Map of Harrisburg boundaries in the early 1900s showing the State Capitol grounds (green) and the Capitol Park Extension that replaced the Old Eighth Ward (dark orange) When I started taking digital history at the beginning of this semester, none of us could have predicted just how much digital learning would impact our semesters. When … Continue reading My Digital Semester
As I have been working through this semester, a good portion of my focus has been on the veterans of the Spanish American War. Back in early April, I posted about my idea for a final project where I track some of the veterans who served in the Spanish American War. Bridging to that idea, … Continue reading My Final Digital History Post
Digital History in a Pandemic In the blink of an eye, the end of my senior year is on the horizon. I can say that without a doubt this semester did not turn out how I expected it to. On March 12, my digital history class and I were sitting in the archives beginning our … Continue reading Digital History in a Pandemic
Although present day Harrisburg's African American population accounts for 48% of its citizens, from 1900 to 1930 these residents were a vast minority. Despite being a progressive, fast-growing city, for most of the minority population, employment options remained very limited during the time period. While similar jobs were filled by the majority of both populations … Continue reading Employment Options for African American Residents of Harrisburg from 1900-1930
From the 1900s to 1930s, Harrisburg underwent many transformations that affected its residents. The City Beautiful Movement was sweeping across the U.S. and was helped along in Harrisburg by the old capitol burning down and a push to move the state capital back to Philadelphia (Williams, 1). The destruction of the old eighth ward and … Continue reading Mapping Harrisburg’s Population from the Old Eighth
In keeping with the theme of my course project, I will be looking into the statistics of Harrisburg veterans after they returned from war. In this, I will be comparing the marital status, school attendance, employment status, property owning status, and race. In conducting this, I utilized data from the 1930 census data. Photo captured … Continue reading Harrisburg Veterans After Returning From War
I never thought the Census was confusing, until I had to complete the census on my own this year. College students are supposed to fill out the census with where they reside during the school year- but then COVID-19 displaced thousands of college students altering where they live. Personally, I then went to a friend’s … Continue reading Dealing with Data
Locating Harrisburg's Prostitutes Prostitution has existed in America since its inception. Brothels (which catered to wealthier clientele) and bawdy houses (which catered to the lower, working classes) had dotted street corners and alleyways for generations by the turn of the 20th century. J. Howard Wert in his article for the Harrisburg Patriot newspaper, decried … Continue reading Locating Harrisburg’s Prostitutes
In mid-march, as skepticism and minimal concern over the impending Coronavirus epidemic began to mount, Digital Harrisburg began to develop plans to carry our work into remote-work context. I was never doubtful of the seriousness of the matter, but I was surprised all the same when Messiah announced that our date of return to campus … Continue reading Digital Harrisburg in a State of Quarantine
I went in to my experience at the archives somewhat daunted, because I didn't have an extremely concrete idea of what I was going to be looking for. Initially interested in researching restrictive covenants, I soon found that the archives would not be much help in that area. I decided to look at arrest records … Continue reading Research at the PA State Archives: My Last Hands on Experience for a Long Time
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