Digital humanities sounds niche, until you realize it can mean a searchable archive of U.S. amendment proposals, Irish folklore, or pigment science in ancient art. Today I’m talking with David Flood from Harvard’s DARTH team about an unglamorous problem: What happens when the grant ends but the website can’t. His answer, static sites, client-side search, and sneaky Python. Let’s dive in. 
 
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<h2 class="links-heading mb-4">Links from the show</h2>
<div>Guest 
David Flood: <a href="https://www.davidaflood.com?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >davidaflood.com</a> 
 
DARTH: <a href="https://digitalhumanities.fas.harvard.edu?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >digitalhumanities.fas.harvard.edu</a> 
Amendments Project: <a href="https://digitalhumanities.fas.harvard.edu/projects/amend/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >digitalhumanities.fas.harvard.edu</a> 
Fionn Folklore Database: <a href="https://fionnfolklore.org/en?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >fionnfolklore.org</a> 
Mapping Color in History: <a href="https://iiif.harvard.edu/projects/mapping-color-in-history/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >iiif.harvard.edu</a> 
Apatosaurus: <a href="https://apatosaurus.io/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >apatosaurus.io</a> 
Criticus: <a href="https://github.com/d-flood/criticus?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >github.com</a> 
github.com/palewire/django-bakery: <a href="https://github.com/palewire/django-bakery?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >github.com</a> 
sigsim.acm.org/conf/pads/2026/blog/artifact-evaluation: <a href="https://sigsim.acm.org/conf/pads/2026/blog/artifact-evaluation/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >sigsim.acm.org</a> 
Hugo: <a href="https://gohugo.io?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >gohugo.io</a> 
Water Stories: <a href="https://waterstories.fas.harvard.edu/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >waterstories.fas.harvard.edu</a> 
Tsumeb Mine Notebook: <a href="https://tmn.fas.harvard.edu/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >tmn.fas.harvard.edu</a> 
Dharma and Punya: <a href="https://dharmapunya2019.org/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >dharmapunya2019.org</a> 
Pagefind library: <a href="https://pagefind.app?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >pagefind.app</a> 
django_webassembly: <a href="https://github.com/m-butterfield/django_webassembly?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >github.com</a> 
Astro Static Site Generator: <a href="https://astro.build?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >astro.build</a> 
PageFind Python Lib: <a href="https://pypi.org/project/pagefind/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >pypi.org</a> 
Frozen-Flask: <a href="https://frozen-flask.readthedocs.io/en/latest/?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >frozen-flask.readthedocs.io</a> 
 
Watch this episode on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaI2AxRq_OA" target="_blank" >youtube.com</a> 
Episode #538 deep-dive: <a href="https://talkpython.fm/episodes/show/538/python-in-digital-humanities#takeaways-anchor" target="_blank" >talkpython.fm/538</a> 
Episode transcripts: <a href="https://talkpython.fm/episodes/transcript/538/python-in-digital-humanities" target="_blank" >talkpython.fm</a> 
 
Theme Song: Developer Rap 
🥁 Served in a Flask 🎸: <a href="https://talkpython.fm/flasksong" target="_blank" >talkpython.fm/flasksong</a> 
 
---== Don't be a stranger ==--- 
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Mastodon: <a href="https://fosstodon.org/web/@talkpython" target="_blank" > @talkpython@fosstodon.org</a> 
X.com: <a href="https://x.com/talkpython" target="_blank" > @talkpython</a> 
 
Michael on Bluesky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mkennedy.codes?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" >@mkennedy.codes</a> 
Michael on Mastodon: <a href="https://fosstodon.org/web/@mkennedy" target="_blank" > @mkennedy@fosstodon.org</a> 
Michael on X.com: <a href="https://x.com/mkennedy?featured_on=talkpython" target="_blank" > @mkennedy</a> </div>

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