Sunday Times 2
History meets the future
Google have teamed up with the world’s museums for a massive update to their online ‘cultural institute’ that offers users the chance to learn about some of the major figures and events of the past century.
The latest additions to the Google Cultural Institute archives, available to view from today, are intended as an online educational resource to preserve history in a place that is accessible to people when they need it.
Major world events like D-Day, the Holocaust and the fight against Apartheid are described with a mixture of photos, historical account and contemporary quotes.
Each of the 42 exhibitions launched today features a narrative which links the archive material together to unlock the different perspectives, nuances and tales behind the events.
The stories have been put together by 17 institutions including museums, foundations and others who have drawn on their archives of letters, manuscripts, first-hand video testimonials and more.
Much of the material is very moving – and some is being shown online for the first time.The new exhibitions are the latest chapter in the work of the Google Cultural Institute, which has already showcased the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem and the Nelson Mandela archives online.
Just as with those projects, users can zoom into photos to sea them in great detail and search through millions of items for a specific country, person, even or date.
Among the great 20th Century events now available for users to explore is the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which includes vibrant colour photos of the event provided by Historvius.
‘We’ve featured a vast array of material, which you will be able to view at your leisure in high resolution, for professional or personal use, at any time and in any place.’
But some of the most poignant material on the site is centred around the fight against Apartheid, which was produced together with three South African institutions, including the Steve Biko Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory.
© Daily Mail, London
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