The Use Context of Digital Archival Collections: Mapping with Historical Research Topics and the Content of Digital Archival Collections

Abstract Digital archives have been used extensively in historical research. While many user studies regarding digital collections have focused on their users and information behaviors, there is not much research on how digital archives have contributed to historical scholarship and why historians use them. Understanding which digital collections are useful for topical coverage in historical studies will provide important information in the development and assessment of digital preservation projects. This study examines the topical coverage of historical articles that cite digital archival collections, and also the content of digital archival collections that appear in these articles. By mapping the contents of the articles and digital archival collections, this study aims to understand historians’ use context for their historical research and to relate the association of digital projects to the scholarship of history