"I just want to say one word to you, just one word. . . . Are you listening? . . . Plastics. . . . There's a great future in plastics. Think about it."The Special Collections Research Center at the Syracuse University Library has created an on-line exhibit featuring its plastics collection. The website "combines narratives about the people, materials, and corporations responsible for our cultural embrace of plastic with a searchable digital collection of original research materials from Syracuse University Library, including manuscripts, printed materials, photographs, and artifacts. . . . The Plastics Collection at the Syracuse University Library, founded in 2008, is the largest university-based resource on the history of plastics. The purpose of the Plastics Collection is to serve as a research and programming center to advance the study and understanding of plastics in modern society, including its role in chemistry, technology, industry, marketing, health, art, design, and other fields." The exhibit, divided into Industry, Collection, and People sections, may be browsed by topic or searched.
The Princeton University Library has digitized a number of posters from the Interborough Rapid Transit Subway Company . The posters, designed by the public relations firm Ivy Lee, were displayed in subway cars to provide information to riders about changes in fares and routes, safety issues, and other matters of interest. The collection consists of 385 images dating from 1918 to 1932; many of them provide financial information about rates, company dividends, and a general look at an early rapid transit system. October 29, update: Jonathan Rees over at "More or Less Bunk" was moved by this post to go off in search of a better site, and found the massive collection of the London Transport Museum , which displays over 5,000 items in a searchable collection .
