Sharon Leon, CCHS Distinguished Visitor “Open, Engaged, and Humane: The Past and Present of Digital Public History”

The origin story for digital history differs significantly from the standard literary studies-focused narrative that is offered for humanities computing and the digital humanities. For the most part, the dominant story makes no room for the different trajectory that historians traveled in their engagement with digital methods. When we move away from an origin story for digital humanities that is centered in literary studies, we are forced to grapple with the place of digital history in relationship to other methodological innovations in the larger field of history, and to recognize the deep influence of both the radical history and public history movements on the field. This talk will plumb just those influences, and explore the ways these movements have shaped recent work in the field that critically engages with and represents the experiences of diverse group of communities, from migrant workers, to those who have experienced police violence, to LGBTQ people, to many, many others.

Sharon Leon is the Director of Public Projects at the Center for History and New Media and Associate Professor in the History and Art History Department of George Mason University. At the Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, Leon oversees collaborations with library, museum, and archive partners from around the country, such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She manages the Center's digital exhibit and archiving projects, as well as a research and tool development for public history, including Omeka and Scripto.