PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2006

CONTACT: Jennifer Hanna
301/405-9336
jhanna@umd.edu

UM Libraries Launch Digital World’s Fair Collection

College Park, MD – The University of Maryland Libraries announces the launch of its newest digital collection, A Treasury of World’s Fair Art & Architecture (www.lib.umd.edu/digital/worldsfairs). This digital library provides access to art- and architecture-related images, virtual tours and contextual essays covering a broad number of world’s fairs, including the first international fair, the “Crystal Palace” in London in 1851, the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and the 1904 St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition. A Treasury of World’s Fair Art & Architecture is the virtual companion to the World's Fair Collection at the University of Maryland’s Architecture Library.

Images included in the Treasury were scanned from a variety of visual media such as photographs, stereographs, prints, illustrations, scrapbooks, sheet music, periodicals, maps and pamphlets. Many artifacts are represented as well, including trade cards, tickets, exhibitor entry forms, postcards, souvenir ribbons and scarves. The Treasury's collection is strongest for the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial exhibition and the 1904 St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and includes broad coverage of most international expositions.

For further information about A Treasury of World’s Fair Art & Architecture, please contact Patricia Kosco Cossard, Subject Librarian for Architecture and Historic Preservation, at pcossard@umd.edu or 301/405-6316.

The University of Maryland is the only nationally-ranked public university in the Baltimore/Washington area. With a total student enrollment approaching 40,000, the University is supported in its academic endeavors by the University of Maryland Library System, which is comprised of eight libraries and more than three million volumes. The UM Library System is the largest library system in the state.

The UM Libraries have an annual budget of about $23 million, of which ten percent is dedicated to electronic resources. The Libraries currently hold 247 licensed databases, 230 open-access databases, 17,000 full-text e-journals and 107,000 full-text e-books. The Special Collections at the UM Libraries also provide access to a broad array of extraordinary research materials.

The UM enjoys a growing national reputation as a top research University, and the Libraries support a top-notch faculty that includes 23 National Academy members, two Nobel Prize winners, six Pulitzer Prize winners, and four Fulbright Scholars, among others.