The project makes openly available previously inaccessible documents by British-American poet W. H. Auden (1907–1973) in the estate of Welsh-Austrian writer Stella Musulin in a scholarly digital edition. This edition offers a fresh perspective on the later life and work of one of the most influential twentieth-century writers: it yields new insights into Auden’s Austrian period 1958–1973, and at the same time adds a vital chapter to Austria’s complex political, social, and cultural history in the 1960s and 70s. Thereby, this digital edition enables new, original Auden scholarship and offers a free resource to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. 

The project is funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF and cooperates with the University of Vienna and the University for Continuing Education Krems. In collaboration with the Computer Vision Lab of TU Wien, the project involves pioneering computer vision in the context of 20th-century literary papers. These imaging technologies have enabled the reconstruction of otherwise lost poetry preserved in the 3D paper surface structure (open-access article in DSH, OeAW feature article, OeAW feature video).