Learn history by heart or challenge accepted truths? Funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a project on history education shows that history lessons in grades 6 to 8 still aim at teaching content rather than skills. What is more, the full potential of history textbooks often remains untapped. Continue reading “History skills need more fostering”
In their newly conquered province, the Banat of Temeswar, the Habsburgs took first steps towards creating a “modern bureaucracy” at the beginning of the 18th century. Research funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF has now shown how their staff management developed in concrete terms. Continue reading “Courageous staff for building up a bureaucracy”
The administration and organisation of the Viennese Court were astonishingly professional, as a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF now demonstrates. For the first time, historians established precisely who within the structure – from aristocrats to humble staff members – was responsible for what. Continue reading “Running like clockwork – the Imperial Court in Vienna”
A valuable collection of 16,000 handwritten newsletters assembled by the Fugger brothers has come down to us in Vienna. In a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, these newsletters were subjected to scholarly research and made accessible by digitisation, thus revealing their significance in understanding the birth of modern news communications. Continue reading “The birth of newspapers”