Week Four: The History of the History Harvest

Goals this Week and Future Plans

This week, my work was heavily halted by sickness. Originally I wanted to work further on the brochure itself, creating templates and working towards the actual beginning of he brochure. Sickness halted it, however, leading me to work this week more on sectional pieces of the brochure that require more research. My hope is that by next week, I'll be working on the brochure rather than just focusing on minor aspects of it. 

History of the History Harvest

In the mean time, I've decided to focus my work this week on readings from previous classes that discuss the "history of the history harvest"; Included in the very beginning of the brochure, I wish to include a very tiny section on the origins and beginnings of the harvest model, giving credit to those who employed tactics and disciplines that eventually became essential to the history harvest model. As mentioned in earlier posts, the debate of who invented the term is long argued. I believe, however, that the methodology found in a modern history harvest dates back to one of the earliest digital archives, Ed Ayer's Valley of the Shadow Project. While it wasn't a "harvest" in the terms we think of, Ed Ayer's work conceptualized the shared history of communities, memorializing their work in archives and digitalization. The push to conceptualize communities histories, I argue, was support by the rise of digitization and the evolution of archiving techniques; Accessibility to technology meant that smaller, locally based community members and historians could archive materials with transportable printers and scanners. This is the case for the rise in the early 2000s of community based histories and Public History as a discipline. 

    The term "History Harvest" is unofficially coined in an article by  Dr. Patrick D. Jones and Dr. William G. Thomas, III at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jones and Thomas wished to involve students in the process of collection and focused their work on relationship and community rather than just pure extraction. It's in their work we see the concept realized and methodologies cemented; The collection of a communities history using interdisciplinary tactics to promote, preserve, and protect a community's shared memory. Sara Georgini's “Spring at the History Harvest,” The Junto: A Group Blog on Early American History" interviews the two men, where the organization and understanding of responsibilities are spoken on, leading to the spread of ideas. Jones and Thomas preached adaptability, understanding the concept as a educational endeavor that requires little to no resources. 

    The term finds itself in Central Florida with the Orlando Sentinel releasing a headline titled, ""Each Item Tells a Human Story' at History Harvest" on March 3, 2013. The story follows the creation of the University of Central Florida's History Center and the active preservation of Sanford history, capturing Sanford's community history regarding the Sanford Grammar school. Whilst the History Center does not exists today, 2013 marks the beginning of UCF's initiative to capture the history of Central Florida residents. Three years later, Dr. Connie Lester creates the RICHES foundation, focused on the enrichment of Central Florida history and the collection of competitive memory. Ultimately, Dr. Lester's purpose in the creation of RICHES is to create a student based population that is trained to create an interpretative narrative of history whilst learning digital tools and public history skills as they attend graduate school. Many of UCF's projects are born from this foundation, including the Veteran's History Project and the Veteran's Legacy Project.

Headline from Orlando Sentinel, March 3rd, 2013.

Conceptualizing for a Smaller Brochure

Obviously in  a brochure setting, I won't be able to include this much information. To condense this, I propose a smaller section here:

"The debate over who coined the term "History Harvest" is longstanding, but its methodology can be traced back to Ed Ayer's Valley of the Shadow Project, which highlighted Civil War community histories through digitization. Whilst Ayer's project wasn't a "History Harvest," it began an interest in the digitization of community histories and was aided by the rise of the digital era. The term "History Harvest" was popularized by Dr. Patrick D. Jones and Dr. William G. Thomas, III, from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who emphasized community involvement and interdisciplinary methods in historical collection. This concept spread to Central Florida, where the University of Central Florida (UCF) launched initiatives like the History Center and RICHES foundation, spearheaded by Dr. Connie Lester and Dr. Scot French. These programs aimed to preserve local history and train students in digital tools and public history, resulting in projects such as the Veterans History Project and the Veterans Legacy Project."

Depending on how much space I have for this section in the brochure, my insert on the histography of the project would shrink and grow. Even with my sickness this week, I'm happy with the progress I've made this week on such an important topic.