Foundation helps NIU bring local history to the Web

by Tom Parisi

The DeKalb County Community Foundation has provided a major boost to a Web-based initiative at NIU that will bring the history of DeKalb County to the Internet.

The Foundation is donating $10,000 to further develop the pilot Web site titled "Taming the Wild Prairie." The site can be accessed at http://dig.lib.niu.edu/
dekalb/about.html.

"This kind of project has community written all over it," said Jerry Smith, executive director of the DeKalb County Community Foundation, which donated another $3,100 to the project last year.

The Web site will focus on the history of DeKalb County, from its first settlement in the early 1800s to 1900. Some digitized books and images from this time period already are featured on the site.

In the future, visitors also will find 19th century letters, diaries, maps, photos, newspaper clippings, census material and video clips from several award-winning documentaries produced by NIU Communication Professor Jeffrey Chown.

Chown and his film students have created two widely acclaimed documentaries on local history, "DeKalb Stories" and "Barbed Wire Pioneers." A third documentary, on the history of the Underground Railroad in Sycamore, is in the preliminary stages of production.

"We're very aware of the success of past documentaries on local history produced by NIU students," Smith said. "What our grants committee liked about this proposal was the fact that the project involves the transformation of county history into new technology."

The Taming the Wild Prairie project represents a collaborative effort that will include faculty and students, NIU Libraries, DeKalb and Sycamore public libraries and local history resource centers, such as Ellwood House Museum and Garfield Farm Museum.

Students studying English, history, communication, geography and other disciplines will participate in researching local history and creating digital resources for the Web site. In this way, students will receive practical work-related experience, while the community gains a vehicle for promoting its heritage.

"This project exposes our students to technology and shows them how it can have a major impact on the way we study history and a region," said Frederick Kitterle, dean of the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "The Web site also provides a way to put faculty and student scholarship in the public domain, so people are better able to understand, appreciate and support the rich history and culture of the area."

Drew VandeCreek, director of NIU Libraries' digitization projects, said the Web site's focus eventually will expand from DeKalb County to northern Illinois.

"We think this is a great opportunity not only to create a vast digital local-history resource but also to promote cultural tourism," VandeCreek said. "A lot of people learn about history without cracking a book. They do it by visiting historic sites and interesting places. Instead of relying on roadside markers, the Taming the Wild Prairie site will lead them down the information highway on a tour of cultural heritage."

The Web site will delve into the county's agricultural history and the pre-Civil War era, when the area was known as a hotbed of activity for land pirates who robbed westward pioneers. VandeCreek said DeKalb County also was home to a group of "regulators" who chased down the pirates and dispensed vigilante justice.

"I am delighted that the DeKalb County Community Foundation is supporting our Web-based initiative," said Arthur Young, director of University Libraries.

"This rich and accessible resource will cover such important topics as settlement, American Indians, agriculture, politics, home life, social life and education. DeKalb is our home, and this is a wonderful opportunity to convey its rich history to a large audience."

The DeKalb County Community Foundation this fall also gave a $2,000 gift to the NIU Institute for Learning in Retirement, a member-directed group of retirement-age people who seek new learning experiences. The grant will allow the institute to step up outreach efforts. For more information, visit http://www.niu.edu/ilr/ or call 753-5200.