“Imagination is essential to re-creation of the past, and it is re-creation at which the historical artist aims… [a good history] shows us the workings of the human heart.” (From “The Old History and the New,” Allan Nevins on History).
From the book:
- Life in a Print Shop – From Ch. 1
- The 19th Century Power Printing Revolution – From Ch. 2
- E.W. Scripps and Science — From Ch. 3 (expanded)
- Who killed the American newspaper? From Ch. 3
- News before and after the telegraph — From Ch. 7
- Radio and the Titanic — From Ch. 8
On this site only
- Recommended reading — Including public domain books available on the web
- Recommended fictional films about people in the media
- Communication and peace — Developed by the author as the communications component of a peace studies class
- International media history — An initial framework; contributions and suggestions welcome
New technologies and research
It’s well known in the history of science, technology and engineering that major new discoveries are quite often preceded by the development of new tools and techniques.
Although historians rarely consider this point in their own work, most would concede that the advent of microfilm and xerography in the 1960s and 70s facilitated all kinds of historical research.
Today’s digital archives, introduced in the past five to 10 years, are even more revolutionary. These include ProQuest, Google Archives, The US Library of Congress many photo and newspaper sites (including Chronicling America), Cornell University’s magazine history site ( Making of America ) and the National Library of Australia’s Trove site, among many others.
There are windows into the past open now that were unimaginable only a few decades ago. We could expect, therefore, all kinds of new historical discoveries based on these new techniques.
Invitation to students and scholars
Given that there is a good deal of new insight on the horizon, we would invite students and scholars to submit links to their work online so that it could be shared with others.