Relive the 19th century, the events and testimonials that started and shaped much of our modern world.
Help to disclose all kinds of documents from this exciting period.

Below you will find a big number of handwritten documents in various languages that have been selected from the period between the French Revolution to the First World War. Documents range from personal diaries and correspondence to official archival material and scientific papers written by protagonists of the era, some of them famous (composers, writers, scientists, politicians), some of them unknown or even anonymous.

By transcribing, enriching and annotating these stories of our 19th Century collection, you will be taking part in our 19th Century Run, an international competition with prizes and awards.

This competition will take place from 15 December 2022 until 31 January 2023.

Included are some handwritten texts that may be already been published in a printed book. However, you might be interested in diving into these very personal writings, trying to get acquainted with their particular handwriting style. In this special category, you will find manuscripts from illustrious Europeans such as Guy de Maupassant, Charles Baudelaire, Eliza Orzeszkowa, Marcel Proust, Piotr Ilitch Tchaïkovsky, and Egon Schiele.

We especially encourage our champions to work on documents that people have started to work on but have not yet been finalised or to review those that are ready for completion.

All contributions count.