American Memory:  Technical summary

An American 
Ballroom Companion: Dance Instructor Manuals, Ca.1600-1920
URL for preview: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/dihtml/dihome.html


Collection Overview

Description
This collection of over 200 social dance manuals runs chronologically from Thoinot Arbeau's instructive Orchesographie, published in Langres, France in 1588 to The latest method, home instruction by mail, compiled by Charles Julius Frank for Philadelphia's Beacon Academy in 1922. Also represented are a significant number of anti-dance manuals as well as treatises on etiquette. All illuminate the manner in which people have joyfully expressed themselves as they dance for and with one another.
Source collection
Selections from the Music Division, Library of Congress.
Technical features
Searchable text for varying length documents (ranging from 5 to 500 pages per document) written by different authors in different periods. Diverse vocabulary, including French, Italian and Spanish, offers search vocabulary challenges. Occurrences of German, Russian, and Portuguese have not been converted to searchable text. Pages will be presented by the Library through a page-turning interface with link to converted text.
Original material formats
Number of original items
238
Status of collection
Not available online as of December 1997. Preview includes complete listing of titles. Full collection expected to be online during second half of 1998.
Public access:
The Library is not aware of any restrictions that inhibit public access to this collection. See notes on rights and restrictions provided by the Library to users of the collection preview. A legal review for the full collection has not been made.

Aids to intellectual access

Type & granularity
MARC bibliographic records. Each bib. record describes a single item.
Linking to digital reproductions
Bibliographic record contains identifier used in "directory name" for each metaobject representing a document. Numbering system in place to link searchable text to page images.

Digital reproductions

Total file-space for digital reproductions: 6.5 Gbytes when complete

Printed Matter (documents) Archival text file Page-images Service images for page-turning
Marker Filename extension ".sgm" Filename extension ".tif" Filename extension ".gif"
Formats SGML TIFF Group IV GIF
DTD American Memory
(TEI conformant)
n/a n/a
Tonal resolution n/a 1 bit 4 bit
Spatial resolution
(approx)
n/a 300 or 400 dpi 500x800 pixels
Quantity (approx) 238 (when complete) 30,000 pages (approx) 30,000 pages (approx)
File size
(approx)
.75-1 Mbytes 5-200 Kbytes 30-80 Kbytes
Samples n/a Sample page-image (text)
Sample page-image (diagram)
Sample page-turning image (text)
Sample page-turning image (diagram)

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