Blog

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

Retelling the story of Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community

By Kelan Amme This fall, I will be helping to create a video/audio tour of African American History in the city of Harrisburg. In partnership with the Center for Public Humanities at Messiah University, the T. Morris Chester Welcome Center (at the McCormick Public Library), and Mr. Lenwood Sloan of the International Institute for Peace … Continue reading Retelling the story of Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community

The Digitally Disoriented Meets Digital History

By Rachel Dougherty Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Digital technology has never exactly been my forte. I think I am supposed to be "good" at it though. Or at least that's what people say; I was born a "digital native" after all. But I can vividly remember back in grade school, sitting in computer class … Continue reading The Digitally Disoriented Meets Digital History

Encountering History in the Digital Age

By Derek M. Murphy Greetings! Photo by author Prior to the Digital History course with Dr. David Pettegrew, I had little knowledge of the digital humanities, especially pertaining to history. My main exposure to digital history was through another course at Messiah University, Public History. In this class we discussed some of the ways history, … Continue reading Encountering History in the Digital Age