In this edition of “What We’re Reading” learn how to recover collections after a fire, discover the best historical resources on the web, and revisit historical surprise attacks. Also, delve into the history of the Manhattan project and peruse the latest titles from the Humanities E-book program.

• Fire Recovery for Collections
  The wildfires in California have prompted the Library of Congress to create a page of resources for dealing with fire-damaged collections. Links include the National Park Service’s Museum Handbook (specifically chapters 9 and 10), the MATRIX Disaster Preparedness database, and the National Archives’ online document: “A Primer on Disaster Preparedness and Response: Paper-Based Materials”, to name a few.
• Adventures in Wonderland
  In this article from The New Yorker, Anthony Grafton, vice president of the AHA’s Professional Division, lists (and links to) his favorite online historical resources and archives. But he acknowledges that  “many questions remain” when it comes to digital resources, and so he points to online discussions like the Digitization of History site of the Centre for History and Economics at King’s College, and even our own Robert Townsend’s article “Google Books: What’s Not to Like?”
• Surprise Attack Reconsidered (Video)
  In this video on the Council on Foreign Relations site, Ernst May (Charles Warren Professor of History, Harvard University) discusses “some of history’s most infamous surprise attacks and the lessons for current policymakers.” Wm. Roger Louis, director of the National History Center, presides over the talk.
• Why They Called it the Manhattan Project
  An interesting article that takes a look at the sites in Manhattan associated with the development of the atomic bomb. It’s based on an interview with Robert S. Norris, a historian with the National Resources Defense Council
• Humanities E-Book News (PDF)
  The latest news from the ACLS Humanities E-Book announces the newest additions to their online collection of e-books. These new titles “were chosen by scholars for their continuing importance for teaching and research.” The E-book News also mentions new releases from Gutenberg-e.

Contributors: Debbie Ann Doyle, Elisabeth Grant, Miriam Hauss, Robert Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.