A fake head made of cotton sheeting, soap, paint and human hair was used by one of the inmates who famously attempted to escape Alcatraz Island. A rocking chair, circa 1860, was owned by President Harry Truman’s mother. And a typewriter, circa 1886, was owned by the brilliant Frederick Douglass, escaped slave turned writer, social reformer and statesman.
Google now claims partnership with more than 1,000 organizations that contribute to its digital collection, which contains reference links and Google Maps integration. And though the recent contributions of the National Park Service are sizable, they’re a drop in the bucket for the service’s 45 million objects spread across 380 museums.
The collections can be viewed at the Google Cultural Institute.
