VAST: Creating Virtual Archives for Scholarship and Training

While many acknowledge the potential digital tools and digitization have to increase access to information, archives and historical societies often lack the funds and people power needed for such efforts. At the same time, academic programs looking to broaden access to higher education face challenges of a different sort—how to create authentic “hands on” learning experiences for online students. Our project addresses these challenges by combining them. We partner with the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House and work with online students to scan and organize historical material important to scholars studying the formation of heritage sites by and about women. The project tests how the university and cultural memory institutions can collaborate to efficiently and cost-effectively increase public access to historical resources while improving public humanities education.