Digital history provides global access to online archives, library collections and museum exhibits, as well as a vast range of historical documents from newspapers and songs, movies and diaries, letters, legislation and court documents. Resources developed include Children and Youth in History (Miriam Forman-Brunell), Trug und Schein: A Correspondence (Andrew Bergerson), and German Migration to Missouri (Andrew Bergerson).
UMKC historians are involved in the production of a number of history-related blogs, including the Scientist of the Day and UMKC HistoryMakers, as well as podcasts like Archiver, which is a tour through the most important moments in Kansas history.
Our students may take a variety of online courses, either as part of an online history minor or toward a history major. Fostering historical as well as digital literacy, students in these courses learn 21st-century methods of communication in the form of blogs, magazines, newsletters, exhibits and video essays.
The Kemper Digital Humanities Laboratory (204 Cockefair Hall), funded by a generous donation from the Kemper Foundation, and located within the Department of History enables history students to explore the intersections of historical research and new media by producing innovative public history, digital history, and digital humanities projects. These classroom based projects are typically in collaboration with community partners.
The UMKC Center for Digital and Public Humanities, located within the Miller Nichols Library, supports students and faculty as they develop and practice critical research skills that integrate digital methods with scholarship in the humanities.
The Department of History actively seeks collaborations with historical institutions in the greater Kansas City community. Past projects include The Edgar Snow Project and The Ordinance Project. Current projects include the Latinx KC: Oral Histories of the Latinx Community in Kansas City, The Pendergast Years and the Quindaro symposium.
