German History in Documents and Images

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German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) is a comprehensive collection of original historical materials documenting German history from the beginning of the early modern period to the present. The project comprises ten sections, each of which addresses a discrete period in Germany's history. Each section has been compiled by one or two leading scholars and includes: an introduction to key developments in Germany's social, political, and cultural history during the period; a selection of primary source documents (in German and English) originating from the period; a selection of images originating from or relating to the period; a selection of relevant maps.

In August 2017, the GHI was awarded a three-year grant (2018-2021) from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft or DFG) for the reconceptualization and technical relaunch of German History in Documents and Images (GHDI). Awarded through the DFG’s “Infrastructure for Electronic Publications and Digital Science Communication” program, the grant represents an important opportunity for the GHI to modernize the website’s underlying technology. The grant-funded technical work program centers on the development of a new backend infrastructure paired with a responsive new user interface. Among other benefits, the new GHDI website will better accommodate the types of materials (e.g., maps and multimedia sources) called for in current historical scholarship and lay the foundation for new ways of navigating the website’s existing 4,000-plus textual and visual sources.

Shortly after the announcement of the DFG grant, the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, an original project sponsor from 2003, reaffirmed its strong commitment to GHDI with a generous follow-up grant in support of the new editorial work program. During the course of the relaunch, hundreds of new sources will be added to the website. The changes, however, will be more than quantitative. One leading objective of the work program is to recast GHDI in response to the transnational and global turns in history, with the goal being to introduce users to a more complex, interconnected, and outward-looking Germany. A 2018 blog post entitled “German History in Documents and Images: Beyond ‘Old National History’” gestured toward GHDI’s current relevance for transnational and transregional historical research, while articulating how the relaunch will further enhance the site’s utility in this area.

The relaunch comes with a new project staff, new translators, and an updated editorial board. In April 2018, technical developer Daniel Burckhardt and digital librarian Katharina Hering joined the existing GHDI project team of Insa Kummer and Kelly McCullough. At that point, long-time GHI staff members Elisabeth Mait and Mark Stoneman joined the project team as well. The GHI is pleased that many veteran translators from GHDI 1.0 are continuing to contribute to GHDI 2.0. They include Thomas Dunlap, Richard Pettit, Ellen Yutzy Glebe, and Katharina Böhmer. At the same time, the GHI is equally pleased to welcome two excellent new translators: Kathleen Dell’Orto and Pamela Selwyn. Lastly, the GHI reserves special thanks for the new volume editors, whose names and affiliations are listed below.