This week we learned about and practiced using quantitative data in a historical study. We began by learning about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and quantitative data that can be manipulated and interpreted. Originally a tool for scientists and architects to map numerical environmental and geographical data, it surprisingly found itself in the digital historian's toolkit. … Continue reading Constructing A Story With Quantitative Data
We have written on this blog in the past about the advantages of expanding into the digital side of history. The other students of Digital History and I have explored the benefits and hazards of this, along with the various methods of doing so. Often, the focus is on the “product”, so to speak. The … Continue reading History in the Spreadsheets
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
I have always loved searching through census data. The first time I got an Ancestry account, I stayed up until four in the morning, searching through the sheets trying to find family members. If any of my friends have questions about their family or an antique book with a name in it, I would be … Continue reading Bringing to Life the Immigrants of Harrisburg
Understanding the City Beautiful movement involves understanding change. The actual definition of change from Merriam Webster is “to make different in some particular.” This definition does not encompass the whole reality of change. To change from one thing to another always involves losing something. Sometimes this is losing something bad and gaining something good, but … Continue reading Using Digital Tools to Track Change
Recently, our class has been looking at census data dealing with information from 1900 to 1930. Our census data includes information about each person who lived in Harrisburg during those thirty years. From records, we can learn the first name, last name, address, gender, race, age, birth year, literacy, birthplace, occupation, immigration status, etc. for … Continue reading What Difference Thirty Years Can Make: Harrisburg’s Transformation from 1900 to 1930
As a first time visitor to an archive, I really did not know what to expect. I thought that it would be similar to a library but much bigger. Images of clustered shelves with dusty papers came to mind. Of the two archives that we visited, the Pennsylvania State Archives could not have been further … Continue reading Searching for floods in the Archives
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
Last Thursday our Digital History class took a field trip to two archives in Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Historical Society of Dauphin County to research for our first projects. Our first project is to create an Omeka exhibit about a component of the City Beautiful Movement. When I arrived at the Historical Society … Continue reading The Kipona Club and a Day in the Archives
This week, Digital History pivoted on two topics, digitization/archiving and Harrisburg's City Beautiful movement. At the beginning of the week we broadly explored these topics; by the end of the week, we practiced archiving techniques in the Pennsylvania State Archives and Dauphin County Archives on our own individual class project. The City Beautiful movement was … Continue reading Digitally Archiving Harrisburg
Digital Harrisburg 