Data Mining

Data mining is an essential tool for anyone working on the web. A prime example of this is the American Civil War Research database, this website is using a company called Historical Data Systems, Inc. Historical Data Systems is sourced in Duxbury, MA. Historical Data Systems is a company that collects archives and has employees catalog these archives and distributes these historical data to museums and foundations they are partnered with. Check it out!

As for my final project, I am in the process of creating a website for my Internship site at Brentsville Historic Center, however, my supervisor has informed me to do the main two buildings that the public always seems interesting which is the  Courthouse and the Log Cabin on the site.

Crowdsourcing with a focus of History

One of the students at Virginia Tech, Vikram Mohanty, has created a website called Civil War Photo-Sleuth where he seeks to recover the lost identities of portraits of the American Civil War Era. As a whole, there are thousands upon thousands of photos that have survived however, only a selection of individuals have been identified. So, this genius student has come up with crowdsourcing and computer-face technology to piece together clues from photographs to help solve the mystery of these individuals who played such a vital role within the American Civil War. On his website, you will have to create an account to log into the website afterward, you can see all the research and crowdsourcing that he has done to help support his mission.

As for my final project, Google hasn't contacted my historic site so, I have been in contact with my intern supervisor and I am waiting for him to tell me what he wants me to do to help bring Brentsville more accessible online. I will see him on Saturday if I do not hear back from him this week!       

Final Project Status

As the semester goes on, the final project is coming closer and closer. At first, I wanted to help Brentsville become an online museum through the Google Arts and Culture Page so, I provided the link to my supervisor. He created an account and now we have been waiting for Google to call us and let us know if we can be on their platform. Unfortunately, Google hasn't reached out to the Brentsville site so, with the help of my professor, I decided to create a website for the Brenstville Historic Center, I have emailed my supervisor to ask for permission if I can. If I can't I will ask my supervisor what I can do to help the collections grow through an online digital platform.

Digital Online Archives

The Digital Public Library of America core mission is to "empower people to learn, grow, and contribute to a diverse and better-functioning society" by connecting people to America's libraries, archives, museums, and cultural institutions. DPLA has thousands upon thousands of materials of photographs, books, maps, etc which are exclusively free and immediately available to anyone in digital format. This is such a great idea for anyone conducting research on family, history, or anything that has to do history or liberal arts. There is a bunch of exhibits on the website itself such as "Two Hundred Years on the Erie Canal" or "Race To The Moon" for a modern historian along with "Patent Medicine" and lots more. Luckily, with this database, only legitimate foundations can upload sources onto this site, however, there are other sites where anyone and everyone can upload anything without the worry of legitimacy.

As for the final project, I have gotten the approval from my Brentsville team and they have moved forward with the Google Application to put their names on the Google Arts Project so, right now, we are waiting to hear back from Google. If I do not hear back from Google by Wednesday night, I will move forward with a different project. 

Reality Vs. Non Reality

In my past experiences working in different museums, I enjoyed holding archives in my hands and to examine the document but in today's world... Is it really necessary? This blog from a professor (not my professor) examines the discussion between material culture and online archives. In her discussion, she states that "paper cannot be stored over a long period of time due to elements such as moisture, mold, improper handling, etc. which can ruin your historical artifact." This is completely true hence, I agree because paper isn't supposed to last forever. There are a couple of huge advantages of digital archives such as getting faster access to one's research instead of going to the source, one can literally stay in bed and do a quick google search. No pants required! This can also help save money by creating a digital archive technology instead of trying to save those paper documents. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the Constitution of America should now disappear because it is so digitally accessible now, however, lesser important documents could just be digitally accessible (i.e. 18th-century census in Kansas, etc). In all, it is 2019, the collections databases for Museums (i.e. PastPerfect software) are online so, why can't archives? 

Project Proposal

 As for my final project for HIS 218, I want to add the Brentsville Courthouse Historic Center to the Google Institute non-profit project for Google Arts & Culture. As I discussed in the previous post, the Google Museum Project has created over 2500 museums into one online platform for anyone, anywhere for individuals to see the museum's collections entirely online. As for Brentsville, it is the least visited site for historic centers in Prince William County, VA. I believe if I am able to have Brentsville live and display some of the collections online, this could potentially bring more visitors to the site to gather more funds. I would be able to use the Brentsville's historical database to gather some collections to display as well as photos to post on the Google platform. The Google platform to display museums created a very easy way to use their tools to help bring any historical place come to life through the web! I would upload the five main buildings on the site and a few small collections, however, some of the buildings, I will give some more information and a little more historical context. Wish me luck!       

Digitizing and Sourcing Images and Text

As a historian, a lot of historical records have became so easily accessed by becoming digital. Since these records are now digitized it offers historians many more opportunities for online research. This website from the famous Archives of American Art from the Smithsonian Institution shows how to digitize entire collections for any museum or historical preservation site. If you have a minute, it is definitely worth the read!

I also wanted to mention how museums are becoming more digitally accessible rather than going to the museum itself. Google has partnered up with museums from across the globe to provide a project called Museum Views. This project allows anyone from anywhere have a virtual tour within any museum! Awesome, right? When I was stationed in Biloxi, I helped with creating the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art become digitized, I would scan the pictures and create the stories to make the museum come alive right on your desktop or however you are accessing your internet right now.

On other hand, since it is 2019, there are numerous ways to access digital materials through Instagram, Flickr, Tumbler, and even Google Images! In my opinion, it is worth to digitize sources especially historical documents that any individual can use and ultimately help the historic field!