Digital Humanities Midterm Lightening Talk

1. THE NEWS MEDIA AND
THE MAKING OF
AMERICA, 1730-1865

2. Who, When, Audience, Purpose
• Creation of the project consisted of the collaboration of two groups: the National Endowment for the
Humanities, an independent federal agency that aims to “serve and strengthen our republic by promoting
excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans” by funding different
humanities exhibits, and the American Antiquarian Society, and independent research library where the
project was hosted and where the archives are held.
• NEH provided a tuition free summer program for teachers called the NEH Summer Institute, where 25 k-12
teachers participated in the creation of The News Media and the Making of America. Curators included Vice
President of Outreach at AAS, James Moran, Director of Outreach at AAS, Kayla Hopper, and Professor
Emeritus at Indiana University, David Nord.
• The institute was held in Summer of 2015, but was made available to the public in September of 2016.
• The purpose of the project is to explore developmental changes in news media culture from 1730 to 1865.
The exhibit expands upon how early news platforms influenced the spread of information and impacted the
public and private lives of Americans as they began to consume media content in such a crucial time period.

3. Funders, Institutional Partners, Project Interface
◦ The project was funded entirely by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the outright cost ending at
$92,306.
◦ Institutional Partners include the American Antiquarian Society. No other Universities or Institutes are mentioned,
however many retired professors from different Universities participated as scholars leading lectures, discussions,
and workshops.
◦ The website is very well organized and straightforward. There are no interactive tools, but the site is organized by a
series of tabs complete with subcategories users can click on to view historical information and context regarding
the topic.
◦ The last tab is one labeled “Browse,” where users can go to explore the online archives of the project. The archives
consist of newspapers, journal articles, maps, posters, and public documents from 1730-1865. Each document
includes a description of what it is, how it is significant, and how it could have been influential to consumers during
its time.

4. Significance and Connection to Readings
◦ The digital resource is extremely significant as it closely examines trends and patterns within media content
throughout a period of rapid change, and then proceeds to provide analytical information regarding how the role
of media communications influenced civic engagement and culture.
◦ It is a free digital resource that presents an educational opportunity that encourages the public to explore archives
directly related to the study of humanities, along with the historical research entwined with them.
◦ Connects to Digital Humanities in Practice, chapter 3, which expands upon the advantages and disadvantages of
digitization.
◦ Provides Examples of Advantages: The project is beneficial as a research outlet and successfully supports
accessibility and the widespread distribution of knowledge.
◦ Provides Examples of Disadvantages: -Costs of digitization has led to funding agencies requiring entire research
projects as opposed to simple digitization of documents. –User expectations of websites are unrealistic for
information institutions that create these resources, they cannot keep up with constantly evolving digital tools.
◦ Exhibit demonstrates concepts explored within digital humanities, specifically Richard Whites “What is Spatial
History?”
◦ Archives include maps that represent movement by highlighting new modes of transportation like railroad routes.
These new transportive options allowed for news to be transported more quickly and to a wider audience.
Therefore, the visual content on the map helps to “best explain the pattern of change over time” by choosing to
capitalize on movement and how it drastically affected society at the time.