Blog

Digital History: Learning to Gather, Preserve, and Present J. Horace McFarland and the Harrisburg Park Commission

Posted on by se1231

By; Sam Erikson According to historians Daniel Cohn and Roy Rosenzweig, digital history is the process of “gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web.” It sounds simple, yet complex. However, if you utilize the historical tools and platforms that work for you, the possibilities for conducting digital historical work are endless.  Going into … Continue reading Digital History: Learning to Gather, Preserve, and Present J. Horace McFarland and the Harrisburg Park Commission

Historians Behind the Screen, Lens, Records Box, Database… A Semester’s Reflection on the Second Capitol Expansion

Posted on by Kelan Amme

Featured image credits: Walnut and Short Looking North Toward Capitol, January 4,1918, Private Papers (Series MG-085-APRP-3, Box 1), MG-085, J. Horace McFarland Private Papers, Pennsylvania State Archives, Harrisburg. - By Kelan Amme When I first began taking Digital History in August of this year (2022), I expected myself to be learning about how the historical … Continue reading Historians Behind the Screen, Lens, Records Box, Database… A Semester’s Reflection on the Second Capitol Expansion

The end of this chapter

Posted on by Keli Ganey

As this semester comes to a close so does this chapter of my Humanities Project. Towards the beginning of this project, I had set my sights on completing a documentary style short film that told the story of the “Gathering at the Crossroads” Commonwealth Monument featured on T. Morris Chester Way. As I continued on … Continue reading The end of this chapter

A Semester of New Experiences

Posted on by rp1292

by Rachel Petroziello Now that my fifth semester at Messiah University is quickly coming to a close, I can definitively conclude that this has truly been the semester of leaving my comfort zone. Of course I've had to broaden my horizons at other points during my education - taking a math general education course as … Continue reading A Semester of New Experiences

Retelling the Story of Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community: My Final Reflections

Posted on by Kelan Amme

- Kelan Amme, Lenwood Sloan (who plays Martin J. Delaney), and Lewis Butts (who plays Jacob T. Compton) discuss project details. Image by Kelan Amme. For part one of this story, click here. For part two of this story, click here. When I first began brainstorming how the Chester Way walking tour, my idea of … Continue reading Retelling the Story of Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community: My Final Reflections

Searching for Answers

Posted on by Derek Murphy

Photo by Kelan Amme As part of the Digital History course offered at Messiah University, students are given the opportunity to gain experience in archival research during visits to the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Historical Society of Dauphin County. During two separate trips to Harrisburg, students were tasked with identifying manuscripts, books, and other … Continue reading Searching for Answers

Archival Research: A journey that may not actually be about the destination

Posted on by racheldougherty

By: Rachel Dougherty As my time in Digital History winds down as the semester comes to a natural conclusion, I find I have two final reflections from this course that seem to juxtapose one another.  First, I am truly amazed at the amount and quality of history that is able to be done in the … Continue reading Archival Research: A journey that may not actually be about the destination

Harrisburg Transformations: Digitization and Datification

Posted on by se1231

By Sam Erikson Going to The Pennsylvania State Archives and The Dauphin County Historical Society were both formative experiences for me over the course of this Digital History course. When my classmates and I traveled to The Pennsylvania State Archives together a few weeks ago, I was immediately overwhelmed by the vast amount of collections. … Continue reading Harrisburg Transformations: Digitization and Datification

Historians and Numbers? A Misunderstood Combination.

Posted on by Kelan Amme

While the historical profession is traditionally portrayed as a discipline where scholars are found researching in dusty libraries or writing "boring" history books, there has been a growth in the technological aspect of historians' lives over the past two and a half to three decades. To be more specific, historians are now expected to count … Continue reading Historians and Numbers? A Misunderstood Combination.

Digital History and Data

Posted on by Alex Shehigian

Image source: Pexels by Alex Shehigian As we move deeper into the month of November, it is incredible to think how far our Digital History Class has come. Since the first few weeks of class, we have explored so many different aspects of this way of doing history, from learning the benefits and drawbacks of … Continue reading Digital History and Data