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2/9/2024

Railroads and the Making of Modern America: A Review

Railroads and the Making of Modern America is a digital history project that has a collection of scholarly articles, primary sources, and data sets related to the use of railroads in America. The first railroad in America was built in the early 19th century, and this project contains many primary sources from all around the 19th century in addition to articles that cover the mid-to-late 19th century. The project covers all parts of America but seems to have a focus near the east coast, which would make sense as imports delivered from the sea could be transported via trains. 

One of my favorite parts of Railroads and the Making of Modern America is the lack of bias/ motive for the project. They advertise that their goal is to allow viewers to compare and contrast different perspectives, rather than providing an opinionated statement. This allows for users to research without having to be as concerned about bias, as well as provides different insights on railroads influence in developing America. This project takes from a vast amount of works on railroads and focuses on how the technological changes in America influence social change. The intended audience for this project are those interested in researching railroads in developing America as well as those interested in further investigating it. 

This project was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities – Digging Into Data Competition, American Council for Learned Societies–Digital Innovation Fellowship, Economic and Social Research Council (UK), and the UNL Office of Research. William G. Thomas is the founder of the project, and he has gathered sources directly from the 19th century all the way to New York Times articles written within the past decade. 

In addition to this project’s diverse sources in both time, person, and perspective, its functionality and user-friendliness is outstanding. As seen in the screen captures from the project, every page is filled with articles about railroads. These articles are also well selected and presented, as they have captivating and descriptive titles. These titles are also accompanied by a short form citation, which is especially helpful for anyone doing research on railroads. This allows users to quickly navigate through articles if they are looking for primary and/or secondary sources, datasets, or opinionated articles. Another key aspect of this project is its search function, as you can search for keywords or use the array of filters provided. These filters allow for users to specify which type of source they are searching for, when it was published, the geographical scope, and the topic of the article.  The National Council of Public History’s Digital Project Review Guidelines provides criteria for classification of digital projects. Railroads and the Making of Modern America is a great example of a digital exhibit, as it presents knowledge on railroads from various sources. Though similar to an online archive, which provides an array of primary sources, it also contains many other relevant sources and datasets that are essential for the project’s completeness. This project is clearly not an app, lacks any relation to teaching, preventing it from being a teaching resource, as well as no journal entries/ monologues essential to the purpose of the website from the creator.

Thomas, William G. “Railroads and the Making of Modern America.” Railroads and the Making of Modern America, 2006. https://railroads.unl.edu/.