If I had one word to describe this project—and I am sure others who worked on the project would agree—it would be rich. Being a primary student researcher on the larger grant project in which the Scalar site is a part of, the list of experience and knowledge I have gained is long and so incredibly invaluable. Items on this list include essential skills such as project management, working collaboratively, etc. These are boring resume skills, though, and hardly account for the richness of my experience, whereas the revisionist history involving the Sisters of the Holy Cross’s influence I have learned and shared, the deeper connection I have gained to my school and its roots, the empathy for refugees and displaced persons I have developed, and so much more offers a much better insight. 

Reflecting on this Scalar site as a digital exhibit, though, the things I have learned about the digital humanities are especially notable—and I do not just mean what I have learned about the digital humanities as a field. I did learn the essential aspects of what the digital humanities entail, but, more importantly, I learned how the digital humanities can share with a broad audience hidden gems of the world. Hidden gems such as the Sisters of the Holy Cross deserting the comfortable lives as they know them to share the ill-lived conditions of displaced populations of the world in an effort to make their terror-filled lives a little bit better. Hidden gems such as the artwork the Cambodian refugees gifted the sisters for their help and presence in the camps. Hidden gems such as the letters these same refugees wrote to the sisters after their return to the United States which reveal the companionship that was formed between the two groups while living at the camp together. Hidden gems such as this journal handwritten by the Cambodian refugees which shares their stories that we get to share with you through this digital platform.

The humanities are a field which have been historically represented as valuing the ancient and archaic. As a field, it still does—see the artifacts we studied and shared from the Archives and Records of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The digital humanities allow us—and all others who are equally as dedicated to the purpose of the humanities as our project team is—to do the important work of the humanities, such as understanding and sharing the human experience, on a much larger scale, affecting a broader and more distant audience. One purpose of our project was to start the process of digitizing the Sisters of the Holy Cross’s archival collection, but it has not yet been fully digitized or made available to the public, meaning these hidden gems are only available to those who have the opportunity to visit. 

What I hope all visitors of our cherished Scalar site do prior to leaving is recognize not the hard work that was put into it, but grasp even the tiniest understanding of these hidden gems and the richness of this project our team has had the honor of working on for the past year. I am so pleased to be able to share this project, these hidden gems publicly. All I hope is that you, the viewer’s, experience is just as rich. 


I am a senior finishing up my final semester at Saint Mary’s College. I was recently accepted into Teach for America to teach secondary English and am looking forward to using literature and stories to foster empathy within my students. 

Kaitlin Emmett
Class of 2020
English Literature and Writing Major