In this research project we studied the benefits of digital humanities methods through the lens of the printed books in Rabbi David Oppenheim’s library. Oppenheim was one of the most important Jewish book collectors of the early modern period, and because his collection was so extensive (over 6,000 copies), it was an especially useful case study for digital humanities. Through this digital humanities approach, we entered data from PDFs of past catalogs into a spreadsheet, cleaned the data, created visualizations of our dataset, and communicated with each other digitally, since we were all in separate places. And although we did uncover historical patterns in the Jewish book trade, the defining point of our project was this data analysis approach to historical research. 

We made the catalog information far more accessible and usable than it was before, allowing scholars to search by any category they chose (author, title, publication location, publication year, language, etc.), which before would have been impossible. Scholars would have needed to know shelfmarks and go to Oxford where the books are stored, or they would have needed to know the authors’ names, in which case they could work from the catalogs we did. Our digitization allowed for greater research flexibility. We also cleaned the data repeatedly, which also allowed data analysis in new ways because we could then input our information into visualization softwares and see patterns in the data. The spreadsheet and linked data structure further facilitated flexibility. 

We discovered that what might seem like "busy work," is essential to producing substantive research. For example, only because we were able to sort and visualize the data could we then investigate the historical context behind Oppenheim’s collection. Thus, we could learn more about Jewish thought and culture in that period. With this data, we were able to make observations, regarding everything from Amsterdam's role in printing, to reasons for the sizes of vernacular language books. All of this shows the central role that digital humanities can play in studying history, as information can be made accessible, data can be analyzed, and scholars can collaborate, even from a distance.

Our project coincides with another digital humanities project, Footprints, a database of Jewish printed books and their movement across time (and to which our data will be added in the coming weeks). This reflects another benefit of digital humanities – the ease through which information can be shared and uploaded. Our collaboration was made possible by a digital platform, and we were able to receive additional sources from scholars all over the world as they became relevant to our project.