Project University
Resume:
Drew E. VandeCreek
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
o: 815-***-****
****@***.***
Education
Ph.D
. American History The University of Virginia 1996
B.A
. American Studies The College of Wooster 1986
Employment
Director of Digital Initiatives and Co-Director, Digital Convergence Lab, Northern
Illinois University Libraries (January, 2010 present)
Director of Digital Initiatives, Northern Illinois University Libraries (July December,
2009).
Director, Digitization Unit, Founders Library, Northern Illinois University (January 2001June, 2009
)
Project Director, Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project (April, 1998December, 2000
)
Instructor, Department of History and University Library, Northern Illinois University
(Spring, 2000
); Summer 2005
Visiting Research Faculty, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Libraries (19982000
)
Associate
for Research and Technical Development, "The Valley of the Shadow" Civil War
History Project, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of
Virginia (June 1995 - January 1998
).
Online Curriculum Developer, Teaching and Technology Initiative, Department of
Information, Technology and Communication, University of Virginia (June 1994-January 1998
)
Instructor
in American History, Department of History, University of Virginia, "Viewing
America: The United States since the New Deal" (fall 1997
); American History Survey, 1865-
present
(summer 1994
); "The Varieties of Progressive Experience", senior research seminar
(
fall 1993
).
Instructor
in American History, Department of History, Mary Washington College,
History
of the American Civil Rights Movement (
spring 1995
).
Editor-in-Chief
"Essays in History" publication of the Corcoran Department of History,
University of Virginia, 1993-4. I initiated and supervised the journal's transition from a
print publication to online publication.
Publications
American History
American History - Scholarly Audience/Peer Reviewed
"Solomon Huebner and the Development of Life Insurance Sales Professionalism, 1905-1927"
Enterprise and Society v. 6, no. 4 (December, 2005) Oxford University Press.
"Unseen Influence: Lucretia Blankenburg and the Philadelphia Mayoral Campaign of 1911" in
We Have Come to Stay: American Women and Political Parties, 1880-1960 (Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press, 1999).
American History Scholarly Audience/Non-Peer Reviewed
The `Illinois During the Gilded Age Web Site Society for Historians of the Gilded Age
and Progressive Era Newsletter, November, 2007.
American History - Entries in Encyclopedias and Other Reference Materials
The Gilded Age International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2nd Edition (New
York: Macmillan Reference/Thompson Gale, 2007).
Digital History
Digital History - Scholarly Audience/Peer Reviewed
Building a New Generation of Online Public History Resources: Promise and Problems
Identified in the Development of the Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
Doing Public History
(http://www.doingpublichistory.org/uploaded_files/Article%201%20VandeCreek.pdf ). Open
source journal.
Envisioning the Mississippi Valley of the Nineteenth Century International Journal of
Humanities and Arts Computing, October, 2008. Edinburgh University Press.
"`Webs of Significance : The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, New
Technology, and the Democratization of History Digital Humanities Quarterly, v. 1, no. 1
(April, 2007). Open source journal.
http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/001/1/000003.html.
"Geographic Information Systems Technology and Digital Humanities: The Mark Twain's
Mississippi Project" with Tara L. Dirst and Ben Kinney, Storiadelmondo n. 33, v. 21
(Marzo, 2005) http://www.drengo.it/sm/33/vandecreek.gis.pdf
Digital History - Scholarly Audience/Non-Peer Reviewed
Featured Resource: The Mark Twain s Mississippi Project (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/twain) D-
Lib, June/July, 2009
Featured Resource: Lincoln/Net (http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu) D-Lib, January, 2007
(http://www.dlib.org).
Digital History - General Audience
"Surfing for Lincoln: The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project" Illinois
Heritage 9 (1) January/February, 2006, 23-25.
Manuscript
`Pillars of the State : Philadelphia s Wharton School, the Whig Tradition, and the Rise
of the Progressive Order in American Political Economy, 1893-1933
Prizes and Awards
2007 e-Lincoln Prize, awarded by Civil War History Institute at Gettysburg College, April
30, 2007, for Lincoln/Net (http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu), for significant application of
the electronic media to Civil War studies.
Digital Materials
Free-Use Materials
The Southeast Asia Digital Library Web site (http://sea.lib.niu.edu) presents text,
image, sound, and video materials from Southeast Asia in collaboration with the University
of Hawai i; Khon Kaen University (Thailand); The Living Memory Project (Darwin,
Australia); Ohio University; the University of Michigan; Thammasat University (Thailand);
the University of Washington; and Yale University and funded by the United States
Department of Education s Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information
Access (TICFIA) Program (2005-2009 support), this project also performs research on the
development of digitization standards and processes for resources as yet largely
unexamined by western librarians. This project was developed in conjunction with Greg
Green, Southeast Asia Curator, Cornell University Libraries and Hao Phan, Southeast Asia
Curator, Northern Illinois University Libraries.
The Mark Twain's Mississippi project web site (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/twain) presents a
multimedia database of historical materials shedding light upon the Mississippi Valley,
19830-1890, a milieu that Mark Twain made famous in a series of novels and reminiscences
including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Life on the Mississippi, and The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. In addition to these works, it presents fully searchable texts of over
one hundred travelogues, gazetteers, emigrants' guides, and other accounts and
descriptions of the Mississippi Valley in this period. The project also features over one
thousand images depicting the Mississippi Valley, and a database of sound recordings of
songs describing the region, made from period sheet music. Mark Twain s Mississippi was
developed with a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services National
Leadership Grants Program (2003-7).
The American Archives Digitization Project web site
(http://dig.lib.niu.edu/amarch)project presents over 12,000 pages of primary source
materials from the American Revolutionary era that were collected by Peter Force, a
printer and mayor of Washington, in the 1830s. Many of these resources are lost in all
other forms but the American Archives. This project was developed with a grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Preservation and Access (2002-4).
Lincoln/Net (http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu), the product of the Abraham Lincoln Historical
Digitization Project, is a free-use online resource that uses Abraham Lincoln s life in
Illinois as a lens to illuminate his social and political context on the frontier. It
includes over fifteen million words of text, over 1500 images, sound and video materials
in a fully searchable, free-use database. In addition, Lincoln/Net presents interpretive
historical materials discussing Lincoln s biography in light of national events and eight
major historical themes. This resource first became available on the World Wide Web in
August, 2000. This project was developed with grants from the Illinois State Library. Work
included original interpretive essays on the subjects of African-Americans and American
Racial Attitudes; Economic Development and Labor; Frontier Settlement; Law and Society;
Native Americans; Politics; Religion and Culture; and Women and Gender Roles.
Getting the Message Out! (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/message) is a free-use online resource
that presents primary source materials from national political campaigns of the antebellum
era (1840-1860). These materials include official campaign biographies of candidates, the
period s distinctive campaign songbooks, posters and broadsides. In addition, this site
provides original interpretive materials prepared by Michael F. Holt, an eminent American
historian. This project was developed with a grant from the Institute for Museum and
Library Services National Leadership Grant Program.
Prairie Fire (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/prairiefire) is a free-use online resource that
presents searchable primary source materials describing life in the Illinois Country in
the years between first white settlement and statehood in 1818. In addition to text and
image material, Prairie Fire also provides original interpretive materials discussing
Native American life and American political development in the region. This resource first
became available on the World Wide Web in July, 2002. It was developed with a grant from
the Illinois State Library.
Illinois During the Civil War (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/civilwar) is a free-use online
resource that presents searchable primary source materials describing society and politics
in Illinois, 1861-1865. This World Wide Web site also provides original narrative and
interpretive materials. It first became available in July, 2002, and was developed with a
grant from the Illinois State Library. Work included original interpretive essays on
subjects of Economic Development and Labor; Law and Society; Native Americans; Politics;
Race and Ethnicity; Religion and Culture; Soldiers Lives; and Women and Gender, as well
as a short chronological account of the Civil War in Illinois.
Illinois During the Gilded Age (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/gildedage) is a free-use online
resource that presents searchable primary source materials describing society and politics
in Gilded Age Illinois (1866-1896). It also provides original narrative and interpretive
materials. It first became available on the World Wide Web in August, 2002, and was
developed with a grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Work included
interpretive essays on the subjects of African-Americans and American Racial Attitudes;
Economic Development; Labor; Law and Society; Native Americans; Politics; Religion and
Culture; and Women and Gender Roles; as well as a chronological account of Illinois
history in this period.
Taming the Wild Prairie (http://dig.lib.niu.edu/dekalb) is a free-use online resource
that presents searchable primary source materials describing society and politics in De
Kalb County, Illinois, 1836-1900. This project features materials drawn from Northern
Illinois University Regional History Center, Sycamore (IL) Public Library Local History
Room, and Ellwood House Museum, and was developed with funds provided by the Northern
Illinois University Foundation, the Illinois State Library, the DeKalb County Community
Foundation, and the Ideal Industries Foundation.
Commercial Materials
The Gilded Age - online database project developed with Alexander Street Press (see
http://www.alexanderstreetpress.com/products/gild.htm). Released June, 2008. Served as
Project Director, and contributed sets of primary source/interpretive materials entitled:
a) Credit Mobilier and the Transcontinental Railroad
b) The Great Strike of 1877 and the Labor Question
c) The Presidential Campaign of 1896
d) The Rise of the Media and the Fall of Boss Tweed
Public Humanities Programs
National Endowment for the Humanities "Landmarks of American History" workshop for
history teachers, Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Springfield, Illinois, July 11-5,
18-22, 2005. Organized and presented two one-week workshops for a total of 100 educators.
Documentary Films
Producer - "Abraham Lincoln and the Black Hawk War of 1832" - collaboration with Northern
Illinois University Professor of Communications Jeffrey Chown,, director; 2004.
Television airings:
WTTW PBS Chicago - November 12, 2006
WSIU PBS
Carbondale, IL February 11, 2009
KCTS PBS, Seattle, WA April, 2009
Screenings:
Black Earth Film Festival, Galesburg, IL November 12, 2006
Friends of the Library, Northern Illinois University, November 14, 2006
Northern Illinois University, April 28; 2005
University Film/Video Association, Chicago, IL, August 3, 2005
American Indian Film Festival, San Francisco, CA, November 8, 2005
Lincoln Film Festival, Lincoln Museum, Fort Wayne, IN, November 19, 2005
Midwestern Conference on Film, Language, and Literature, NIU, April, 2004
Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, June, 2004
Film and History Third Biennial Conference, Dallas, Texas, November 13, 2004
Illinois History Symposium, Springfield, Illinois, December 2, 2004 keynote event.
Available online at http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/aboutbiovideo.html.
Executive Producer - "Mark Twain and the American Steamboat" - collaboration with Marcus
Leshock, Independent Film Maker. Screenings: Mid-American Popular Culture Association
Meeting, St. Louis, MO, October 15, 2005.
Available online at http://dig.lib.niu.edu/twain/video.html
Conference Presentations
Digital History
American Historical Data 1790-1830 in a Geographic Information Systems Format,
Accompanied by Interpretive Materials Social Science History Association, Miami, FL,
October 23, 2008.
Historians, the Web, and the Public: The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
as a Potential Model for Reaching a General Audience Organization of American Historians
Annual Meeting, New York, N.Y., March 29, 2008; panel organizer for New Directions in
Digital History also including presentations by Philip Ethington, University of Southern
California, and Lisa Snyder, University of California, Los Angeles, with Scot French,
University of Virginia, chair and comment.
The Mark Twain s Mississippi Project (live demonstration) Illinois State Historical
Society Annual Meeting, Bloomington, IL, February 17, 2007
The Mark Twain s Mississippi Project (poster presentation) Digital Humanities 2006 -
Association for Computers in the Humanities/Association for Linguistic and Literary
Computing Annual Meeting, Paris, France, July 7
Conference, Northern Illinois University,
November 20, 2008
Northern Illinois University Libraries Online Digital Resources for American History
Northern Illinois University College of Arts and Sciences
Extension Program, Huntley,
Illinois, April 22, 2008
Northern Illinois University Libraries
Online Digital Resources for American History
Teachers Illinois Teaching American History Grant Conference, Rockford, Illinois, March
15, 2008.
Digital Projects at Northern Illinois University Libraries DeKalb County Historical
Society,
DeKalb, IL, September 12, 2007
The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project Lifetime Learning Institute,
Northern Illinois University,
July 18, 2007
Planning and Administering a Digitization Project National Louis University,
Lisle,
Illinois, March 12, 2007
"Lincoln/Net in the Classroom" Teaching American History Grantees' Workshop, Northern
Illinois University,
February 28, 2006
"The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project," Elderhostel, Northern Illinois
University College of Arts and Sciences,
Department of External Programming, July 6, 2005
"Lincoln/Net in the Classroom" Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Springfield,
Illinois, October 3, 2003.
Digital Materials in Higher Education
Honors Program Luncheon, Waubonsee Community
College,
Sugar Grove, Illinois, April 12, 2002
Panelist, Digital History Workshop, Illinois State Historical Society Annual Meeting,
Springfield, IL, December 1, 2001
Chair, Digital Community Projects panel, Midwest Archives Conference Annual Meeting,
Indianapolis, IN, October 19, 2001
Database Development in Digital Projects (with Tara L. Dirst) Library Information
Technology Association Annual Meeting, Milwaukee, WI, October 13, 2001
"Grant Writing for Librarians" Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Committee
Bibliographers' Meeting, Normal, Illinois, November 10, 2000
"Database Development in Collaborative Library Digitization Projects" (with Tara L.
Dirst) Illinois Academic and Research Libraries Association Annual Meeting, Matteson, IL,
April 14, 2000.
Managerial and Technical Aspects of Collaborative Digitization Projects" Illinois
Library Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, October 19, 1999.
"Digitization Projects: Techniques and Procedures for Getting Started" Workshop, Lincoln
Trail Library System, Champaign, IL., March 17, 1999.
Panelist, Illinois State Library Digitization Videoconference, September 23, 1998.
Reviews
"The United States Senate Historical Office World Wide Web site
(http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/
common/generic/Senate_Historical_Office.htm)" Journal of American History Spring, 2004.
Grants and Fellowships
United States Department of Education, Office of Post-Secondary Education, International
Education Programs Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information
Access Program Building Capacity for the Digitization, Dissemination, and Preservation
of Southeast Asian Resources
(co-Principal Investigator with Hao Phan, Curator of Southeast Asia Collection, Northern
Illinois University Libraries ($759,996) October, 2009 award.
Illinois Board of Higher Education, Research Matching Grant for Southeast Asia Digital
Library Project ($53,495) June, 2008 award
Northern Illinois University Foundation, Developing an NIU Virtual Map Library
($16,371) April, 2008 award
Northern Illinois University, Division of Research and Graduate Studies Subvention for
Research Equipment ($25,000) August, 2007 award
National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Education Programs The Mississippi
Valley in the Nineteenth Century Curriculum Project ($155,000) March, 2007 award
Illinois State Library Northern Illinois University Regional History Center Materials
($20,250) October, 2006 award
Illinois State Library - "Cultural Encounters in the Illinois Country and Old Northwest,
1809-1855" - ($20,000) - October, 2005 award
United States Department of Education, Office of Post-Secondary Education, International
Education Programs - Technological Innovation and Cooperation for Foreign Information
Access Program - Southeast Asia Digital Library Project,
2005-2009 (co-Principal
Investigator with Gregory Green, Curator of Southeast Asia Collection, Northern Illinois
University Libraries,
October, 2005
- June, 2006; sole Principal InvestigatorJuly, 2006 -
) - ($780,000) May, 2005 award
National Endowment for the Humanities - Division of Education Programs - "Abraham
Lincoln, Society, and Politics in Antebellum America, 1840-1861" - "Landmarks of American
History" Professional Development Workshops for American History Teachers - ($150,000) -
December, 2004 award
Illinois State Library - Illinois Civil War Newspaper Digitization Project - ($10,000) -
October, 2004 award
National Endowment for the Humanities - Division of Education Programs - Abraham Lincoln
Curriculum Project - ($79,622) - March, 2004 award
DeKalb County Community Foundation - DeKalb County Historical Digitization Project -
($2,000) - November, 2003 award
Illinois State Library DeKalb County Historical Digitization Project - ($10,000) -
October, 2003 award
Institute for Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant Mark Twain s
Mississippi Project ($211,595) September, 2003 award
Dirksen Congressional Center, Pekin, Illinois Michel Civic Education Grant Program
Congress and Great Issues of the Gilded Age online lesson materials ($5,000) June,
2003 award
Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation Illinois During the Civil War World Wide Web
site project ($20,000) October 2002 award
National Endowment for the Humanities Public Programs Division Mark Twain s America
Project Planning Grant ($40,000), April 2002 award
National Endowment for the Humanities, Preservation and Access Division American
Archives Digitization Project ($165,541), April 2002 award
Northern Illinois University Foundation Northern Illinois Cultural Heritage Database
Project, ($10,000) November 2001 award.
DeKalb County Community Foundation Northern Illinois Cultural Heritage Database
Project, ($10,000), November 2001 award.
Illinois State Library, Library Science and Technology Act (LSTA) award, Illinois Native
American History Digitization Project, ($30,800), 2001-2002.
Illinois Humanities Council, Abraham Lincoln and the Legacy of Emancipation Film
Project, ($10,000) October 2002 award.
Illinois Board of Higher Education, Higher Education Cooperation Act (HECA) award,
Illinois Historical Digitization Project, Illinois in the Civil War and Gilded Age, 2001-
2202 award, ($45,000).
Illinois Humanities Council, "Lincoln's Illinois" film project, October 2001 award
($10,000).
Illinois Board of Higher Education, Higher Education Cooperation Act (HECA) award,
Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, ($45,000-****-**** award
Institute for Museum and Library Services National Leadership Grant - "Getting the
Message Out: Antebellum American Political Campaign materials, digital repository and
World Wide Web site, ($138,000-****-**** award.
National Endowment for the Humanities, Regional Humanities Center Planning Grant, 2000-
2001 award ($50,000).
DeKalb County Community Foundation, "Taming the Wild Prairie: DeKalb County, Illinois in
the Nineteenth Century" digital repository and World Wide Web site, April 2000 award
($3,500).
Illinois Humanities Council, "The Black Hawk War in Illinois" digital repository project,
Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, October 1999 award ($10,000).
Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation, "The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858" digital
repository project, Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, October 1999 award
($12,500).
Illinois State Library, Library Services and Technology Assistance Grant, Abraham Lincoln
Historical Digitization Project, 1999 award ($205,000).
Illinois State Library, Educate and Automate Grant, Abraham Lincoln Historical
Digitization Project, 1998 award ($50,000).
Geilfuss Dissertation Fellowship, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1993-4 award.
($10,000)
University of Virginia dissertation research grant, 1994 award.
Rockefeller Archive Center Research Grant, 1994 award.
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Research Grant, 1992 award.
Media Appearances
Extension 720 (The Milt Rosenberg Show) February 12, 2001, WGN Chicago, 9-11 PM;
appeared with Steven Hahn and Michael Perman
University Place Wisconsin Public Television, Fall 2009
Honors and Distinctions
Marquis Who s Who in America, v. 58 - (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
Committees and Service
Northern Illinois University Libraries Strategic Plan Core Committee 2008-09
Committee on Scholarly Communication and Technology - Northern Illinois University - 2008
Gettysburg College e-Lincoln Prize Selection Committee, 2008.
Unpaid Consultant, Hinckley (IL) Historical Society, October, 2007.
Member, Northern Illinois University Libraries Dean s Search Committee, 2007-08.
Reviewer, Tara Baillargeon doctoral project, Planning, Creating, and Evaluating eMuseums:
A Step-by-Step Handbook for Information Leaders, Department of Educational Leadership,
Kansas State University, June 2007.
Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities, Digital Humanities Challenge Grant
Program Competition, Summer, 2007.
Judge, National History Day Competition, Northern Illinois University, March 3, 2007
Member, Friends of Northern Illinois University Library, Board of Directors, 2006-2007;
Program Committee, 2006-77; Program Committee Chair, 2007-8; President-Elect, 2007-9.
Referee, National Historic Publications and Records Commission grant competition, 2005
Referee, Northern Illinois University Summer Stipend Selection Committee, 2004
Unpaid Consultant, The Field Museum, 2003-4
Referee, Northern Illinois University Summer Stipend Selection Committee, 2003
Referee, National Historic Publications and Records Commission grant competition, 2003
Referee, Economic and Social Research Council (U.K.), Research Grants Board, 2003
Panelist, National Endowment for the Humanities, Preservation and Access Division Grant
Competition, 2002
Northern Illinois University Libraries, Internet Committee,1999-2000; Exhibit Committee,
1999-2000.
Referee, Illinois State Library "Educate and Automate" Digitization Grant Competition,
1998.
References
Brian Balogh,
Mayo Professor of American History, Department of History, University of Virginia and Co-
Director, American Political Development Program, Miller Center of Public Affairs,
2201 Old Ivy Road, PO Box 400406,
Charlottesville, VA 22904- 4406;
******@********.***
cCopyright 2000 Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project
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