#archival-retrospective

[ follow ]
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 week ago

Scientists Confirm Remains of Medieval Emperor Otto the Great - Medievalists.net

Emperor Otto the Great's identity has been confirmed through scientific research, including DNA analysis, after centuries of uncertainty.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 days ago

Required Reading

Calida Rawles' art explores the duality of water as both healing and destructive within the Black diaspora's history.
Media industry
fromElectronic Frontier Foundation
2 weeks ago

Blocking the Internet Archive Won't Stop AI, But It Will Erase the Web's Historical Record

Major newspapers are blocking the Internet Archive from preserving their websites, threatening decades of historical records that journalists and researchers depend on.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 days ago

10 Art Books for Your Spring Reading List

Molly Crabapple's book on the Jewish Bund and Susan Simensky Bietila's memoir highlight historical narratives through art and activism.
Photography
fromwww.theguardian.com
3 weeks ago

Negatives are photographic truths': the collector who fled Russia with a haul of second world war images

A photojournalist collects 35,000 World War II negatives to preserve authentic, undistorted historical documentation of the war from multiple nations.
#museum-funding
fromMedievalists.net
3 weeks ago

New Medieval Books: Approaching Records of the Household and Wardrobe - Medievalists.net

The Household and Wardrobe Accounts are English records that document the daily needs of the king and his family. This book serves as a guide to these sources, showing how they can be used and what valuable insights they offer into medieval government.
History
fromArchDaily
4 weeks ago

Archiving the Technosphere: How Museum Architecture Mediates Human-Made Systems

The contemporary technology museum has emerged as a performative participant in the systems it seeks to document. The architecture of these institutions has become increasingly fluid and bold, often mirroring the velocity and complexity of the systems it houses. They operate as mediators between the human, the ecological, and the technological realms, transforming from encyclopedic warehouses into active educational engines.
Science
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 week ago

UK Museums Hold Over 260,000 Human Remains, Report Finds

UK museums hold over 263,000 human remains, with significant collections from former British colonies, raising ethical concerns.
Miscellaneous
fromArchDaily
1 month ago

Error 404: Architectural Memory in the Age of Algorithms

Architectural archives have always been instruments of power that determine what counts as architecture and how history is told, whether through institutional curation or digital algorithms.
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
1 week ago

Comment | Museums must be the leaders in a moral revolution

Bregman claims, 'Today the whole of Europe risks turning into one big Venice, a beautiful open-air museum. A great destination for Chinese and American tourists. A place to admire what was once the centre of the world.' This statement encapsulates the concern that Europe is losing its cultural significance.
Arts
#medieval-manuscripts
Higher education
fromInsideHook
1 month ago

Are the Humanities Poised for an Academic Comeback?

AI-driven interdisciplinary courses combining humanities and artificial intelligence offer a potential pathway to revitalize humanities programs facing institutional cuts and declining enrollment.
Arts
fromArtnet News
2 weeks ago

Archaeologists Identify Lost Medieval Village in Polish Forest | Artnet News

Researchers in Poland have located Stolzenberg, a lost medieval village in Pomerania, using metal detection and geophysical surveys that revealed 1,500 surface anomalies including coins and building remnants.
Renovation
fromianVisits
1 month ago

Bromley's historic archives to get bigger home in Priory Gardens

Bromley's historic archives will relocate to a new, larger building in Priory Gardens after council approval, addressing storage needs created by museum closure and library relocation.
Arts
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 weeks ago

The world's memory': why Nigeria is burying its history under a mountain in Svalbard

Nigeria became the first African country to deposit cultural and literary archives in the Arctic World Archive, a data storage facility beneath Svalbard that preserves records on specialized film lasting up to 2,000 years.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Dreaming of Owning a Medieval Artefact? Here's Your Chance - Medievalists.net

TimeLine Auctions' March 3 online sale features hundreds of medieval historical objects including a 13th-century Limoges cross, 1224 Chinese armor, Viking silver mount, and Anglo-Saxon brooch.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 weeks ago

Meet the Woman Who Made Museums More Accessible

Lorena Bradford, the National Gallery of Art's first head of Accessible Programs, transformed museum accessibility by creating intentional programs for disabled visitors, including ASL tours, memory loss programs, and medical student training initiatives.
Science
fromNature
1 month ago

Why every scientist needs a librarian

Academic libraries have transformed into dynamic research hubs offering expert librarianship, technologies, coding, maker spaces, and data support that accelerate scientific research.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

East Roman Archaeology: Goals and Challenges, with Marica Cassis - Medievalists.net

Archaeology reveals material evidence of daily life, settlement patterns, and economic systems in the East Roman world that textual sources cannot provide, while facing challenges in establishing itself as a distinct field separate from classical and Islamic archaeology.
#virtual-museums
fromPoynter
2 months ago

This moment will be defined by what we choose to record - Poynter

When unmarked, masked federal agents grabbed an international student and forced her into an SUV on a public street in the spring of 2025, the United States entered into a new era of federal policing. At first, it was alarming - a move more commonly associated with authoritarian dictatorships than a democratically elected government with checks and balances. Now that this tactic, and others like it, have become routine, it is no longer enough to react in alarm.
US politics
Business
fromFast Company
1 month ago

Navigating the ghosts of cultures past

Organizational culture constantly changes; leaders must discern which legacy cultural elements to retain and which to remove while balancing enduring beliefs with adaptive practices.
Web development
fromCmsreport
2 months ago

Preserving CMS Report: Why We Are Transitioning to a Permanent Archive

CMS Report will be transitioned into a permanent archive: no new content or updates will be published while existing material remains online and accessible.
Philosophy
fromArchDaily
1 month ago

When Do Buildings Begin to Matter? Rethinking Heritage in Local Time

Global heritage systems prioritize longevity and material authenticity rooted in European slow-growth models, disadvantaging rapidly changing cities where cultural time operates unevenly.
Tech industry
fromTheregister
1 month ago

Internet history is vanishing. Researchers want to save it

Preserve historical internet operational data to enable future analysis of network behavior, societal impact, and to prevent irreversible loss of critical measurements.
LGBT
fromLGBTQ Nation
1 month ago

The surprising way a professor & her students are preserving centuries of LGBTQ+ history - LGBTQ Nation

UC Berkeley professor Juana María Rodríguez teaches a Wikipedia course that preserves and expands LGBTQ+ history by creating and editing niche entries to counter contributor bias.
#heritage
Arts
fromColossal
4 weeks ago

The Met Introduces High-Definition 3D Scans of Dozens of Art Historical Objects

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other institutions now offer 3D digital models of artworks, enabling detailed examination of textures, materials, and hidden details impossible to see in person or through standard digital images.
fromBuzzFeed
1 month ago

50 Historical Photos That Are So Shocking, They're Changing My Perception Of The Entire World

I recently gained a new obsession, and I'm ready to share it with the world: finding and analyzing rare vintage images. A picture speaks a thousand words, and these photographs tell us more about history than a textbook chapter ever could. So even if you think history is boring, I'm well-equipped to change your mind, and give you some delicious food for your brain to chew on today.
History
#british-museum
E-Commerce
fromBuzzFeed
1 month ago

12 Grandparent Memory Books And Journals To Chronicle Family Histories

BuzzFeed Shopping provides service-focused product recommendations prioritizing readers, vetting products, fact-checking claims, exposing fake deals, and offering authentic, inclusive choices across price points.
US politics
fromwww.independent.co.uk
2 months ago

Inside the hunt for British Museum's missing treasures

The Independent funds on-the-ground, paywall-free investigative reporting while a six-person British Museum team celebrates breakthroughs in tracing missing Greek and Roman treasures with a golden bell.
fromHyperallergic
1 month ago

Call for Applications: 2026 Craft Archive Fellowship

The Center for Craft is now accepting applications for the 2026 Craft Archive Fellowship, offering four $5,000 awards to support research on underrepresented craft histories in the United States.
Arts
Remodel
fromArchDaily
1 month ago

Heritage After Failure: What We Will Keep From Today's Architectural Mistakes

Failure and shortcomings often become central to architectural heritage as preservation results from evolving interpretations rather than original merit.
Science
fromNature
2 months ago

Daily briefing: Scientists delve into the smells of history

Researchers recreate historical smells and use imaging, AI, and biomedical advances to probe heritage, ancient human timelines, medical rescue devices, and rare-disease genetics.
Renovation
fromArchDaily
1 month ago

Material Mediation and Architectural Heritage

Updating historic buildings requires balancing modern performance, regulatory demands, and energy goals while preserving material, cultural, and symbolic continuity.
Remodel
fromArchDaily
2 months ago

Forum, Depot, Maze: Toward a Plural Ecology of Museums

Museums should shift from fixed, authoritative narratives to porous spatial ecologies that grant visitors greater agency and make process and back-of-house visible.
fromInside Higher Ed | Higher Education News, Events and Jobs
2 months ago

We Need to Revitalize Area Studies (opinion)

Just before winter break, news broke that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill plans to close its centers for African, Asian, European, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Slavic, Eurasian and East European studies. Though UNC administrators said in a statement that decisions on closures are not finalized, they confirmed they are evaluating centers and institutes as part of a budget-cutting effort in response to state and federal funding changes.
Higher education
Science
fromColossal
2 months ago

'Making the Invisible Visible' Highlights an Ambitious Digitization Project at Harvard

Digitizing museum analog catalogs and microscope-slide invertebrate collections preserves fragile records and makes thousands of specimens accessible to researchers and the public.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

Archaeology against the clock: the race to salvage fragments of early Brisbane

In a white and sterile office that could belong to any one of the warehouses that dot this industrial strip between Brisbane's airport and horse-racing precinct, a young woman is engrossed in a puzzle. Only this puzzle comprises, perhaps, three different sets, each almost (but not quite) identical to the other and none likely to be completed. Emily Totivan wears blue plastic gloves. She is an archaeology student helping to catalogue artefacts.
Science
History
fromTechRepublic
2 months ago

National Archives Embraces AI to Modernize Its Museum - TechRepublic

The National Archives uses AI recommendation-style portals to tag, organize, and surface existing historical records for personalized museum visits without generating new content.
Arts
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 month ago

We've scratched the surface': mission to digitise UK public art reaches 1m entries

Art UK's million-record digital catalogue reveals the UK's vast, diverse public art collection and has appointed Ben Terrett as its new chair.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

10 Medieval Studies' Articles Published Last Month - Medievalists.net

Local populations in Anatolia used spolia to assert cultural continuity with the ancient and Byzantine past, challenging exclusive Western claims to that heritage.
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

10 Medieval Studies' Articles Published Last Month - Medievalists.net

In this paper we investigate whether infant and childhood feeding practices influenced the imbalanced adult sex ratio reported in medieval Europe from historical and osteological evidence. First, we examine hypotheses for the observed imbalanced sex ratios in Europe and the evidence presented to support these hypotheses. We then use stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N) of incremental dentine in 64 first molars from adults at three medieval sites (Aulla, Badia Pozzeveri, and Montescudaio) in north-western Tuscany (11th-15th c. CE).
History
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Previously Unknown Medieval Chronicle Discovered - Medievalists.net

A previously unknown 8th-century Maronite chronicle (dated 712–13 CE) offers early Christian perspective on Arab-Islamic expansion and Late Antique religious-political change.
History
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

New Medieval Books: Impossible Recovery - Medievalists.net

Julian of Norwich's illness and visions show how sickness and revelation intertwine, shaping personal recovery and the subsequent expression and theorization of experience.
History
fromNature
1 month ago

An ancient Roman game board's secrets are revealed - with AI's help

An ancient Roman object from the southern Netherlands most likely functioned as a blocking board game, indicating such games existed in Europe earlier than believed.
History
fromianVisits
2 months ago

2m heritage funding will make London's papyrus archive easier to visit

A £2 million National Lottery Heritage Fund grant will modernize the Egypt Exploration Society's London headquarters, protecting irreplaceable papyri collections and expanding public access.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 month ago

When Artists Lose Their Archives

An artist lost a storage unit and later discovered parts of their work were sold online without notification, stripping authorship and meaning.
fromMedievalists.net
2 months ago

The Survival of Esoteric Academic Fields, with Jana Matuszak and Petra Goedegebuure - Medievalists.net

A conversation with Jana Matuszak, a Sumerologist, and Petra Goedegebuure, a Hittitologist, about the prospects for the survival of smaller academic disciplines that require specialized language skills. What critical mass of experts is needed? How can these fields be combined with others?
History
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

Archival Art Will Not Save Us

Archival work supports historical recovery and cultural self-understanding, but not every artwork must be archival and political work requires action beyond mere presence.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 month ago

Why Wall Labels Matter

Museum labels shape visitor experience; contemporary art addresses polychromy and racial histories, queerness in waterways, and sculptural perception through shifting forms.
History
fromwww.ianvisits.co.uk
2 months ago

Archaeologists uncover Victorian children's schoolwork in east London

Victorian East Londoners, including children, left material traces—school slates, marbles—and the dockside community accessed imported luxuries such as Chateau Margaux wine seals.
History
fromMedievalists.net
1 month ago

Medieval manuscript lost in World War II returns to Poland - Medievalists.net

A 12th-century Cistercian manuscript looted during World War II has been returned from Yale University to the Republic of Poland.
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

Museums Must Step Up in 2026

Museums must actively interpret and communicate history during the United States' 250th anniversary to uphold democratic trust and confront colonial legacies.
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
2 months ago

In the age of AI, can art expertise be digitised?

Recently, AI decided that a painting long thought to be a copy of Caravaggio's The Lute Player is actually by the master, while another version of the same subject, previously thought to be authentic, is not. Both conclusions were disputed by the former Metropolitan Museum of Art curator Keith Christiansen. A similar debate erupted in March 2025 when AI declared that portions of The Bath of Diana, also long believed to be a copy, could have been painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
Arts
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

A Plea to Museum Leaders

Museums should voluntarily recognize workers' unions to avoid forced elections, fear-mongering, and union-busting tactics.
Arts
fromianVisits
2 months ago

Why the most interesting things in museums are sometimes the ones that aren't there

Absence of displayed objects and apology labels often draws visitor attention, provoking curiosity and stories while also disappointing those seeking specific artifacts.
#smithsonian
fromThe Art Newspaper - International art news and events
1 month ago

When it comes to restitution, how can museums solve a problem like inalienability?

When Thomas Jefferson wrote about the "inalienable" rights of man in the US Declaration of Independence 250 years ago, it's possible he lifted the term from the French. And long before it was ever used as an adjective to describe human rights, it defined royal property. To this day, "inalienability" remains a cornerstone of public collections in France-and many other countries-impacting museums and their ability to deaccession, including for purposes of restitution.
Arts
Arts
fromHyperallergic
1 month ago

A Surprisingly Enjoyable Show About Critical Theory

Echo Delay Reverb examines French critical theory's influence on American art, highlighting Francophone thinkers and artworks addressing labor, incarceration, materiality, and formal contrasts.
Arts
fromBrooklyn Eagle
2 months ago

Brooklyn Museum appoints new senior curator of contemporary art

Robert Wiesenberger will join the Brooklyn Museum as Barbara and John Vogelstein Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, beginning March 2.
fromColossal
2 months ago

In 'Reading the Rooms,' Gretchen Scherer 'Opens Up' Historic, Art-Filled Spaces

For Gretchen Scherer, centuries-old rooms in grand houses and institutions serve as the foundation for an ongoing series of paintings of luminous interiors. She starts with photos sourced online, from books, and that she snaps herself, in addition to drawing inspiration from artists like Narcissa Niblack Thorne, who commissioned meticulously crafted miniatures of period rooms to house her vast collection of 1:12-scale furniture. Scherer then tries to "open up" the space, as she describes it, toying a bit with perspective.
Arts
Arts
fromHyperallergic
2 months ago

A Millennia-Long Fascination With Armor

The Worcester Art Museum's reopened armor galleries present global armor traditions, challenging medieval European romanticism and showcasing one of the nation's largest arms-and-armor collections.
[ Load more ]