When I reflected on what I learned this semester as part of my final for my Digital History course, I realized how much this class had contributed to my digital skills. Looking back, my main motivation for taking this course was to fulfill my requirements for my Public History major here at Messiah University. I had no real skills with anything digital except for writing, editing, and using the various programs like Canvas for my classes. I wasn’t very tech savvy and relied heavily on Google when I ran into tech issues. This is still very true for me. Google is often my best friend when I don’t know something. I didn’t know how to work with spreadsheets, data sets, the world of AI, website foundations like Omeka, citation collection databases such as Zotero, or how to digitize things in the archives. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I had no idea where to even begin when it came to researching in the archives.
In writing this blog post, I looked at all that I researched this semester. My semester long research project was on Genevieve Blatt and her role in politics as a woman. I have deeply enjoyed diving into her story, especially learning about her life as a judge, the first woman in the role of Secretary of Internal Affairs, her role in the democratic party in Pennsylvania, and her work in passing Title IX. Her impact not only reached the people she worked with, it reached the entire country and allowed women to follow their dreams just like her. Through my work, it felt like I was able to get to know her and properly portray her story to the public through my research.
For my final project, I decided to do an ARCGIS based project via StoryMaps. This process was labor intensive and time consuming. First, I had to collect all of my research and sum it down to between 1,500 words and 2,500 words. I chose to write a narrative that explained Genevieve’s life from her birth to her death. It was a lot of ground to cover but I felt up to the task. I had a lot of content that I had found through my research (a full list of sources I used can be found here.) and that helped me organize my thoughts and narrow down what I wanted to talk about. Second, I looked through all of the images that I had digitized on my trips to the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Dauphin County Archives. Once I decided on what I wanted to use, I then started drafting my material that would end up being my final story.
My final project is available here: Breaking the Glass Ceiling: How Genevieve Blatt Changed Pennsylvanian Politics Forever
Through this process, I realized how grateful I was for this course and the skill and knowledge I gained during this semester. A task that felt overwhelming at the beginning of the semester was now an enjoyable experience that was made easy through all of the skills I learned.
(photo by author, courtesy of the PA State Archives)
(photo by author, courtesy of the PA State Archives)
Maddie Graham is a sophomore studying Public History and Art History at Messiah University. When she isn’t napping or reading, she’s probably researching her next women’s history project.
Digital Harrisburg 