Pilot Phase: The American Museum Congo Expedition (1909-1915)

In 1909 mammalogist Herbert Lang and ornithologist James P. Chapin journeyed to the Belgian Congo to make one of the first large-scale biological surveys in that region. This expedition resulted in a number of publications as well as an immense archive of specimens and artifacts, photographs and slides, drawings and maps, watercolor sketches, handwritten field notes and correspondence, and audio tapes. The Pilot Phase of the Digital Library Project focuses on digitizing materials relating to this expedition; these materials represent the technical, policy, and scholarly issues likely to arise in subsequent, broader digitization projects.