This repository is associated with a digital history project that was completed as part of History 8550 (Seminary in Digital History) at Clemson University. This repository was created in the fall of 2023. It was completed under the supervision of Dr. Amanda Regan. The project is still in draft form as I intend to use this project as the starting point for my dissertation. The dataset will grow and the repository will be updated periodically as work progresses over the next few years.
The project explores the key figures involved in founding the 22 higher education institutions that existed in South Carolina in the nineteenth century and are accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) in 2023. The goal of the project is to better understand how higher education developed in South Carolina and to identify the political spheres of influence that supported each institution's existence. Network visualizations are the primary digital intervention applied for this project.
Politics played an important role in the founding of colleges and universities which in turn shaped the curriculum being taught to the next generation of leaders. The networks of power changed throughout the century in response to larger historical movements - the Great Awakening, the Civil War, Reconstruction, etc. An analysis of these "pockets of power" reveal how politicians used higher education for furthering their own agendas as well as how that involvement perpetuated certain belief systems. The network visualizations also display how higher education moved westward across the state from the lowcountry to the upstate.
Special thanks to Dr. Sara Collini at Clemson University for sharing her network visualization code. It served as the basis for the network analyses for this project.