The European Library aggregated 40 titles and 48.464 issues of historical newspapers from the National Library of Estonia (NLE). We asked Krista Kiisa, Head of the Digital Archive Department of the NLE to highlight one newspaper article that is now available at the historic newspaper browser developed by The European Library. Krista chose an article about the the birth certificate of the Republic of Estonia.

What does the title say? Title „Muljed rahulepingu allakirjutamisel“ , translated as “Impressions from signing the Peace Treaty ”, reflects the journalists’ attempt to detect the emotions at that historic and festive ceremony, trying to characterise the delegation leaders’ behaviour. It indicates to be the impressionistic view, describing one of the most important episode in the history of Estonia, regarded as the birth certificate of the Republic of Estonia. The treaty was signed by Jaan Poska on the Estonian side and Adolf Joffe for Soviet Russia. What newspaper is this article from?   Newspaper “Vaba Maa” (“Free Country”) was published daily in 1918-1938 in Tallinn, capital of Estonia. Between 1918-1932 it was the newspaper of the Estonian Labour Party. Between 1932-1935 it was the official newspaper of the National Centre Party. It was one of the most important and influential newspapers in its time. Labour Party was very active in the political scenery, supporting democratic regime, close to social democratic platform.   What day is this article from?   Article was published on the 4^th of February, 1920. The peace treaty was actually expected to be signed on the 1^st of February. Yet the actual signing process took place after midnight, meaning on the 2^nd of February. On the same date, there was only a short notice about the peace treaty in “Vaba Maa”, with brief flashback to the starting point and progress of the war. It took 2 days for the newspaper to reach the detailed overview, where different aspects and attitudes towards the episode were published.   On what page was the article printed?  Full-scale article was published on the second page of the newspaper „Vaba Maa”. Actually the peace treaty is reflected on all 4 pages of the newspaper. On the first page, there is a set of short messages on that topic titled as „Echo of the negotiations”. On the third page the fulltext of the peace treaty is published. On the forth page there is a greeting of the Head of Estonian Constituent Assembly (in Estonian Asutav kogu, meaning Parliament) and the speech of Jaan Tõnisson, Prime Minister of Estonia.   Did the article report the event as we know it from history books?  The Tartu Peace Treaty has been regarded as the birth certificate of the Republic of Estonia because it was the very first de jure recognition of the state. The treaty established the border between Estonia and Russia, affirmed the right of Estonian people to return to Estonia and Russian people to return to Russia and required that Estonian movable property evacuated to Russia in World War I be returned to Estonia. Russia also agreed to absolve all debt from Tsarist times and to pay Estonia 15 million gold rubles, a proportional share from the gold reserves of former Russian Empire. The article doesn’t contain any new unknown facts. Though during the Soviet period, all information related to the event was not publicly available. Books and newspapers from that period were kept in special department with restricted access. The article is not a boring list of facts but rather belletristic instead, attempting to offer a sensible portrait about all to the reader. For example: „Joffe, (foreman of the Soviet Russia), enters the room at a more hurried pace than usuall. His movements, which usually are soft and smooth, are rather sudden and quick today. While Jaan Poska (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia) seems to be a rather phlegmatic, sitting like a Buddha, calm and satisfied.”   Does the article prevail any political view of the time?  No, the article is quite neutral and descriptive. It reflects the situation reached after the Estonian War of Independence, after the successful struggle of Estonia for its sovereignty in the aftermath of World War I. It resulted in a victory for the newly established state which was concluded in the Treaty of Tartu, the main character of the article. Besides, the treaty was in favour of Estonia. The treaty established the border between Estonia and Russia, affirmed the right of Estonian people to return to Estonia and Russian people to return to Russia and required that Estonian movable property evacuated to Russia in World War I be returned to Estonia. Russia also agreed to absolve all debt from Tsarist times and to pay Estonia 15 million gold rubles, a proportional share from the gold reserves of former Russian Empire. Additionally Russia agreed to grant concessions to exploit one million hectares of Russian forest land and to build a railway line from the Estonian border to Moscow. Unfortunately most of the promises remained promises only.   Do you want to say something else about this article or newspaper?   Editor of the newspaper „Vaba Maa” („Free Country”) was for years (1924-1929 and 1930-1938) Eduard Laaman, Estonian journalist, historian and well-known public figure. He also wrote a thorough monograph about the Estonian War of Independence. Perhaps it’s interesting to know that he was married to Tatjana Poska-Laaman, daughter of the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaan Poska who led the peace talks with Soviet Russia which achieved the Treaty of Tartu.

In October 1917, the October Revolution took place in Russia, overthrowing a provisional government established a few months earlier. This was the first in a series of steps which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union. In this article, we look at how the October Revolution was covered in one historic newspaper, the Neue Hamburger Zeitung.

 

The Neue Hamburger Zeitung (NHZ) was a liberal political paper, established in 1896. It was a relatively serious paper with middle-class readers as a target group. It appeared twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, and during the First World War almost daily special broadsheets were published and attached to roadside billboards.

On this day — Friday, November 9th 1917 — the headline on the front page of the newspaper read “Russian Provisional Government Overthrown”.

This was the first main headline for the Russian revolutionary events. From November 1st onwards, rebellion and “anarchy”, parliamentary discussion, peace proposals of the Bolsheviks and other related topics had been reported in shorter news or discussed in accompanying commentary. On November 4th one of the daily extra editions had been titled “Krawalle in Petersburg” (“Riots in Petersburg”). But it was only on the 9th of November that continuous front page coverage started.

The article presents views from various angles and perspectives, which shows in a fascinating way, how strenuously the newspaper editors tried to find traces of truth. The many sources included the Wolffsches Telegraphenbüro (WTB) and Reuters news agencies, the Copenhagen and Stockholm offices of Vossische Zeitung (a Berlin newspaper), the Neue Züricher Zeitung and several other intermediate institutions.

Also interesting is the fact that the article appears to be an exception from the propaganda driven German press coverage of October and November 1917, which mainly focused on the military progress of German and Austrian troops in Italy.

In addition to the article, there is a commentary-like addition below in which the author speaks about the tragedy of the Russian fate (”russische Schicksalstragödie”). The implications for the continuing World War on the one hand and the threat of anarchy on the other hand are voiced along with many other comments on Russia. Lenin’s peace ideas were seen as attractive to German politicians and there was sympathy for intentions to distribute arable land to the peasantry.

Many thanks to Ulrich Hagenah of the Hamburg State Library for writing this article. Explore more of the 33.175 issues of historical newspapers from the Hamburg State and University Library in our historic newspaper browser developed by The European Library. The article is also available on Europeana among millions of other cultural heritage items.

In 1889, France was eagerly preparing to host the upcoming World’s Fair. The preparations included the construction of the Eiffel Tower, which was designed as the entrance arch to the fair. Through historic newspapers, such as the one featured in this article, we have a glimpse into how the construction of the Tower was perceived and reported at the time.

This particular article was published on the second page of this four-page paper. It was considered primarily a national event, in contrast to the international news which dominated the front page.

Viewed from a contemporary perspective, this article is interesting because it focuses not on the Tower itself but rather on the many workers who built it. Indeed, the article gives a stronger emphasis on the gratitude expressed by Gustave Eiffel towards the workers than on the official guests at the opening.

The article also reflects the political mood at the time. The French President Jules Grévy did not choose the year 1889 to host the World Fair in Paris randomly. It was a good opportunity for France to both celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution and to showcase for the world its greatness and achievements.

The Tower was decorated with a national flag for the inauguration and it was noted that the French flag in 1889 was the same as in 1789, the year of the French Revolution. The flag was therefore seen as a symbol of great victories fought in the name of science and progress.

This event was also a suitable opportunity to bring forward the young Third Republic mentioned in this article by emphasising the national pride felt by all the construction workers involved, who helped to erect the highest building of the time.

It is interesting to notice that two years before the opening, opinions about this Tower being built in the centre of Paris were quite negative. This can be seen in earlier articles in Le Temps.

For example, on 14 February 1887, Le Temps published a petition signed by renowned personalities such as Meissonier, Gounod, Garnier, Sardou, Boullat, Coppe, Leconte de Lisle, Maupassant and Zola. This petition campaign aimed to stop Gustave Eiffel from building the Tower because it would be ugly and purposeless. Today, however, we of course know that the reality is very different. The Eiffel Tower ranks among the world’s most visited and renowned monuments.

Thank you to Josephine Renard of the National Library of France for writing this article. You can further explore our collection of historic newspapers, through our Newspaper Browser. Currently the browser holds over 300,000 French historic newspapers. When complete, our collection will total some 18 million historic newspapers from across Europe.

Today, we’re taking a look at the content that will be contributed by the National Library of Turkey. For a better look at each paper, simply click on the image and a gallery will appear.

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On the advertisement page of Aksam newspaper from 1937 (22 November, 1937 Aksam Newspaper, page 16) Radio models are shown on an advertisement which tells that RCA radios are listened to all over the country with the motto of “The radio bringing joy to every home”. Image credit: National Library of Turkey.
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Ulus Newspaper, issue 19 August 1938, page 6. İzmir International Fair is the first and only general trade fair of Turkey and it is one of the few examples in the World. Its origin goes back to 17 February, 1923 when Atatürk demanded an exhibition during the Economy Congress in İzmir. Since 1927, regular exhibitions organized under the name of “9 September Exhibition”. Due to the economic crisis all over the world, organization of these exhibitions took a pause for a while after the exhibitions of 1927 and 1928. The third of the exhibitions named as “9 September Fair” was organized in 1933 and it was given the name of “İzmir International Fair” in 1937. On this page is information about the number of the participant countries, the fair theme and area given. Image credit: National Library of Turkey.
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Hamidiye Clock Tower. Special issue due to the 18th anniversary of ascending the throne by Sultan II.Abdülhamit. This Journal (Malumat [old Turkish]) from 31 August 1895 (issue 10 page 205) Reports on the location of the (Hamidiye) Clock Tower which is situated next to the courtyard of the Yildiz Palace in four languages. (Old Turkish, Arabic, Persian and French). This clock tower is in Ottoman and neo-Gothic style has an octagonal plan and is ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II (1842–1918). Image credit: National Library of Turkey.[/ezcol_1half_end]

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Sultan’s Yacht. This Journal (Malumat) from 5 August 1895 (issue 8 page 165) reports on Imperial Yacht (Sultani). (photo taken by Abdullah Brothers) shows the upstairs hall on the Sultani Yacht which is designed to its autotype Angerer Arts House in Vienna. In this article, the yacht is poetically portrayed. Image credit: National Library of Turkey. [/ezcol_1half_end]

It has a great deal of experience in making digital newspapers available online. Already, thousands of its own digitised newspapers are available via its Historical Newspapers (Historische Kranten) portal.

Today, we’re taking a look at the content that will be contributed to the Europeana Newspapers Project by the National Library of the Netherlands. For a closer look at each paper, simply click on the image and a gallery will appear.

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This newspaper from 1896 reports on the first Olympic Games since the year 393. The article states that the organisers did not want it to be an old-fashioned event, so they added gymnastics, swimming, tennis, cricket, cycling, shooting and fencing to the program. There was no one competing on behalf of the Netherlands, but luckily this did not stop the publishers from writing a two page article on the Olympic Games.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This article is from the oldest newspaper on the newspaper website of the KB. The original lies in the Royal Library of Sweden and they gave permission for the KB to digitise the newspapers for publication. The KB wanted to digitise the paper because it includes an article about one of the most important events in the (Dutch) Reformed Church, namely the Synod of Dordrecht. At this meeting, it was also decided to translate the bible into Dutch for the first time.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This article reports the death of president Lincoln on April 14th, 1865. The newspaper was only published in the Netherlands some two weeks later, on April 30th, 1865. The article presents a number of telegrams about the event and the death of not only president Lincoln, but also that of Frederic Seward, the son of Secretary of State William Seward. He was attacked in his house at the same time as Lincoln, by Lewis Powell. However, it is nice to note that Frederic Seward survived and lived to be 84.[/ezcol_1half_end]

Today, we’re taking a look at the content that will be contributed by the National Library of Finland. For a better look at each paper, simply click on the image and a gallery will appear.

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This is the front page of Uusi Suometar, issue 142. The page is very typical of this title and the time period. There are a great number of ads on the first page. The paper also typifies the pro-Finnish and conservative line of the newspapers published in Finland. At various points in history, Uusi Suometar was Finland’s largest newspaper.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]This is the Finnish newspaper Pohjanmaa (No 34, date 24 March 1910). It was only published between 1909-1912 and was aimed at the local rural people in the areas of Vaasa and South Bothnia. This particular page centres around an illustrated article from Ilmari Kianto with the theme “Reindeer Sport”.[/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]Helsingin Wiikko-Sanomia was a weekly newspaper with a Christian-moral line, and this sample page comes from Issue 4, published on January 27th 1882. The newspaper aimed to promote popular education and usually included images in every issue – a rarity during that era. [/ezcol_1half_end]

[ezcol_1half id=”” class=”” style=””][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end id=”” class=”multicolumn” style=””]The Finlands Allmänna Tidning newspaper was published from 1820 to 1931. This front page comes from February 2nd, 1830. The newspaper’s focus was information and notifications from the government and authorities, as well as foreign news. Domestic news was scarce. Up until the 1840s, it had the largest circulation in Finland.[/ezcol_1half_end]