Digital History Showcase
History courses at Cal Poly Pomona are increasingly incorporating new methods of finding, analyzing and presenting historical materials now possible in the digital era. "Digital history" can encompass everything from online databases of primary source material to new techniques that harness the power of computers to reassess the past (e.g. text mining and topic modeling, network analysis or historical GIS) and to present that material in new and exciting ways (including online videos and web-based story templates). This page showcases digital projects created by CPP students in our new Digital Research Project courses (HST 4494, 4495, 4496 and 4497), as well as notable digital work from other classes. Our Digital Research Project classes, in fact, have recently (in Fall 2023) been designated as "PolyX" courses, a mark of special distinction that reflects their unique polytechnic qualities.
In 2018-2019, the CPP History Department introduced its first Digital Research Project (DRP) courses, now a part of the core curriculum. These courses are designed around a particular topic or theme in American, European or world history (one not duplicated by the existing upper-division courses), but also explicitly emphasize digital history. The very best projects produced in those classes have received (or have been nominated for) the CPP History Department's inaugural Digital History Prize. You can explore them via the links below!
Jacob McConnell, "The Wearing of the Green: The evolution of the Irish-American Identity" (2022 co-prize winner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iYnfTerj8I
Amber Santoro, "Family, Faith and Perseverance: My Grandmother’s Memories of Three Generations of Mexican-American Women in Southern California” (2022 co-prize winner)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1puPpjrLr7eHmvuMZWZb9cBbUxCrgRI85
Katherine Hinman, Bronzeville of Los Angeles: The story of one of Los Angeles’ forgotten neighborhoods, and what it reveals about racial landscapes in urban America (2021 prize winner)
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/92f3c958ac544074b4297523cfdd37ed
Nayely Alcantara Vargas, Talking to the Undead: British Spiritualism in World War I (2021 honorable mention)
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1107f9f36f654d808e235963205b196e
Nathan Acevedo, False Power through the Lens: Wang Shilong and Li Zhensheng in Maoist China (2020 prize winner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7W2wqXPUGY&feature=youtu.be
Jose Quirarte, The Japanese American Internment Experience (2019 prize winner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX_AWZPNL88&feature=youtu.be
Summer Viets, (Re)Constructing Faces: The First World War and the Genesis of Modern Plastic Surgery (2019 prize winner)
https://pomona.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=07f1820787824d23b3c9e52ab6bd113d
Max Henry, Understanding the Indian Reorganization Act
https://sites.google.com/view/understanding-the-ira/home
Danielle Tate, Angels, Demons and Free Will
Raina Coutin, S. An-Ski: WWI Pale of Settlement
https://pomona.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=dddd0fe838a541a193c78b65b34bd4d6
Gustavo Carillo, Australia's Official War Correspondent: C.E.W. Bean
https://spark.adobe.com/page/i7vJIBsWc59EQ/
Connor Cravens, Azuza Blowouts
The digital history projects below were completed by students in different courses (not specifically Digital History classes).
WWII in California’s Inland Empire
This student-created project documenting local history was produced by students in Dr. Eileen Wallis's courses on the history of Southern California (HST 371) in Spring 2018 and Introduction to Public History (HST 3391S) in Fall 2018.
World War II in California's Inland Empire
The Lanterman CPP Campus South History Project
This website on the history of Pomona’s Lanterman Development Center, now CPP Campus South was constructed by Dr. Eileen Wallis and the students in her History 391S (Introduction to Public History) in Fall 2016.
This student-created podcast examines the Covid-19 pandemic in history and memory, especially in local perspective. The six episodes were produced in Dr. Rachel Van’s HST 4496: Projects in US Digital History course. Click on the episode titles to listen to each podcast, and/or peruse the episode transcripts and bibliographies!
Episode 1: Work
This episode considers the history of labor during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, the effects that COVID had on college athletes and athletics programs, and college students as a prospective workforce–especially right here at Cal Poly Pomona.
Episode Transcript
Episode Bibliography
Episode 2: Mask Up
Lockdowns, quarantine, masking, and mandates have a history. What responses & resistance did we see in our community during the Covid-19 pandemic?
Episode Transcript
Episode Bibliography
Episode 3: Blame Game
How Covid-19 brought to light the easy manifestation of blame of those already marginalized in a historical context.
Episode Transcript
Episode Bibliography
Episode 4: Virtual Socialization
Technology affected us and our socialization during the 2020 pandemic. How has this changed us for the future and how did it differ from past pandemics?
Episode Transcript
Episode Bibliography
Episode 5: The Lost Generation
The Covid-19 pandemic forced the nation to confront just how integral are schools to communities around the nation–and how much we take them for granted. Can comparing the 1918 pandemic to 2020 illuminate the impact of future lockdowns?
Episode Transcript
Episode Bibliography
Episode 6: $H!T Wars
In a time of crisis, one villain will take center stage as the most predominant life-saving utility of the pandemic and its name is toilet paper. This is an epic exploration of why essentials were in such short supply when the American people needed it the most -- pandemic lockdown.