Blog

Harrisburg Transformations: Digitization and Datification

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.

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

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

Lost Treasures in Plain Sight

An exciting part of the Digital History course here at Messiah University is the opportunity to test the skills we learn in class out in the field. Over the semester Dr. Pettegrew took us to both the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Dauphin County Archives. Our mission was to find information that will help build … Continue reading Lost Treasures in Plain Sight

Respect for the Dead at Harrisburg’s Lincoln Cemetery

I've always been fascinated by cemeteries. There's just something that is so intriguing about visiting the final resting place of dozens - possibly even hundreds - of people and wondering about what kinds of lives they led. Considering this interest of mine, it's likely unsurprising that I immediately volunteered to work on the Lincoln Cemetery … Continue reading Respect for the Dead at Harrisburg’s Lincoln Cemetery

A Mid-Semester Update on the Women’s History Garden Project

Image Source: The Civic Club of Harrisburg by Alex Shehigian As we move into the month of November, I’m pleased to be able to provide another update on the Women’s History Garden project.   The project is off to an excellent start. Over the past two months, our team sought out information on and crafted … Continue reading A Mid-Semester Update on the Women’s History Garden Project

Update: Retelling Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community – Spirited Back to the City

By Kelan Amme See Retelling Harrisburg's Historic African American Community for part one. Throughout the past month and a half, I have been working with student fellows Center for Public Humanities at Messiah University and the Past Players, who are affiliated with the McCormick Public Library in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to produce a series of videos … Continue reading Update: Retelling Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community – Spirited Back to the City

Works in Progress

By: Keli Ganey It's good to be back with exciting updates on my project "The Story Behind the Bronze. " We are now 8 weeks into our humanities projects course and having covered the brainstorm, planning, and coordinating phases it’s time to create. I first traveled to the monument itself to taken in it’s story … Continue reading Works in Progress

A Fresh Look at Harrisburg’s Influential Women

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons by Alex Shehigian Hello again! I’m Alex Shehigian, a public history major and digital public humanities minor at Messiah University. I’m excited to share with you about the project I’ll be contributing to for this semester’s section of Humanities Projects. For this course, Messiah students partner with community groups to blend … Continue reading A Fresh Look at Harrisburg’s Influential Women

The Story Behind the Bronze

By Keli Ganey The Harrisburg monument, “A Gathering at the Crossroads,” commemorates the passing of the 15th and 19th amendments and the multi-cultural community of the Old 8th Ward in Harrisburg. The sculpture represents four orators, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, William Howard Day, Jacob Compton, and Thomas Morris Chester. These four were powerful forces of … Continue reading The Story Behind the Bronze