Quantitative Assessment of Impact and Sensitivity of Imaging Spectroscopy for Monitoring of Ageing of Archival Documents

Ageing of historical documents often results in changes in the optical properties of the constituent materials. Imaging spectroscopy (IS) can be a valuable tool for monitoring of such changes, if the method fulfils two important conditions. Firstly, compared to natural ageing, the accumulated light dose from repeated measurements of the monitored document must not induce any significant degradation. Secondly, the monitoring instrumentation and procedures should be sensitive enough to detect changes in the materials before they become visible. We present experimental methods to evaluate the suitability of IS instrumentation for monitoring purposes. In the first set of experiments, the impact of repeated monitoring measurements was determined using a set of Blue Wool Standard materials. In the second set of experiments, the capability of the instrument to detect spectral changes was tested using ISO standard materials and several documents representative of European archive collections. It is concluded that the tested hyperspectral instrument is suitable for monitoring of the colour change of documents during display. The described experimental approach can be recommended to test the suitability of other imaging spectroscopy instruments for monitoring applications.

Insights into Preinstrumental Earthquake Data and Catalogs in Europe

In current catalogs, the parameters of preinstrumental earthquakes represent the final synthesis of earthquake records of very different type, quality, and reliability. Parameters may be derived from actual and contemporary observations of earthquake effects interpreted as intensity distributions or may be supplied by later seismological studies and descriptive catalogs, consisting of the reinterpretation of already interpreted accounts. The content of earthquake catalogs results from piling data of different origin, interpreted according to diverse approaches. Consequently, the homogeneity and reliability of earthquake parameters strongly vary from one region or period to another, and it is not as straightforward as assumed by end users. The analysis of the wealth of data in the European Archive of Historical Earthquake Data (AHEAD) evidences many differences in their typology and update of the studies supporting European preinstrumental earthquake catalogs, for both moderate and large earthquakes, over a period of 1000 yr.

The reconfiguration of the European Archive in contemporary German-Jewish migrant-literature

A considerable number of Eastern European migrant authors of Jewish origin are currently lifting Holocaust memory to a new level. Writing in German about events taking place in remote areas of the world, they expand the German framework of memory from a national to a transnational one. By partaking in reconsidering what is ‘vital for a shared remembering’ of Europe, this branch of writing reflects the European Union’s political concern for integrating the memories of the socialistic regimes in European history writing without relativising the Holocaust. In Vielleicht Esther, Katja Petrowskaja consults various national and private archives in order to recount the history of the mass shooting of over 30,000 Ukrainian Jews at Babij Jar – a canyon near Kiev. Thus, she ‘carries’ a marginalised event of the Holocaust into the German framework of memory and uncovers the layers of amnesia that have not only concealed the event amongst the Soviet public but also distorted and for ever made inaccessible her family’s past.