Finding Washingtonia: A New Trailer

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

A Tour Takes Shape: December Update on Harrisburg Historical

The final week of the Fall 2023 semester is upon us, and thus our student team is putting the final touches on our contribution to the Chester Way Civil Rights Tour on the Harrisburg Historical website. If you’re new to this story, Harrisburg Historical is a Curatescape project by Messiah University, the T. Morris Chester Welcome … Continue reading A Tour Takes Shape: December Update on Harrisburg Historical

Harrisburg Historical: Developing a Digital Civil Rights Tour

The landing page of Harrisburg Historical, a collection of digital tours through the city. What if there was a way to conveniently access a diverse array of histories surrounding the Pennsylvania capitol in the palm of your hand? This is the very goal of Harrisburg Historical, an upcoming website and mobile application that will tell … Continue reading Harrisburg Historical: Developing a Digital Civil Rights Tour

The Untold Epidemic of 1916

Learn about the epidemic of measles and whooping cough that swept over Harrisburg in the year 1916. A graph of the numbers of diseases per ward. Source: Faith Swarner I was presented with a kind of mystery this semester. For our final project, we were to find information from the PA State Archives to produce … Continue reading The Untold Epidemic of 1916

Sharing the Stories of Harrisburg’s Schools through Story Maps

Image Source: Alex Shehigian by Alex Shehigian When this semester’s Digital History course began, I was capable of discussing the more theoretical elements to this facet of the discipline of History but lacked technical experience in the vast majority of applications and tools that have now become central to the field. As our class explored … Continue reading Sharing the Stories of Harrisburg’s Schools through Story Maps

Digital History: Learning to Gather, Preserve, and Present J. Horace McFarland and the Harrisburg Park Commission

By; Sam Erikson According to historians Daniel Cohn and Roy Rosenzweig, digital history is the process of “gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the web.” It sounds simple, yet complex. However, if you utilize the historical tools and platforms that work for you, the possibilities for conducting digital historical work are endless.  Going into … Continue reading Digital History: Learning to Gather, Preserve, and Present J. Horace McFarland and the Harrisburg Park Commission

The end of this chapter

As this semester comes to a close so does this chapter of my Humanities Project. Towards the beginning of this project, I had set my sights on completing a documentary style short film that told the story of the “Gathering at the Crossroads” Commonwealth Monument featured on T. Morris Chester Way. As I continued on … Continue reading The end of this chapter

A Semester of New Experiences

by Rachel Petroziello Now that my fifth semester at Messiah University is quickly coming to a close, I can definitively conclude that this has truly been the semester of leaving my comfort zone. Of course I've had to broaden my horizons at other points during my education - taking a math general education course as … Continue reading A Semester of New Experiences

Retelling the Story of Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community: My Final Reflections

- Kelan Amme, Lenwood Sloan (who plays Martin J. Delaney), and Lewis Butts (who plays Jacob T. Compton) discuss project details. Image by Kelan Amme. For part one of this story, click here. For part two of this story, click here. When I first began brainstorming how the Chester Way walking tour, my idea of … Continue reading Retelling the Story of Harrisburg’s Historic African American Community: My Final Reflections

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