As part of the new Digital History course offered through the History Department at Messiah College, we recently devoted time to transcribe names of Harrisburg citizens from the 1900 census records. My fellow classmates have discussed earlier just how tedious and hard it is to transcribe these census records. After spending countless hours transcribing and … Continue reading Deciphering Census Records
We have recently wrapped up our work digitizing the 1900 census for Harrisburg and are focusing on creating our Omeka exhibits. However, while we were still digitizing the census it was easy to notice a few connections to the City Beautiful Movement, and therefore to our Omeka exhibits. For example, some students have encountered the … Continue reading The Eighth Ward and the City Beautiful Movement
According to their website, the Civic Club "is a service organization that supports and initiates community projects" and "build[s] a better and greater Harrisburg." The club was formed in the late 1800s as a way to increase good citizenship and social order. With an emphasis on improving and beautifying the city, the club played a … Continue reading Mira Lloyd Dock and the Civic Club
In early January, students in Harrisburg University’s Applied Geographic Information Systems (GIS) class were notified of the course requirement for a semester long applied GIS project. This course builds on the freshman year Introduction to GIS class and encourages students to explore unique and practical ways to apply GIS technology. Students at this level in … Continue reading Digitizing Harrisburg circa 1901
With the work of our City Social projects finally finished, our focus now centers on our City Beautiful projects. This past week we spent a significant amount of time at the Dauphin County Historical Society (DCHS) and the Pennsylvania State Archives doing research on our respective topics. We have learned many things that are really interesting. Did … Continue reading Making Discoveries
One of my favorite parts of Messiah College’s Digital Harrisburg efforts has been the opportunity to explore local archives and delve headfirst into primary source research. As my fellow classmate Rachel pointed out in another Messiah College student-run blog, it truly is an unparalleled experience to have the original copy of a primary source sitting … Continue reading Lessons from the Archives
This past week, I have spent several hours at the Dauphin County Historical Society researching Vance McCormick. At the start of this research project, I did not know much about McCormick. From our class reading of City Contented, City Discontented, I knew McCormick was the Mayor of Harrisburg from 1902-1905, and one of the influential members of the … Continue reading From Mayor to Chair
As our Digital History class has been finishing the last portion of our City Social Project, we have been simultaneously working on the City Beautiful Project. The City Beautiful Project involves research at two different archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: the State Archives and the Dauphin County Historical Archives. Within each of our respective groups, we will research … Continue reading The Playground of History–The Archives
We have spent many weeks working on digitizing census data, tediously comparing spreadsheets and meticulously analyzing the entries. But the question remains as to what can be done with this data? What is the point of digitizing this information? Digitizing this census data opens doors to obtaining many different types of information. As you know, … Continue reading Practical Applications of Census Data
Finishing the digitization of 20 sheets of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania census records from 1900 felt like a huge accomplishment for all of us in Messiah’s Digital History class. Ancestry.com had given us a huge head start since they had already transcribed twelve of the twenty-five fields that we wanted for our project (see The Best of Times, … Continue reading We Can See the Finish Line of the City Social Project
Digital Harrisburg 