A Mimeo Archaeology. Developing a method to classify mimeographed documents and re-evaluate their historical and social significance

A Mimeo Archaeology (AMA) addresses a critical gap in the preservation and study of mimeography, a stencil-based duplication technology widely used throughout the 20th century in educational, bureaucratic, artistic, and activist contexts. While mimeography played a pivotal role in shaping informal print cultures and low-cost publishing, its technical processes and material outputs remain largely understudied in Austria. As a result, mimeographed documents are often misclassified, overlooked, or physically deteriorating in archives and libraries.

Combining expertise from media studies, heritage science, machine learning, and artistic research, the project aims to fill this gap by developing new methods for the identification, analysis, and preservation of mimeographed materials across Austrian collections. Its interdisciplinary, media-centred framework addresses both technical and conceptual challenges, treating mimeography not merely as a reproduction tool but as a historically and materially embedded medium of communication.

At the core of the project is the development of the MAID Tool (Mimeo Archive IDentification), a machine learning model designed to recognize mimeographed documents based on their distinct visual characteristics. This computational approach represents an innovative departure from conventional archival practices, which often rely on metadata or textual analysis. Instead, the MAID Tool uses visual and material cues to support the accurate classification and visibility of mimeographic documents in archival collections.

In parallel, the project adopts re-enactment as a practice-based research method to surface forms of tacit knowledge embedded in historical duplication processes. Drawing on frameworks from artistic research, the re-enactment involves hands-on experimentation with original mimeograph machines, stencils, and inks, capturing sensory, procedural, and embodied dimensions of media use that are traditionally absent from archival records. These insights will inform the compilation of preservation guidelines adapted to the specific vulnerabilities of mimeographic materials.

All findings will be made publicly accessible via MAPP (Mimeo Archaeology Project Platform), an open-access digital platform integrating the MAID Tool, historical context, preservation guidelines, and documentation of the re-enactment. Designed for archivists, scholars, and artists, MAPP will offer a searchable environment to explore mimeography as a technical, cultural, and historical phenomenon.

Through scholarly publications, public workshops, and a final symposium, the project fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and contributes to broader debates about how low-tech and marginalised media can be preserved within heritage science. It ultimately proposes a model for how media archaeology and computational methods can jointly inform archival futures—offering not only technical solutions but also critical reflections on what, and how, we choose to remember.