Source ofYOUThe Hall of Records
HISTORICAL RECORD · A DEMONSTRATIONA demonstration wing of Source of You

Even Herman Melville was filed under one thing.

Filed under

Inspector of Customs in New York [B1]Raymond M. Weaver, Herman Melville: Mariner and MysticInternet Archive, from a Cornell University Library copyclass B · read 2026-07-28

The record kept the rest

Weaver's biography records nineteen years on the customs rolls. It also records a second manuscript, left among his papers, unpublished. [B1]Raymond M. Weaver, Herman Melville: Mariner and MysticInternet Archive, from a Cornell University Library copyclass B · read 2026-07-28

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Fourteen recordsRegister orderNot a ranking

This half-length seated photographic portrait of Herman Melville, made around 1860, is held by the Library of Congress as an illustration reproduced in Journal Up the Straits.[A5]Herman Melville1819 to 1891Inspector of Customs in New YorkAn illustrated stand-in for Williamina Fleming, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESSWilliamina Fleming1857 to 1911Housemaid in the observatory director's household, then a copyist at duties "of the simplest character."An illustrated stand-in for Scott Joplin, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESSScott Joplinc. 1868 to 1917"King of Ragtime writers," printed by his publisher on the cover of Maple Leaf Rag.A woodblock print mounted as an album leaf from the Freer Gallery of Art depicts Katsushika Hokusai as an elderly man leaning on a cane, from an album of sketches by Hokusai.[A10]Katsushika Hokusaic. 1760 to 1849Japanese printmaker, 1760 to 1849.A Library of Congress halftone print reproduces Elias Gottlieb Haussmann's oil portrait, held by the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum zu Leipzig, showing the sitter holding a manuscript canon.[A7]Johann Sebastian Bach1685 to 1750The Leipzig council's third choice for cantor of the Thomasschule and director of music for the cityA glass negative from the George Grantham Bain Collection shows the subject standing on a porch staircase in outdoor dress, labeled Mrs. Hetty Green on the plate itself.[A13]Hetty Howland Robinson Green1834 to 1916The Witch of Wall Street.An illustrated stand-in for Joshua Slocum, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESSJoshua Slocum1844 to 1909A deep-water sailing master whose trade steam had ended, handed a derelict sloop propped up in a field.A carte-de-visite albumen photograph made by the Cruces y Campa studio in Mexico City between 1850 and 1859 shows the sitter in half length, facing the camera.[A20]Alexander von Humboldt1769 to 1859Salaried officer of the Prussian mining department.The photograph, catalogued by Wellcome Collection as item 13274i, shows the sitter seated in a buttoned chair wearing a bonnet and a patterned silk gown.[A12]Florence Nightingale1820 to 1910Lady with the Lamp, a nickname the Florence Nightingale Museum calls a key part of her legacy.An illustrated stand-in for Mary Anning, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESSMary Anning1799 to 1847A fossil seller at Lyme Regis, whose finds were supplied to the collectors and professors who wrote the papers.An illustrated stand-in for Ada Lovelace, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESSAugusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace1815 to 1852"NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR."An illustrated stand-in for Bessie Coleman, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESSBessie Coleman1892 to 1926Manicurist, White Sox Barbershop, Chicago.A copy passport photograph of Ramanujan made around 1913, held among the college's manuscripts.[A5]Srinivasa Ramanujan1887 to 1920Clerk, accounts section, Madras Port Trust.A detail of an oil painting of 1787 by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, showing the sitter in a broad hat and travelling cloak against a Roman landscape.[A10]Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1749 to 1832Inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 2001 under the heading "Goethes literarischer Nachlass".

Likenesses, and what was done to them

8 of these faces are digitized objects held by the institution named beside them, shown under the rights statement that institution publishes. 6 are illustrations, badged as illustrations on the image itself, drawn for records where no rights-clean institutional likeness could be obtained; each one states in its own record how it was made and which documented portraits were read to describe it. All of them are displayed through one treatment: cool monochrome, tinted in the room's accent, and cropped to a square at a focal point set per record. The photographic files keep the institution's own tones and full frame; the monochrome and the crop are what this page draws, and the original is at the URL in each record. Hold a pointer on a photograph, or move keyboard focus to it, and the treatment drops: what appears is the institution's own file, in its own colour. An illustration holds its treatment instead, because there is no institution's file beneath it to reveal, and a reveal there would perform a provenance the image does not have.

  • [A5]Herman Melville, 1860. Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication.
  • [illustrated]Illustrated likeness of Williamina Fleming. Illustrated stand-in, not an archival object.
  • [illustrated]Illustrated likeness of Scott Joplin. Illustrated stand-in, not an archival object.
  • [A10]Hokusai as an old man. Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art (Freer Gallery of Art). CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
  • [A7]Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known restrictions on publication.
  • [A13]Mrs. Hetty Green, 1900. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. No known restrictions on publication.
  • [illustrated]Illustrated likeness of Joshua Slocum. Illustrated stand-in, not an archival object.
  • [A20][Baron Alexander von Humboldt, half-length portrait, facing front], between 1850 and 1859. Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication
  • [A12]Florence Nightingale. Photograph.. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark
  • [illustrated]Illustrated likeness of Mary Anning. Illustrated stand-in, not an archival object.
  • [illustrated]Illustrated likeness of Ada Lovelace. Illustrated stand-in, not an archival object.
  • [illustrated]Illustrated likeness of Bessie Coleman. Illustrated stand-in, not an archival object.
  • [A5]Copy passport photograph of Ramanujan, 1913. Trinity College, Cambridge (Wren Digital Library, James Catalogue Online). CC BY 4.0 Trinity College, Cambridge
  • [A10]Goethe in der römischen Campagna, 1787. Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main. Public Domain Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
The walkOne record per stop. Scroll sideways
This half-length seated photographic portrait of Herman Melville, made around 1860, is held by the Library of Congress as an illustration reproduced in Journal Up the Straits.

Herman Melville

Letters · 1819 to 1891

A letter on Office of the Collector of the Port letterhead, New York, dated 1 October 1866. The record does not claim Melville wrote, signed or handled it.

[A4]National Archives and Records Administration1866Use Restriction(s): Unrestrictedread 2026-07-29Downloaded the original 3003x3890 grayscale TIFF (frame 0450 of NARA microfilm publication M174, roll 169). Resized to 2200px on the long edge, converted to WebP at quality 72. No cropping, retouching, tonal adjustment, or compositing.

Filed under

Inspector of Customs in New York [B1]Raymond M. Weaver, Herman Melville: Mariner and MysticInternet Archive, from a Cornell University Library copyclass B · read 2026-07-28

The record

Weaver's biography records nineteen years on the customs rolls. It also records a second manuscript, left among his papers, unpublished. [B1]Raymond M. Weaver, Herman Melville: Mariner and MysticInternet Archive, from a Cornell University Library copyclass B · read 2026-07-28

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An illustrated stand-in for Williamina Fleming, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESS

Williamina Fleming

Astronomy · 1857 to 1911

Page 27 of the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra, 1890, listing catalogue entries 1901 to 2000 with the spectrum class recorded for each star.

[A7]Internet Archive, digitized from the copy held by the University of California Libraries1890NOT_IN_COPYRIGHTread 2026-07-29Scaled to 2200 px on the long edge and re-encoded as WebP. No crop, no tonal change.

Filed under

Housemaid in the observatory director's household, then a copyist at duties "of the simplest character." [A3]Williamina Paton Fleming (biography), by J J O'Connor and E F RobertsonMacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrewsclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

The observatory's own 1890 publication named her for the find; five years later, the catalogue that absorbed it named only the director. [A6]The First Computer: Williamina Fleming and the Horsehead Nebula, by Alex McGrath (Galactic Gazette blog, archived copy)Wolbach Library, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonianclass A · read 2026-07-28

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An illustrated stand-in for Scott Joplin, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESS

Scott Joplin

Music · c. 1868 to 1917

Illustrated title plate of the sheet music for Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, issued in St. Louis by John Stark and Son.

[A7]Gaylord Music Library, Washington University in St. Louis1902Public Domain Mark 1.0read 2026-07-29Downloaded the institution's IIIF page image (leaf 0, title plate) at 3000px wide; resized to 2200px long edge with sharp (fit inside, no enlargement); encoded to WebP quality 80. No crop, rotation, retouching, or color adjustment.

Filed under

"King of Ragtime writers," printed by his publisher on the cover of Maple Leaf Rag. [A4]Maple Leaf Rag (sheet music, Stark Music Co. printing)Gaylord Music Library, Washington University in St. Louis, via Internet Archiveclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

In his own time he was acknowledged as King of Ragtime. He also wrote an opera that went unstaged until fifty-five years after he was gone. [A2]Biography, "Scott Joplin, 1868-1917," from The Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of AmericaLibrary of Congress, Performing Arts Reading Roomclass A · read 2026-07-28

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A woodblock print mounted as an album leaf from the Freer Gallery of Art depicts Katsushika Hokusai as an elderly man leaning on a cane, from an album of sketches by Hokusai.

Katsushika Hokusai

Art · c. 1760 to 1849

Color woodblock print, Shower Below the Summit, from Hokusai's series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, held by the Art Institute of Chicago.

[A9]The Art Institute of Chicagoc. 1830/33CC0 Public Domain Designationread 2026-07-29Downloaded the institution's IIIF derivative at 3000px width (IIIF master 8897 x 6158). Resized to 2400px long edge (fit inside, no enlargement) and encoded to WebP at quality 82. No cropping, rotation, retouching, or color adjustment.

Filed under

Japanese printmaker, 1760 to 1849. [A5]Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave), artwork 24645, reference 1925.3245The Art Institute of Chicagoclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

One name carries the catalog record. The working life behind it carries at least seven. [A8]Hokusai's Life (page 402 of the museum's Hokusai biography section)Sumida Hokusai Museum (Sumida City, Tokyo)class A · read 2026-07-28

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A Library of Congress halftone print reproduces Elias Gottlieb Haussmann's oil portrait, held by the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum zu Leipzig, showing the sitter holding a manuscript canon.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Music · 1685 to 1750

Autograph score page, the first page of Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244 in his own hand, held at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

[A6]Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv1736 (institution records Entstehungsjahr 1736; Entstehungszeit 1740 (ca.))Public Domain Mark 1.0read 2026-07-29Downloaded the IIIF full-resolution JPEG (2871x4340). Resized to fit a 2200px long edge (1455x2200) and re-encoded to WebP at quality 80 with sharp. No cropping, rotation, tonal or color adjustment.

Filed under

The Leipzig council's third choice for cantor of the Thomasschule and director of music for the city [B1]Johann Sebastian Bach: his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750, by Philipp Spitta, translated by Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller-Maitland, volume IIInternet Archive, scanned from a University of California Libraries copyclass B · read 2026-07-28

The record

Third on the council's list in 1723, after Telemann and Graupner. The manuscripts and prints that followed do not carry a rank. [B1]Johann Sebastian Bach: his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750, by Philipp Spitta, translated by Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller-Maitland, volume IIInternet Archive, scanned from a University of California Libraries copyclass B · read 2026-07-28

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A glass negative from the George Grantham Bain Collection shows the subject standing on a porch staircase in outdoor dress, labeled Mrs. Hetty Green on the plate itself.

Hetty Howland Robinson Green

Finance · 1834 to 1916

Mandate of the United States Supreme Court, 1870, in the suit of Edward H. Green and Hetty H. Green against the executor of the Sylvia Ann Howland estate.

[A12]National Archives at Boston, National Archives and Records Administration, Records of District Courts of the United States (Record Group 21), Case Files1870Use Restriction(s): Unrestricted; Access Restriction(s): Unrestrictedread 2026-07-29Resized from 2365x3812 to 1365x2200 (fit inside, long edge 2200) and converted from JPEG to WebP at quality 80. No crop, no retouching, no compositing.

Filed under

The Witch of Wall Street. [A1]The Indianapolis journal (Indianapolis, Ind.), February 19, 1889, Image 2, column item "Mrs. Hetty Green's Millions"Library of Congress, Chronicling America (contributed by the Indiana State Library)class A · read 2026-07-28

The record

Newspapers gave her the name. The same press recorded the work: a check for $1,100,000 handed to the Controller of the City of New York for its special revenue bonds, in the financial storm of October 1907. [A2]New-York tribune (New York, N.Y.), October 24, 1907, Image 5, "Hands City a Check for $1,100,000"Library of Congress, Chronicling Americaclass A · read 2026-07-28

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An illustrated stand-in for Joshua Slocum, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESS

Joshua Slocum

The sea · 1844 to 1909

Engraved lines plan of the sloop Spray, sheer and half-breadth, from the 1900 first edition of Sailing Alone Around the World.

[A9]Library of Congress1900The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.read 2026-07-29Rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise to upright the plate, cropped the adjacent board edge at the foot, resized to 2200px long edge, converted to WebP quality 80. No retouching, no tonal edits.

Filed under

A deep-water sailing master whose trade steam had ended, handed a derelict sloop propped up in a field. [A1]Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone Around the World (1900), digitized plain-text edition, eBook number 6317, illustrated by Thomas Fogarty and George VarianProject Gutenbergclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

Slocum rebuilt the derelict by hand and sailed her out of East Boston alone on April 24, 1895. He anchored at Newport at one in the morning on June 27, 1898, having done it without crew. [A4]The Spray will Come Back: Solo Circumnavigator Joshua Slocum, exhibition, Braitmayer Family GalleryNew Bedford Whaling Museumclass A · read 2026-07-28

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A carte-de-visite albumen photograph made by the Cruces y Campa studio in Mexico City between 1850 and 1859 shows the sitter in half length, facing the camera.

Alexander von Humboldt

Mining and science · 1769 to 1859

Hand colored engraved fold out plate showing a cross section of the Andes flanked by columns of measurements taken during the 1799 to 1803 expedition.

[A19]Zentralbibliothek Zürich (shelfmark NF 34 | F), served via e-rara.ch, the platform for digitized rare books from Swiss institutions, ETH Library Zurich1805Public Domain Markread 2026-07-29Downloaded the IIIF full-resolution JPEG at native 10469x6217; resized to 2400px on the long edge with sharp (fit inside, no enlargement); encoded to WebP quality 80. No cropping, rotation, retouching or color adjustment.

Filed under

Salaried officer of the Prussian mining department. [A1]Alexander von Humboldt-Chronologie, ed. Ingo Schwarz, in edition humboldt digital, ed. Ottmar Ette. Entries 101 to 150, May 1791 to May 1793: the request for a mining post, Freiberg, Assessor, Oberbergmeister.Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaftenclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

On 30 May 1793, at Bayreuth, he took up the post of Oberbergmeister. By the end of November 1793 he had set up a free mining school at Steben, on his own initiative and out of his own means. [A2]Alexander von Humboldt-Chronologie, entries 151 to 200, 1793 to 1794: taking up the Oberbergmeister post at Bayreuth, the free mining school at Steben, the 1794 memorandum.Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaftenclass A · read 2026-07-28

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The photograph, catalogued by Wellcome Collection as item 13274i, shows the sitter seated in a buttoned chair wearing a bonnet and a patterned silk gown.

Florence Nightingale

Care and statistics · 1820 to 1910

Hand coloured polar area diagram plate showing relative mortality in the hospitals of the army in the East, April 1854 to March 1856, printed 1858.

[A11]Wellcome Collection, London1858Public Domain Markread 2026-07-29Fetched the IIIF image at full native width (3337 x 2771 JPEG), resized to 2400px long edge with fit inside and no enlargement, converted to WebP at quality 82. No cropping, rotation, retouching or colour adjustment.

Filed under

Lady with the Lamp, a nickname the Florence Nightingale Museum calls a key part of her legacy. [A8]Highlights of the Collection, entry for the fanoos lanternFlorence Nightingale Museum Londonclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

The lamp is the label. The record underneath is a statistician's, and The National Archives says so in those words. [A1]Florence Nightingale, education resourceThe National Archives (UK)class A · read 2026-07-28

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An illustrated stand-in for Mary Anning, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESS

Mary Anning

Fossils · 1799 to 1847

Autograph letter from Mary Anning describing the plesiosaurus discovery, headed by her own ink sketch of the skeleton scaled one inch to each foot.

[A8]Wellcome Collection, LondonCC BY 4.0read 2026-07-29Resized from 3083x4673 to 1451x2200 (long edge 2200, fit inside, no enlargement); converted JPEG to WebP at quality 80. No cropping, rotation, or tonal adjustment.Autograph letter concerning the discovery of plesiosaurus, from Mary Anning; sketch of plesiosaurus. Wellcome Collection. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Filed under

A fossil seller at Lyme Regis, whose finds were supplied to the collectors and professors who wrote the papers. [A2]Rev. W. Buckland, "On the Discovery of a New Species of Pterodactyle in the Lias at Lyme Regis" (from page 217) and "On the Discovery of Coprolites, or Fossil Faeces, in the Lias at Lyme Regis, and in other Formations", both read 6 February 1829, in Transactions of the Geological Society, Second Series, Volume 3. Full scanned text of the volume.Geological Society of London; scanned by the California Academy of Sciences Library for the Biodiversity Heritage Library, mirrored at the Internet Archiveclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

The 1824 paper on the almost perfect Plesiosaurus names its owner, its professor and a neighbouring collector. It does not name the woman who dug it out. [A1]Rev. W. D. Conybeare, "On the Discovery of an almost perfect Skeleton of the Plesiosaurus", read 20 February 1824, in Transactions of the Geological Society, Second Series, Volume 1, Part the Second (London: printed by Richard Taylor, 1824), from page 381. Full scanned text of the volume, read and searched end to end for the absence claim.Geological Society of London; scanned by the California Academy of Sciences Library for the Biodiversity Heritage Library, mirrored at the Internet Archiveclass A · read 2026-07-28

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An illustrated stand-in for Ada Lovelace, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESS

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace

Mathematics · 1815 to 1852

Fold-out diagram for the computation by the Engine of the Numbers of Bernoulli, printed with Note G in Scientific Memoirs, volume 3, 1843.

[A8]Natural History Museum Library, London (digitized for the Biodiversity Heritage Library)1843Public domainread 2026-07-29Downloaded the archive-served JPEG derivative of leaf 754 at 2241x1565, resized to 2200px on the long edge, converted to WebP at quality 80. No cropping, rotation, retouching, or tonal adjustment.

Filed under

"NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR." [A1]Scientific Memoirs, Volume III (London, 1843), Article XXIX, Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq., by L. F. Menabrea, with Notes by the Translator, printed pages 666 to 731Natural History Museum Library, London, via the Biodiversity Heritage Library, on the Internet Archiveclass A · read 2026-07-28

The record

The Notes run longer than the memoir they annotate. The only name at their foot is three letters, "A. A. L." [A1]Scientific Memoirs, Volume III (London, 1843), Article XXIX, Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage, Esq., by L. F. Menabrea, with Notes by the Translator, printed pages 666 to 731Natural History Museum Library, London, via the Biodiversity Heritage Library, on the Internet Archiveclass A · read 2026-07-28

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An illustrated stand-in for Bessie Coleman, drawn in the Hall's engraving register because no rights-clean institutional likeness was obtained.ILLUSTRATED LIKENESS

Bessie Coleman

Flight · 1892 to 1926

A newspaper advertisement for Bessie Coleman's exhibition flight at Checkerboard Airdrome, printed in The Chicago Whip, October 14, 1922.

[A7]Library of Congress, Chronicling America (National Digital Newspaper Program)1922-10-14The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety.read 2026-07-29Cropped to the advertisement block by IIIF region request (region 2098,2818,1258,1862 of the 4775x6472 master page image); JPEG converted to WebP at quality 80. No resize needed (long edge 1862, under the 2200 cap). No retouching, no compositing.

Filed under

Manicurist, White Sox Barbershop, Chicago. [B1]Coleman, Bessie (Bessie Coleman: The First Licensed Black Pilot), by Roni MoralesTexas State Historical Associationclass B · read 2026-07-28

The record

White pilots in the United States refused to give her instruction. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale issued her an aviator's licence on June 15, 1921. [A1]Bessie Coleman's Daring Life as The First Licensed Black Woman Pilot (published June 15, 2021; originally published as "Celebrating the Centennial of Bessie Coleman as the First Licensed African American Woman Pilot")Smithsonian National Air and Space Museumclass A · read 2026-07-28

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A copy passport photograph of Ramanujan made around 1913, held among the college's manuscripts.

Srinivasa Ramanujan

Mathematics · 1887 to 1920

Page 11 of the paper Some definite integrals by S. Ramanujan, printed in Messenger of Mathematics volume 44, Cambridge, 1915.

[A4]University of Toronto Libraries, Gerstein Science Information Centre; digitized by the Internet Archive1915NOT_IN_COPYRIGHTread 2026-07-29Downloaded the archive.org page render of leaf n20 at 1757x3077 JPEG; resized to fit within 2200px on the long edge (1256x2200) and encoded to WebP at quality 80. No cropping, rotation, retouching or tonal adjustment.

Filed under

Clerk, accounts section, Madras Port Trust. [B1]Biography of Srinivasa Ramanujan, MacTutor History of Mathematics ArchiveUniversity of St Andrews, MacTutor History of Mathematics Archiveclass B · read 2026-07-28

The record

The ledger kept for the port and the notebooks kept for mathematics belong to the same years of one life. Cambridge read the second only after a letter in January 1913. [A2]Collected Papers of Srinivasa Ramanujan, edited by G H Hardy, P V Seshu Aiyar and B M Wilson, with notes and extracts from Ramanujan's letters to HardyCambridge University Press, publisher of record, 1927; digitised copy served by the Internet Archive in the Digital Library of India collection, contributed by Kerala State Libraryclass A · read 2026-07-28

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A detail of an oil painting of 1787 by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, showing the sitter in a broad hat and travelling cloak against a Roman landscape.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Government and science · 1749 to 1832

A disc 69 millimetres across, drawn in pen over erased pencil on round cut paper, mounted on card and then watercoloured in six segments.

[A8]Freies Deutsches Hochstift / Frankfurter Goethe-Museum, published through museum-digital:hessenNovember 1809Public Domain Markread 2026-07-29Downloaded the institution's own published image file at its native 2677x3700; resized to 2400px on the long edge with sharp (fit inside, no enlargement); encoded to WebP quality 80. No cropping, rotation, retouching or colour adjustment.

Filed under

Inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 2001 under the heading "Goethes literarischer Nachlass". [A1]Goethes literarischer Nachlass, in the German Commission for UNESCO's register of Memory of the World inscriptions in Germany. Gives the year of inscription, the holding institution and the composition of the holding.Deutsche UNESCO-Kommissionclass A · read 2026-07-29

The record

The heading is literature. Inside it the register lists "Schriften über naturwissenschaftliche Themen sowie Abhandlungen zur Kunsttheorie". [A1]Goethes literarischer Nachlass, in the German Commission for UNESCO's register of Memory of the World inscriptions in Germany. Gives the year of inscription, the holding institution and the composition of the holding.Deutsche UNESCO-Kommissionclass A · read 2026-07-29

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Conditions of entry

Fourteen historical professional identity records, assembled from primary and institutional sources. Every line names where it came from. Every record publishes what it declines to claim.

They are not here to build their records. So we built each one from the archives, line by cited line, and hung each one through one digitized object its institution publishes as free to use.

Records entered the register between July 28, 2026 and July 29, 2026. No rankings, no scores, no votes. A register is not a leaderboard.

The standard

A record that cannot decline is not a record.

All 14 records here publish what they refuse to claim, and what was checked in order to refuse it. Each one prints its own boundary beside its own findings, not behind them.

IndexRegister order
Herman MelvilleLetters1819 to 1891Williamina FlemingAstronomy1857 to 1911Scott JoplinMusicc. 1868 to 1917Katsushika HokusaiArtc. 1760 to 1849Johann Sebastian BachMusic1685 to 1750Hetty Howland Robinson GreenFinance1834 to 1916Joshua SlocumThe sea1844 to 1909Alexander von HumboldtMining and science1769 to 1859Florence NightingaleCare and statistics1820 to 1910Mary AnningFossils1799 to 1847Augusta Ada King, Countess of LovelaceMathematics1815 to 1852Bessie ColemanFlight1892 to 1926Srinivasa RamanujanMathematics1887 to 1920Johann Wolfgang von GoetheGovernment and science1749 to 1832

Your own record is the same object.

Same renderer, same sections, same insistence that a line names where it came from. The only difference is that you get to write yours.

Build your record ↗