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Calisphere: A World of Primary Sources and More, http://www.cal isphere, un iversi tyof california .edu/. Created and maintained by the California Digital Library, University of California Libraries. Reviewed March-June, 2009.
Calisphere is a well-organized and attractive Web site that allows the public to access over 150,000 primary sources that were previously dispersed in separate archives. A service of the University of California libraries, it includes a treasure trove of sources from all ten campuses and more than eighty cultural heritage institutions around the srare. Conceived as a public gateway to provide educators access to University of California scholarship, the site represents what I hope is a larger trend of universities and colleges considering how to make their resources useful and accessible to K- 1 2 teachers and students. Calisphere provides a good model, with its rich source collection and teacher-friendly organization that also allows easy exploration by scholars and history buffs.
Focused on the history of California, the source collection is the heart of the site. Calisphere' s collection of interesting images is apparent on first sight, as is the site's mission to create a research tool that ties together histories of different scales. Whether a photograph of a real Rosie the Riveter in the Richmond shipyards or an 1888 political cartoon that depicts Uncle Sam beating back a Chinese snake entering through...