How to Use This Site

This page explains the structure and navigation of the Germans From Russia in Colorado web site, and technical issues you may encounter on some of its pages.

Navigation

The site navigation bar appears on the left of every page in the site. The same navigation links appear at the bottom of each page, in textual hyperlink form. The bottom of each page also contains links to our site map (a hierarchical listing of all the pages in this site), this Help page, and a link to the copyright and fair use statement for this site. Please read this statement if you intend to use images or other digital objects or information from our site.

Several institutions are associated with the creation, hosting, content and maintenance of this site. In the left-hand navigation bar are logos of some of these supporting instutions. Clicking on these logos will take you to each institution's web site. At the very bottom of each page are links to the CSU Libraries, Archives and Special Collections, and Colorado State University, as well as links to statements of relevant University policies.

The following sections describe the pages found at each of the navigation links, in the order they appear in the left-hand bar.

Home

This button returns you to the main page of the Germans from Russia in Colorado site.

Oral Histories

The oral histories in this collection are represented by transcripts and audio extracts, and arranged on two pages. The first page gives background information about the oral histories, and a brief description of how to access them. The second page is a list of links to the transcripts and audio extracts.

Transcripts are represented by the name of the interviewee and the date of the interview. They are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the interviewee. The transcripts are in PDF format, which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to read. Download the Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website. Each transcript may be searched from within the PDF window, by clicking on the Acrobat Find tool (the binoculars in the PDF toolbar) or by typing Ctrl-F. Enter a word or phrase in the "Find what:" text box, and click the "Find Next" button. A search may be repeated by clicking the "Find Again" button (the small binoculars with an arrow over them) in the PDF toolbar.

Audio extracts are listed by title under the transcripts of the interviews from which they were derived. They are listed in the order they appear in the interview. The listing for each audio extract includes the file size and playing time. Audio extracts are in MP3 format, and can be played by any multimedia application that supports that format. There are many of these applications, too many to list here; some of the most popular are Windows Media Player, Apple QuickTime, and WinAmp. These applications can be downloaded from the Web; Windows Media Player and Apple QuickTime come installed on many computers running Microsoft or Apple operating systems.

Metadata about each transcript or audio extract may be viewed by clicking the "(Description)" link next to the transcript link or extract title. This metadata includes a description, subject headings, interviewer name, and technical and other information. Terms in the metadata page are hot-linked if they are searchable; clicking on a term will bring up a search results page containing other digital objects in the collection that are described by that term.

Gallery

The Gallery link takes you to a page of thumbnails of photographic images. Click on a thumbnail to bring up a larger image and the metadata associated with it. This image and metadata will open in a separate browser window.

Caspar Collins

This link takes you to the main page of the digitized Caspar Collins Map Collection. This page contains background information on Caspar Collins and the collection. It links to pages with a bibliography of published sources and links to more information available online. It also contains links to the pages for the maps in the collection.

The Caspar Collins Map Collection contains five maps. Each map has its own web page, which describes the map and gives information about the location or locations depicted. Each map page contains a thumbnail of the map in its entirety; pages for strip maps also contain thumbnails of each of the maps in the strip. Clicking on the thumbnails bring up larger views of the same map in another browser window.

The Camp Collins map is a medium-sized map, and is the only map that was not digitized in sections. Its page contains a single thumbnail of the entire map. Clicking on this thumbnail brings up a larger view of the entire map.

The Fort Laramie map is a large map which, because of its size, was digitized in quadrants. Its page contains a thumbnail of the entire map. Detailed images of each quadrant can be opened by clicking on a quadrant of the thumbnail. Due to file size considerations, there is no larger view of the entire map.

The remaining three maps are strip maps, containing three or four maps of different locations. Each of their pages contains a thumbnail of the entire strip, and thumbnails of each location map. Clicking on the strip thumbnail brings up a larger view of the entire strip. To keep file sizes manageable, and to better show the structure of the entire map, this larger view is not sized to show details clearly. To view these details, click on the thumbnail of a location map. The location maps are listed on each map page in left-to-right order as they appear on the strip.

Search

The Search link leads to CONTENTdm's Search page. CONTENTdm's Search allows you to search specific metadata fields and to construct complex searches using Boolean operators. Click the Help link at the top of the Search page for more detailed instructions on using CONTENTdm's Search features.

About This Site

This link takes you to information about this web site, including design information, technical information about the creation of our digital objects, and preferred forms for citing this site. It also contains a link to our data dictionary -- a list of the fields used in the CONTENTdm database and what they mean.

Resources

The Resources link leads to a page of additional resources about the Germans from Russia in Colorado and the Midwest, including a bibliography of published sources and links to related web sites. It also contains working papers from the original Germans from Russia in Colorado Study Project, conducted by the CSU History Department from 1975-1978. These papers include a list of questions used in the oral history interviews, status reports, bulletins published during the life of the project, and field reports.

Contact Us

Clicking on the Contact Us link opens a page that contains contact information for more information about the Germans from Russia web site, and a form you can use to send comments or questions about the site to the development team. Enter your name, email address, and comments, and click the "Submit Comments" button to send.