History 419: Digital History and Archival Practices

 Phillip Payne and Dennis Frank are offering History 419: Digital History and Archival Practices next fall. If you like getting your hands dirty doing original archival work on the history of St. Bonaventure University, creating any number of cool digital products this is the class for you. We've made podcasts, maps, web pages and much more in the past.

How has the pandemic changed your experience at SBU?

Documenting the Pandemic at SBU Update

Homemade Face Mask with Instructions

We now have a Google Doc explaining three ways you can share your experience with the archives, and thus the future.  (1) You can email the document to pandemic2020@sbu.edu.  You can do it as a Google Doc (which it is), download it as a MS Word doc, or cut and past it into MS Word.  (2) You can complete this Google Form.  If you want to send us audio, video or pictures use WeTransfer to send them to pandemic2020@sbu.edu.  WeTransfer is easy to use.  Just enter your email, the destination email of pandemic2020@sbu.edu, select the file and let it send the file.  It works on most devices.

If you work or study at St. Bonaventure University, we hope you take a few minutes to reflect and document this experience.

Documenting the Pandemic at St. Bonaventure University

Josie, Alex, and Kurt in History 419 (Computer Lab in Friedsam Memorial Library)

Josie Barcley, Alex Jodush, and Kurt Stitzel (pictured above in History 419:  Digital History and Archival Practices) have set out to capture at least some of the Bonas experience during the pandemic.  Growing out of a discussion with University Archivist Dennis Frank that there are very few records from the 1918 pandemic at St. Bonaventure University, the three students proposed that they set up a system and start collecting documents and reflections on what the 2020 pandemic has meant for the SBU community. 

This is a work in progress, but the Josie, Alex, and Kurt are reaching out to students and others to ask them to share their materials.  You can learn more on the archives web site or you can contact the team at pandemic2020@sbu.edu

Digital History returns to Cemetery digital map project

We're back at the SBU Cemetery project.  It's a work in progress that has been somewhat hampered by the weather.  We finally got something resembling a nice day and headed up to the cemetery to plot locations.  Next week we're talking about big data, maps, and, time allowing, georeferencing.

St Bonaventure Cemetery Map Unveiled

Roll the drums!  Pull back the curtain!

As documented on elsewhere on this blog, starting last spring students enrolled in History 419:  Digital History and Archival Practices began the process of creating an interactive map of the St. Bonaventure Cemetery.  Dennis and I were introducing GIS into the history curriculum.  Mistakes were made.  False starts?  Yes.  However, these provided valuable learning opportunities and they could all be fixed.  Jason has been working in the archives with Dennis to get the map ready, so here it is.  

St. Bonaventure Cemetery Map

This will be a ongoing process.  Students taking History 419 can plan on continuing working with GIS and the cemetery records.

Leanna Chojnacki Helps Bring Important Stamp Collection to SBU

On August 21, 2012, the St. Bonaventure University archives received an $11,000 United Nations stamp collection. Ray Albertella, an alumnus who graduated with a degree in History in 1962, donated this collection to the university after visiting the campus for the first time since he graduated. As part of my summer job working for Admissions, I signed up to give tours during the Alumni Weekend. One of the tours I gave was for the class of 1962 to show them what had changed at St. Bonaventure University since they attended the university 50 years earlier.

             During my tour, I showed the class of 1962 the Thisness piece to give them a sense of the types of clubs and activities in which current Bona students are engaged and mentioned the Model United Nations of which I am the current Secretary General. This peaked Mr. Albertella’s interest and after my tour he had started to ask me what our organization on our campus does. He soon told me about his collection of United Nations stamps and we exchanged email addresses.