The April issue of Maryland Life has a piece I wrote called “Bicentennial of a Blindsiding: When the Brits Stormed Havre de Grace.” It’s about the devastating attack that took place there during the War of 1812, and the City’s plans for the 200th anniversary observance. The attractively situated community at the top of…
Digital Humanities Project Crowdsources a Civil War Chaplains Diary
I have had an interesting experience working on a digital humanities initiative, a crowdsourcing project with the University of Delaware Museum Studies Program and History Media Center. It involves a Civil War chaplain’s diary that has been gathering dust for 150-years and was periodically brought out for some research. The University digitized the diary and students, faculty and staff are pouring over fading pages…
Presentation on Research and Writing About History
On the day the Digital Public Library of America opened its virtual doors to the public, I was in Havre de Grace to do a talk with author Heidi Glatfelter on “Researching and Writing about the War of 1812.” We took a team approach to the program as I focused on new methods of doing…
Preparing Interpretive Plan Exploring the Havre de Grace Storylines During the War of 1812
I have been working as a consulting public historian since 2011 on a project to document the story of Havre de Grace around the time the British burned the town in May 1813. This work was part of the development of the Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. As one of two project historians, my…