Penn State Great Valley Library Blog

Scholars can now study Hemingway’s life in Cuba – the period not well known to biographers and yet the time & place he wrote his greatest works. The Cuban Hemingway Archive includes: 2,000 documents (manuscripts and letters), 3,500 photographs, and 9,000 books (2,000 with Hemingway’s notes in the margins). This collection is made possible through a joint effort of the Cuban National Cultural Heritage Council and the U.S. Social Science Research Council.

This collection will not be available to the general public, but instead to scholars who submit written request for access. While the materials are currently only available in Finca Vigia, Cuba, they will be assessable at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston by the end of January, 2009.

Just to follow up with December’s Europeana posting, the prototype is now up and running.

As a reminder, Europeana is a digital collection of European culture and heritage produced by the efforts of many European Archives, Research Institutions, and National Representatives. Offering 6 million digital sounds, photos, paintings, maps, manuscripts, books, film material, newspapers and archival papers, Europeana began in July 2007. The beta version is now available with limited user access. The site might not be available during heavy usage time. But if you are closed out, just try again later. The complete, full access site is expected to be completed by 2010.