September 22, 2022
UNC History Community,
Happy Thursday! We hope everyone is having a great week so far. Here is the latest news in digital history and some updates from the DHL!
1. The History Dept. Committee on Teaching and the GHS invite you respond to a quick survey soliciting grading tips and advice for an upcoming workshop. Please take a moment to respond to any of the questions that you’d like. Your expert advice could help out another TA! Thank you in advance for your responses!” Check your email for a link to the survey!
2. Santa Clarita Digital History Renovations: Since 1996, SCVTV, based out of the Santa Clarita Valley in California, has compiled over 100,000 digital files documenting the area’s history. Their website, SCVHistory.com, contains information ranging from the St. Francis Dam collapse, the gold rush, and early Hollywood to act as a resource for the public. Despite the abundance of information, the website has failed to modernize over the past two decades which has left the materials inaccessible. SCVTV recently received a grant to make the platform more user friendly, but this example poses the question of preserving digital projects for posterity. You can read the article about their exciting new work here!
3. Digital Tools for Local History: Students under Assistant professor of History Rowan Steineker at Florida Gulf Coast University have made efforts to preserve the history of local Upper Cativa Island. The research currently compiles oral histories, timelines, photos, and digitized documents of the island, which historians previously paid little interest to. Steineker told FGCU News, “A lot of island residents who had been there in critical phases were getting older or moving away, and they wanted to be sure their stories were collected and preserved.” Learn more about this preservation effort 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 podcast!
Thanks for reading,
The DHL Team (Cameron, Dustin, Madeleine, & Sarah)