The rapid changes in technology throughout the last 40 years is incredibly astonishing, especially when examining the archived Valley of the Shadow projects developed by Edward L. Ayers. The different adaptations of the site from 1999 and 2014 are very different and yet showcase a snapshot of digital technology at a time when the internet was beginning to be utilized more seriously as a set of tools throughout academia, both at the university level and K-12.

Examining the 1999 version of the site made me feel almost nostalgic for my own early interactions with the Internet. The customized “return to homepage” buttons, the links upon links, and subsections of information were easy to navigate and understand. Most interesting to me was the section underneath different topic breakdowns that linked directly to relevant papers. This drew my attention when examining figures like John Brown because of the connections of information made in a tree or web-like pattern.

Contrary to the 1999 version of the site, the 2014 version of the site did feel more difficult to navigate. While this could be due to the site being archived, many of the links were unwieldy or had to be navigated in a certain way to make the subsections of information accessible. The museum exhibition style of site construction while interesting for someone simply exploring the site would be frustrating unless you were already aware of how specific items, such as letters, would need to be filtered. I attempted to filter newspapers by topic and struggled significantly to get anything but a 404 Error message. I ended up having to search through the newspapers by date, which if you were looking for a specific time frame would be fine, but for my own cursory searches yielded a list of summaries of articles but not much original text. I have to agree with reviewer Cameron Blevins (2009), the process for looking through the site is challenging and I’m not very fond of what Blevins refers to as the “vertical experience” for navigating the site. I preferred the 1999 web style where there were significant topics with subsections but still accessible original texts.

The project itself serves a valuable purpose as one of the examples of digital historical scholarship and the attention it has garnered over the years is in large part due to the publications about the project by Edward L. Ayers and his research associates. I have heard the saying, “publish or perish” throughout my academic career and it is clear that Ayers takes this to heart with the creation of the project. In his book on the Civil War, Ayers describes his inspiration for the project and the use that visualization and structuring the bits and pieces of history together.

Through his publications Ayers utilized an almost scientific breakdown of his research and methodology behind the Valley project. This allowed for other historians to clearly see how exactly the site was built, the methods behind the database’s organization, and how the content within the archive could be applied to conduct further research. It is one thing for a historian to research a paper and produce a bibliography, and entirely different to digitize every primary source and upload it in a way that everyone can access it.

It’s interesting reading Ayers’ later articles where he continues to lament that digital history is still considered to be a niche aspect of scholarship even in 2013. I suppose looking back at technology, with the pandemic changing the landscape of interactions with the Internet that has increased at least the visibility of digital projects since 2013. I do agree with Ayers’ opinion on the larger reach digital scholarship. The success and maintenance of the Valley project showed that through the innovative use of the Internet, history could be shared with a larger audience and reach different age groups. Opening the Valley project to projects with a similar theme such as the Valley Sim project, enabled students to engage with the content created with their age group in mind. The Valley Sim takes the content farther with plans to create more workshops focusing on different historical events.

Ayer’s own post-Shadow projects have continued this theme of sharing history with a larger audience in mind. The draw of tools like New American History and Bunk showcases relevant news stories that allow for students and teachers alike to engage in learning about topics even those as recent as the January 6th insurrection through the lens of history.

Bibliography

Ayers, Edward L. The Valley of the Shadow. University of Richmond, 1999.http://web.archive.org/web/19961231230051/http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/vshadow2/.

Ayers, Edward L. The Valley of the Shadow. University of Richmond, 2014.https://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/choosepart.html.

Ayers, Edward L. What Caused the Civil War: Reflections on the South and Southern History. New York: Norton and Company, 2005.

Ayers, Edward L. “Does Digital Scholarship Have a Future?” Educause Review. (August 5, 2013).https://er.educause.edu/articles/2013/8/does-digital-scholarship-have-a-future.

Ayers, Edward L. “New American History.” University of Richmond. Accessed September 13, 2022.https://www.newamericanhistory.org/.

Thomas III, William G. and Edward L. Ayers. “The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities.” National Endowment for the Humanities. http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/AHR//.

Blevins, Cameron. “Valley of the Shadow and the Digital Database.” Cameron Blevins. (December, 19, 2009).https://www.cameronblevins.org/posts/valley-of-the-shadow-and-the-digital-database/.

Hope P.R. “NEH Grant to Support Broader Adaptation of “Valley Sim” Platform.” Hope College. August 12, 2013. 2013. https://hope.edu/news/2013/08/12/neh-grant-to-support-broader-adaptation-of-valley-sim-platform.html.