I hope you enjoy today’s list of historical highlights.

Shakespeare’s World: on this site you can “Transcribe handwritten documents by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and help us understand his life and times. Along the way you’ll find words that have yet to be recorded in the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary, and which will eventually be added to this important resource.”

“A painted map of all of the plays of William Shakespeare in their approximate locations in Europe to celebrate the 400th anniversary of The Bard’s death in April 2016.” (This would be a fun and unique gift for a Shakespeare enthusiast!)

“Logbooks From 19th Century Whaling Ships Could Help Climate Change Scientists: A new crowdsourcing project lets amateur enthusiasts contribute, too”

“Chicago’s Most Famous Mural Painted Over, Community Devastated”

“The Birth of a Book”: A two-minute video on the making of a book. I’ve never seen the process before.

“Dear Santa: the history of writing to Father Christmas” (Read about a talk by Ashley Marsh, archives assistant at the British Postal Museum & Archive.)

“Could you survive a Victorian slum? BBC living history series on hunt for volunteers to set up home in 1870s!”

“Out-of-Print Books: Cornell University Press Receives NEH Open Book Program Grant”

“Israeli archaeologists call for public help in deciphering Temple Mount mark”

Special thanks to my sister-in-law Laura for sharing some of these links! Feel free to share links to your own favourite historical highlights in the comments below.