Central to history is the world of work in the past, as known by occupational activities. Yet comparative research in this field is severely hampered by confusion regarding occupational terminology across time and space, within as well as between languages. To overcome this, we create an occupational information system that is both internationaland historical, and simultaneously links to existing classifications used for present-day conditions. The information system uses a historical international classification of occupations (HISCO) to combine various kinds of information on their tasks and duties in historical settings, as well as images on the history of work.

Iinformation on occupations in the past:

• Tens of thousands of occupational titles from countries and languages around the world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
• linked to short descriptions of the content of the work
• linked to images and iconographic essays on the world of work
• computer assisted coding of your occupational titles into HISCO
• a bibliography on the world of work and links to related websites.
• information on the social class scheme HISCLASS