Abby Mullen

Author: abbymullen

  • Documenting Change over Time with Simile Timeline

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    The NULab project that I’m working on right now involves documenting connections between newspapers in the nineteenth-century United States. So far, my work has been researching the history of each individual newspaper. It’s been an enlightening and entertaining process. (If you’re interested in one of the most entertaining stories I discovered, check out my Omeka…

  • Witticism from the Holmes County Republican

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    As part of my work at the NULab, I’ve been researching newspapers from the mid-nineteenth century. This little tidbit from a newspaper in Millersburg, OH, caught my eye and I thought I’d share. P.S. If you know anything about Millersburg in the 1850s, or the Holmes County Republican or Holmes County Farmer, please contact me.…

  • The Message of the Historical Medium

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    [This post was written for my graduate class, “Doing Digital Humanities,” and originally posted on that course’s blog.] Literary scholars and creative writers spend quite a bit of time thinking about the medium in which they work. Historians tend to think about such things less, since literary theory often doesn’t work well with historical inquiry.…

  • High Seas Trader: Games and Maritime History

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    Using video or computer games as pedagogical tools has always been a concept that I’ve harbored deep skepticism about. Perhaps it’s the old fogey in me that wants to say, “If it’s not hard work, it’s not learning!” History is also more complicated than one person’s ability to control it. Thus, old games like Oregon…

  • Database of Officers of the Line

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    Becoming an officer of the line in the navy is a bit like getting on the tenure track in academia. Not all officers are created equal–officers such as pursers, sailing masters, and chaplains were classified as officers and received the preferential treatment given to officers. But they could never be captains–they were not in line…

  • 2012: Year in Review

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    Today is my 27th birthday. This year has been a mixture of continuities and new things, sometimes both at once. I’d like to record just a few of the highlights of my year. 1. Starting my PhD at Northeastern University. It has been great to be back in school. I’ve been out of school for…

  • Historical Literacy and Public History, Part 2

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    My first experience doing public history was in third grade, when I dressed up as Miles Standish to do a book report of a biography I’d read about him (yes, I was the only girl in my class to read about and dress up as a male). Looking back, I know that what I was…

  • Historical Literacy and Public History, Part 1

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    Historians and political pundits often lament the woeful historical ignorance of the public. They claim that the lack of historical knowledge causes people to make bad political choices or appreciate their country less than they should. But I wonder whether the ignorance of the American public about history (which I’m not disputing) has the profound political…

  • Poetry and War: Constitution v. Guerriere

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    In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of War of 1812, here’s an excerpt from Columbia’s Naval Victories, a poem about the naval victories of the Americans, written in 1813 by Benjamin Allen. — In war a lion, though a lamb in peace, Hull [1. A brief biography of Isaac Hull can be found here.] bears the flag…

  • DigiWriMo Wrap-Up

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    Today’s the last day of November. Advent starts in two days; classes end in four days (for me, anyhow); and today DigiWriMo is ending. So, what was DigiWriMo like for me? Maybe I should start with how I did on my goals. Goal #1: Completed. All officer bios on Preble’s Boys are completed. Goal #2:…