Meeting of Frontiers is a multimedia digitized library that features an extensive collection of materials related to the U.S. exploration and settlement of the West, the exploration and settlement of Siberia and the Russian Far East, and the meeting of the Russian-U.S. frontier in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. The site provides open access to many rare and unpublished primary materials which are archived in a number of U.S., Russian and German libraries and archives including the Library of Congress, Russian State Library (Moscow) and the National Library of Russia (St. Petersburg). It offers high quality scanned images of printed books, journals, manuscripts, maps, photos, drawings, sheet music, as well as the selection from motion picture, broadcasting, and recorded sound and music collections. The site also provides a comparative view of U.S. and Russian historical events and cultural phenomena given in English and Russian languages.
Type of Material:
Collection
Recommended Uses:
The materials could be used in schools and colleges to supplement the study of U.S. and Russian history, politics, culture, and U.S.-Russian relationship. Bilingual presentation of materials and audio-/video files could serve as a source of quality authentic materials for learners of English and/or Russian languages. They could also be used by independent scholars.
Technical Requirements:
n/a
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Russian history, culture, language learning
Target Student Population:
The site aimed at U.S. and Russian schools and libraries and by the general public in both countries. It could also be of interest to scholars such as ethnographers, historians, economists, sociologists, culturologists, musicians, and linguists.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Advanced skills in English and/or Russian
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
This digital library makes it possible for the public around the globe to easily access the wealth of materials archived in a number of central and regional libraries and museums. The variety of materials is exemplary. Users, specially the younger ones, may find it very helpful that the site provides a well organized and easily comprehendible story of exploration, colonization, and development of the Russian North, Siberia, the Far East, Alaska and the American West. The narration is accompanied by images illustrating major events, a bibliography with suggestions for further reading, related links, and additional explanatory texts, which provides ways for further in-depth exploration of the themes. The site explores many educationally important topics such as migration, religion, ethnicity, national identity, and popular culture.
Concerns:
None
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
As realia in a language class, primary material for history and culture.
Concerns:
None
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The quality of digital reproductions is very high. Images and video- and audio files are offered in several formats (JPEG, TIFF, MPEG, Real Media, QuickTime) which enables the user choose the quality level and software for viewing/listening. Each item is annotated making it easy to search. The site search engine allows the users to locate materials by their format (sound, image, map, etc.), search inside books with searchable texts. The site map is very helpful.
Concerns:
The site has been last updated in 2005. The link to the home page is not well indicated. Many video files are very large in size and take a lot of time to download. They perhaps could be reformatted and reduced in size as the technologies of 2008 have advanced since 1999-2003 when most of the recordings have been digitized.
Other Issues and Comments:
None
Creative Commons:
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