A substantial portion of our cultural heritage from the 20th century is recorded in enormous collections of spoken-word materials. Yet much of it may be lost or remain hidden away in archives and private collections, making the voices inaccessible to students, teachers, scholars, and the general public. The purpose of Historical Voices is to create a significant, fully searchable online database of spoken word collections spanning the 20th century - the first large-scale repository of its kind. Historical Voices will both provide storage for these digital holdings and display public galleries that cover a variety of interests and topics.

The primary goals of Historical Voices are to develop both a rich set of exhibits and educational curricula that fully incorporate sound files. To accomplish these goals, Historical Voices will

• Determine Best Practices in Digital Sound Digitization;
• Develop a Digital Archive Structure for Multimedia Materials;
• Work with Key Institutions to develop a Robust Metadata Format;
• Research Aural Perception to Maximize Student Comprehension;
• Develop Tools to Create and Deliver Multimedia Presentations (linked sound and transcripts);
• Develop Alternative Delivery Web Interfaces to Facilitate Diverse Users and Needs;
• Build Federated Archives and Trans-Institutional Resources.
  

Designed as an expansive repository of aural resources, Historical Voices will grow to include many more collections from partnering institutions around the country.

The Flint Sit-Down Strike
http://www.historicalvoices.org/flint

The Flint Sit-Down Strike website is a multi-media rich resource devoted to several purposes:

1. To provide an introduction to the sit-down strike for those students or members of the general public who are unaware of the history of this momentous event in American history.
2. To provide an immediacy and personal touch to this historical knowledge through the use of digitized audio files, which contain the actual voices of former sit-downers reminiscing about their experiences.
3. To make a site that was usable on several levels of interactivity, with information and sound files accessible through several different galleries, a Flash-generated map, a timeline, and various search functions.
4. To preserve the interviews done by Leighton etal. in a form that was relatively permanent and easily accessible.

The OYEZ Project
http://www.oyez.org

The OYEZ Project is a vast multimedia relational database on the U.S. Supreme Court, contains abstracts for all leading constitutional decisions of the Court, authoritative oral arguments in streamed media
format, a virtual reality tour of the Supreme Court building . . .

Earliest Voices: A Gallery from the Vincent Voice Library
http://www.historicalvoices.org/earliest_voices

Earliest Voices: A Gallery of the Vincent Voice Library, is a multimedia site presenting some of the most significant voices captured during the first fifty years of sound recording, 1877-1927. . .

History and Politics Out Loud
http://www.hpol.org

History and Politics Out Loud is a diverse collection of audio -- speeches and private communications -- relating to U.S. history and politics.

The African Digital Library
http://www.aodl.org

Matrix and research teams at the Institut Fondamental d‚Afrique Noire (IFAN) and the West African Research Center (WARC), both in Dakar, Senegal, are working together to develop a multi-media digital library of West African sources in multiple languages.

Michigan Writers Network
http://www.michigan-writers.org

The Michigan Writers Network is an online interactive community where all Michigan writers can share ideas, discuss their craft, and learn about the interests and current work of fellow authors. Whether writing by profession or for pleasure, this site encourages all people interested in the craft of writing to join one or more of their listserv discussions.