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

The Earliest Preserved Footprints of Our Ancestors
(Circa 1,530,000 BCE – 1,510,000 BCE)

Early Attempt to Record Information or Early Art?
(Circa 75,000 BCE – 73,000 BCE)

Perhaps the Oldest Map in the World
(10,000 BCE)

A Wallpainting that Could be a Landscape or a Map
(Circa 6,200 BCE)

Education in the Bronze Age in the Middle East
(Circa 3,000 BCE – 1,200 BCE)

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

The Earliest Printing was Stamped into Soft Clay
(Circa 2,291 BCE – 2,254 BCE)

One of the Oldest Known Ancient Mesopotamian Medical Texts
(2,112 BCE – 2,004 BCE)

The Oldest Known Tablet Containing a Legal Code
(2,100 BCE – 2,050 BCE)

The Earliest Known Document Written on Papyrus
(Circa 2,000 BCE)

The Older of the Two Best-Known Mathematical Papyri
(Circa 2,000 BCE)

The Most Famous Document of Babylonian Mathematics
(Circa 1,822 BCE – 1,784 BCE)

The Oldest Known Medical Papyrus
(Circa 1,800 BCE)

Thousands of Cuneiform Tablets Document Babylonian Mathematics
(1,800 BCE – 1,600 BCE)

The Earliest Surviving Recipes
(Circa 1,700 BCE)

“Accurate Reckoning for Inquiring into Things, and the Knowledge of All Things, Mysteries . . .All Secrets”
(Circa 1,650 BCE)

The Oldest Surgical Treatise
(Circa 1,600 BCE)

The Largest Surviving Medical Treatise from Ancient Mesopotamia
(Circa 1,600 BCE)

The Most Extensive Record of Ancient Egyptian Medicine
(Circa 1,550 BCE)

Wooden Writing Board Containing Text of the Words of Khakheperresoneb
(Circa 1,500 BCE)

Archive of Egyptian Diplomatic Correspondence Written in the Diplomatic Language, Akkadian Cuneiform
(Circa 1,360 BCE – 1,330 BCE)

The Epic of Gilgamesh
(Circa 1,300 BCE – 1,000 BCE)

The Only Ancient Egyptian Document that Mentions Israel
(1,209 BCE – 1,208 BCE)

Oracle Bone Script
(Circa 1,200 BCE – 1,050 BCE)

Diseases of the Anus and Headaches
(1,200 BCE)

The Longest Known Egyptian Papyrus
(Circa 1,186 BCE – 1,155 BCE)

The Oldest Known Evidence of the Phoenician Alphabet
(Circa 1,000 BCE)

Possibly the Earliest Hebrew Inscription
(Circa 1,000 BCE)

The Gezer Calendar
(Circa 950 BCE)

Perhaps the Oldest European Alphabet
(Circa 800 BCE)

Standardization of the Homeric Texts Begins
(Circa 750 BCE)

The "Fatal Letter" in the Iliad
(Circa 750 BCE)

One of the Oldest Records of the Greek Alphabet
(Circa 740 BCE)

One of the Oldest Known Examples of Writing in Greek
(Circa 740 BCE – 720 BCE)

The Marsiliana Tablet Abecedarium
(700 BCE)

The Taylor Prism and the Sennacherib Prism
(689 BCE – 691 BCE)

Knowledge as Power: The Earliest Systematically Collected Library as Distinct from an Archive
(668 BCE – 627 BCE)

The God of Writing. . . .
(Circa 646 BCE)

Construction of the Etemenanki Ziggurat, Later Known as The Tower of Babel
(604 BCE – 562 BCE)

The Tower of Babel Stele
(604 BCE – 562 BCE)

The Oldest Surviving Texts from the Hebrew Bible
(Circa 600 BCE)

The Duenos Inscription
(Circa 550 BCE)

The Oldest Known Work on Military Strategy
(Circa 550 BCE)

The Earliest Known Document in the History of Religious Toleration
(537 BCE)

Possible Libraries in Ancient Greece
(Circa 410 BCE)

The Library of Aristotle
(384 BCE – 321 BCE)

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

The Dead Sea Scrolls
(300 BCE – 68 CE)

The Guodian Chu Slips: "Like the Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls"
(Circa 300 BCE)

The Beginnings of Philology
(Circa 280 BCE)

A "Wild" or "Eccentric" Papyrus of the Iliad
(Circa 275 BCE)

The Septuagint
(Circa 250 BCE)

The Origins of Bibliography
(Circa 200 BCE)

The Very Long Process of Canonization of the Hebrew Bible
(Circa 200 BCE – 200 CE)

The Mawangui Silk Texts
(Circa 175 BCE)

The Earliest Analog Computer
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

The Oldest Hebrew Manuscript Fragment before the Dead Sea Scrolls
(Circa 150 BCE – 100 BCE)

The Isaiah Scroll
(Circa 100 BCE)

The Writings of Virgil
(42 BCE – 19 BCE)

The Emperor Augustus Builds Two Public Libraries
(28 BCE)

The Oldest Surviving Substantial Collection of Buddhist Manuscripts
(Circa 1 CE – 100 CE)

The First Census of Which Records are Preserved
(2 CE)

Composition of the Four Gospels
(70 CE – 110 CE)

The Continuing Process of Canonization of the Hebrew Bible
(Circa 70 CE – 90 CE)

One of the Oldest and Most Complete Diagrams from Euclid
(75 CE – 125 CE)

The Only Library Preserved Intact from Roman Times
(79 CE)

Over 11,000 Wall Inscriptions Survived from Pompeii
(79 CE)

Process of Canonizing the Old Testament
(Circa 90 CE)

At Alexandria Ptolemy Writes the Almagest, the Cosmographia, and the Tetrabiblos
(Circa 100 CE – 178 CE)

The Romance Papyrus
(Circa 100 CE – 200 CE)

Translation of the Bible From Greek into Coptic
(Circa 100 CE – 200 CE)

One of the Earliest Known Fragments of Any Gospel
(Circa 100 CE – 200 CE)

The Earliest Known Fragment of the New Testament
(Circa 100 CE – 150 CE)

The Sole Surviving Example of Roman Literary Cursive script and the Earliest Example of a Parchment Codex
(Circa 100 CE)

Ancient Greek Songs
(Circa 125 CE)

Ancient Musical Notation
(Circa 125 CE)

The "Hawara Homer"
(Circa 150 CE)

Insisting on Only Four Gospels
(Circa 185 CE)

The Diptych Document Format
(198 CE)

The Making of a Gospel Book
(Circa 200 CE – 300 CE)

Pamphilius Establishes a Library and Scriptorium
(200 CE – 300 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 Oldest Woodblock Printed Fragments from China
(Circa 220 CE)

The First Important Work of Rabbinic Judaism
(Circa 220 CE)

Possibly the Earliest Record of Rabbinic Texts
(244 CE – 256 CE)

One of the Few Scraps of Classical Literary Illustration on Papyrus
(Circa 250 CE)

Greek Writings on Music and Rhythm
(Circa 250 CE)

The Crosby-Schoyen Codex: One of the Earliest Extant Manuscripts in Codex Form
(Circa 250 CE)

Perhaps the Earliest Surviving Text of the Hippocratic Oath
(Circa 275 CE)

The Imperial Library at Nicomedia
(284 CE – 305 CE)

The Codex Vaticanus
(300 CE – 400 CE)

The Codex Sinaiticus
(300 CE – 400 CE)

Confirmation of the Adoption of the Codex Form of the Book by the Early Christians
(300 CE – 350 CE)

The Transition from Papyrus to Parchment
(Circa 300 CE)

A Rare Manuscript Example of Roman Square Capitals
(Circa 300 CE)

Foundation of the Imperial Library of Constantinople
(Circa 330 CE)

The Earliest Egyptian Printed Cloth
(Circa 350 CE)

The Earliest Surviving Manuscript of the Old Latin Gospels
(Circa 350 CE)

The Oldest Surviving Manuscript of the Comedies of Terence
(Circa 350 CE – 450 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)

The Earliest Dated Codex with Full-Page Illustrations
(354 CE)

New Testament Canonization in Process
(367 CE)

The Last Major Surviving Historical Account of the Late Roman Empire
(Circa 385 CE)

The Only Ancient Manual of Roman Military Instructions that Survived Intact
(Circa 390 CE)

The First Western Autobiography
(397 CE – 398 CE)

The Oldest Surviving Illustrated Biblical Manuscript
(Circa 398 CE)

The Charioteer Papyrus
(Circa 400 CE)

Herald of Christianity and Magus
(Circa 400 CE)

Codex Bezae Cantabridgensis
(Circa 400 CE)

"The Earliest Evidence for Tooling on a Leather Bookbinding"
(Circa 400 CE)

The Oldest Extant Book Illustrations of Plants
(Circa 400 CE)

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

The Oldest Surviving Consular Diptych -- an Object that Could be Used as a Writing Tablet
(406 CE)

Early Fifth Century Palimpsest
(Circa 425 CE)

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

One of Few Surviving "Scientific" Manuscripts from Late Antiquity
(Circa 450 CE – 550)

The Codex Alexandrinus
(Circa 450 CE)

The Church Replaces the Roman State as the Source of Order and Stability
(Circa 450 CE – 650)

Composition of the Babylonian Talmud
(Circa 490 CE – 542)

The Only Illustrated Homer from Antiquity
(493 CE – 508)

The Earliest, Most Significant Rabbinic Texts Are Preserved in Stone
(Circa 500 CE – 600)

Possibly the Earliest Surviving Illuminated Christian Manuscripts
(Circa 500 CE – 650)

Probably the Most Beautiful of the Earliest Surviving Scientific Codices
(Circa 512)

The Codex Argenteus, Written in Silver and Gold Letters on Purple Vellum
(Circa 520)

Thedoric Executes the Philosopher Boethius: Beginning of the Middle Ages
(524 – 525)

An Almost Unique Witness to the Original Justinian Digest
(533 – 555)

Considered the Oldest, Well-Preserved Illustrated Biblical Codex
(Circa – 540)

Codex Brixianus
(Circa 550)

Written in the Imperial Scriptorum of Constantinople and Dismembered by Crusaders
(Circa 550)

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

The Herbal of Pseudo-Apuleius
(Circa 550 – 625)

The Earliest Manuscript of the New Testament in Christian Palestinian Aramaic
(Circa 550)

One of the Earliest Surviving Legal Codices
(Circa 550)

Among the Earliest Surviving European Papyrus Codices
(Circa 550)

One of the Oldest Surviving Illuminated Manuscripts of the New Testament
(Circa 555)

"Source Z"
(Circa 575 – 599)

The Ashburnham Pentateuch
(Circa 580 – 620)

The Syriac Bible of Paris
(Circa 585)

Signed by the Scribe Rabbula in 586
(586)

A Manuscript from Pope Gregory's Scriptorium
(590 – 604)

The Earliest Western Metalwork Bookcovers
(Circa 600)

The Springmount Bog Wax Tablets
(Circa 600)

Foundation of the Monastery and Library at Bobbio
(614)

Possibly the Earliest Surviving Irish Codex
(Circa 625)

The Illuminated Gospel Book as a Tool for Evangelization
(627)

Among the Oldest Qu'rans Known
(628)

The Earliest Known Star Atlas
(649 – 684)

Possibly the Oldest Irish Manuscript
(Circa 650)

The Book of Mulling
(Circa 650)

One of the Smallest Surviving Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts and the Earliest Surviving Western Binding in Europe
(Circa 650)

The Finest Surviving Coptic Bookbinding
(Circa 650 – 750)

The Earliest Surviving Complete Bible in the Latin Vulgate, and One of the Earliest Surviving Images of Bookbindings and a Bookcase
(Circa 685)

The Ceolfrid Bible
(Circa 685 – 710)

Perhaps the Earliest Extant Treatise on Finger Reckoning
(688)

About 1800 Latin Manuscripts Survive from 400 to 699
(Circa 699)

Beowulf
(700 – 1000)

One of the Oldest Hebrew Fragments Written in Europe
(Circa 700)

The Earliest Surviving Letter Known to Have Been Written from One Englishman to Another
(704 – 705)

The Oldest Surviving Block Printing
(704 – 751)

Creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels
(715 – 720)

One of the Oldest, Largest, and Most Signficant Medieval Libraries
(719)

The Oldest English Translation of Any Portion of the Bible
(725 – 750)

The Earliest Surviving Copy of St. Benedict's Rules
(Circa 725)

Most of the Surviving Greek Literature was Translated into Arabic by 750
(750)

The Earliest Known Example of an Historiated Initial and the Earliest Witnesses to Bede's Text
(Circa 750)

The Book of Dimma
(Circa 750)

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

One of the Great Treasures of Early Carolingian Metalwork
(760)

The Finest Library North of the Alps
(767)

"The Oldest Western European Codex in Private Hands"
(Circa 775)

The Earliest Surviving Document in Italian?
(Circa 775 – 825)

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

The Educator Alcuin and the Emperor Charlemagne
(780 – 796)

About 7000 Manuscripts and Fragments Survive from the Late 8th and 9th Centuries
(Circa 780 – 875)

Sources of the Exemplars Copied during the Carolingian Renaissance
(Circa 780)

Declined to About 35,000 Volumes
(Circa 790)

Partial Inventory of the Court Library of Charlemagne at Aachen
(Circa 790)

264 Manuscript Books or Fragments Survive of Texts Written before 800
(799)

The Book of Kells
(Circa 800)

About 3000 Manuscripts of Classical Authors Survive from the 9th to 12th Centuries
(Circa 800)

Adoption of the Carolingian Minuscule
(800 – 830)

The Earliest Surviving Dated Manuscript Written in Greek Minuscule
(815 – 835)

"A Perfect Relationship between Text and Picture"
(Circa 820 – 830)

The Only Surviving Major Architectural Drawing from the Fall of the Roman Empire to Circa 1250
(825 – 830)

Medieval Natural History Bestseller
(825 – 850)

The Oldest Surviving Manuscript on Arabic Paper
(Circa 825)

Early Flat-Earth View of the World
(Circa 850)

The Earliest Surviving Copy of Aristotle's Biological Works
(Circa 850)

The First Byzantine Encylopedia
(Circa 850)

The Oldest Surviving Fragments of the Babylonian Talmud May Date from the Ninth Century
(Circa 850)

Byzantine Iconophile Psalter from the Time of the Iconoclasm
(Circa 850)

The Earliest Surviving Cookbook
(Circa 850)

The Oldest Western Medical Document after the Hippocratic Writings
(Circa 850)

The Periplus of Hanno the Navigator
(Circa 850 – 950)

The Earliest Surviving Manuscript Closest to Euclid's Original Text
(Circa 850)

The Fables of Phaedrus
(Circa 850)

The Earliest-Known Manuscript of the Arabian Nights
(October 20, 879)

The Oldest Manuscript of Ovid's Ars Amatoria
(Circa 880)

The Oldest Dated Manuscript of a Classical Greek Author
(888)

The First Continuous History Written by Europeans in their Own Language
(890)

By the End of the 9th Century the Major Part of Latin Literature had Been Copied
(Circa 890 – 900)

The Oldest Surviving Manuscript of Plato's Tetralogies
(November 895)

Jews Seem to Have Adopted the Codex Around 900
(Circa 900)

The Earliest Surviving Illustrated Surgical Codex
(Circa 900)

One of the Oldest Medical or Scientific Treatises Written in English
(Circa 900)

The Earliest Surviving Dated Astrolabe
(927 – 928)

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

The Earliest Surviving Copy of Pappus's Mathematical Collection
(Circa 950)

The Most Famous Manuscript of the Iliad
(Circa 950)

The Palatine Anthology of Greek Poetry
(Circa 950)

The Oldest and Most Important Complete Manuscript of the Mishna
(Circa 950 – 1050)

The Earliest Record of the Use of Arabic Numerals in Europe
(976)

First Discovery of the Law of Refraction
(984)

The Earliest Universal Bibliography
(988 – 990)

The Oldest Surviving Haggadah(s)
(Circa 1000)

The Earliest Extant Complete Text of the Bible in Hebrew
(Circa 1010)

The Earliest Codex Preserving Ancient Greek Music Theory
(January 14, 1040)

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

The Norman Conquest Recorded on the Bayeux Tapestry
(1077)

The Domesday Book
(December 1085 – August 1086)

Medieval Encyclopedia, of which the Autograph Manuscript Survived
(Circa 1090 – 1125)

Medieval Handbook of Applied Arts Including Book Production
(1100 – 1120)

The Earliest Extant Document from Europe Written on Paper
(1109)

Among the Best Known Records of Early Forbidden Romantic Love
(1115)

King Roger Bans the Use of Paper
(1145)

The Only Surviving Illustrated Manuscript of a Greek Chronicle
(Circa 1150)

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

Norman Crusaders Take Manuscripts as Spoils of War
(1175)

Early Autograph Draft of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed
(Circa 1185)

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)

The Magna Carta
(January – June 17, 1215)

Most Important Law Book of the German Middle Ages
(1220 – 1235)

The Earliest Known Classical Latin Piece Written on Paper
(Circa 1225)

The Song of the Nibelungs
(Circa 1230)

Banning the Use of Paper for Legal Documents
(1231)

First Record of a Chinese Printed Seal in Europe
(1245)

The Earliest Surviving German Document Written on Paper
(1246 – 1247)

The Tabula Peutingeriana
(Circa 1250)

Precedent and Common Law
(1250 – 1256)

The Oldest Surviving Literary Document in Yiddish
(1272)

Autograph Manuscript by Ibn-al-Nafis on the Art of Medicine
(Circa 1280)

The Planudean Anthology as Basis for the Anthologia Graeca
(1299 – 1301)

A Celebrated Medieval Map & the Greatest Extant 13th Century Pictorial Manuscript
(Circa 1300)

The Most Accurate World Map for Three Centuries
(Circa 1300)

Block Printing May have been Practiced by Arabs and Jews as early as the Mid-14th Century
(Circa 1350)

The Earliest Surviving Spectacles
(Circa 1350)

The Oldest Sephardic Haggadah
(Circa 1350)

The Papal Library is Scattered
(1370)

One of the Earliest Sources of Trecento Secular Polyphonic Music
(1370)

The Earliest Surviving Example of Old Polish Literature
(Circa 1375)

The Earliest Surviving Book Printed from Moveable Type
(1377)

Both of the Earliest and Most Authoritative Manuscripts of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales Were Written by the Same Scribe
(Circa 1380)

The Oldest Map of Africa
(1389)

One of the Oldest Known Manuscripts on Cookery in English, Written in the Form of a Scroll
(Circa 1390)

An Encyclopedia in 11,095 Volumes
(1403 – 1408)

The Largest and Finest Collection of Greek Texts before Bessarion's
(December 15, 1423)

The Earliest Known Treatise on Shipbuilding
(1434)

One of the Few Surviving Documents of Roman Government Circa 420 CE
(January 1436)

Establishment of the Vatican Library
(1448)

The Earliest Surviving Remnant of Any European Book Printed by Moveable Type
(Circa 1452 – 1453)

The Ottoman Turks Capture Constantinople
(May 29, 1453)

Byzantine Greek Scholars Carry Manuscripts to Italy
(Circa June 1453)

The 42-Line Bible
(1454)

The Earliest Dated European Document Printed by Moveable Type
(October 22, 1454)

Completion of the 42-Line Bible
(1455 – 1456)

The First Known Medical or Scientific Work to be Printed, Surviving in Only One Copy
(1456)

The Bulla Turcorum of Calixtus III, of Which One Copy Survives
(June 29, 1456)

Die Bulla widder die Turcken, also Printed by Gutenberg, of which One Copy Survives
(Circa July 1456)

An Intermediate Form between a Collection of Prints and a Blockbook
(Circa 1460 – 1465)

Possibly the Earliest Printed Book for which the Printer's Manuscript Remains Extant
(June 12, 1467)

The Earliest Surviving Book List Issued by a Printer
(June 1469 – September 1470)

Probably the First Printed Law Book
(January 26, 1475)

Leonardo Builds a Programmable Mechanical Automaton
(1478)

The First Printed Haggadah
(1486)

The Earliest Known Type Specimen
(April 1, 1486)

The Beginning of Prepublication Censorship
(November 17, 1487)

Gershom Soncino Sells the First Copy of His First Book
(December 19 – December 29, 1488)

The Earliest Known Dance Notation
(Circa 1490)

The First Eyewitness Report to Become a Bestseller
(February 15, 1493)

The Best Medium for Long Term Information Storage
(1494)

Early Printing in Hebrew
(1500)

Aldus's "Rules of the Modern Academy" Known From a Single Surviving Copy
(Circa 1500)

The First English Cookbook, Known from a Single Surviving Copy
(1500)

The Number of Early Printed Editions Which Survived Versus the Number of Surviving Medieval Manuscripts
(December 1500)

The First Book of Music Printed from Moveable Type
(1501)

The First Map to Name America: The Waldseemuller Wall Map and the Waldseemuller Gores
(April 1507)

The First Book Issued from the First Press in Scotland
(September 15, 1507)

The First English Book on Preparing and Carving Meat, Game and Fish
(1508)

The Aberdeen Breviary, the First Major Book Printed in Scotland
(1509 – 1510)

Collecting Books and Prints in the Early Sixteenth Century
(Circa 1510 – 1539)

The First Printed Edition of the Complete Babylonian Talmud
(1519 – 1523)

The Aesthetic Anatomy of Human Proportion
(1528)

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

The First Publisher's Catalogue in Book Form
(1542)

The First Book Printed in a Goidelic Language
(April 24, 1567)

The First Medical Book Printed in the Western Hemisphere with the Earliest Illustrations of Plants Printed in the Western Hemisphere
(1570)

Book Collector Matthew Parker Donates his Library
(1574)

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

The Oldest Surviving Work of Japanese Printing by Moveable Type
(1598)

The Earliest Surviving Catalogue of a Book Auction
(July 6, 1599)

The First Bibliography Published in the New World
(1606)

The Largest Historic Chained Library in the World
(1611)

Establishment of the First Printing Press in North America: No Copies of the First Two Imprints Exist
(1639)

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

The First Medical or Scientific Publication in North America, Known from a Single Surviving Copy
(1667)

Reflecting Surrealism Centuries Before Surrealism Became Fashionable
(1701 – 1725)

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

The Declaration of Independence
(July 4, 1776)

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

Printing as a Way to Preserve Information
(February 18, 1791)

The Beginning of Serious Discussion of "the Homeric Question"
(1795)

The First American Cookbook Written by an American
(1796)

The Rosetta Stone
(July 15, 1799)

The Penny Black
(May 1, 1840)

Constantin von Tischendorf Discovers the Codex Sinaiticus
(1859)

The Sulfite Pulping Process for Manufacturing Paper
(1866)

Schliemann Discovers the Ancient City of Troy
(1871 – 1873)

Edison Describes Future Uses for his Phonograph
(June 1878)

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

The Largest and Most Diverse Collection of Medieval Manuscripts in the World
(1896 – 1897)

The Questionable Quality of Paper
(1898)

The Oldest Surviving Magnetic Audio Recording
(1900)

Zuse's Z1: The First Freely Programmable Binary-Based Calculating Machine
(April 11, 1936)

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

Discovery of the "Dead Sea Scrolls"
(1947)

Among the Earliest Extant Programs for a Stored-Program Computer
(March 15 – March 21, 1949)

The Oldest Known Recordings of Computer Music
(Circa November 1951)

One of the Earliest Surviving British Television Dramas
(December 12 – December 14, 1954)

Longevity of Paper is a Function of its Acidity or Alkalinity
(Circa 1958)

Acquiring New Archival Material at the Rate of 1 Mile per Year
(Circa 1970)

A Digital Library of Greek Literature
(1972)

Finding Additional Pages of the Codex Sinaiticus
(May 1979)

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

The Oldest Surviving Substantial Collection of Buddhist Manuscripts
(1994)

Continuing to Print the British Parliamentary Papers on Vellum
(November 2, 1999)

The ASCI White Supercomputer
(June 29, 2000)

National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program
(December 21, 2000)

Over 500,000 Egyptian Papyri Survive
(2002)

Damage to Codex Atlanticus Caused by Efforts at Preservation
(April 2006)

A Book of Psalms from the Ninth Century is Found in a Bog
(July 25, 2006)

Previously Unknown Speeches by Hyperides
(November 2006)

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

Still Another Major Discovery in the Archimedes Palimpsest
(April 26, 2007)

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

Tenth Century Text Published on Google Books
(October 29, 2008)

Raphael's Madonna of the Goldfinch Restored 450 Years after it was Nearly Destroyed
(October 30, 2008)

Discovery of a Previously Unknown Self- Portrait of Leonardo
(February 28, 2009)

" A Library to Last Forever" ??
(October 9, 2009)

Discovery of Unknown Portrait by Leonardo Confirmed by a Fingerprint
(October 13, 2009)

The Finest Roman Cameo Glass Vase Discovered
(October 13, 2009)

Liberte ou la Mort: Haiti's Declaration of Independence Discovered
(February 2010)

There are "129,864,880" Different Books in the World
(August 5, 2010)