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Countdown
to Millennium
This
is an oral history project produced by independent radio producer
Sandra Sleight-Brennan. This is an award-winning documentary
of
early 20th century life in Southeastern Ohio that includes interviews
and audio files that can be downloaded and listened to.
Pathseeker:
The Humanities Atlas of the Central Region
Pathseeker is an
online, hypermedia research tool for use by scholars, students,
and the general public to search, discover, and secure primary source
materials and humanities research on the Central Region. To develop
the first phase of
Pathseeker: The Hypertextual Humanities Atlas of the Central Region, the CRHC is assembling a team
of information technologists, multimedia producers, historians, literary critics, curriculum specialists, state tourism agencies, historic preservation offices, GIS specialists, the National Park Service, and highway organizations to display graphically the place-based cultural relationships that have shaped our region. Pathseeker will leverage digital technologies, especially a Geographic Information System (GIS) and the World Wide Web, for development and delivery of three interrelated references: dyna
mic hypertextual maps, community profiles, and virtual tours. We expect Pathseeker to serve as a demonstration project for other regions in conjunction with the international Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI). Although Pathseeker may well introduce a new generation of humanities research tools, it exemplifies the CRHC's commitment to regional collaboration among scholars, academic institutions, federal and state agencies, and individuals and groups in our region’s communities.
The Paul Laurence Dunbar Project
In conjunction with the National Park Service, Ohio Historical Society’s Dunbar House, the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, and faculty at several regional institutions, the Dunbar Project will include musical performances,
traveling exhibits, and a major scholarly conference to re-evaluate the life, work, and legacy of Dunbar, an Ohio poet and a crucial figure in the development of African-American literature.
The Dunbar Project exemplifies the research-grounded public programming that the CRHC will lead. The Dunbar Project reexamines the legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a writer whose career makes clear that if African-American writing had its renaissance in Harlem, then its nascence was here, where Charles Chesnutt and W
.E.B. Dubois also wrote. Dunbar’s history draws on regional themes in all five states of the Central Region. Born of Kentucky slaves (his father escaped to Michigan), Dunbar joined black and white masters of vernacular verse: James D. Corrothers (Michigan), James Edwin Campbell (founding president of West Virginia State College), James Whitcomb Riley (Indiana). Dunbar’s recitations in dialect begat rap and poetry slams. His friendship with the Wright brothers, who were his Dayton High School classmates,
contrasted with persistent humiliations of Jim Crow racism. His work on the Indianapolis World encapsulates the fortunes of African-American journalism in the region. Musical adaptations of his verses illustrate parlor traditions of the period, while his plays fill out the history of American regional theater. The Dunbar Project will incorporate a series of local Dunbar Detonations across the region starting in 2003 and culminating in 2006.
Regional
Electronic Assistance Center for the Humanities (REACH)
REACH is staffed
by students trained to help independent researchers, K-12 teachers,
and small organizations via telephone and Internet. These constituencies
lack access to scholarly consultants, technical computer support,
or peer networks, a
nd their representatives asked CRHC to help. REACH
staff will help clients (by telephone or internet) develop or update
web pages, locate web hosting facilities, navigate the online CRHC,
identify potential funding sources, and find mentors and partners
for digital or conventional projects. REACH will engage in both community
outreach and database construction to create efficient networks in
the humanities that will be broad
ly useful and of special value to
the K-12 community. The undergraduate and graduate students trained
as REACH staff through the CRHC’s partnership with the Center for
Innovations in Technology for Learning (CITL) will themselves gain
valuable experience and skills: in their knowledge of regional culture,
as public humanities (pre-)professionals, in information management
and development, and in interpersonal relations.
M.A. in Communication and American Culture
A two-year Master's degree niche-marketed toward students seeking academically-rigorous professional training. At present we envision an interdisciplinary program that recognizes intellectually and administratively that culture and cultural artifacts--the focus of American culture studies--are socially constructed from interpersonal
and mass communication in many media. The excitement of such an approach derives from interdisciplinary perspectives whose sheer multiplicity guarantees that synthesis will always remain splendidly unlikely.
Faculty in several colleges at OU already conduct research and teach courses in what at other institutions would be called American Studies. Having begun to find one another, we have already shared ideas in colloquia and meetings for two years. Now we plan to recruit new graduate students
for a unique and valuable educational experience that draws on learning opportunities of our region, especially Appalachian history and culture, and that integrates current faculty research more fully into graduate education at OU.
We understand that the Board of Regents seeks new master's degree programs with a high probability of success.
Career Paths:
Museum directors, site administrators, archivists, documentary film and video producers, speech writers, gra
nt officers, directors of county historical societies, directors of tourism bureaus, corporate and agency historians, legislative assistants, government agency specialists, environmentalists, regional magazine editors, architects, social workers, and elementary and high school teachers (among others).
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*Please contact Diana Glaizer, Adminstrative Associate CRHC
203 Technology and Enterprise
Building #20, The Ridges,
Ohio University
At
hens, Ohio 45701-2979
(740) 593-4602
or by e-mail to crhc@www.ohiou.edu
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