Digital Gatekeeper of the Past: Delpher and the Emergence of the Press in the Dutch Golden Age
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Launched in 2013, Delpher has developed into arguably the most successful digitization project in the \nhumanities in the Netherlands. However, success comes at a price. Because of the seemingly exemplary \nmethodology of making historical newspapers openly accessible, Delpher has inadvertently encouraged \nseveral important misconceptions by scholars and general users alike. Few users realize that the database \nis not exhaustive, and that some of the choices underlying Delpher distort our current understanding of \nthe role of printed newspapers. Common misconceptions are not actively discouraged by Delpher, and \nthis should change. Based on the digitization of two seventeenth-century newspapers – both “pioneers of \nthe Dutch press” – this essay argues that Delpher is a database that should be used with care. Although it \nopens new avenues of research, it obscures potentially more fruitful strategies of gaining a better \nunderstanding of the emergence of the printed newspaper in the Netherlands.
DOI: 10.18352/ts.340
Author: Michiel Van Groesen
Institution: Leiden University
Language: Dutch
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2219658385