Copyrights, Then and Now.
Questions that motivate my academic research -- questions of the political and economic stakes of information access, questions of how we communicate and commodify ideas across local, national, and global lines, questions of how the principles and the practices of artistic and scientific innovation feature in multiple forms of mapping -- directly intersect with my work in the present day landscapes of digital media and public history.
As both the inaugural social media editor for the Journal of the Early Republic and its online platform, The Panorama and the former reviews editor for SHARP News, the quarterly digital publication for the Society of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing, I worked towards bridging the academic study of Early American history and how that knowledge is disseminated in twenty-first century communication. These connections also provide a framework for a new book series at the University of Virginia Press, “From Pamphlets to Podcasts: An Institute for Thomas Paine Studies Series,” of which I am a co-editor with Dr. Mark Boonshoft of Virginia Military Institute.
I'm similarly involved with multiple digital humanities and public history efforts, particularly those that involve pedagogy. For several years, I contributed to the websites, The Junto and Teaching United States History, and served as a chapter editor for the online, open access textbook, The American Yawp. I've been an on-camera subject expert for the BBC Two television series, Great American Railways as well as other TV series, documentaries, and podcasts, and for the Gilder Lehman Institute and Pace University Masters in History program. I also contributed to the C-Span series, a collaboration with the Library of Congress, “Great Books in American History” and was featured on a segment for CBS News. I frequently partner with pre k-12 and museum educators on events and talks, and with revolutionary commemoration initiatives at the National Park Service (NPS). I also collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of colleagues at Iona on a “Data Science for Future Leaders” working group.
Here is a sample of our work, which won the 2015 American Historical Association poster prize. If you'd like more information, reach out to us anytime, and check out Micki's extraordinary DH portfolio at her website.
Inspired by the collaborative opportunities that DH supports, I am working with my colleagues and friends, Dr. John Blanton and Micki Kaufman, on an exploration of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. We've presented this ongoing project at several institutions, and have also led a workshop on digital history to masters students. Published in August of 2020, I co-organized a special issue of the journal, New York History, with editors Devin Lander, New York State Historian, Dr. Jennifer Lemak, Chief Curator of History, New York State Museum, and my former colleague at the ITPS, Dr. Michael Crowder.
Combing digital history with present-day topics, I am a co-editor with Dr. Mark Boonshoft and Dr. Ben Wright called American Revolutions in the Digital Age. American Revolutions in the Digital Age. Published in August of 2024 with Cornell University Press, it is available both in print and digitally here. You’ll see that the e-book is free: its open-access availability was made possible via a subvention from Iona University and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. Please reach out if you’d like further details about the book or to incorporate it into your classrooms!
There are many other exciting projects underway at the ITPS. I have served as an administrator and director for more than seven years, managing extensive budget, grant, and fellowship opportunities while orienting the ITPS’ strategic plan around digital humanities, public history, and archival studies.
To continue and expand those efforts, in the spring of 2024 I facilitated a one-million dollar donation from renowned philanthropist and book collector, Sid Lapidus. I am incredibly grateful to Ruth and Sid for their immense generosity, support, and friendship. I am also a co-principle investigator on a multi-million dollar, three-year grant from the Department of Education’s American History and Civics (ACH) Seminars program. I also previously co-authored large scale grant opportunities from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation and the James Hervey Johnson Educational Trust, amongst others.
For highlights of our progress at the ITPS, check out the gallery below or please visit the ITPS research portal at http://theitps.org/! You can also sign up for our regular newsletter, “Page of Reason,” here.
