Wilson
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson believed formation of the league
was essential for world peace. |
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The IU Center for the Study of Global Change, the United
Nations Library and IU Libraries have launched a League
of Nations photo archive Web site which focuses on the
activities of the league and the history of the interwar
years of the first half of the 20th century.
A precursor to the United Nations, the League of Nations
addressed a wide range of political, economic and social
problems that are still critical issues in international
affairs. The league ceased to exist in 1946, and its archive,
which includes official records as well as portraits,
paintings, caricatures, original artworks and other art
objects, was created in 1957.
| Through the support of the U.S. Department of Education
International Studies Title VI funds, IU librarian Robert
Goehlert, who also is a consultant for collection development
and library electronic services and resources development
at the Center for the Study of Global Change, contacted
the League of Nations Archives and Historical Collection
in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 1999 and negotiated an
agreement with the United Nations Library to digitize
the league’s photo collection.
Goehlert led a research team to Geneva in June 2000, which
included reference librarian Jian Liu, and Kris Bell,
a graduate student at the School of Library and Information
Sciences (SLIS). The next summer, project directors Goehlert
and Liu returned to Geneva with the IU team of Fenton
Martin of the political science research collection, Kenneth
Steuer, associate director of the Center for the Study
of Global Change, and SLIS grad student Sarah Hammill.
They scanned 1,366 photographs from the collection, including
images of individuals, national delegations, league assemblies
and councils, commissions, committees, conferences, buildings
and major events. While the bulk of the collection focuses
on individuals associated with the league, there are also
photographs of judges of the Permanent Court of International
Justice, officials of the International Labor Organization
and personnel in special institutions associated with
the league.
The Web site introduction provides a general overview
of the collection but also includes the contents of three
digitized books (The League of Nations: A Pictorial
Survey; The Illustrated Album of the League of Nations;
and The Aims, Methods, and Activity of the League of Nations).
The second part is comprised of the core of the League
of Nations photograph collection and is divided into ten
sections. The “Personalities Section,” for
example, includes photographs of individual delegates
assigned to the league and features a list of prime ministers
and foreign ministers who attended league deliberations
as well, as a list of American participants.
Web visitors interested in obtaining high-quality digital
images or photographic copies may contact the U.N. Library
in Geneva for more information.
http://www.indiana.edu/~league/index.htm
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