The paper seismograms from 100 years of observations in Denmark and Greenland has since October 2021 been made available through the Danish National Archives. Five case stories illustrate the quality and variation of the seismograms, and the historical context of operation of the stations. (1) The earliest recorded earthquake in the archive is recorded at GDH station in Greenland, where the 1907 MS 8 earthquake in Tajikistan is recorded on smoked paper. (2) The first Danish earthquake is a local event close to Copenhagen in 1930. (3) We have illustrated the 50 megaton nuclear explosion in Novaya Zemlya in 1961 – the largest nuclear test explosion ever, (4) the M 9.2 earthquake in Alaska in 1964 recorded on several instruments at COP, and (5) a local earthquake in NE Greenland recorded both on paper on WWSSN instruments and digitally on a modern broadband instrument.