Digital History Center Looks at the Future of Preserving the Past
Mason's highly successful Center for History and New Media has accomplished much in its 14 years. Director Dan Cohen, above, vowed to continue the center's revolutionary work after the untimely death last year of founder Roy Rosenzweig.
It is hard to believe the Center for History and New Media (CHNM) has only been around for 14 years. In that short period of time, the center's work has revolutionized the way historians think about history and the way history is taught. It is now the largest and most-funded digital humanities and history center in the world, having been awarded more than $20 million in grants since its inception.
In 1994, Roy Rosenzweig, Mark and Barbara Fried Chair of History and Art History, founded the center. At that time, the entire operation functioned out of his office in Robinson Hall. When Dan Cohen, the current director of CHNM, came on board at the beginning of 2001, he remembers doing his work at a desk in the cramped hallway just outside Rosenzweig's office.
But the center couldn't be contained to such small quarters for very long. Eventually the staff moved to Pohick Module and expanded their programs even more. Today the center is located on half a floor in the Research I building.
Read the rest at The Mason Gazette.


