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
Yesterday morning, the Dean of the School of Humanities and a small contingent from the history department made a presentation to administrators at our school, Messiah College, about Digital Humanities and new initiatives in Digital Harrisburg. It was exciting. Our dean, Peter Powers, gave an overview of new movements, activities, courses, and assignments afoot on … Continue reading Digital Humanities, Information Fluency, and the Digital Harrisburg Project
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
This morning, I gave students in my Digital History class a very brief overview of Geographic Information Systems. While Digital History students have been working on keying US census data, GIS students at Harrisburg University and Messiah College have been busy finding different ways to relate our data to digitized maps (see Step 4 of … Continue reading City Digital: The View from 7,000 Feet
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 students have noted recently (here, here, and here), everyone feels a sense of accomplishment and relief in bringing to completion the “City Social” U.S. Census data project for the digital history class. What students have been able to accomplish in the last six weeks is truly remarkable both on an historical and logistical level. … Continue reading Harrisburg on the Map: An Update on the US Census Project
