CUNY Digital History Archive

Despite having the word “archive” in the name, I see the CUNY Digital History Archive as a digital public history project, informed by the practices of postcustodial community archives. The project is not only about providing access to archival materials; we are helping our audience interpret them by providing historical context and background, while connecting the materials to the struggles of today’s students through our teaching guides and curricular resources. We also have a strong commitment to building our community of educator-activists and continuing to defend public higher education by making clear why the history of CUNY matters. This is what I find so exciting about the work—it’s bringing folks together through this shared activity of meaning-making through creating digital collections that connect the struggles of the past to today’s problems. To me, that’s a very digital humanities approach to public scholarship and one that I’m looking forward to continuing with the CUNY Digital History Archive.

Read more about the project.