Simple Digital History

[John Lee]

 

Fifteen pages from Early Times in Raleigh, 1867. This publication includes two speeches by ex-Governor David Swain given in Raleigh, North Carolina. The speeches were given to dedicate Tucker Hall in downtown Raleigh on August 24, 1867 and at the dedication of a monument to Jacob Johnson the father of the President of the United states at the time Andrew Johnson.

In this project, students enrolled in a digital history class at NC State university used ubiquitous digital devices (cell phone, digital camera, laptop, etc) to take some pictures or video of historical artifacts or historical resource (e.g. photographs, letters, and records), and then uploaded their image(s) along with an annotation to a public online digital history website such as Flickr or Footnote. 

Below are additional materials from these projects with links to the work as well as information about how the images were created and how these work can be implemented in K-12 classrooms. 

[Jeanne Martin-Sainovic]

This article can still teach us a lesson today. Often times we initially celebrate our soldiers returning from war but then expect them to return to an acceptable position in society without much assistance. We cannot forget the risks and sacrifices that these men and women have taken.

By showing this to children in the classroom, they can make connections to a time 60 years ago. Students could describe any thoughts that they have regarding the treatment of veterans in regards to what should happen and what actually happens.

After I found this article, I easily scanned it into my computer to share it with my cousins in Indiana. I then uploaded the article to flickr so that it could be shared with the public.

[John Lee]

Thanks, this is great. You can also embed anything you upload to this site or that you upload to other sites by just clicking the image icon (camera) and pasting the url of the image into the appropriate box.

Also, would you please post the link to the original posting you did on Flickr?

[Jeanne Martin-Sainovic]

Here is the link to my project on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46835741@N02/4296897634/

[Jeremy Hilburn]

For my simple digital history project, I selected some local history. . . very local. The historical artifact is a trunk in my bedroom. There is a bit of personal history in the trunk - my grandmother had the trunk for about 60 years and she gave it to me before she passed away. It was given to her by a neighbor in Virginia. The trunk was in pretty bad condition, so my family and I had it restored. The trunk itself has a neat little history. According to the person who restored the trunk, it was created between 1880 and 1920. It was most likely built in New England and the locking mechanism was almost certainly made in Connecticut. The trunk was designed for train or boat travel, but was also used as home storage space. The outside of the trunk used to be covered in canvas and the canvas was held down by the 2 inch slats on the top, while the inside was covered in paper. The builders of the trunk used square cut nails, which are no longer used very often. I've included before and after photos.

[John Lee]

This is an interesting artifact. I found an additional resource online from BRETTUNS VILLAGE TRUNK SHOP. They have an advertisement for a trunk from Marshall Field & Co that looks like yours. http://www.brettunsvillage.com/trunks/history/trunkads.html

The people who run the site are requesting info from people who have trunks, so you should drop them a note.

[Candice Gilliland Brewer]

For my simple digital history project I used a 1924 NC State record keeping book. My fiancee's family has been a part of the NC State community for many years. I knew they would have some archives for me to look through. This book was kept by Garland Stout (my fiancee's maternal grandfather).

The book is bound in leather with a leather NC State college seal on the front. The book functioned as a scrapbook, address book, calendar, record keeping book, and autograph book. The use of this book in a classroom would be useful to describe how people kept in touch and remembered athletic and social events before the use of cell phones or the internet.

I digitized a these pages by taking photographs using a digital camera. I then downloaded the pictures onto my computer and posted them here. It was the same process one would use to post pictures on facebook.

Here is the link to my project:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47350669@N03/sets/72157623379424266/

[John Lee]

What a great find - It's like a Facebook from the 1920s. I can image kids sharing these or sitting together to recount the fun times they have had. Speaking of Facebook, here is an 18th century version of Facebook
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/03/facebook-in-1750s.html

[Cristina Fishbane]

For my Simple Digital History project I used a book I received from my grandfather a few years ago. This copy of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre was published in 1942 with lithographs by Barnett Freedman.

Growing up as a child I remember the walls of my grandfather’s basement being filled with these beautiful old books. Now that I can appreciate the genuine quality of these books, as well as the literary masterpieces within, I treasure all the more the books my grandfather left me. My grandfather was a member of The Heritage Club, which was created in 1937 for book lovers unable to afford the fine illustrated books printed for members of the Limited Editions Club (created in 1929). Each book sent through this club included a Sandglass newsletter, which my grandfather managed to keep inside the jacket of every book. This newsletter provides a brief background of the author, literature, and actual printing of the book itself. Each semi-luxe collector’s volume sent through the Heritage Club is a beautiful hard-cover illustrated book with a slipcase and high quality binding.

The process of taking these pictures was quite simple and one that just about anyone can do! The first step is to identify exactly which pages (or vantage points) are to be photographed. Next, with any digital camera, place the screen at a distance in which the item is visible and if desired use the zoom feature to focus in on certain aspects of the item. Once the lens is set where the photographer would like, simply press the shutter release button to take the photo. It is always beneficial to play around with camera angles and lighting in order to ensure the highest quality photograph is taken. After the photographs have been captured, simply review and re-take any shots that are not as clear or precise as is desired. To upload to Flickr, one must first plug the digital camera into the USB port on the computer. After signing into the Flickr homepage simply click on the link to upload. At this point the photographer will be prompted to choose a location and which pictures to upload. After finishing, simply hit the upload button and wait. Patience can be a necessity here as this part could take several minutes depending on the size of the files! Happy Digital History-ing!

The link to my project on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47445883@N08/

[John Lee]

Theses are great - The illustrations in the books are lush and full of detail. You just don't see that sort of art in books much anymore. This is one that I really like.

Bibliodyssey is a very interesting blog that publishes illustrations from various prints sources, most often books. The most recent post was on what the author titled "The oldest book in the Americas" which is the famous Dresden Codex, a 13th century Mayan iconographic manuscript. Here is view from the codex

more here
http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2010/02/oldest-book-from-americas....

[Erin]

This is a collection of 6 soda bottles we found buried into the floor of the shed in our backyard. Three different brands are represented; Pepsi, Coke, and Clicquot (pronounced Klee-Ko) Club Ginger Ale and all except the clear Pepsi bottle are from the 1950s. Pepsi and Coke were ending “The Cola Wars” when these bottles were designed and reflect efforts to capture the cola market – the shape of the bottles, typeface of the brand name, embossing on the bottle. Coke won this battle, largely by marketing to soldiers during WWII. When the soldiers came over, their brand loyalty pretty well sealed the deal. Clicquot Club was bought by Canada Dry, their major competitor, in 1965 and was shut down once Canada Dry had sold the product.

In a classroom, I would use these pictures to engage the students in a discussion about advertising. Students can compare these older bottles to ones used today. Why are glass soda bottles harder to find today? Are there marketing and advertising practices still used today? Older students could use the history of these bottles and the companies that made them to discuss the role of competition in business. Is there something like Clicquot Club that exists today? Why might they be hard to find? Closer photos are presented to assist in dating the bottles, which, with one exception, can be narrowed to at least a 5-year span.

I used a Cannon PowerShot A610 digital camera to take these photos. Most of them were captured using the Macro feature. I uploaded them to iPhoto to make sure they were appropriately legible. I exported them as large JPEG files to my desktop and then uploaded them in Flickr. This was the longest part of the process, but still only took about 5 minutes. Once in Flickr, I organized them as a set and added “descriptions” identifying the bottles and with any text written out.

The Flickr link is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45291934@N05/sets/72157623276867679/

[John Lee]

These are great. You all are teaching me a lot about what digital history can involve. Erin, I think you are correct to suggest that these cola bottles are historical documents. As you noted, they can tell us about cultural taste, manufacturing, design, and even international relations. I particularly like the notion of this Canadian product working its way to North Carolina in the 1950s. I also really appreciate the importance of place in this project - in your backyard - in the "backyard" of Pepsi is evidence of the cola wars of the 1940s.- excellent stuff!

I see you tried to include an image, so I will include one here for you.

[Stephen Brame]

I took this set of photos at the American History Museum in Washington DC. When I saw them, I thought they would be very appropriate for this project (as well as the ephemera project). There are signs for the anti-war movement, the pro-life movement, and an anti-Carter sign. Also, I got a picture of an array of buttons hoping that I'd be able to read them with the resolution of my camera. The buttons are varied across the political spectrum, and are incredibly interesting time capsules.

These four photos could be used to begin lesson on either the sixties and seventies counterculture or political activism. They represent a large population of people during the sixties and seventies, and would be vibrant, real world evidence of the mindset of people during those decades. Furthermore, the buttons could introduce the many opinions of the people as well. The buttons refer to issues such as gun control, abortion, and women's rights. The Jimmy Carter poster referring to parity could open up a discussion on economic principles. It presents the specific policies of Carter, and opens dialogue concerning Carter's background as a farmer himself.

I took these pictures on my Olympus SLR camera. Aside from the slight yellow tint, they turned out very well.