Digital Public History
Photos from left to right: Top Left, a photo of me at the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia preparing designs for a World War I exhibit; Bottom Left, a photo of me placing an exhibit label at the American Civil War Museum in Appomattox, Virginia; Right, a photo of our exhibit team at our unveiling of the "Enacting Freedom" exhibit.
From my undergraduate days at Middle Georgia State University, through my time at Virginia Tech, and now at George Mason, public and digital history has been an essential part of my scholarly identity. Here are some of the projects that I’ve collaborated on throughout the last few years.
Editorial work for the National Council on Public History
I work extensively with the National Council on Public History (and am a member of the Digital Media Group) to bring public history scholarship and writing to the Internet world in readable and digestible ways. I am currently working on a special year-long editorial project with Lead Editor, Evan Faulkenbury, and special guest editors, David Glassberg and Donna Graves, that centers public historians work in "Our Climate Emergency." See the Introduction here.
A Sovereign Generation: Oral History, George Mason University
In Spring 2021, I worked with an Oral History class, led by Dr. Gabi Tayac, on a large oral history project. Our central purpose was to interview Indigenous people and their allies of whom participated in Indigenous activism throughout the greater D.C. area between 1985 to 2000. I personally interviewed Minister Ken Brown who offered remarkable insights of his life of activism from D.C., Baltimore, and even Cleveland, Ohio. As a spoken-word poet, Brown offered unique insights to view and experience the fight against racist mascots, specifically of those centered around the Washington Football Team.
Mapping Destruction GIS DH project
This team mapping project from George Mason connects 1860 maps that note high population density of enslaved people with Sherman's 1865 military maps through the Carolinas. Ultimately, we sought to visualize how Sherman strategically used these maps on his wrath through the Carolinas, and that strategy not only affected the CSA war effort but also the livelihood of African American enslaved people. This project use QGIS software and georectification techniques to map static cartographic maps on a real-time GPS map to make our argument.
Exhibit Design: Gerrymandering at the Virginia Tech Library
In Spring 2020, I designed an exhibit with a team of Digital History students (led by Dr. LaDale Winling) at Virginia Tech. Our exhibit explored the historical continuities between present-day debates over gerrymandering. I worked closely with the DH team as well as the exhibit designer in the Virginia Tech Library to develop sketches (seen here) into a final physical exhibition placed in the library for four months. More details on exhibit here.
Enacting Freedom: Black Virginians in the Age of Emancipation
In partnership with the American Civil War Museum (Richmond, VA), I worked with a term of undergraduate students, graduate students, and the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies director (Paul Quigley) and postdoctoral fellow (Caitlin Verboon) on the development of an exhibit on African Americans during Civil War Virginia. The exhibit was on display at the American Civil War Museum's Appomattox branch for two years. I helped in design, logistics, editorial assistance, and directed and filmed a five-minute-long video that was placed at the end of the exhibit on a large TV. You can see the video here.
Historical consultation, Montgomery County Museum
In fall 2018, I worked with the Montgomery Country history museum in Blacksburg, Virginia to research African American history in the town to better construct a primary source foundation to build eventual exhibits. In this research, I located census data and other relevant materials on an African American coal town that had relatively been forgotten about over the years. Noting specific African American names, addresses, and family members, this material offered the Montgomery Museum a deeper understanding of African American life In Appalachia.
World War I exhibit at the Museum of Aviation, Warner Robins, Georgia
In fall 2017, I worked with a small team at Middle Georgia State University (MGA) to develop an exhibit on World War I. The Museum of Aviation, ultimately, never constructed the exhibit. However, the team took the exhibit materials and developed a traveling exhibit for MGA and an accompanying digital website that presented a broad-sweeping history of World War I, with certain aspects centering on race, gender, and memory. You can see the digital companion here.
Intern, Docent, and Photographer, Hay House, Macon, Georgia
During Fall 2017, I worked as an intern for the Hay House in Macon, Georgia. The administration had me work a variety of duties: organize archival materials, scan and photograph archival collections throughout the house for cataloguing purposes, attend events, and even give my own self-led tours of the Hay House grounds.
Fredericksburg Battlefield Documentary
Situated between Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia, the small town of Fredericksburg has transformed since the extreme desolation in 1862 during the Battle of Fredericksburg, to the creation of the National Cemetery and the sanctuary for Union dead at the various engagements around Spotsylvania County, but also the formation of the areas inside the great National Park Service site today. This documentary will cover events that transpire after the Battle of Fredericksburg in December of 1862, look at how land is preserved , and how men are memorialized in Fredericksburg, Virginia in the twenty-first century. You can view the documentary here.