What is HistoricalMedia?

HistoricalMedia is a central, globally oriented access portal to digitized media created in the pre-digital era. It focuses on news, information and documentation.

Which media types does the portal include?

Historical media includes the most important news, image and sound media since the advent of the press shortly after 1600: newspapers, illustrated magazines, photographs, posters, newsreels, television, video and radio.

What kind of websites does HistoricalMedia link to?

The site links to online collections of archives, libraries, museums and other memory institutions. In addition, it links to archives of public radio and television stations as well as to content and titles by private media companies and agencies. Historical media includes both freely accessible content and fully or partially fee-based portals and offers.

What benefits is HistoricalMedia providing for me?

HistoricalMedia provides access from a single platform to worldwide offers of all media types in a clear manner. It offers search help and concise information about the content offered. This saves a lot of effort for searching on platforms and for the use of content. Furthermore, HistoricalMedia invites visitors to browse and discover small and big treasures of the world’s historical and cultural heritage.

What is the target audience of the platform?

Historical Media provides an efficient research tool for students and scientists in a wide variety of fields as well as for media professionals and creative artists. Furthermore, the portal is an inexhaustible treasure trove for anyone who is interested in history and culture and enjoys being exposed to the pull of the past.

What topics does the blog cover?

The blog presents platforms and collections, gives insight into media history and deals with a broad range of historical topics. Articles link to the sources used and provide dossiers with annotated link lists.

Raison d’être – purpose and aim of the platform

Historical media promotes the VISIBILITY of historically relevant collections in the context of an overwhelming flood of arbitrary and banal content. The website provides ORIENTATION in view of a continuously growing number of offers covering the world’s historical memory und cultural heritage nobody is able to overview anymore. Finally, historical media upholds the indispensability of CONTEXT. Without CONTEXT, which memory institutions create with much knowledge and effort, historical and cultural documents lose their meaning.

 

Fridolin Furger, November 2018