From the US National Archives to the English Heritage in one day:

Thanks to funding from Nominet Trust, Historypin, which allows users to ‘pin’ photos, videos, audio and stories to an interactive “map through time”, is launching new technology for libraries, archives and museums across the globe ways to share and curate vast swaths of digital content.

Over 200 organisations have already signed up to use the tools, which go live on 26^th March, from the US National Archives, English Heritage and the Imperial War Museums to local groups, like the Biggleswade Historical Society.

The new tools now allow libraries, archives and museums to upload 1000s of pieces of content at one time, via a Bulk Uploader, and embed their personal Channel on Historypin into their own website, via an Embed Tool.

Users can also curate their content into Collections and Tours and invite users to add their own stories and recollections. Through a new feature called Historypin Repeats, users will also be able to capture modern replicas of this archival content, creating “then and now” comparisons.

As well as supporting major institutions, Historypin aims to help everyone become citizen historians and the new tools give anyone the chance to share their personal collections alongside the Smithsonian or Mirrorpix.

Since its launch in July 2011, the Historypin site has had over 5 million visitors from 181 countries, with 80,000 “pins” added.

Nick Stanhope, CEO of We Are What We Do, and Executive Director of Historypin site, said:

“Bringing in the Nominet Trust as a major partner on Historypin, alongside Google, we have been able to transform the scale of the project and open up some amazing possibilities for archives to open up their content in new ways and allow citizen historians all over the world to explore and add to it.”

Annika Small, chief executive of the Nominet Trust, who’s funding made the new tools possible, commented:

As social investors, the potential of Historypin has always been clear to us. It epitomises the role digital technology can play in mobilising communities and bringing them together over a shared interest. It provides an opportunity not only for all of us to access some of the most valued archives in the world but to document our own histories. It’s a tool that has already brought together communities and individuals across generations and we look forward to working with Nick and the team to expand Historypin’s reach to an even bigger audience.

Mike Evans, Chief Archivist at the English Heritage Archive, a key partner throughout the development of the new tools, said:

“We are very excited about the potential of Historypin and its tools. It gives everybody an opportunity to interact with our rich photographic archives in new and dynamic ways, using them to step into England’s history and share memories for the buildings, streets and corners which are special to them.”

Carolyn Royston, Head of New Media at the Imperial War Museums, which has created one of the first Historypin Channels, said:

We are excited to be working with Historypin and feel it is a natural fit for IWM’s collections. Each item in our collections tells a story, and Historypin’s tools allow us expand on that story though the use of location-based software, mobile technology and user-generated content. We really look forward to seeing how Historypin users respond to our material and help further develop our channel.

For more information, potential citizen historians should visit Historypin.com