UIS to host a History Harvest in order to digitally archive items from Illinois’ past

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield History Department invites members of the public to bring photographs, documents, or any item connected to their Illinois history to a History Harvest in downtown Springfield. UIS students will photograph or scan the items for inclusion in an online digital archive and exhibit. Participation in the event is free.

WHEN: Saturday, October 13, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

WHERE: Innovate Springfield, 15 Old State Capitol Plaza (5th & Adams), Springfield

DETAILS: This year’s History Harvest theme commemorates the Illinois state bicentennial and has been officially endorsed by the Illinois State Bicentennial Commission.

The public is invited to bring materials from Illinois’ distant past, the recent past and today to be scanned and photographed. UIS students will collect information from participants, but items will not be collected.

Students from UIS Assistant Professor of History Devin Hunter’s undergraduate public history class and UIS Associate Professor of History Kenneth Owen’s graduate history and digital media class will lead the effort to digitize items for the online digital exhibit.

Two years ago, students and faculty of the UIS History Department held the first ever History Harvest in the state of Illinois, in which they digitally “harvested” political memorabilia from the public. The results of that harvest can be found at https://uishistharv1.uis.edu/.

For more information, visit www.uis.edu/history/historyharvest/ or contact Devin Hunter at 217/206-7432 (dhunte2@uis.edu) or Kenneth Owen at 217/206-7439 (kowen8@uis.edu).