Youngstown State University History students build publicly accessible database

Amy Fluker, associate professor of History at YSU and professor for the Practicum in Historic Preservation, a project-based, community-engaged course, tasked her students registered during the spring 2024 semester, with a project centered around building a publicly-accessible, digital database.

The cohort worked together to develop a StoryMap, or digital database, of burial records of the seven Jewish cemeteries in the greater Youngstown area, each paired with an interactive map. Fluker’s course is built around teaching students real-world skills in public history, especially museum and archival science. The final objective was to help students gain new skills and valuable experience in digital humanities methodologies.

Fluker said this has been a “collaborative effort” between YSU’s History Program, the Youngstown Area Jewish Cemeteries Association and the YSU Center for Applied GIS. The finished product allows for community engagement and offers an active archive to the Jewish community.