The Fellows’ research will form the central material of a Web- and app-based collection of digital historical resources in various formats, including games, videos, digital editions, and map-based tools. In addition, the Fellows lead faculty workshops, participate in public panels and events, and connect their work with a broad community of students and Chicago- area residents.

The 2016 Chicago Fellows (from left): James Marquardt, Rebecca Graff, Don Meyer, Linda Horwitz, Ben Zeller, Desmond Odugu, and Chloe Johnston.

2016 cohort

The 2016 cohort of Chicago Fellows were announced last fall. Here are the contours of what they’ll be working on:

• Linda Horwitz, associate professor of communication, plans to study the origin of the Pledge of Allegiance, written by Francis Bellamy to coincide with the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.
• Chloe Johnston, assistant professor of theater, intends to examine the genealogy of ensemble-generated theater in Chicago, tracing its roots to theater classes taught by Neva Boyd at Hull House at the turn of the twentieth century. Students will participate in workshops with current artists whose work is inspired by Boyd’s methods, and they will restage her original exercises as they build an online repository of these techniques.
• James Marquardt, associate professor of politics, will focus on Jane Addams and the peace movement during the World War I period, including the Chicago-based  activities of the movement, for which Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
• Don Meyer, professor of music, will explore the music of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, creating digital versions of music from the White City and/or the Midway Plaisance.
• Desmond Odugu, assistant professor of education, intends to study either the history of housing inequities pertaining to the economic divide between the inner city and the suburbs, or Jane Addams’s educational and political activities related to immigrants and migrants from the South.
• Ben Zeller, assistant professor of religion, aims to create educational virtual tours of some of Chicago’s most historically important sacred spaces. He hopes to partner with some of these houses of worship to create immersive digital experiences that explore the history, architecture, spiritual background, and liturgical uses of the spaces.

In addition, Rebecca Graff, assistant professor of anthropology, will continue as the Chicago Archaeological Fellow until the completion of the grant in 2018. Digital Chicago celebrated a successful initial Archaeological Field School led by Graff last summer (See Spectrum, Summer 2015.) The Field School’s Open House and Media Day—at the Charnley-Persky House Museum dig site—attracted considerable local media attention on TV, radio, and in print.

“We are excited to begin working with a second cohort of Chicago Fellows faculty for 2016, whose projects will continue to add depth to Digital Chicago’s endeavors,” Chicago Digital Humanities Coordinator Emily Mace said.

The 2015 Chicago Fellows (from left): Rebecca Graff, Holly Swyers, Don Meyer, Ben Goluboff, and Miguel de Baca.

2015 cohort

The four other 2015 Chicago Fellows spent the summer working with student research assistants on their own exciting research projects:

• Don Meyer, professor of music, explored the silent film practice of Progressive Era Chicago, locating several short films that were made in Chicago during this period. Meyer’s music recreates a style typical of what was heard in Chicago-area movie theaters in the 1910s.
• Benjamin Goluboff, associate professor and chair of English, studied the plays of Kenneth Sawyer Goodman (1883-1918), the son of a Chicago timber baron and a leading light in the Little Theater movement of the pre-war decades.
• Holly Swyers, associate professor of anthropology, chair of sociology and anthropology, and chair of urban studies, investigated how disease outbreaks in Chicago beginning in the nineteenth century created public panics, affected city infrastructure decisions, and contributed to present-day ideas of public health. In her project, Swyers created video games about public health crises in the city.
• Miguel de Baca, associate professor of art history and chair of American studies, mapped the art world in Chicago across the span of a century.

“The 2015 Fellows wrapped up their research projects in the early part of 2016. We are currently developing a Web- and mobile-based platform through which to share the results of their and future cohort’s fascinating research, and we look forward to revealing the first phase of this project later in 2016,” Mace said.