Tracing Lives in Historical Newspapers

This project offers an opportunity to explore historical periods through newspapers published during the lifetimes of notable individuals. By linking people, stories and cultural heritage, the initiative facilitates meaningful engagement with the digitised newspaper collections of the National Library of Luxembourg on eluxemburgensia.lu.

Using openly accessible data from Wikidata – an extensive, collaboratively maintained knowledge base associated with Wikipedia – and the digitised collection, the project generates personalised historical snapshots. Users may enter the name of a person of interest to identify newspapers circulated during their lifetime, thereby gaining insight into the social, cultural and political contexts of the period.

Newspapers represent valuable archival sources, providing a diverse range of content including news, opinion, and artistic expression. They document the everyday experiences and cultural practices of their time. By associating these publications with specific individuals, the project encourages thoughtful exploration of history beyond basic facts, highlighting the lived realities of past eras.

Overview

The process is as follows:

1. The user enters the name of a historical figure or other person of interest.
2. The system queries Wikidata to locate corresponding individuals.
3. In case of multiple matches, the user selects the desired individual.
4. The individual’s birth and death dates define the time-frame.
5. Newspapers published within this time-frame and available on eluxemburgensia.lu are identified.
6. A curated list of relevant newspapers is presented, together with a link to directly access them online.

This project employs digital tools, namely Python programming and Jupyter notebooks, to integrate and present data from multiple sources. However, technical expertise is not required to engage with the resource, which is designed to make cultural heritage accessible to a broad audience.

By combining data, historical inquiry, and digital technology, this project showcases the potential of digital humanities to enrich cultural understanding.

Let’s have a look in more detail using an example.

Anne Beffort

Anne Beffort (1880–1966) was a pioneering Luxembourgish educator, writer, and cultural advocate known for her significant contributions to promoting French language and literature in Luxembourg. As one of the first women in the country to earn a doctorate, she broke barriers in both academia and public service. Beffort was deeply committed to strengthening Franco-Luxembourgish cultural ties, particularly during and after the two World Wars, when national identity and language played crucial roles in society. She is especially remembered for her efforts to preserve the legacy of French writer Victor Hugo, including her work to establish the Victor Hugo Literary Museum in Vianden. In recognition of her cultural impact, she received the French Legion of Honour in 1948 for her efforts to support French culture during the German occupation of Luxembourg.

We start by launching the resource via the Binder link provided in the GitHub project linked below. To run the process, click on “Run...Run all Cells” in the menu. When requested (you may need to scroll down), we enter “Anne Beffort”. The system looks up her entry in Wikidata and locates her birth and death dates, 1880 and 1966 respectively. By scrolling to the bottom, we see the final result: a list of over 100 newspaper titles published within this time frame. Within the list we can see titles such as Hémecht, which has been published continuously since 1948, and Action Féminine published from 1927 to 1940.

Action Féminine was a pivotal feminist journal in Luxembourg that played a crucial role in advancing women’s rights and promoting gender equality in the early to mid-20^th century. First published in 1927 by l’Union des Femmes, the journal served as a platform for discussing social, political, and economic issues affecting women.

The first women’s magazine promised to aspire to a feminism that was neither reactionary nor utopian. Indeed, according to the magazine, the interests of the women it represented touched on both the family and social spheres.

Although the journal ceased publication at the onset of the 2^nd World War, its impact on Luxembourg’s feminist movement and the country's history of gender progress remains notable.

Using the link provided for Action Féminine, we can further refine our search and look for articles about “Anne Beffort”. Unfortunately, in this case, no mention is made of Anne Beffort in Action Féminine, however, by removing the limitation of the search on that particular title, we find 79 results mentioning Anne Beffort, notably the announcement of the transformation of a house into a museum dedicated to Victor Hugo as well as an article written by Anne Beffort regarding the destruction of the Victor Hugo house.

Explore the project and begin your own journey through time on GitHub.