Blogs

Dana Dorman is the project manager of two HSP digital history projects: the William Still Digital History Project, focused on the Underground Railroad, and the Greenfield Digital Project, a documentary editing project focused on the early years of the Great Depression. She is also a researcher for HSP's Research by Mail service, and previously served as project archivist for the Digital Center for Americana pilot project. A Certified Archivist, Dana earned a BA in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a M.A. in public history from Temple University, where she wrote her thesis about the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies.

This Author's Posts

Filling in Family Details with Undertakers' Records

Following up on Sarah's post about cemetery records last month, I thought I'd highlight another helpful source for family history research: undertakers' records.

Roots & Branches: Genealogy at HSP
10/31/12
20th century, Genealogy, Oliver H. Bair Company, undertaker records
Welcome to Our New Blog: Roots & Branches

Did you know that HSP is one of the largest family history libraries in the nation?

Roots & Branches: Genealogy at HSP
6/18/12
Genealogy
Learning More About the People Behind the Documents

I'm excited to report that we've moved on to the next phase of the Greenfield Digital Project: researching and annotating our 324 selected primary-source documents.

Fondly, Pennsylvania
4/11/12
20th century, Albert M. Greenfield, Bankers Trust Company, Depression, Economics, Greenfield Digital Project, Philadelphia, Text Encoding Initiative
A Clearinghouse for Philadelphia Banks

We are nearly finished with phase one of the Greenfield Digital Project -- transcribing and adding basic XML encoding to 300+ documents selected from HSP's collections to help tell the story of Bankers Trust Company, the first large bank to fail in Philadelphia during the Great Depression.

Fondly, Pennsylvania
2/1/12
20th century, Albert M. Greenfield, Business, Depression, Greenfield Digital Project, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Banker, Can You Spare a Dime?

Given all the headlines about the struggling economy over the last couple years, it feels remarkably timely to be transcribing documents from the early months of the Great Depression as part of the Greenfield Digital Project.

Recently, I’ve been working on letters from depositors of Bankers Trust Company, which became one of the first large banks to fail in Philadelphia when it closed on December 22, 1930.

Fondly, Pennsylvania
7/26/11
20th century, Albert M. Greenfield, Bankers Trust Company, Business, Depression, Greenfield Digital Project, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, text encoding, Text Encoding Initiative
Comments: 1
Getting From Paper Pages To Digital Texts

Now that we’re elbow-deep in encoding the 300 or so documents for the Greenfield Digital Project, my colleague Faith Charlton and I are spending a lot of time at the keyboard.

Fondly, Pennsylvania
6/15/11
20th century, Albert M. Greenfield, Bankers Trust Company, Business, Depression, Greenfield Digital Project, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, text encoding, Text Encoding Initiative
Sharing Ideas

April was a month of learning, sharing, and inspiration for me, thanks to several conferences and workshops.

First, I attended the annual meeting of the National Council on Public History (NCPH), held in Pensacola, Florida this year.

Fondly, Pennsylvania
5/4/11
20th century, 21st century, digitization, Greenfield Digital Project, public history, text encoding
Untangling Text Encoding

Over the last few months, I’ve been spending a lot of my time focused on a fairly technical topic: text encoding.

Basically, text encoding is a method for representing text in a digital form. It allows you to record information about text -- for example, whether it is handwritten, or mentions someone’s name, or is the salutation of a letter -- right alongside the text itself.

Fondly, Pennsylvania
3/23/11
20th century, Albert M. Greenfield, Bankers Trust Company, Business, Depression, digitization, Greenfield Digital Project, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, text encoding, Text Encoding Initiative
An Unexpected Connection to Dr. King

In honor of this week's holiday (yes, I'm a few days behind), I thought I'd look a few decades beyond my usual focus on the 1920s and 30s.

I am still elbow-deep in the Albert M. Greenfield papers (collection 1959), which includes materials on an impressive array of topics, events, and notable people. Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Fondly, Pennsylvania
1/21/11
20th century, African American, Albert M. Greenfield, Civil Rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Greenfield Digital Project, Philadelphia, Politics
A Bank's Failure

Is it ever good news if a business associate sends you a telegram at 4 a.m.?

Fondly, Pennsylvania
12/14/10
20th century, Albert M. Greenfield, Bankers Trust Company, Business, Depression, Greenfield Digital Project, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia