[Home Page: image of rounded scales watermark]

The WWW Watermark Archive Initiative

Produced by Robert W. Allison and James A. Hart for
The 1996 Roanoke Conference Standards Project

© 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Robert W. Allison and James A. Hart. All rights reserved.

Welcome to the Home Page of the Standards Project of the World Wide Web Watermark Archive Initiative. The purpose of this project is to arrive at standards for the design and function of World Wide Web based Archives of Papers and Watermarks. The project was initiated at the 1996 Roanoke Conference (The First International Conference on the History, Function, and Study of Watermarks).

The Watermark Initiative consists primarily of experimental pages -- prototypes for a WWW-based Archive of Papers and Watermarks. These models are being discussed on the Watermarks Discussion Group set up for this purpose following the Roanoke Conference. Anyone interested in joining the discussion is urged to subscribe to the listserve.

Introduction to the Project

  • Origin and Objectives of the Project
  • The Watermark Initiative Discussion Group
  • The Relational Database with diagrammatic overview
  • List of IPH Database Fields and their locations in the WWW-based archive
  • Commentary and Interpretation of the IPH Standard
  • Source code for supporting programs

    • Model Pages for Presentation of Data

    Watermark Initiative Experimental Models:

  • Paper
  • Watermark
  • Facsimile
  • Mould (i.e. data on moulds which are still in existence)
  • Stamps (i.e., descriptive ata for government stamps, validations and seals)

    • Models for Comparison:

  • Paper description modelled on the Greek Manuscripts Watermark Archive

    • Model Pages for Search Procedure

  • the Universal Search Engine (SQL and web pages support, currently. Filemaker to come, soon.)
  • Le filigrane degli archivi genovesi Searchable database of Briquet's watermarks. The actual searchpage offers a search by watermark motif only.
  • A Digital Catalogue of Watermarks and Type Ornaments Used by William Stansby in the Printingg of the Workes of Beniamin Jonson (London: 1616). Not truly a searchable catalog, but a Bibliographical research project in the form of a Digital Catalogue by David Gants, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Watermarks and descriptions may be selected for study from a page of good-sized thumbnails.
  • The British Association of Paper Historians, Searchable database of Watermark Illustrations Includes related articles in the BAPH Quarterly. May be searched from the links in a convenient list of articles and images, or from the keyword search page.
  • Greek Manuscripts Watermark Archive Search Form
  • Greek Manuscripts Watermark Archive Search Results Presentation
  • Gravell Archive Search Page Produced for searching the Thomas L. Gravell Watermark Collection of the University of Delaware Library's Special Collections Department.

    Information on the Dylux Method

  • About Dylux Paper
  • Instructions for using Dylux paper from Robert Allison's Guide to the Archive of Papers and Watermarks in Greek Manuscripts
  • "Pictures for the Page: Techniques in Watermark Reproduction, Enhancement and Analysis." Paper by David L. Gants delivered at the Annual meeting of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia on 23 April 1994.

    • Robert W. Allison, Author & Designer,
    Dept. of Philosophy & Religion, Bates College

    and

    James Hart, System analysis, database design, and CGI programming.
    Information Services, Bates College Lewiston, Maine, 04240

    Last updated: April 20, 2001

    http://www.bates.edu/Faculty/wmarchive/wm-initiative