DoHistory
(http://www.dohistory.org/)
Created and maintained by the Film Studies Unit of Harvard University.
Reviewed September 18-22, 2003.
At a time when students of many ages
can learn from a host of different media, the Film Studies Unit of Harvard
University has done an admirable job of providing access to a variety
of media from a single location. Using the diary of an eighteenth-century
midwife as an example, their DoHistory web site shows what
is possible in retrieving, decoding, and exploring ordinary lives of
the past. The premise behind this well-constructed site is that ordinary
people of the past matter, but also that ordinary people of the present
can have a hand in uncovering and discovering what the Martha Ballards
of the world have to tell us.
Students of early American history will
be familiar with Laurel Ulrich's Pulitzer Prize- winning treatment of
Martha Ballard's diary through the1990 monograph, A Midwife's Tale.
The beauty of this web site is that it marries some of the previous
explorations into Ballard's diary -- such as Ulrich's book and the PBS
film treatment -- with the diary itself, and invites visitors to try
their hand at a foray into the world of the eighteenth century. The
home page is well-designed and provides an excellent base from which
to easily navigate the entire site. Especially helpful to first-time
visitors are the explanatory drop down boxes which appear when the mouse
runs over hotspots. Some of the more exciting links include Ballard's
complete diary online where users can try their hand at decoding and
transcribing it; the "On Your Own" link that provides suggestions
on developing your own history projects; and "Doing History,"
which allows users the opportunity to piece together the fragments of
two stories from Ballard's past. An interview with Ulrich, as well as
video clips from the PBS film, bring the book and film format alive.
Also helpful is the "Interested In" drop down which provides
another avenue to links based upon subject rather than media or genre,
and offers suggestions on topics such as genealogy, teaching, and midwifery
and medicine.
Another important aspect to the site
is how well it works for a rather broad audience base. Scholars and
graduate students will benefit from the cache of online primary documents
which include, in addition to Martha's diary, eighteenth-century treatises
on the practice of midwifery, letters, maps, and other personal memoirs.
Yet the site also has much for the amateur history buff, students, teachers,
and others who have already enjoyed Laurel Ulrich's book.
While the web site as a whole does
an effective job in appealing to its rather broad audiences, the link
entitled "Teaching with this Web Site" is not terribly successful
under its current design. In addition to an outdated message concerning
a teaching seminar from three years ago, the suggestions, while good,
have no recommendations for targeted audiences. The link suggests that
the site could be used from middle school to adult students with no
indication as to which activities would be most appropriate for a particular
level of student. Furthermore, some additional creative thought might
produce ways to use the material for teachers trying to bring alive
the eighteenth century for their late elementary students. Recommended
activities broken down by target audiences would go a long way toward
making the teaching link more effective.
One annoyance with the site is the "On
this day in Martha Ballard's Diary" link that appears on the homepage.
The date that appears when first entering the web site is April 23,
1804, as opposed to the calendar date on which one is visiting the site.
Not until users begin to explore DoHistory and then return
to "home" does the date register the calendar date. Indeed,
visitors who prefer clicking on the back arrow of their browser would
never see that the calendar date finally appears. While this is certainly
minor in nature, it lends an air of "low tech" and lack of
sophistication that is inconsistent with the rest of the site.
In sum, however, DoHistory
invites its visitors -- whether professional historians, amateur history
buffs, or students, -- to do just that - history. It facilitates that
process through the integration of old and new media and different genres
-- such as diaries and author interviews -- all wrapped up in an attractive,
easily-navigable package that begs users to explore the world of late
eighteenth-century America.
Jennifer Lansbury