World Digital Library is a database launched by the United States Library of Congress in 2009 and it’s supported by various global institutions including UNESCO. The archive provides many different cultural documents around the world with almost 20 000 items from 193 different countries in its collections. The documents in the archive include books, manuscripts, maps and photographs. Learn more
Österreichisches Nationalbibliothek looks back to a history rich in tradition going as far as the 14th century. It is a living bridge between the rich heritage of the past and the future-oriented demands of a modern information society. As a service-oriented information centre, the Austrian National Library offers its users access and professional advice on its own holdings (over 10.9 million objects) and also on international data pools. It also accepts commissions on scientific research, and operates documentation centres and service facilities, for example on literature specifically devoted to women’s studies. Since the beginning of the digital age, a steadily increasing number of services have been handled online via the website of the Austrian National Library. Learn more
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project, is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use. The project is maintained by Fordham University in New York. From the outset the site took a very broad view of the sources that should be available to students and as well as documents long associated with a “western civilization” approach to history also provides much information on Byzantine, Islamic, Jewish, Indian, East Asian, and African history. You will also find many documents especially relevant to women’s history and LGBT studies.
The project however does not contain images of the actual text and therefore should not be used as a primary source for research. It can be useful as a place to browse historical documents before finding better versions of them.
The Vatican Library contains original manuscripts, coins, visual materials and much more produced by the Vatican from around the middleages upuntil 1800. The material is largely in latin or italian, but the page is available in Italian as well as in English.
DigiVatLib is based on the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) technology, making digital materials easily accessible and usable. Learn more
Nasjonalbiblioteket is a major source of knowledge relating to Norway and all things Norwegian. There you’ll find an amazing and constantly expanding selection of digitalised books, newspapers, pictures, periodicals, maps, letters, and music manuscripts. Learn more
The Renaissance Cultural Crossroads Catalogue is a searchable, analytical and annotated list of all translations out of and into all languages printed in England, Scotland, and Ireland before 1641. It also includes all translations out of all languages into English printed abroad before 1641.
RCCC draws on the second edition of the Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, & Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad 1475-1640 edited by A. W. Pollard & G. R. Redgrave and is modelled on the online English Short-Title Catalogue, although offering additional information on the translations and translators. Learn more
Digital Bodleian first launched in 2015 with the aim of bringing together digitized content from the Bodleian Libraries’ extraordinary and rich collections into a single portal. The Bodleian Libraries have been digitizing content since the early 1990s and Digital Bodleian was and is designed to enable access to that content for the widest possible audience.
The collection contains images of rare books, manuscripts and art mostly from the Medieval and Modern Ages.
Gallica is the digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (National library of France) and its partners. It contains books, magazines, newspapers, photographs, cartoons, drawings, prints, posters, maps, manuscripts, antique coins, scores, theater costumes and sets, audio and video materials. All library materials are freely available. The digital library is in French with some elements also available in English.