Rice University has released the Travelers in the Middle East Archive under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License.
Here's an excerpt from the announcement:
IMEA provides access to:
- Nearly 1,000 images, including stereocards, postcards and book illustrations
- More than 150 historical maps representing the Middle East as it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Interactive geographical information systems (GIS) maps that serve as an interface to the collection and present detailed information about features such as waterways, elevation and populated places
- Successive editions of classic travel guides and major museum collection catalogues
- Convenient educational modules that set materials from the collection in historical and geographic context and explore the research process
TIMEA is able to offer seamless access for researchers by providing a common user interface to digital objects housed in three repositories. Texts, historical maps and images reside in DSpace, an open-source digital repository system. Educational research modules are presented within Connexions, an open-content commons and publishing platform for educational materials. TIMEA also uses Google Maps and ESRI’s ArcIMS map server.
