Hearing the Americas

Music History and the Digital Humanities

Johns Hopkins Digital Humanities Workshop

Jessica Dauterive

PhD Candidate, George Mason University

Affiliate, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Digital Content Specialist, New Orleans Jazz Museum

How can we make early, digitized
sound archives more listenable?
How can we present complex and/or difficult histories of race, gender, and nation with sound?
How can we use digital tools to write better music history?

ARGUMENT-DRIVEN

A digital public history project that argues for the transnational and multiracial roots of early American popular music (1890-1925).

"The Laughing Song," George W Johnson, 1890s.

Co-Director (PI): Dr. Matthew Karush
Co-Director (PI): Dr. Michael O'Malley

Project Director: Sheila Brenna (2016-2019)

Project Design: Kim Nguyen (2017-2021)

Digital Team Lead: Megan Brett

Project Associates:
Jessica Dauterive (2017, 2019, 2020-2021)
Laura Brannan (2020)
Jayme Kurland (2021)

Advisors:
Dr. Robin D. Moore
Dr. Lauren Sklaroff
Dr. Susan Smulyan
Dr. John Suisman
Dr. John Troutman

???-2016 : Pre-planning (thinking, talking, incubating)

2017: NEH Digital Projects for the Public: Discovery Grant

Preliminary research

Audience outreach and user personas

Wireframes, moodboards, and paper prototypes

Develop prototype and design document

2018-2019: Drafting NEH Production Grant (twice)

2020-2022: NEH Digital Projects for the Public: Production Grant