As people were urged to read the Bible during the early modern era, new tools emerged to help them navigate its pages: page numbers, indexes, annotations—basically, all the features of the “apparatus of the book” that we take for granted today.

Sometime in the past three centuries, a conspicuous smudge appeared over a painted print showing Jesuits ferrying souls to salvation. Who committed this act of censorship? And what could have motivated them?

Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, Religious Change and Print, 1450-1700 explores the period’s fierce religious debates as well as how early adopters of print used the medium to extend the Roman Catholic Church’s influence—or bypass it altogether.

After digitizing more than 30,000 French Revolution pamphlets, the Newberry is now accepting applications for an open data grant, offering support for a digital humanities project that uses the collection’s digital images and full-text files to uncover trends, patterns, and stories.