Discover the Beinecke Library (and beyond) in the World Digital Library

December 15, 2009

Journal of Magellan’s Voyage, circa 1525

The World Digital Library is a cooperative project of the Library of Congress, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and partner libraries, archives, and educational and cultural institutions from the United States and around the world. The project brings together on a single website rare and unique documents – books, journals, manuscripts, maps, prints and photographs, films, and sound recordings – that tell the story of the world’s cultures. The site is intended for general users, students, teachers, and scholars.

From the Beinecke and Yale University, discover the Journal of Magellan’s Voyage, dating from around 1525, detailing Ferdinand Magellan’s voyage around the world in 1519-22; Illustrations of China and Its People, 200 photographs documenting the people and landscapes of 19th century China; William Clark’s manuscript map of the American West completed in 1810; an Arabic primer of calligraphy, circa 1852-1853; an illustrated manuscript with 72 full-color hand-painted images of men and women of the various castes  found in Madura, India, 1837; drawings of the Amistad captives as they awaited trial in New Haven, Connecticut, circa 1839-1840.

The WDL operates in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The actual documents on the site are presented in their original languages.

Learn more about the WDL at the Library of Congress…

And on Wikipedia

And on YouTube