The Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI) is a digital public history project hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library (LCDL) at the College of Charleston. Funded through a pilot project grant from the Humanities Council of South Carolina and a major grant award from the Dorothy and Gaylord Donnelley Foundation, LDHI began development in 2013 and launched in 2014 as a digital consultation service, scholarly editorial resource, and online platform for partner institutions and collaborative scholars to translate multi-institutional archival materials, historic landscape features and structures, and scholarly research into digital public history exhibition projects.

In partnership with the College of Charleston’s Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture and the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World program (CLAW), a major goal within LDHI’s mission is to encourage projects that highlight underrepresented race, class, gender, and labor histories within the Lowcountry region, and in historically interconnected Atlantic World sites. We believe digital interpretation can play a major role in helping to articulate the diverse histories of the Lowcountry and Atlantic World’s historic landscapes and structures. Collaborating with local archives, libraries, and museums, LDHI also strives to interpret and enhance access to regional resources by synthesizing exhibits that draw upon archival collections from multiple institutions.

LDHI now features thirteen exhibitions, with many exciting projects on the horizon. We hope to see the project grow through new digital history exhibits and increased educational outreach. Please visit the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative to view all current exhibitions. (http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/). LDHI’s exhibits can be useful resources for your own work, including research, classroom curriculum, and public educational outreach. We encourage you to explore all of LDHI’s online exhibitions and consider the site as digital resource that will grow and change over time.

In addition, the LDHI team is excited to welcome Harry Egner, Ciera Gordon, and Rachel Morse as new LDHI Graduate Assistants from the College of Charleston-Citadel’s Joint M.A History Program.

Finally, as a new digital project, we are actively working to expand and improve LDHI. For questions about LDHI, or to learn more about how you can develop a project or collaborate with the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, please contact LDHI Project Coordinator Amanda Noll, nolla@cofc.edu or Co-Director Dr. Mary Battle, battlemp@cofc.edu.