2022-2023 was an active year for the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, featuring progress on a wide variety of distinctive, open digital humanities publications across a range of topics and disciplines.
In reviewing the range of active projects supported by the Center in 2022-2023, we are proud of the alignment of our very strong record of external funding with our strategic objectives, particularly our first objective: “To redress historical silences.”
We have followed through on our commitment to dedicate our attention and resources to open access projects—like the African Poetry Digital Portal, Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, and Genoa Indian School Digital Reconciliation Project, among others—that recover and publish histories and cultural expressions that have been traditionally marginalized.
These projects, which are led by diverse scholars and feature engagements with students and community members, are evidence that our Center community is successfully embracing the tactics we outlined in our plan and contributing to larger institutional goals at UNL.
Successful Grants
Co-PIs Katrina Jagodinsky, Jeannette Jones, and Will Thomas, along with their College of Law collaborators Genesis Agosto, Eric Berger, Danielle Jefferis and Catherine Wilson, were awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant for their new project U.S. Law & Race Initiative. Learn more in the Nebraska Today article about the project.
Laura Weakly was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for the project Nebraska Digital Newspaper Program, Phase 5. This funding allows the CDRH to hire a Newspaper Associate for the duration of the grant.
Beth Dotan and Ari Kohen were awarded two grants—one from Humanities Nebraska and another from The Cooper Foundation—for their project Nebraska Stories of Humanity. Beth Dotan and Ari Kohen were also awarded a Livingston grant and Goldstein Family Fund Award grant, both from the Jewish Federation of Omaha Foundation
Andrew Jewell, Melissa Homestead, and Emily Rau were awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for their project “Building a Digital Library of Willa Cather’s Literary Manuscripts.”
Adrian Wisnicki was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant for the project Collaborative Organization for Virtual Education (COVE).
Matt Cohen, Ken Price, and Stephanie Browner (The New School) were awarded a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission for Charles Chesnutt's Cleveland Archives: Phase One.
Staff Updates
The Center saw growth in its technical and support staff, hiring Ella Durham as a Design Specialist, Chad Koch as a Newspaper Associate, and Erin Chambers as a Front End Developer.
The Center's new home in the Digital Strategies department has allowed for new collaborations with University Libaries staff. Karin Dalziel, who was promoted to Assistant Director of Digital Library and Scholarly Infrastructures in Digital Strategies, has helped foster this work. Andy Pederson, CDRH Project Specialist, was promoted to the role of Systems Librarian in Digital Strategies.
Student Experience
During 2022 and 2023, the CDRH supported 50 students with experiential learning opportunities on digital projects. This included 10 graduate students supported with research assistantships, 24 undergraduate students (supported through FYRE, UCARE and paid academic year and summer internships), and 12 additional undergraduate students participating in the Digital Legal Research Lab REU.
Craig Chandler | University Communication and Marketing
Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship
In the summer of 2022, sponsored its first round of graduate students for the new Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship program, an intensive summer program to support graduate students working on digital scholarship.
Led by CDRH Associate Director Carrie Heitman and hosted at the Dinsdale Family Learning Commons on east campus, the fellows receive training, mentorship, support, and time to focus on their personal research projects.
The 2023 Digital Humanities Summer Fellows are Samantha Gilmore, Doctoral Student in English, Mackayla Kelsey, Doctoral Student in Education, Makena Nail, Doctoral Student in Sociology, and Hanna Varilek, Master's Student in English.
University Communication and Marketing
Project Updates
Throughout the previous year, the Center made notable progress on projects including the African Poetry Digital Portal, The Charles Chesnutt W. Chesnutt Archive, COVE, Nebraska Stories of Humanity, Open ONI, Petitioning for Freedom, The Prairie States Forestry Project, To Enter Africa from America, U.S. Law and Race Initiative, The Walt Whitman Archive, and The Willa Cather Archive.
Milestones included The African Poetry Digital Portal hosting its Spring Conference, the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive completing the first phase of an anticipated multi-year, NHPRC-funded project, and Petitioning for Freedom and O Say Can You See seeing major contributions from Research Experience for Undergraduate program students. Additionally, seven new projects were accepted by the CDRH Projects Committee.
Projects Accepted by Projects Committee
- Mari Sandoz Archive
- U.S. Law & Race Initiative
- Walt Whitman's Journalism 1845-1849
- The Late-Life Writing of Walt Whitman
- Correspondence of Charles Chesnutt Phase 2
- The Animating History Project
- Nebraska Stories of Humanity Addendum
CDRH In the News 2022-2023
- 'The Bell Affair' named creative work of the year
- Preserving Holocaust Survivors' Memories
- Grant will allow scholars to digitize manuscripts of noted Nebraska author Willa Cather
- Jones and Husker alumni contribute to book about digital humanities workshops
- Lorang named interim dean of University Libraries
- 'It means pride': Lincoln remembers the history behind Juneteenth
Chesnutt Archive adding author’s correspondence
Team earns $1M grant to bridge connections between history, civil rights
Publication of Cather’s correspondence nearly complete