Troy University is one of four partners to be awarded a grant from the Alabama Humanities Alliance to begin a digital enhancement project of Alabama Historical Association (AHA) markers.
The project’s end result will produce a publicly-facing digital map that displays “click-over” popups showing marker locating information, marker text, one or more related photographs and links to topically appropriate, digitally available articles in Alabama Heritage magazine and in the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
The interactive map of markers will enhance the location and text information of each marker by linking to historical articles in the Encyclopedia of Alabama and Alabama Heritage magazine, as well as photos and possibly videos housed at the State Archives.
“In our fast-paced world where you can drive right past historical markers and never know what they say, creating a digital map allows everyone to ‘see’ the markers on their own time,” said Dr. Marty Olliff, Troy University history professor and director of the Wiregrass Archives. “Historical marker text, because it’s a summary with word limits, often fails to tell the whole story. This project adds links to more thorough articles in the Encyclopedia of Alabama and Alabama Heritage to supplement the marker text.”
The grant will also allow the team to create a test-run that will then be used as a guide to complete the larger project of digitally enhancing the approximately 800 AHA markers located throughout the state.
“With a mouse click or a finger touch, users can access a deeper knowledge about each marker,” said Rebecca Minder, grant recipient and director of Alabama Heritage. “This project adds humanities content beyond similar mapping projects that provide limited information available only on their markers. Our goal is to make these markers much more accessible and robust.”
Grant recipients also include Scotty Kirkland, exhibits, publications and programs coordinator for the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and Laura Newland Hill, communications editor for the Encyclopedia of Alabama.
