Laura Galbraith and Joseph Hadwal
Contract Digital Humanities
About the Project: (Laura)
This project’s goal is to condense, accumulate, and display the history of Wichita Falls, Texas during the years of 1914-1919. To complete the website the researchers will include numerous primary and secondary sources found in the Public Library of Wichita Falls, Special Collections at Midwestern State University, and the North Texas Museum Wichita Falls County archives. The end goal of this research project is to create a detailed record of digital history of Wichita Falls and the air base Call Field in relation to World War One. Because of the community involvement the intended audience will be students in primary and secondary schools as wells as university staff and students. Consideration for local Great War enthusiasts will also be taken into account while designing this website. The research is important to the community and thus the readability of the website will be aimed to accommodate a high school reading level. The researchers will market the project through regional conferences, local newspapers, and university papers and articles.
The researcher’s thematic narrative for the history of Wichita Falls and air base Call Field website are:
Home Page: (Laura)
The Website entrance page will have a toolbar at the top with the following features: Call field, Genealogies of Families, Spanish Flu, Women’s Role, Oil Boom, and Bibliography. This toolbar will follow the viewer throughout the website. The main page will include an “About the Webpage” paragraph. In this paragraph the researchers will explain the goals and the content of the website. The color scheme has yet to be decided.
- Call Field: (Joseph)
The Call Field section will include photographs, summaries of historically significant events, and a listing of all service members who died while training. Call Field served as a pilot training field for the allied front. The development of the base influenced the economic and social development of Wichita Falls. The North Texas Museum and the Wichita County Archives have provided access to all relevant sources. These primary works include photographs, base schematics, and city directories. The Wichita County Archive also lists the servicemen who died while training at Call Field. The Midwestern State University Special Collections contains secondary sources. Such works include a variety of local authors whose backgrounds range from history, education, and news reporting. However, this diversity presents challenges regarding credibility. Many of these secondary sources were published by non-academic presses and in some instances lack bibliographies. Before publishing the work, these sources will need to be further verified by other works. In addition to the base, the project will include a section regarding military technology. The subpage will comprise of weapons and airplanes descriptions along with interactive videos.
- Genealogy of Families: (Laura)
This page will provide the origins of specific families that became successful from the oil boom in Wichita Falls in 1917-1918. The families include the McCulloughs, Bridwells, McCoys, Killingsworths, Kemps, and the Kells. Such prominent families served important roles to the development of Wichita Falls before and after the Great War. The listed families continued to invest financially and politically into Wichita Falls after the profit received from the economic growth of Wichita Falls. This page will include the beginnings of the family’s success and progress to modern day impact on the community. The majority of the information will be pulled from the public library archive and Wichita Falls directory. The amount of details will vary depending on the family and information available. The genealogies of the families will be organized alphabetically on the page.
- Spanish Flu: (Laura)
This page will provide the viewer with a detailed account of the impact of the Spanish Flu on the Wichita Falls community in 1918-1919. The page will include the first diagnosed patient to the conclusion of the epidemic. The page will be made up of mainly primary sources which include newspaper articles found in the Public Library and in the North Texas Museum in Wichita County archives.
- Women’s role: (Laura & Joseph)
The research team has yet to investigate women’s role regarding World War One in Wichita Falls in depth. Various sources indicate that Women’s contributions were greatest in education and medicine. During the World War One era, Wichita Falls began constructing a new junior college and hospital. The team is also looking into how women contributed to the growing business sector. The page will organize women’s role by trade and describe how these contributions aided the war effort.
- Oil Boom: (Joseph)
This section will include information pertaining to how the Great War affected business interests. North Texas witnessed an oil boom between the years of 1916 and 1918. Research shows that the midcontinent produced half of the oil to need for war time demand. This new influx of capital created entrepreneurial dynasties such as Kemp and Kell. The page will include photographs and historical descriptions of significant contributions made by private citizens and local business that aided to the establishment of Call Aviation Field. Primary sources will be used to assess these local contributions.
- Bibliography: (Joseph)
Bibliography Page:
This page will provide an annotated list of all sources that were used to construct the website. A section of the page will be devoted towards giving special thanks to members of the community who have helped the research team. The team will also list the archives and museums that have granted permission to use photographs and materials. The page will also feature a “Further Research” section which will list suggested materials to aid prospective researchers.
Schedule of Due Dates:
These are the tentative deadlines the researchers have set. To complete the deadlines the researchers will use WordPress, YouTube, Microsoft, Timeline JS, and Google Maps.
March 4: Scan in newspapers and images for narrative and bibliography (Laura). Academic paper will be complete along with slide show presentation (Joseph).
March 11: Have a detailed narrative for each page of the website ready for review (Laura & Joseph).
March 18: All videos will be recorded, saved and prepped for editing (Joseph). About the Website, genealogy, and Spanish Flu will be complete (Laura).
March 25: Remaining pages will be completed (Laura); Final videos ready and placed on Youtube along with website (Joseph).
April 1: Draft of Website Due (Laura & Joseph).All images scanned and finalized along with finished Timeline JS (Joseph) and Google Maps (Laura).
April 15: All YouTube videos and interactive videos complete (Laura & Joseph), These videos will be included on each of their relating pages.
April 22: Final Draft of Website Due (Laura & Joseph)
