CENDARI

The CENDARI (Collaborative European Digital Archive Infrastructure) is a 4-year, European Commission-funded project led by Trinity College Dublin, in partnership with 13 institutions across 7 countries, to facilitate access to archives and resources in Europe for the benefit of researchers everywhere.

CENDARI will provide and facilitate access to existing archives and resources in Europe for the study of medieval and modern European history through the development of an “enquiry environment”. This environment will increase access to records of historic importance across the European Research Area, creating a powerful new platform for accessing and investigating historical data in a transnational fashion overcoming the national and institutional data silos that now exist.

CENDARI will leverage the power of the European infrastructure for Digital Humanities (DARIAH) bringing these technical experts together with leading historians and existing research infrastructures (archives, libraries and individual digital projects) within a programme of technical research informed by cutting edge reflection on the impact of the digital age on scholarly practice.

I copied the above passages from the CENDARI announcements on several participating sites. In layman terms, CENDARI brings together multitude of historians and scientific institutions, thus becoming a kind of response to academic and archival activities to the requirements of the electronic age.
Data for CENDARI were aggregated from library Europeana, giving unlimited access to the metadata of 3.5 million newspapers and 90 million catalog records of national and research libraries of 48 countries.
Users can create and edit archival descriptions, search by language, library categories, geographical area and even neighborhoods, exact location and subject.
A large number of documents that belong to a number of cultural institutions not directly involved in  CENDARI has been integrated into Europeana library.

This is a Russian WW1 card. The rhyming inscription says, roughly, “Don’t  violate our neutrality. Alas! Teutons used to respect only cannons.” (From the collection of the University of Noth Carolina at Chapel Hill.) 

Satirical map of Europe, Berlin, 1914.

Those materials  could be seen visiting  Europeana 1914-1918, focusing on untold stories and official histories of WW1, exploring stories, films and historical material about the First World War.  Europeana 1914-1918 mixes resources from libraries and archives across the globe with memories and memorabilia from families throughout Europe. “Discover. Learn. Research. Use. Share,” urges Europeana.

The same can be said about the entire CENDARI project — Discover. Learn. Research. Use. Share. It’s just that there is sooooooo much to discover, learn, research, use and share… Even if you are a kindergartner right now, there is very little time already… So hurry!