Project Status: Complete

Depicting Glory is a digital project that presents a group of rare Chinese objects drawn from across the Brown University Library. Most of these items date from the late Qing dynasty in the 19th century, though one item is a set of maps published in Taiwan around 1960. Although the items were created in different times and places, they collectively reflect societal sentiments surrounding an issue central to China's modernization process: the intersection of power, status, and collective identity. Each of these objects involves a public reckoning with a dramatic shift in a power that came with the great expansion of military might and regional status in the late 18th century, the cataclysmic erosion of power and order across the 19th century, and the ongoing quest to restore power and glory from the 20th century right through to the present.

Contributors

Project Director and Student Advisor

• Zhuqing Li, Faculty Curator, Rockefeller Library; Visiting Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, Brown University

Student Digital Design Team, Brown University

• Miranda Mo '22, Computer Science
• Jacob Yu '22, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science

Student Research Team, Brown University

• Sarah Chan '22, Philosophy and International Relations
• Zhiping Ding '22, Economics and Archeology
• Technical Advisors, Brown University Library:
• Ashley Champagne, Head, Digital Scholarship Project Planning, Center for Digital Scholarship
• Elli Mylonas, Head of the Digital Scholarship Lab and Studio, Center for Digital Scholarship

Guest Advisors, Brown University Library

• Frank Donnelly, GIS and Data Librarian, Academic Engagement
• Joseph Rhoads, Digital Repository Manager, Digital Technologies