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”
A week ago, at the Dauphin County Historical Society, I found my project of interest to be but a small fish in a big sea. Our Digital History class took a trip to these archives to conduct research for our third project where we will be creating biographies for important figures in the improvement campaign. … Continue reading For Richer and Poorer
Our first assignment, The City Social Project, involves mapping demographic data for Harrisburg in 1900 and creating a digital map of Harrisburg along the lines of the Mapping DuBois project. Each student is responsible for keying 2,000 records of the 1900 U.S. Census. In a class of twelve students, that means we are processing over 24,000 entries total. With the … Continue reading The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Navigating Your Way Through the 1900 United States Census Records
Digital Harrisburg 