DISCOVER THE HISTORICAL WORLD AROUND YOU

Image: Old Maps Online Discover the historical world around you Want to explore your surroundings while travelling back in time? A new app by Old Maps Online lets you do just that! The app uses your phone or tablet’s GPS to help you discover the world around you using thousands of historical maps, some of which you can find in Europeana! Taking you from Switzerland to New South Wales through the centuries, it’s a great example of how digital cultural heritage can be used in new and exciting ways. We can’t wait to give it a go! Download the app

A letter contributed to Europeana 1914-1918 by Christian Strauss (CC BY-SA) Writing the past: transcribing handwritten documents from World War One Over the past three years, thousands of handwritten documents have been contributed to the Europeana 1914-1918 website. Unfortunately, many of these precious accounts are very difficult to read. To be truly useful to readers, they need to be fully transcribed so that they can be read easily. Europeana’s partner Facts & Files has developed a tool precisely for that purpose. A group of German students put the tool to the test. Read more

Image: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, CC BY-SA This is what a 16th century e-reader looked like It’s easy to take thousands of books on holiday with you these days thanks to the e-reader, a device that can store enough books to keep you reading for months. E-readers are especially great for people who like to read lots of books at once as they automatically remember where you left off last time. But they’re nothing new. As early as 1588, the Italian military engineer Agostino Ramelli invented a device that allowed people to read multiple books at the same time, without having to worry about remembering page numbers. Read more