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Working the Midwest and Digital Humanities at Pittsburg State University

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This project began with an idea I developed while attending the 2015 Digital Humanities Summer Institute at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. In my two weeks at the Institute, I took "Models for DH at Liberal Arts Colleges (& 4 Yr Institutions)." During this seminar, we discussed ways of promoting Digital Humanities at universities and colleges where opportunities for such approaches to teaching and research are sometimes difficult to develop due to lack of resources and other issues. I left DHSI energized and prepared with a plan to help bring Digital Humanities to Pittsburg State University.

That plan drew upon the rich labor history of Southeast Kansas and consisted of two main parts. First, PSU Professional Writing students, along with collaborators from Axe Library and from my spring 2015 English 557/757: Topics in English – Digital Humanities course, digitized the records of The Hearl Maxwell Collection (Axe Library Finding Aid and Digitized Archive). In addition to teaching the methods of Digital Humanities (DH) through interaction with Omeka Open-Source Collection Management Software and other DH tools, this archive project will allow students in the Professional Writing Emphasis and other scholars across the nation to more easily complete historically-based studies of professional writing, such as examinations of document design and professional rhetoric. Students will better appreciate the historical context of local working environments, where many of them find jobs after graduation. By creating exhibits based on the Omeka archive, students will be able to tackle public humanities projects. In terms of broader scholarly concerns, this project offers an instance of how a DH class assignment can provide a catalyst to kick start a DH initiative at a regional comprehensive university, which will provide DH experiences to student demographics that do not typically have access to them.

Dr. Jamie L. McDaniel
Associate Professor of English
Director, Professional Writing
Co-Director, Interdisciplinary Minor in Film and Media Studies
Editor, The CEA Forum
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg, KS
jmcdaniel@pittstate.edu

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