The following story explores the ways in which Bowdoin students, staff, and faculty are using digital technology to analyze old texts and objects. The article explores several research projects conducted this past year into three collections held by the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections and Archives at Bowdoin College. This department lives on the third floor of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, and its small staff is always eager to help students and scholars explore its holdings — whether they wish to use traditional, or cutting-edge, techniques to explore history.