Did you know that George Washington stopped in Harrisburg on his way to address the Whiskey Rebellion in October 1794? A new Harrisburg Historical story, titled "George Washington in Harrisburg," explores the first U.S. President's visit here. Written by Messiah University alums Kylie Smith (2026) and J.T. Crocenzi (2025), who also served as managing editor … Continue reading George Washington in Harrisburg
Source of image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/governortomwolf/50273969193/ As a senior psychology major who is new to digital public humanities and the Digital Harrisburg initiative, I look forward to working with the Digital Harrisburg team and community partners in Harrisburg. Throughout the course of this semester, I will be working on two major digital public humanities projects. The first … Continue reading Joining the Digital Harrisburg Initiative
Amish buggies, Great Danes, Butterscotch Krimpets. All of these were nominated to be on the Pennsylvania state quarter in 1999 because someone thought they represented Pennsylvania. None of these were finalists for the Pennsylvania state quarter, though a ruffed grouse and eastern hemlock tree were. The official chosen quarter features the state outline, a keystone, … Continue reading From Idea to Digital Circulation: The Spirit of the Commonwealth Quarter
An aerial shot of Harrisburg during the March 1936 flood (PennLive.com) By, Ben Andrasi During my college journey, I discovered a course on digital history, which got my attention. In our class we read parts of the article "What is Digital History?" by Seefeldt and Thomas. We learned that digital history is an expansive term … Continue reading A City Submerged: Remembering Harrisburg’s 1936 Flood
When I first encountered the “Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital” in an archive folder, I hardly expected the challenges I would encounter and the complexity of such a rich history that both intimidated yet excited me. I vividly remember sifting through pages of primary documents at the Pennsylvania State Archives, searching through maps, brochures, photographic images, … Continue reading Digitizing Pennsylvania’s “Lunatic Hospital”
When I reflected on what I learned this semester as part of my final for my Digital History course, I realized how much this class had contributed to my digital skills. Looking back, my main motivation for taking this course was to fulfill my requirements for my Public History major here at Messiah University. I … Continue reading Processing Digital History: My Work with Genevieve Blatt, the ‘First Lady of Pennsylvania Politics’
Starting this semester-long journey working with Digital Harrisburg has been a fascinating experience that has improved my knowledge of the rich history of this city and sharpened my storytelling abilities on social media. Throughout the semester, my main emphasis was creating engaging content for Digital Harrisburg's Facebook and Instagram pages. I tried to capture the … Continue reading Social Media Semester Recap
As this project draws to a close, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on all the opportunities this project has given me and all the things I have learned in the past four months. To me, this project was so much more than the technical aspect of the website editing. In my opinion, … Continue reading Reflections on the Spring Semester
The Chester Way Tour project combines place-based, often forgotten, stories of Harrisburg's history from the 19th to the 20th century that illuminate the civil rights effort of the region. The first story of this tour, which I’m delighted to share, begins with the first European settler of Harrisburg, John Harris, a mulberry tree, and the rumored account … Continue reading Before Harrisburg: John Harris and Hercules
The light at the end of the tunnel is near for my seven-month-long project, “Finding Washingtonia” documentary (for background, see my previous post here). This film project has taught me much about myself and the world around me. I'm grateful for the opportunities to capture and tell people's stories that are unique and impactful to … Continue reading Finding Washingtonia: A New Trailer
