On Sunday, Sept. 12, from 1 to 4 p.m. NET Television and the UNL History Department are
inviting all Nebraska history fans, collectors and genealogists to the “NET History Harvest.”
Because so many historical sources and archives are in people's attics or in trunks, the History
Harvest program will allow the public to bring their old letters, photographs, diaries, maps,
images, documents or other noteworthy items to share with historians. The objects will be
analyzed and discussed with the owner, photographed and documented.

The goal of the project is to digitize Nebraska history materials and make them available in a shared
online repository for schools, universities, colleges and interested citizens. Some people and their objects
may even be featured in an NET Television segment. Please find the full press release here.

To sign-up to reserve a Sunday time, visit netNebraska.org/historyharvest or call
800-634-6788. The registration period begins Aug. 25 and runs through Sept. 8. A podcast containing information about the event is available here.

“Every family has a history, and yet we sometimes think that the nation's history remains separate," said
UNL History Professor Will Thomas. “The nation's history intersects with family histories all the time.
The History Harvest hopes to bring these together and open up new sources for understanding our past."
The two “History Harvest” events are funded in part by the John, Paul, Anton and Doris Wirth
Foundation. NET Television and NET Radio are a service of NET.

Read More:

Railroads and the Making of Modern America

Railroads Blog

The history department hosted an all day Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) workshop on August 18th, a formal effort to enhance the preparation of department teaching assistants--experienced and new--before the start of classes. The workshop was co-lead by Drs. Thomas and Borstelmann, the Department and Graduate Chairs respectively, and also included several guest speakers. Topics included philosophy and pedagogy, teaching with technology and Digital Course Management Systems such as Blackboard, Library Resources, as well as undergraduate advising. The workshop featured a common narrative of developing and preparing students for diverse careers both in and outside of the formal field of history. 

That same week, the department welcomed 12 new graduate students to the program from a variety of fields and geographical locations. Following orientation, matriculating and current graduate students met for a gaterhing at Yia Yia's to mark the beginning of a new school year. We wish everyone the best for a wonderful and productive semester!

Congratulations to Will Thomas, who has received a Digging into Data Challenge Grant sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation in the U.S., the Joint Information Systems Committee in the United Kingdom, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada.  The grant will support research for UNL’s “Railroads and the Making of Modern America” digital history project and help create new tools for spatio-temporal correlation and the analysis and visualization of railroad-related data.  The UNL team received a grant of nearly $100,000 and will partner with researchers from the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. and the University of Victoria and McGill University in Canada.

The university's press release on the grant is online at http://scarlet.unl.edu/?p=5813