THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603030055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ADAM BERNSTEIN, CAMPUS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Four years ago, University of Virginia history professor Edward L. Ayers began researching two cities - Staunton, Va., and Chambersburg, Pa. Separated by 200 miles of the Shenandoah Valley, the cities were nearly identical - except they were on opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon line.
``I saw it as a metaphor for how the (Civil) War came together as a whole,'' Ayers said. They ``had so much in common, but yet there was this one fatal difference.''
Now Internet users can delve into Ayers' research on a World Wide Web site devoted to his tale of two cities.
Viewers can chart all the brick houses in Staunton from 1859 to 1870 or find out how many books Chambersburg resident Samuel Armstrong kept in his home before Rebels burned the town to the ground. Most of the information, Ayers said, comes from claims records the townspeople filed with the U.S. Government after the war.
Because many residents of both cities were soldiers, users can connect to other Web sites for information about particular battles in which Staunton and Chambersburg residents fought, said Ayers, an expert in 19th century Southern history.
``I want it to be a model for people across the country to create their own local-history sites,'' he said. ``It makes history something more than a fact out of some textbook.''
Ayers also blends information from the Web site, formally titled ``The Valley of the Shadow: Living the Civil War in Virginia and Pennsylvania,'' into his seminar on the American South in the 19th century.
``The availability of primary resources is exciting and daunting at the same time,' said Liz Long, a senior from Waynesboro who took the class last semester.
Ayers' project was financed by the Charlottesville-based Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. The institute links professors with computer technicians, and creates Web sites ranging from landscape architecture to philosophy, said the institute's project director, Thornton Staples.
In another project, John J. Dobbins, a U.Va. art professor who specializes in Roman art, has produced three-dimensional re-creations of the ruins from Pompeii. ``It's a lot more evocative than just textural descriptions of the buildings,'' Staples said.
For Ayers, ``it's fun being a part of the revolution of our time.
``Just because I'm a historian, I do not want to be in the 19th century all the time. I want to be part of the defining event of our times, information technology.'' MEMO: The address for Ayers' Civil War site on the Internet is
http://Jefferson.village. virginia.edu/vshadow2/intro.html
The address for Dobbins' Pompeii site is http://Jefferson.village.
virginia.edu/pompeii/page-1.html ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Edward L. Ayers.
by CNB