New York Public Library's Digital Gallery
digitalgallery.nypl.org
Lose yourself in this vast collection of rare prints, vintage maps, manuscripts, posters, photographs, sheet-music covers, dust jackets, menus, cigarette cards and other artifacts. There are more than 300,000 digital images of original materials available for viewing. Access is free, and you can download images to your computer for personal or research use. The My Digital page will store your favorite discoveries along with your search history.
How do we come up with our 50 best? Short answer: we take your suggestions, probe friends and colleagues about their favorite online haunts and then surf like mad. This year's finalists are a mix of newcomers, new discoveries and veterans that have learned some new tricks