The Delaware Industrial History Initiative (DIHI) is under way. The goal of DIHI is to document--digitally--Delawareans' experiences with industrialization and industrial decline. DHF has made grants available for such digitization projects, supported in part by the "We the People" program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The following project was granted funding by DHF in 2010:

Grantee and Project Name:

• Hagley Museum and Library, Industrial Brandywine History

Purpose:

The Hagley Library, which is currently exhibiting a digital collection on its website, has received funding for its project, "Industrial Brandywine History." Hagley is creating the first comprehensive, web-based historical overview of industrialization along the Brandywine River by compiling out-of-print and unpublished sources, dissertations and theses, and as-yet-unused resources at Hagley and elsewhere. The end product will be a free online database of records of all known businesses along the river from the 18th to the 21st Centuries, as well as maps and graphs. This project will serve as a teaching tool, provide a foundation for future scholarship and offer a reexamination of the development of business and industry in the Brandywine Valley as it relates to larger issues of US economic history. Users will include scholars and aspiring historians seeking insight into the commercial development context that is so fundamental to our local history and heritage.

Technological Elements:

• Free online database

Target Population:

• General public, specifically scholars and aspiring historians
• All DIHI projects, ideally, will be integrated in school and university curricula (not only as a source for teachers, but also as the product of student assignments, e.g., oral histories)
  
  

For more information on the Delaware Industrial History Initiative, click here or contact Program Officer Catherine Homsey at (302) 657-0650 ext. 14.