Which ideas do we get from war museums? A computational text analysis of the museums of the Battle of the Ebro (Spanish Civil War)

Abstract

War museums convey traumatic experiences through complex and contested narratives that shape visitors' perceptions. The Ebro battlefield exemplifies these complexities, with multiple institutions preserving its heritage while presenting differing interpretations. This article employs a Digital Humanities approach to analyse the messages conveyed by these museums. The team digitised exhibition panel texts using OCR technology and applied various textual analysis and data visualisation methods, including word frequency counts and topic modelling. The integration of topic modelling in museum discourse analysis enables the quantification of trends and the identification of overlooked narratives. Results reveal a strong emphasis on the conflict's international dimension and a tendency towards politically equidistant narratives. The analysis also highlights the under-representation of certain groups, particularly civilians, and identifies tensions between museum portrayals of looting and heritage laws