Looking Forward to Look Back: The Value of Digital Technology in Historical Study

Posted on by Molly Elspas

If someone told me when I came to Messiah that my history degree would center around technology and graphic design, I would have told them they were crazy. Looking back on my four years at Messiah University and my tenure with Digital Harrisburg, I have been exposed to so many technological innovations that helped create … Continue reading Looking Forward to Look Back: The Value of Digital Technology in Historical Study

“Designing History”: How should we present the past?

Posted on by Molly Elspas

One of the first classes you take as a public history major is centered around how history should be practiced with a public audience in mind. The basic idea is that public history is interactive: the people who see your work are just as much a part of the story as the subjects are. Seems … Continue reading “Designing History”: How should we present the past?

Learning to “Do History”: Lessons in Collaborative Research and Writing

Posted on by Molly Elspas

I have been involved with the Digital Harrisburg Initiative since January of 2018 and have had the opportunity to be involved in may different projects. Most of the writing I've been asked to do has been very independent (minus a few edits in post-production). Over the past year, however, I was able to contribute to … Continue reading Learning to “Do History”: Lessons in Collaborative Research and Writing

New History: Updates on Digital Harrisburg

Posted on by Molly Elspas

The team of students and faculty at Messiah College's branch of the Digital Harrisburg Initiative have been hard at work for the past few months on a variety of different projects. Our on-going involvement in the Look Up, Look Out campaign and Commonwealth Monument project allows many different students to lend their voices to important … Continue reading New History: Updates on Digital Harrisburg

My First Job as a Digital Historian

Posted on by Molly Elspas

At the end of the fall semester of my sophomore year of college, I was told that through my current internship I would be able to research and write for a monument that would later be installed in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building. Without hesitation I accepted, but as the exhibit developed it became a … Continue reading My First Job as a Digital Historian

Picturing People from the Past

Posted on by Molly Elspas

Recently the Digital Harrisburg team have been looking for photos to pair with the stories written for the Look Up Look Out campaign. These stories are the culmination of months of research dedicated to the residents and businesses of 8th Ward before its destruction in the early 1900s. Despite work done by Stephanie Patterson Gilbert … Continue reading Picturing People from the Past

Looking into the Old 8th Ward

Posted on by Molly Elspas

When researching for a history project, one can run into a lot of inconsistencies that make collecting any kind of data difficult. We expect the things we find to hand us information that correlates with our theories, but it's hardly ever that easy. In order to get a realistic perspective from the artifact, one has … Continue reading Looking into the Old 8th Ward

Looking Back on Digital History

Posted on by Molly Elspas

So many people have asked me why in the world I chose to study history. Usually I just take it in stride, tell them that everyone is different, and move on. It wasn't until I spent a month doing intense research, getting very little sleep, trying to understand the changes that occurred in turn of … Continue reading Looking Back on Digital History

Harrisburg 1900-1930: From Industrial Blight to Shining New Metropolis

Posted on by Molly Elspas

Not many cities are able to make the kind of turn around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania pulled off between 1900 and 1930. This town that started as a tiny grouping of houses on the east bank of the Susquehanna River was able to revamp its image and become the center of national attention within 3 decades. The … Continue reading Harrisburg 1900-1930: From Industrial Blight to Shining New Metropolis

Digitizing City Beautiful: Remaking Harrisburg and its History

Posted on by Molly Elspas

Harrisburg has been the state capital of Pennsylvania since 1812, but has had its fair share of ups and downs in city appeal. Nearing the end of the 19th century, the town was at a crossroads. After a brief period of industrial boom in the steel business, it had lost its luster and looked nothing … Continue reading Digitizing City Beautiful: Remaking Harrisburg and its History