history Archives

From Charlemagne to Obama: Unifying ancestries and Western European genealogy

Written by

Data scientist Reagan W Moore attempts to construct a unifying ancestry for Western Europeans that will create a genealogical history of the modern world.

What do Britain’s Prince George and former American President Barack Obama have in common? The answer: they are both descendants of Charlemagne, the 9th-century Holy Roman Emperor. Reagan W Moore, Emeritus Professor at the School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA is creating a genealogical history of the Western world. Based on the […]

The past that we know and the past that was: Exploring Constructed Past Theory

Written by

Kenneth Thibodeau explains the Constructed Past Theory, using concepts rom semiotics and computer science to understand that the past is a product of cognitive processes

How do we come to know the past? Constructed Past Theory (CPT) claims that the past, as we understand it, is not what existed or happened but is the product of cognitive processes. By using concepts and methods from semiotics, archival science, and computer science, researchers are beginning to understand those processes. Dr Kenneth Thibodeau, a researcher with the InterPARES […]

The historical writings of Djiguiba Camara (Guinea)

Written by

Dr Elara Bertho, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and Dr Marie Rodet, at SOAS University of London, have rediscovered, studied, edited, and annotated the historical work of Djiguiba Camara (c. 1885-1963), a writer and historian from Upper Guinea. Camara’s fascinating local history, “Essai d’histoire locale”, was used without direct acknowledgement by French historian Yves Person more than […]

IRAND: Helping to preserve children’s and youth drawings of the 20^th century

Written by

Children's drawings give insight into the world views of former generations.

Professor Dr Jutta Ströter-Bender of Paderborn University is co-founder of the International Research and Archives Network (IRAND) that is preserving and archiving children’s and youth drawings of the 20th century. IRAND views these endangered collections as historical documents, worthy of preservation and PhD level research. The network is a Cooperating Institution of the Sub-Committee on Education and Research (SCEaR), UNESCO […]