On September 23rd, I met with Professor Elizabeth DeWolfe to discuss my capstone project.
I stated that I wanted to focus on a topic within my initial historical academic paper, “Warfare’s Influence on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692”. My focus would be upon the three girls from Casco Bay, Maine, that influenced the trials. I recognized that I didn’t want to write a paper, but that I sought to work with visuals.
We talked about creating a small museum exhibit, but then landed on creating an academic poster instead. A couple weeks after meeting with Professor DeWolfe, I am also considering working on a visual collage, but it will depend on the images I’m able to access.
In terms of resources, she provided me with some book sources. We discussed the Portland and Scarborough Historical societies and archives as options as well.
This week I did some digging based on our conversation, and I found some excellent online sources, such as the Digital Commons at the University of Maine and the Maine Memory Network. In addition, I found other sources related to the topic within the UNE Library.
I have also looked up examples of academic posters that are specifically designed for historical topics. Usually academic posters are based around scientific research.
I plan on sending Professor DeWolfe items, such as my abstract and drafts, as I progress with the project. We will then schedule a few sessions to meet over the next two months to review them.
Update: Meeting with Professor DeWolfe on 10/28/24
I met with Professor DeWolfe to discuss my angle of the argument I want to present for my poster. We talked about why the project matters (i.e., how it relates to issues today), and how I can express that within the poster.
I sent her a rough draft (mostly visual) of my poster. I needed to create a visual to provide a framework for my content.
I will be sending her a completed version by mid November to review.
We also discussed how I would incorporate my historical training for future work opportunities. I asked her for suggestions on where I could volunteer for my upcoming Citizenship class that would also serve as a type of historical internship.
Update: Sent Professor DeWolfe Initial Imagery of Poster on November 8th
This dealt with color, imagery, titles, not much historical content. Did not receive any feedback-I encountered registration issues and that dominated the discussion.
Update: Sent Professor DeWolfe another draft of the academic poster.
This had Intro and Conclusion type content, imagery, tweaking of titles. Adding information about the Maine connection/land acquisitions. Thinking about the Salem historian debunked theories and the female scapegoat aspect, as well as a note that I am creating a references section, and ensuring that I am crediting all of my images.
