University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Digitization of 10-meter long scrolls of Whaling

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library recently announced the completion of the digitization of "鯨魚鑬笑録/Geigyo ranshōroku," or "A Simple Overview of Whaling," which were created in 1819 and gifted to UH in 2020 by Deborah Rudolph to honor the memory of her late husband, John Harvard Hawley. They depict the entire process of whale hunting during Japan’s Edo period (1600–1868). This project has been ongoing for over two years and has involved multiple information professionals. The two scrolls, measuring 39 and 35 feet, respectively, are now available as a high-resolution image in IIIF format. You can also find more details through UHM's news article "Rare 200-year-old Japanese scrolls made accessible worldwide" about the project.

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The image of the scrolls