Here is Ally Markovich at “Berkeleyside”: When Russia launched its war on Ukraine six weeks ago, a frenzied attempt to save the country’s cultural heritage from destruction began: Religious artifacts were moved underground to secret bunkers in Ukrainian cities. But...
digital history
Harvard’s Houghton Library digitizes its early American manuscripts
Here is Anne Buress at The Harvard Gazette: In a recent virtual curatorial discussion, Houghton librarian John Overholt took an item from the Colonial North America collections to share with his audience. Rather than highlighting a letter from John Hancock or a...
The Library of Congress’ Presidential Papers are now online
Here The Smithsonian: Though it’s not quite the same as being in the room where it happened, poring over Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten rough draft of the Declaration of Independence—complete with edits and scratched-out words—will likely offer any American history buff a thrill. Thanks...
University of Virginia Press’s “Rotunda” ads the papers of Booker T. Washington to its digital collection
Here is Emily Grandstaff at UVA Today: This digital edition is based on the landmark 14-volume print series of Washington’s papers, originally published by the University of Illinois Press between 1970 to 1989. It is considered one of the great...
New free database: “Enslaved: Peoples of the Historic Slave Trade”
Here is Sydney Trent at The Washington Post: Enslaved: Peoples of the Historic Slave Trade, a free, public clearinghouse that launched Tuesday with seven smaller, searchable databases, will for the first time allow anyone from academic historians to amateur family genealogists...
Ed Ayers on what COVID-19 has revealed about the state of digital history
According to the University of Richmond historian Ed Ayers, “the sudden transition to online schooling has shone a light on the state of digital history.” He adds: “What we’ve seen hasn’t been very encouraging. Can we do better?” Here is...
The Author’s Corner with Hannah-Rose Murray
Hannah-Rose Murray is Early Career Leverhulme Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. She is also the creator of a virtual Black Abolitionist tour of London, highlighting six important sites where African American activists made an impact on the UK...
Teaching women’s suffrage with interactive maps from the *Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States*
Check out this interactive map from the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States. This is would work wonderfully in the classroom, as would all of the entries in this great resource....
How fast did news of American independence spread?
I just ran across this Smithsonian piece from 2017. Fascinating: It was the breaking news to end all breaking news—the fledgling British colonies of North America were committing treason and declaring independence. But in an era long before smartphone push alerts, TV...
The *Contingent Magazine* student digital history roundup
Some great digital history products were produced this year from students at Cleveland State, Brock, Northeastern, Michigan State, and George Mason. Topics include Latin Americans in Cleveland, women’s suffrage in Rhode Island, women in the workplace, Byzantine landscapes, and American...
The Boston Public Library needs your help transcribing anti-slavery documents
The Boston Public Library has an impressive collection of anti-slavery documents and they are looking for volunteers to help them bring the collection online in a digital format. Here is a taste of the project: The Boston Public Library’s Anti-Slavery...
Loyalist Migration: A New Digital Resource
Check out Tim Compeau‘s post at Borealia on a new project that will visualize the movement of men and women displaced by the American Revolution. A taste: Loyalist Migrations is a collaboration between Huron University College’s Community History Centre, the United Empire...
Digitizing New England Church Records
Here is Jeff Cooper at the blog of the American Antiquarian Society: For the past fifteen years, New England’s Hidden Histories (NEHH), a project of the Congregational Library & Archives in Boston, has sought to locate, digitize, transcribe, and publish online New...
Do You Know About the Digital Harrisburg Project?
The Digital Harrisburg Initiative continues to roll on at Messiah College. My colleagues are happy to announce the recent publication of an entire issue of Pennsylvania History journal devoted to the project. It contains essays by Messiah College faculty, students, and others...
Out of the Zoo: “I Am A Man”
Annie Thorn is a sophomore history major from Kalamazoo, Michigan and our intern here at The Way of Improvement Leads Home. As part of her internship she is writing a weekly column titled “Out of the Zoo.” It focuses on life as...
The Omohundro Institute and George Washington Library Team-Up for Digital Collections Fellowship
Here is Jim Ambuske of Mount Vernon at the blog of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: The historian’s craft is a collaborative enterprise. For all of the long days and quiet nights we spend laboring...
Mapping 1648 Boston
Who lived in Boston in 1648? History professor Chris Parsons and his team at Northeastern University have initiated the “Birth of Boston” project. The centerpiece of the project is an interactive map of Boston in 1648 that allows users to...
Mapping Early American Elections
This looks like a really useful website from Lincoln Mullen, Rosemarie Zagarri, and the folks at George Mason University’s Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media: Mapping Early American Elections offers a window into the formative era of American politics...
Interpreting the Billy and Helen Sunday Home
Since Messiah College started the Digital Harrisburg Initiative a few years ago, I have developed a real appreciation for digital and public history projects at small colleges and universities. In 2011, I spent a day at Grace College in Winona...
SNUBBED!
We have had fun over the years with the Junto early American history March Madness tournament. In 2017, I chided the selection committee for undermining democracy. Back in 2016, I was mad at the selection committee for putting my Journal of...