Digitality in Historical Research

In recent years, the Institute of History has systematically developed and established a cross-epochal focus on digital history, closely integrating research, teaching, early-career training, and knowledge transfer. Digital tools, methods, and publication concepts are now an integral part of both teaching and research. In line with the rapid development of new technological possibilities, research-oriented reflection on innovative digital workflows is combined with the systematic cultivation of digital skills within study programs and teaching.

The Institute played a leading role in the faculty-wide establishment of the W2 Professorship for Digital Practices in the Humanities and Cultural Studies, a joint position bridging the Institute for Digital Humanities and the Faculty’s digital research areas.

Research on the history of digitalization in society and historical culture is pursued in several thematic areas. In Latin American History, projects explore, for example, the computerization of state and social structures in Brazil. In Modern and Contemporary History and Public History, research addresses topics such as digital memory and 3D visualizations of historical sites, digital public history, and the use of AI in school-based learning.

Within larger externally funded projects (e.g., DFG, LVR, Academy Programs), the Institute collaborates with internal and external partners — including universities, research institutes, and major “memory institutions” such as libraries, museums, and archives — to develop digital editions and databases. Examples include the collection of quantitative data on Roman agricultural and artisanal production, editions of Frankish royal decrees, prosopographical databases on Strasbourg and the Cologne Beguines, the Gentz letters, and the estates of Baron von Hüpsch and Alfred Haehner. Interfaces with Digital History exist across research on cross-epochal material culture, university and museum collections, and media history, including photography and postcards.

The transfer-oriented project family Modern Academic Publishing (MAP), with its various modules (Dissertations, Lab, History, Focus, Data), forms part of a digital publishing infrastructure that communicates research findings both to an internationally oriented scholarly community and to a wider audience of history enthusiasts. Research-oriented reflection on the effects of digital technologies on educational processes — for example, digital source criticism — is a core component of research-driven historical didactics.

The close integration of research, teaching, and reflective practice is also evident in numerous digital transfer projects, including apps (e.g., HisToGo, 100 Years of the University of Cologne, MAP History, Places of Democracy) and blogs (e.g., DigiTRip, zeitenblicke, Moral Iconographies).