NHCI's primary programmatic focus is Cultures at the Confluence: Mapping the Susquehanna Valley from the Inside.
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The Susquehanna region of northern Appalachia often has often been defined (and neglected) from the outside. This three-year-old program seeks to highlight the intersection of cultural landscapes and narratives with environmental systems from a perspective inside the region, emanating from the historic juncture of the north and west branches of the Chesapeake Bay's main feeder river.
The long-term goal is to develop digital interfaces to map humanities and social science data, integrating environmental science data as well. We intend to produce a dynamic multi-layered online landscape of the valley accessible for regional school districts, community groups and university students and researchers alike. A successful cross-disciplinary university focus year at Bucknell in 2008-09 helped fully to articulate the program. Current projects include: |
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Developing with the Susquehanna Colloquium for Nature and Human Communities a digital environmental humanities map of the Confluence region, linked to environmental systems of the four-county area, detailing the relation of human material cultures and narratives to natural systems, including Native American and early American technologies that shaped the watershed, using as its base Prof. Faull's study of Moravian diaries from the area and Prof. Del Testa's work in early mill technology. |
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Researching in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Conservation Fund a proposal for the National Park Service to designate the river as a national historic connector trail. Funded through the Conservation Fund. |
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Partnering with the Susquehanna Colloquium for Nature and Human Communities and the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership in researching and writing interpretive materials on the region, in "on the ground," on-line, and in printed forms. |
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Developing an Atlas of the Susquehanna, in online and printed formats, merging conventional notions of an atlas with a focus on both cultural and environmental systems in the region, and modeled in part in its spatial organization on the old WPA guidebooks of the 1930s. This project would include an anthology of peer-reviewed scholarly articles, beginning with plans for a preliminary Visions of the Susquehanna collection based on the 2008-09 university focus year. |
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