Europe
The Rules of the Thälmann Pioneers
As a state-socialist society, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) did not have the multitude of independent organizations or voluntary associations that characterize civil society in democratic countries.
The Trial of Stephen Arrowsmith (1678)
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey includes accounts of trials at London's most important court. These were published at the end of each session in an inexpensive form for a popular, rather than a legal, audience.
The Violation of Virgins
W.T. Stead, an English newspaper editor and advocate of social reform, was an early exponent of "new journalism" focused on the sensational. In the 1880s, he turned the London newspaper The Pall Mall Gazette into a precursor of the modern tabloid.
Rejection of a Higher Age of Consent for Homosexual Acts
The European Commission on Human Rights was the vehicle by which individuals could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, an arm of the Council of Europe and an organization committed to European integration.
The Children Accuse - The Testimony of Łazarz Krakowski
In recent years, testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Holocaust victims have gained belated recognition as essential (not auxiliary) data for historical reconstruction.
The Children Accuse - The Testimony of Eryk Holder
In recent years, testimonies, diaries and memoirs of Holocaust victims (those who perished and those who survived) have gained belated recognition as essential (not auxiliary) data for historical reconstruction.
Orphan Records, Early Modern France
Much of early modern Europe saw increasing numbers of abandoned children, and new institutions designed to care for them. Published notarial documents, such as the two excerpted here, allow a glimpse into the fortunes of individual orphaned children in early modern Europe.
Orphan Biographies, Early Modern France
Like much of early modern Europe, France saw increasing numbers of abandoned children, and new institutions designed to care for them. Orphanage records are one of a few rare types of sources available for historians to chart the histories of the abandoned children.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The years following World War II marked a key shift in international policy related to human rights. Few, however, connect the history of human rights to the children's rights movement.
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Official interest in the rights of children has grown over the course of the 20th century. Urbanization and industrialization led reformers at the turn of the century to focus on child welfare and on children's rights as separate from those of adults.