Digital humanities is the application of information technology to the raw materials of research in history and related subjects, to their organization and analysis, and to the presentation of conclusions. This has made new kinds of research projects possible, and it has also allowed researchers to make projects available on digital (especially web-based) platforms. For both undergraduates and graduate students in history, expertise in these methods opens doors: to expanded horizons of historical enquiry, and to wider career possibilities.
In recent years Catholic University's Department of History has offered courses whose core is digitally based research projects, often carried out collectively by the courses' students. We expect this part of our curriculum to continue to expand, and to offer new opportunities for our history majors and graduate students to incorporate digital expertise into their historians' toolkits.
Links to some of our students' recent web-based presentations are here:
Recollections of My Life and Reflections on Times and Events During It: A Memoir by Father W.J. Howlett
HIST 394: “Digital Humanities: A Practicum” (Dr. Sherman)
Reckoning Time in Medieval Pisa
HIST 516: “Digital Approaches to Medieval History” (Dr. Morreale)
The Islamic World in the Travels of Ibn Battutah
HIST 309: “The Rise of Islam” (Dr. Weitz)
Books and Bombs: The Catholic University Department of History During World War II
HIST 494: “Research Apprenticeship” (Dr. Klimo)
