Wilhelm von Humboldt: Schriften — An Independent Digital Edition
The community meetings are held online using this link, usually on the first Tuesday of each month at 17:00 CET/CEST. No registration is required to attend. We warmly invite you to propose topics info@e-editiones.org for the forthcoming meetings.
Community meetup on November 04, 2025 at 17:00 CET.
No grant, no office, no team — just a laptop, a few tutorials, and many late evenings. That’s how Wilhelm von Humboldt: Schriften began.
A year ago, a young humanities graduate set herself an ambitious goal: to make the writings of Wilhelm von Humboldt freely accessible online. Most of Humboldt’s original manuscripts were unfortunately lost during World War II, and the only complete reference remains a printed edition from the early 1900s. Despite their importance in the German-speaking world, Humboldt’s works are still surprisingly hard to find on the Internet. Out of that frustration, Wilhelm von Humboldt: Schriften was born.
Working independently and in her spare time, she began building the edition from scratch, using TEI Publisher and drawing on the resources offered by e-editiones, such as YouTube tutorials, blogposts and even individual mentorship. In May 2025, a simple static version of the website went live. Since then, the project has evolved into a dynamic digital edition, offering full-text search, facets, person and place registers, and a visual timeline.
Wilhelm von Humboldt: Schriften is still very much a work in progress, with many open questions and challenges ahead. Yet the edition aims to meet the academic standards expected of a scholarly digital edition, showing that small-scale digital humanities initiatives can be both imaginative and rigorous when they draw on open-source tools and community support.
This presentation will reflect on the milestones, challenges, and creative decisions involved in developing an entirely independent edition, from layout design and data modelling to hosting strategies. Attendees are invited to discuss what small, self-driven projects can realistically achieve, and how we might sustain digital editions beyond institutional frameworks.
Wilhelm von Humboldt: Schriften is currently self-financed and seeking partners and funders, particularly to secure long-term hosting. Contributions, advice, and collaboration are warmly welcome.
