Europeana fans and those who looking for digital resources relating to European culture will be delighted to know that there is a free app “Europeana Open Culture” for the iPad.
What is Europeana?
Europeana is a vast and growing digital library capturing digital cultual resources of Europe’s galleries, museums, libraries, archives and audiovisual collections.
It Includes many different types of materials:
- images of paintings,
- drawings,
- maps,
- photos and pictures of museum objects;
- texts of books,
- newspapers,
- letters, diaries and archival papers;
- sounds of music and spoken word from cylinders, tapes, discs and radio broadcasts;
- videos, films, newsreels and TV broadcasts.
There are also themed collections, e.g. Europeana 1914-19.
Which countries are covered?
The list of contributing libraries, museums, etc. is long but very interesting. It gives you an idea of the countries involved and scale of the operation.
Looking to use some images? Some resources are free for re-use but please check on terms & conditions first.
If you are reading this from an ipad, then you can download the app from iTunes.
Related Links:
Check out our Pinterest board Apps for Historians for more useful apps.
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
The United States’ answer to Europeana for Europe, the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. “The DPLA offers a single point of access to millions of items—photographs, manuscripts, books, sounds, moving images, and more—from libraries, archives, and museums around the United States. Users can browse and search the DPLA’s collections by timeline, map, format, and topic; save items to customized lists; and share their lists with others. Users can also explore digital exhibitions curated by the DPLA’s content partners and staff.