The Engineering History project: Creating and linking datasets from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured historical sources

Using three different types of digitized historical sources – one containing structured information, one semi-structured, and one unstructured – we construct a relational database that connects individuals, firms, and textual material related to individuals and firms. The broader project examines the emergence of professional engineering, 1870–1930, and uses the global mining sector as a case study. This paper explains the methods used to construct the initial three constituent datasets, including techniques to clean and validate each. It then explains the methods used to transform and link those datasets, creating a relational database that includes information on roughly 130,000 individuals, over 50,000 firms, and almost 400,000 journal articles. We are able to trace individuals, firms, and technologies over time and space and identify interconnected communities and networks in a globalized setting, which we illustrate in several brief case studies.