Improving historical research by linking digital library information to a global genealogical database

Journals, letters, and other writings are of great value to historians and those who research their own family history; however, it can be difficult to find writings by specific people, and even harder to find what others wrote about them. We present a prototype web-based system that enables users to discover information about historical people (including their own ancestors) by linking digital library content to unique PersonIDs from a genealogical database. Users can contribute content such as scanned journals or information about where items can be found. They can also transcribe content and tag it with PersonIDs to identify who it is about. Additional features provide tools for users to explore historical contexts and relationships. These include the ability to tag places and to create a historical social network by specifying non-family relationships or by using a mechanism we call rosters to imply participation in some group or event.