Europeana 1914-1918

Werner WeberJill Cousins supported by

Giuliana De Francesco

Europeana 1914-1918

• The project creates a digital European archive based on private memorabilia from the

First World War.

• Until 2014, the year of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WW1, pictures, letters

and memorabilia are collected in digital form from many of the countries involved in the

War

• Aim: To save people’s family memories of this tragedy that convulsed Europe and make

them accessible to the world. This First World War digital archive makes it possible to

renew and share their significance.

• The project is a partnership between Europeana, the German National Library and the

Oxford University.

 

Europeana 1914-1918

• In Germany the project started in March 2011. • People in Germany are invited to share their private photographs, letters, diaries, short films, audio recordings, objects and their stories of the World War I. • They can bring their memorabilia to the roadshows in several German cities. • The items are digitized professionally and added to the online archive, along with corresponding descriptions. • Independently of the roadshows, everyone can contribute their digitized images and information to the website

 

Europeana 1914-1918

•BKM requested for the Project by Europeana Foundation

•BKM DNB(German National Library) to take over the coordination of

the project

•Other German partners are:

Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

Württembergische Landesbibliothek / Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte

Facts and Files (press release and public relation )

 

Background

• Europeana 1914-1918 is based on an initiative launched in 2008 at the

University of Oxford where people across the UK and the Commonwealth

were asked to bring family letters, photographs, souvenirs and memorable

stories from the First World War to be digitised.

• This produced a remarkable collection, the Great War Archive

www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/gwa/.

• The success of the idea has encouraged Europeana, Europe’s digital archive,

library and museum, and the German National Library into an alliance with

Oxford University to roll out the scheme in Germany. in a 1914-18 archive.

Crowdsourcing • The project is applying crowdsourcing to preserving European history:

Collecting input from people at large and assembling a wide variety of family

memorabilia which will be made accessible to the public and to researchers.

• Those who have direct memories of the war are very few now. Documents

and letters, stories and souvenirs are often fragile, and those who hold them

want to transmit them, and make sure the memories are preserved.

• The centenary of the war is approaching, and public interest will grow.

Crowdsourcing provides opportunities online for people to discover more

about the war, and to understand the different perspectives.

Roadshows so far:

• Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main,  31. March 2011

• Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin,  2. April 2011

• Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München,  6. April 2011

• Württembergische Landesbibliothek /Bibliothek für Zeitgeschichte,

Stuttgart, 12. April 2011

• Stadt- und Regionalbibliothek Erfurt, 14. Juni 2011

• Sächsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitätssbibliothek

Dresden, 22. Juni 2011

• Zentralbücherei Kiel, 29. Juni 2011

• Staatliche Bibliothek Regensburg, 20. Juli 2011

Everyone can contribute: Offline

Extraordinary success

http://www.factsandfiles.com/index.php?id=663

https://einestages.spiegel.de/external/AllDocuments/l0/25/Soriginal_publicationdate/SDESCENDING/S1914-1918/T/T/T.html

Follow up in Germany

• Continuing of the project independently by the Länder

• Responsibility by the Länder Ministries of Culture or Culture Institutions (Archives, Libraries, Museums etc.)

Everyone can contribute: Online

• Independently of the roadshows, everyone can contribute

digitized material and information to the website. To do so:• Step 1: Register

Step 2: Guarantee about copyright

Step 3: Agree on Europeana terms

Step 4: Contribute material (content + metadata)

Step-to-Step Guide to the online form

• Includes short film „How to add something to the archive“

A short film about this unlikely friendship of RAF man Bernard Darley and German prisoner of war Otto Arndt illustrates the

project’s intention vividly. http://www.youtube.com/embed/8uLOWsWod7c

Europeana 1914-1918

• Questions ?

• Thank you for your attention!!