Digital Humanities – Spring 2018

 

As a SUNY Cortland Student, I never took the time to think about the history. To me, it has always just been college. But the roots are a lot deeper than that. The people who live here and the people who have attended this college in the past have contributed to where it is today.

I want people to be able to use the information that we provided to appreciate the place that many people consider their home or their home away from home.  People have become fixated on the present and the future. They often fail to take into consideration what happened in the past. This event was tragic. It changed the lives of many people. What we know as Cortland could be different and I think that it is important that we take this into consideration during our time here.

I didn’t know what a virtual museum was before this assignment. After visiting the virtual museums that we created, I hope that people will go out an explore other virtual museums online. They are full of useful information and provide us a look into a perspective we might not have thought of.

When visitors view the digital public history exhibit that my group and I created I hope they will learn a little bit about the events of that day as well as plans for the relocation of the school. I hope visitors will gain valuable background knowledge on the unknown causes of the fire at the Cortland Normal School in 1919. They will be able to view the headline of the evening paper the day of the fire in order to get the first hand information about what was known on that day. Visitors will also be able to learn about the plans previously in place to relocate the school and how the fire acted as a catalyst for the relocation. Original documents showing the discussion for the relocation will also be able to be viewed through the use of our digital history exhibit. Hopefully, by visiting our digital history exhibit, visitors will be able to gain more knowledge on the fire, the relocation plans and view primary sources this information was derived from.

Kara Smith

Making the digital history museum of the 1919 fire in Cortland was very intriguing because it’s a part of our school’s history. To learn about where and how our school changed location moved to “the hill.” Doing the research in the archives was different research than anyone is used to which I thought was better because it keeps everyone interested and learning new research methods.

I hope when people see our digital history museums they learn more about the Cortland fire of 1919. They see that it is an organized webpage and can navigate it with ease. They can get the most important facts and information without having to look long. A webpage with this digital exhibit on it should attract people to dig deep into it and look for more. Visitors will learn all of the facts about the fire and see pictures from when the fire happened that day. I think that is awesome to have real evidence and pictures of that day in Cortland in 1919.

After visitors take a look at everyone’s pages, I hope that they can take away new things and parts of history that they never knew about before. What makes it even better for the visitors who see each page on the Cortland 1919 Fire is that they get to see five separate interpretations. Although it is true that each page covers the same topic, there is a variety and perspective that each group holds a primary focus on. These different yet parallel agendas that each group had will help observers make their own interpretations of the history that we have shared.

I would very much like our website to influence students on campus to schedule visits at the archives in the Cortland Memorial Library. Researching in the archives was quite fun compared to using the school’s library databases (which is of course very helpful…just not as fun or engaging). Perhaps after seeing all the information we have accumulated for our projects, then some visitors will entertain the idea of stopping by the archives and doing research for their own projects as well.

-Grant Boyd

I hope that the visitors of my digital public history exhibit learn a great deal of new information on The Cortland Fire of 1919, specifically the essential background information and details. This includes the detrimental effects this fire had on the entire town of Cortland. I hope that the visitors truly take the time to closely read and analyze the information provided in my exhibit. Additionally, I hope that visitors will be intrigued to continue researching this tragic event after completing their visit, and becoming more knowledgeable on this event. It is extremely necessary for visitors to learn about the circumstances of the tragedy to understand the reason for the controversy, surrounding this event.

Essentially, after putting in the appropriate amount of time and effort, the visitor should have gained a clear understanding, and perspective on this tragic event. After creating my digital public history exhibit learning about the importance of The Cortland Fire of 1919, I feel inspired to learn about other historical events that occurred in Cortland.

In creating this website, I hope some local history regarding SUNY Cortland will become more accessible and enjoyable. The fire ultimately changed the course of the school’s history and future; Perhaps without the fire SUNY Cortland would not have developed into such a largely populated school. With the creation of my group’s website, I hope students, staff, and local citizens can see how the school came to its new location, and even find out about the fire if they never knew it had occurred. I certainly did not know about this fire until I took this class. The process of going to the archive and looking through each and every article/photograph/letter was a lengthy process and the archive isn’t kept at a comfortable temperature if we’re being honest. This website can act as a middle man, relaying the information from the archive to a widespread audience. I hope my website was effective, aesthetically pleasing and as accessible as we hoped!

 

-Peter McKasty