Project lead: Prof. Sarah Purcell (L.F. Parker Professor of History)
Vivero Fellow (2023-2024): Ellen Hengesbach
This project is related to Prof. Purcell’s work as an affiliated researcher with the Iowa Black History Research Collective (https://blackhistoryresearchcollective.org/). The IBHRC has a mission of keeping Black History accessible in Central Iowa while centering the lived experience of Black people. One particularly important project of the Collective is to identify Black churches that might be good candidates for historic recognition and to produce research that could facilitate historic site recognition for Black churches.
Prof. Purcell is working on a project to create digital maps of historic black churches in Iowa in a variety of formats. Research assistants will help with the cleaning and organization of geographic data about the churches and with map creation using a variety of platforms (including Google mapping and ArcGIS). Students will also have the opportunity to work on digital narratives about the mapping process and about the churches. Possibilities for digital history narratives include authoring/co-authoring blog posts, the creation of an interactive StoryMaps site about Iowa Black churches, and the creation short videos and social media posts. The Vivero student working on this project will have the chance to collaborate and to shape ideas for digital history research to enhance the public history work of the Iowa Black History Collective.
The Iowa Black History Research Collective was founded by its current board president, Kari Bassett ’98, a management consultant who lives in the Des Moines area. Professor Purcell is also a Grinnell alum (class of 1992).
