An ambitious, deep website with hundreds of primary documents, made in partnership with the Harvard Film Study Center.
A path-breaking interactive website, DoHistory invites users to explore the process of piecing together the lives of ordinary people in the past. It is an interactive case study based on the research that went into the book and film A Midwife's Tale, which were both based upon the 1785-1812 diary of frontier midwife/healer Martha Ballard.
Part of Martha Ballard’s diary
A map drawn by Martha Ballard’s husband
Broadside published when a farmer murdered his entire family
Although centered on the life of Martha Ballard, DoHistory seeks to offer users basic skills and techniques for interpreting fragments that survive from any period in history. Sections of the website take users behind the scenes into the writing of the book, and the making of the film (including a step by step account written by the producer). And there’s a toolkit to launch people on historical projects of their own.
Homepage of DoHistory.org
Awards
American Association for History and Computing’s 2000 Multimedia Prize
USA Today HotSite | E-Learning Design Award
Funders
The National Endowment for the Humanities
Harvard Film Study Center