American Philosophical Society Digital Library
Rating: Excellent
Strong Points: Easily searchable. Uploaded images are easy to view and are in high resolution.
The American Philosophical Society has hosted its share of great thinkers and collected many great works in its nearly 300-year history. Fortunately for the rest of us, perusing their extensive collection is just a mouse click away. The American Philosophical Society’s Digital Library archives a huge chunk of the society’s collection, including audio, video, graphics, and texts, and it is all available for viewing online. The website includes rotating featured collections that are easy to browse, but searching through the library for works of interest is also remarkably simple. The subjects and people covered by the library are vast and include many digitizations from great scientists, such as pictures of Mendel at his friary, the front page of Newton’s Principia Mathematica, and even correspondences from Darwin. The American Philosophical Society’s Digital Library is a beautiful website and a wonderful way to connect to some of the best known primary sources in science.