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Trudi Abel,

Please note: Trudi has left the "History" group at Duke University; some info here might not be up to date.

Trudi Abel is a cultural historian who directs the Digital Durham Project at Duke University. The Digital Durham web site (http://digitaldurham.duke.edu) provides scholars, undergraduates, the general public as well as K-12 students and their teachers with ready access to digitized sources that document the rise of Durham in the post-Civil War decades. Abel’s research interests span American print culture, southern history and the use of technology in the history classroom. In her spring class, “Digital Durham and the New South,” Abel’s students use new technology—like GPS devices, digitized maps, and Voicethread—as well as traditional source materials—manuscript letters and photographs—to research and publish the history of the Durham community. In addition to developing their own individual research projects, Duke students in the Digital Durham course serve as mentors to middle-school students at Durham School of the Arts, a public magnet school that is located near Duke’s East Campus.

Contact Info:
Office Location:  348 Trent Hall
Office Phone:  (919) 684-3014
Email Address: send me a message

Education:

PhDRutgers University1993
Research Interests: Digital History, Southern History

Current projects: Digital Durham Project (http:digitaldurham.duke.edu)

Trudi Abel is a cultural historian who directs the Digital Durham Project at Duke University. The Digital Durham web site (http://digitaldurham.duke.edu) provides scholars, undergraduates, the general public as well as K-12 students and their teachers with ready access to digitized sources that document the rise of Durham in the post-Civil War decades. Abel’s research interests span American print culture, southern history and the use of technology in the history classroom. In her spring class, “Digital Durham and the New South,” Abel’s students use new technology—like GPS devices, digitized maps, and Voicethread—as well as traditional source materials—manuscript letters and photographs—to research and publish the history of the Durham community. In addition to developing their own individual research projects, Duke students in the Digital Durham course serve as mentors to middle-school students at Durham School of the Arts, a public magnet school that is located near Duke’s East Campus.

Areas of Interest:

Digital History

Keywords:

Digital • History

Recent Publications

  1. T.J. Abel, The Digital Durham Project: Creating Community through History, Technology, and Service Learning, Perspectives on History (May, 2009) [cfm]  [abs]
  2. T.J. Abel, "The Power and the Poverty of Written Records: Constructing an Authentic Research Experience for Undergraduates (Winter, 2000) (http://magazine.lib.duke.edu/issue2/libmag0200.swf.) [swf]
  3. Abel, T, STUDENTS AS HISTORIANS: LESSONS FROM AN "INTERACTIVE" CENSUS DATABASE PROJECT (March, 1997) [CFM]
  4. Abel, T, Needles and Penury in 19th Century London: The Diary of a Poor Quaker Seamstress, Quaker History, vol. 75 no. 2 (1986), pp. 102-114, Friends Historical Association


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