AHC Joins Rocky Mountain Online Archive

March 9, 2007 -- The University of Wyoming American Heritage Center now provides access to the Rocky Mountain Online Archive, which describes more than 2,300 archival and special collections from cultural institutions in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.

The Rocky Mountain Online Archive (http://rmoa.unm.edu) offers specialized guides, called finding aids, giving detailed descriptions of these unique primary source materials located at 20 different repositories from the three-state area.

Students and scholars can begin their research in several ways, says Mark Shelstad, AHC archivist.

“In addition to browsing by state, users can easily begin exploring the Rocky Mountain Online Archive by subject area. Within minutes of accessing the site, users can find descriptions of collections related to architecture, frontier and pioneer life, water rights, wildlife conservation and more,” he says. “Now that these materials are online, the regional research potential of these collections has truly been enhanced.”

He says the archives are the result of a “dynamic partnership” of University of New Mexico Libraries, Colorado's Collaborative Digitization Project and the AHC. The project was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional support from the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.

The AHC is the University's repository of manuscript and special collections, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West (including but not limited to politics, settlement, and western trails), environment and conservation, the mining and petroleum industries, air and rail transportation, the performing arts (particularly radio, television, film, and popular music), journalism, and U.S. military history.

Access to the AHC is free and open to everyone. For more information call the AHC at (307) 7664114 or visit its Web site at www.uwyo.edu/ahc.

Photo
Online Archive -- Rocky Mountain Online Archive project members at the UW American Heritage Center examine a portion of the finding aids now available on the Web. From left are Mary Kinney, Mark Shelstad, Kent Jaehnig, D.C. Thompson and John Waggener. Users can find descriptions of collections related to architecture, frontier and pioneer life, water rights, wildlife conservation and many other subjects. (AHC Photo)

Posted on Friday, March 09, 2007