History Harvest yields knowledge

Eager students awaited people to bring in their historical artifacts to the CSC History Harvest project on Saturday, in the Mari Sandoz Center.

Several people showed up with artifacts to be added to the History 465 Processes in the North American West’s digital archive. The students checked the artifacts in and took measurements, took photos of the them. Later, the photos were added to a digital archive for the project. While some students took measurements and photos of the artifacts, others interviewed the artifact owner.

A dozen artifacts were checked in, including a star quilt, a graveyard map and registry, and a scarf.

According to David Nesheim, social and communication arts assistant professor, Chardon’s History Harvest had the same results as Lincoln’s History Harvest based on population vs. artifacts collected.

Nesheim said the History Harvest is a project that he would like to continue. He believes that people care about their history; it’s just finding out how to connect with those people.

Despite a small turnout, Nesheim felt the History Harvest was still a good learning experience for his students.

“It was a good learning experience,” Chad March, 21, junior of Laramie, Wyo., and History 465 student said, “We just need to fine tune it.”

“They promoted all of it, they did everything. It was an effective campaign even if we didn’t get the outcome we wanted”, Nesheim said.