National Archive uses MongoDB to put First World War diaries online

Historical documents are available to the public through The National Archives' Discovery Platform

The National Archives' First World War diaries and other documents from British history have been digitised and made available online with the help of MongoDB, the open-source document database.

Using MongoDB's NoSQL big data solution, historical documents have been made available to the public through The National Archives' Discovery Platform.

The archive is designed to scale terabytes of data as more historical documents are added to the platform in future, with MongoDB features enabling simple searching and filtering.

"It is vital, as we remember the terrible human cost of World War I, to fully understand both the political and cultural conditions that pertained at the time," said Dr Liam Fox MP, welcoming the digitisation of the National Archives.

"This archive will allow future generations to see the conflict from a new range of perspectives, which can only aid their understanding," he added.

MongoDB also welcomed the opportunity to help the British public access important documents from history.

"The National Archives is home to a wealth of British history and this data is now readily available, easily searchable and open to all," said Joe Morrissey, VP of EMEA for MongoDB

"Increasingly open source database technologies are playing a critical role in information sharing, allowing future generations to understand and explore the sacrifices made during the First World War," he concluded.