February 1, 2022
Happy February! We hope everyone has had a great start to the week. Today’s digital history news goes across the country from New Jersey to Illinois to Nebraska.
1. New Podcast Episode! In the newest episode of the Cutting Room Floor, Chad Bryant, Associate Professor of History at UNC – Chapel Hill, tells the story of Jiři Smichovský. Smichovský was an interwar Czechoslovak occultist turned Nazi informant. And then Communist informant. Chad tells us why this individual did not make it into his recent book, “Prague: Belonging and the Modern City. You can listen here.
2. Professors Pursue the Digital Humanities: Three Princeton professors, Christina Lee, Ekaterina Pravilova, and Wendy Warren, have received grants to pursue or continue projects in the digital humanities. Lee plans to continue a project documenting the British occupation of the Philippines, which involves digitizing over 1500 documents. Pavilova is focusing her research on nineteenth century Russia and their scientific knowledge during the period. Lastly, Warren intends to study imprisonment during the American colonial period. Read the whole story here.
3. Nationwide Preservation Efforts: Moving our focus out west, Northern Illinois University (NIU) has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to focus on the preservation of digital materials for future generations. NIU Libraries’ director Jaime Schumacher says, “This new grant will focus on helping organizations that serve cultural heritage institutions in under-represented communities, including the Native American, Latinx and Black communities.” Furthermore, NIU hopes to share their preservation techniques with other research institutions across the country. Read more about it here.
4. Preserving Holocaust Stories: Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Beth Dotan has started using digital tools to preserve the stories of Nebraska’s Holocaust survivors. The project titled “Nebraska Stories of Humanity: Holocaust Survivors and WWII Veterans” seeks to create an archive of material from “both Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans who played a role in the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.” Read the whole story here.
Make sure to contact the Digital History Lab if there are any skills you want to learn, need support with your own digital history projects, or are interested in our blog and/or podcast!
Thanks for reading,
The DHL Team (Ash, Cameron, Madeleine, & Craig)