Can the arbiters of the past tear themselves away from it? This question repeatedly entered my thoughts during Edward Ayers’ visit to our class in mid-November when he discussed his role in digital scholarship’s advancement in the study of history and the current status of modern technological use in the field. His most notable contribution to digital history, a massive resource of primary documents from two counties on opposing sides of the Civil War called the Valley of the Shadow, has undergone remarkably little alteration since its creation in 1990 (aside from the actions taken to keep it internet-accessible). While prominent historians like Dr. Ayers press for the field of history to move forward with digital accessibility and digital research methods, they have been disappointed with the pace of change. Continue reading
Author Archives: gw7qc
Creating History: The Reverence for Family and the Power of the Personal
As I walked into the “To Be Sold” exhibit at the Library of Virginia, a section of Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen’s now classic work “The Presence of the Past” describing public opinion on museum and family history moved to the forefront of my thoughts, and I spent much of the tour contemplating how the exhibit and this text related to each other. Interested in the popular uses of history in American life, Rosenzweig and Thelen asked 1,500 Americans to rank the perceived trustworthiness of various sources. The average response put “Personal accounts from grandparents or other relatives” second-highest on the list, just behind “Museums” and well ahead of “College history professors.” Considering the significance that many Americans attach to personal accounts and family histories, I often found myself weighing the exhibit’s significance to family history: How and in what ways does “To Be Sold” incorporate a sense of familial or personal history into the display? Continue reading