From Cave Paintings to the Internet A Chronological and Thematic Database on the History of Information and Media Destruction / Looting of Information Outline

One of the Earliest Surviving Works of Narrative Relief Sculpture, Looted in the Iraq War
(Circa 3,200 BCE – 3,000 BCE)

The Abu Salbikh Tablet Lost in the Iraq War
(Circa 2,500 BCE)

Disappearance of the Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments
(535 BCE)

The Gauls Sack Rome and Destroy Most Records
(390 BCE – 387 BCE)

The Royal Library of Alexandria: The Largest Collection of Recorded Information in the Ancient World
(Circa 300 BCE)

Early Example of Assembly Line Production
(215 BCE – 210 BCE)

Destroying Most Records of the Past Along with 460, or More, Scholars
(213 BCE – 206 BCE)

The Library of Pergamum
(197 BCE – 159 BCE)

Destruction of the Second Temple
(66 CE – 73 CE)

The Transition from the Roll to the Codex Resulted in Both Survival and Destruction of Information
(Circa 200 CE – 400 CE)

The Forma Urbis Romae
(203 CE – 211 CE)

The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians
(February 24, 303 CE)

"To Fronto Belongs the Unique Distinction of Surviving Solely as the Lower Script in No Fewer than Three Palimpsests" (Reynolds)
(Circa 350 CE – 475 CE)

At the Beginning of the Dark Ages Production of New Manuscripts Essentially Ceased
(Circa 400 CE – 600)

Fragments of a Fifth or Sixth Century Codex
(Circa 450 CE – 550)

The Church Assumes Role of Educator and Civil Service for the Tribal Kingdoms
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

The Second Sack of Rome
(455 CE)

The Dark Ages for Study of the Classics on the European Continent
(Circa 550 – 750)

The End of the Continuity of Late Latin Culture in Most of Italy
(Circa 585)

St. Columbanus Founds the Monastery and Library at Luxeuil
(590)

The Stockholm Codex Aureus, Looted Twice by Vikings
(Circa 750)

The Codex Aureus of Lorsch and its Dispersal
(778 – 820)

Declined to About 35,000 Volumes
(Circa 790)

Vikings Sack the Monastery and Library of Lindisfarne in the First Viking Raid on Britain
(January 6, 793)

Vikings Destroy the Library of York Cathedral
(866)

The Earliest Surviving Manuscript of the Complete Hebrew Bible
(Circa 930)

The Earliest Universal Bibliography
(988 – 990)

The Earliest Surviving Book Written in the Americas
(Circa 1050 – 1150)

Destruction of the 200,000 Volume Palace Library at Cairo
(1068)

Origins of the First Crusade
(March – November 1095)

Written and Illuminated by the Nun Herrad of Landsberg
(1167 – 1185)

Norman Crusaders Take Manuscripts as Spoils of War
(1175)

Massacre of the Jewish Community of York, England Reflected in the Survival of a Single Hebrew Manuscript
(March 16, 1190)

Private Libraries in the Muslim World, Destroyed or Plundered by Crusaders
(Circa 1200)

Norman Crusaders Sack Constantinople and Burn the Imperial Library
(1204)

The Greatest Destruction of Muslim Libraries
(1218 – 1220)

Pope Gregory IX Orders the Seizure and Burning of Jewish Books
(June 9 – June 20, 1239)

French Copies of the Talmud Seized
(June 3, 1240)

Louis IX Orders the Burning of 12,000 Manuscripts of the Talmud
(June 1242)

So Many Books were Thrown into the Tigris River that they Formed a Bridge that Would Support a Man on Horseback
(1258)

The Papal Library is Scattered
(1370)

Medieval Mappa Mundi, Stolen during an Auction
(1411 – 1419)

The First Printed Herbal with Illustrations and Probably the First Series of Illustrations on a Scientific Subject
(Circa 1481 – 1482)

Maximillian I Orders the Confiscation of Jewish Books, but Eventually Rescinds the Order
(August 19, 1509 – June 6, 1510)

Dissolution of the Monasteries Brings Destruction and Dispersal of Libraries
(1536 – 1541)

First Printed Edition of the Qur'an in Arabic
(1537 – 1538)

Medical Discovery, Heresy, and Martyrdom
(1553)

Destruction of the Maya Codices
(July 12, 1562)

The Beginning of the Collection of Medical Statistics
(1592 – 1593)

Introduction of Book Burning by the Hangman
(1634)

Sixty Printed Books and Three Newsbooks Ordered to be Burned
(1640 – 1660)

The Great Fire of London
(September 2 – September 5, 1666)

De bibliothecae incendio
(1670)

Invention of the Rubber Eraser
(April 15, 1770)

Probably the Most Ambitious Editorial Enterprise before the Wikipedia
(1773 – 1782)

The First U.S. Census
(August 2, 1790)

The Library of Congress is Destroyed During the War of 1812
(August 25, 1814)

Fire Destroys Two-Thirds of the Library of Congress
(December 24, 1851)

The Sulfite Pulping Process for Manufacturing Paper
(1866)

One of the Most Dramatic Problems in the Preservation of Media
(1889)

The Beginnings of Modern Spaceflight Theory
(May 1903 – 1914)

A New Version of Babbage's Analytical Engine, Lost
(1908)

Destruction of the University Library at Leuven
(August 25, 1914)

Burning 100,000,000 Books and Killing 6,000,000 People
(1933 – 1945)

Purging Germany of Jewish Culture
(April 6 – April 8, 1933)

Burning 25,000 Volumes of "un-German" Books
(May 10, 1933)

Kristallnacht
(November 9, 1938)

Liste des schädlichen und unerwünschten Schrifttums
(December 31, 1939)

The Nazis Destroy the National Library of Serbia
(April 6, 1941)

Zuse's Z3: The First Turing-Complete Computer
(May 12, 1941)

Computer Prototype Damaged and Lost
(November 11, 1943)

Repeated Dispersal and Eventual Burning of the Greatest Library in Poland
(October 1944)

Bombing of Dresden Destroys Books and Manuscripts
(February – March 1945)

Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1949)

Fahrenheit 451
(1953)

The Digital Domesday Project--Doomed to Early Digital Obsolescence
(1984 – 1986)

The Worst Library Fire in History
(February 14, 1988)

DNS is Corrupted Through Human Error
(July 1997)

Over 500,000 Egyptian Papyri Survive
(2002)

Looting of the National Museum of Iraq
(April 6 – April 12, 2003)

The EPA Begins to Close its Scientific Libraries
(November 20, 2006)

Demanding that the U.S. EPA Desist from Destroying its Libraries
(November 30, 2006)

The World's Oldest Oil Paintings Restored After Taliban Dynamite
(February 19, 2008)

The Largest Municipal Archive in Germany Collapses During Underground Construction
(March 3, 2009)