Library of Congress and is, therefore, just one section of a much larger database containing over seven million documents made available for use online for people who would not be able to use the collections personally. The American Memory collection is stated as “a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States.” "Slaves and Courts" contains 105 items “drawn principally from the Law Library and the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, with a few from the General Collections.” The documents cover an assortment of trials and cases both from the United States and Great Britain and include some featuring prominent figures such as John Quincy Adams.
Scope/Content: The mission statement of the Library of Congress is stated clearly on the home page as: “to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations.” Whilst the purpose of the web site is “to offer broad public access to a wide range of historical and cultural documents as a contribution to education and lifelong learning.” The documents available on the website include reports of trials, accounts, journals, and a letter, the earliest being published in 1772 and the latest in 1889. Some of them have illustrations on the title page, but most just include text. Although much of the documents are relatively short, some are over two hundred pages long, making this website of great value for researchers.This material covers a wide aspect of the world of slavery and includes documents that contain the views of both slaveholders and the slaves themselves as well as abolitionists, politicians, and members of the justice system. The compilers used the book by Paul Finkelman, Slavery in the Courtroom: An Annotated Bibliography of American Cases (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1985), as a guide in selecting those documents which would appear on the webpage, and they have made excellent choices that provide the user with a variety of viewpoints of slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Authority/Bias: As all the documents come directly from the collections of the Library of Congress, there is no doubt to their reliability. However, there is no interpretation of the documents themselves; they are presented merely for users to create their own impressions. The “Acknowledgements” page gives a list of all of the staff involved in putting the site together, and whilst there are no individual contact addresses given, the main Library of Congress snail mail address is available through the “contact us” link, along with various phone numbers, and three electronic forms: one for comments and suggestions, one to report errors on the web site, and the third to ask a specific research question to one of the librarians.
Timeliness/Permanence: The site is dated April 2002, and there is no evidence of any revised sections. All the links to both documents contained within the website and those on other websites appear to be working. The collection as it stands contains a wealth of material for researchers, and as it is a database of primary documents, there is no reason why this website should not remain a permanent collection on the Internet.
Value Added Features: All but one of the documents have been reproduced in two formats, full text and an actual scanned image of the document, enabling the user to look at the primary document in its original form. Each document has a list of links to related subjects and related names within the collection, as well as a table of contents to enable to user to navigate through the document. There are two main search engines available, one to search “Descriptive Information” and one to search through the full text of the articles. Both enable the user to use a number of different criteria to search the documents on the website. In addition the user can also browse the archive by title, author, or subject. There are numerous links provided on the website not only to the main Library of Congress web page and related collections within that site but also to other websites that have been “chosen for their educational content and broad accessibility.”
Technical Aspects: This site is compatible with both Explorer and Navigator, and even with a dial-up modem the images on the site do not take long to load. To navigate the site the user generally has to use the forward and back buttons on the browser unless they are returning to the main page of the Slaves and the Courts site, which is linked at the top and bottom of every page. Printing the documents is easy to do; however, due to their nature, many are extremely long. In addition, although it is possible to print the scanned images of the documents, each web page prints on three separate sheets of paper with the American Memory banner and link back to the main page on the first and last sheet respectively. Also, the image is just too large to fit on one sheet of paper, meaning that the extreme far right and bottom of the image was missing.
Aesthetics/Visual Clarity and Appeal: This website is very basic in its construction and layout. There are few images used on the pages but the overall color scheme of a mustard background with black text and royal blue links is easy on the eye. The links turn red after they have been used making it easy for the user to trace where he or she has been. Although the site is adequate as it stands it could be much more impressive.
Overall Impression of the Site: This site is an excellent example of what major libraries can do to make primary documents available to the public. There are a wide variety of documents available from the period in question, and all but one are available in full text format. However, this site is obviously geared more towards the professional researcher than the general public, as it does not contain a general overview of the topic or interpretations of the materials presented. In addition the site is basic and could benefit from being overhauled visually to enhance its appearance. Overall, it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Interpretation of Materials: As this is a library website reproducing primary source materials it does not contain any interpretation of the documents presented on it pages. However, on the main page there is a link to “related resources” available on the Internet where people can find additional sources of information.
Primary Source Documents: This website is obviously a wealth of primary source materials, containing both scanned and rekeyed text. Each has the original publication details of the document, as well as the medium on which it is printed, the call number, and the digital id of the document. On the main page there is a whole section on “Working with the Collection” that includes which viewers are required for the pages, how the collection was scanned and the searchable text created, as well as copyright restrictions.
Education: Although there is a link to “The Learning Page,” which is the information pages provided by the Library of Congress for teachers including lesson plans and activities, the entry connected to the Slaves and the Courts website is not yet available. However, the website as it stands could be used in classroom that had access to smart classroom technology, although it would not be suitable for younger students.
Promotion of a Community of Interest: This site is not interactive in any way at present and therefore has no chance of engaging the public at large. However, it will have great potential for expansion when it has been incorporated into the learning page section of the main American Memory website. This section contains features and activities for school children as well as a community center where people can discuss appointed topics.
Point Assessment for Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860
(more information on PHRC's rating system is available)
Basic Criteria
| Scope/Content | 13/15 |
| Authority/Bias | 15/15 |
| Permanence and Timeliness | 14/15 |
| Value Added Features | 14/15 |
| Technical Aspects | 10/15 |
| Aesthetics/Clarity | 7/15 |
| Overall Impression | 8/10 |
Public History Specific Criteria
| Interpretation of Materials | 5/40 |
| Primary Source Documents | 20/20 |
| Education | 8/20 |
| Promotion of a Community of Interest | 5/20 |
Total: 119 points -- 3 Earths
Michelle Thick (michellethick@hotmail.com) has recently gained her masters degree in Public History from Appalachian State University. She has returned to her native England and hopes to begin her PhD studies in Fall 2004.
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