At the beginning of the semester, we chose three women to commemorate in the Civic Club’s Women’s History Garden. My partner, Kyle, and I completed extensive research on these women. We analyzed a variety of primary and secondary sources to inform our knowledge of these women and then created 1-page biographies on each woman. After we finished our biographies, we began creating shortened versions to be placed on the plaques that will be displayed to the public.
We used Canva to design the plaques. Basing them off of the plaques that were released earlier in the year, we adopted for the same style. We changed the color of the border as well as the logo that is at the top of the plaque. Swapping the flowers with a bird, we wanted to represent travel and migration, something a bird and the women we commemorated both did. The next thing we did was change the background to the plaque. We chose a significant place in each of the women’s lives. Mary Sachs’s store is on display on her plaque, the old eighth ward is used for Jane Chester’s background, and the Beth El Temple that she helped found is used for Pauline Levinsohn’s plaque.
After the plaques and biographies were complete, we created scripts for people to record voiceovers of. My friends helped provide voiceovers and we placed some relevant background music behind them using Adobe Audition. These voiceovers can be played by users who scan the QR codes on the plaques.
The Civic Club will create plaques and audio components for the three modern women that are chosen and all six will be revealed early this summer to the public. I am proud of the work that was completed this semester for the Women’s History Garden and hope that it is a project that continues to expand and thrive.
The posters and audio stories for each woman are included below:
Jane Chester:
Pauline Levinsohn:
Mary Sachs:
Tyler Caruso is a Junior at Messiah University. He is majoring in film and media arts. He is also a Public Humanities Fellow.
Digital Harrisburg 