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
The Digital Harrisburg Project has done much to rejuvenate the culture of the History Department here at Messiah College. As chair of the Department, I am excited about this initiative for several reasons: 1. It allows our students to "do history." So often college history majors sit passively as their professors lecture at them. Since … Continue reading Why I Love Digital Harrisburg
Transcribing thousands of census records for Messiah College’s Digital History class can be tedious at times, and I often found myself in the habit of thinking of Harrisburg’s citizens in 1900 in terms of wards and districts rather than as families and individuals. It is all too easy to merely skim the information and forget … Continue reading The Allure of the Eighth Ward
Our first assignment, The City Social Project, involves mapping demographic data for Harrisburg in 1900 and creating a digital map of Harrisburg along the lines of the Mapping DuBois project. Each student is responsible for keying 2,000 records of the 1900 U.S. Census. In a class of twelve students, that means we are processing over 24,000 entries total. With the … Continue reading The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Navigating Your Way Through the 1900 United States Census Records
These past few weeks we have been hard at work taking census data from 1900 Harrisburg and putting it into Microsoft excel. This work was done with help from Ancestry, Dr. Pettegrew, patience, attention to detail, and numerous cups of coffee. Below, you will see one of the many sheets from the 1900 census. I … Continue reading Excelling in Census Data
There has been a flurry of student and faculty activity in the last month about our Digital Harrisburg projects. You’ve heard now from most of the students in the Digital History course about their experiences so far with the City Social and City Beautiful projects. Expect additional observations, comments, and curiosities from students in the … Continue reading Digital Harrisburg Initiatives: An Update
Many years ago, we would have never put the two words "Digital" and "History" together because they seem to have two completely different meanings. "Digital" refers to computing technology, while "History" refers to the study of the past. Now, in the digital age, as a result of all of the technological advances, historians are almost pushed to study … Continue reading The Study of History in the Digital Age
These past three weeks, our class has been entering into the heart of our digital history projects. For the “City Social Project”, as noted by previous posts, our class is digitizing US census data of various wards in Harrisburg. We are digitizing these records, which can be found on Ancestry.com, to showcase the people of Harrisburg … Continue reading Paving a Path for Recognition
As David Pettegrew noted in his original post at Digital Harrisburg, I am teaching a course in Pennsylvania history this semester at Messiah College. This course is part of our newly revamped public history concentration, so students are not only learning about the history of the Commonwealth, but they are also getting training in local … Continue reading Digital Harrisburg: The “Pennsylvania History” Perspective
Digital Harrisburg 