History of Valentine's Day Assignment-Commentary

The history of Valentine’s Day assignment, like the entire “Digital History” course, was a much bigger challenge than I originally envisioned. The biggest problem I had with the assignment was a result of my own background. As a trained historian I had trouble using only free sources on the internet. I am used to examining books, scholarly articles, primary documents, among others. Historians usually shy away from sources on the internet unless they are academic. However I had to rely on free sites through Google. I found myself uncomfortable citing general encyclopedia sites or from sources of whom I was not familiar with. Some of the sites did not state where they obtained their information or the creator of the site. I was unable to check the footnotes, bibliographies, and the author’s background like I normally would with books or articles.

I also had trouble finding sources with original information or any sources that added anything new to the existing narrative. Most of the sites I found basically explained the same story. While the history of Valentines’ Day comes largely from legend and myths I was unable to find pieces of evidence, which I could critically examine and form my own conclusion. In short, it was a challenge to find anything original on the subject.

Another problem was the process of citing sources. Again as a historian, I am trained to footnote or endnote all of my sources. I am constantly conscious of plagiarism and making sure every source is credited with the information that I use in my writing. However, with hyperlinks, online encyclopedias, and other websites I was unsure as to when and how to cite. I included a hyperlink to every source that I used in all of the paragraphs, but I still was not sure if I was citing correctly.

The last challenge of this project was the writing style. At the risk of sounding redundant, as an academic I am trained to write in a formal manner. However, with writing short papers for a blog I was unsure as to the proper writing style. Should I write in a more casual manner? Should I enter my opinion or write as if it were a scholarly article?

The obvious benefit of this assignment was I, like most others, had no idea about the history of Valentine’s Day. Therefore this assignment forced me to look at this piece of history as well as work on my researching skills using the web.

History of Valentine's Day

Most Valentine’s Day history often begins with the feast of Lupercalia. The story of Lupercalia begins in the wilderness in ancient Rome. As wolves roamed over the countryside, the Roman god, Lupercus watched over the shepherds and their flocks. In his honor the shepherds held a feast in February of each year and called it the Lupercalia. The Lupercalia festival came to represent the time when Rome consisted of shepherds that lived on a hill now known as Palantine.

One of the customs during the Lupercalia festival was a lottery. The lives of young boys and girls were strictly separate. On the eve of the festival the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew a girl's name from the jar making the two partners for the duration of the festival. Sometimes the pairing of the children lasted an entire year, and often, they fell in love and later married. In 494 Pope Gelasius I recast this festival as a Christian feast day, declaring February fourteenth to be Saint Valentine’s Day.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, there were at least three early Christian saints named Valentine. One was a priest in Rome, another a bishop in Terni, and of a third Saint Valentine almost nothing is known except that he died in Africa. However, all three Valentines were said to have been martyred on February fourteenth.

Most scholars contend that Saint Valentine was a priest who attracted the disfavor of Roman emperor Claudius around 270. Claudius was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join the military and believed the reason was that Roman men did not want to leave their families. As a result, Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements in Rome. Saint Valentine and Saint Marius aided the Christians and secretly married couples. Claudius had Valentine beaten and beheaded on February fourteenth in the year 270.

Another legend describes a story of Valentine imprisoned by Claudius. While in jail, Valentine fell in love with Claudius’s daughter. Before his execution, Valentine allegedly sent his lover a letter signed "from your Valentine."

However, the most realistic narrative of Saint Valentine focuses not on romance and love but religious persecution. Many historians argue that Valentine was martyred for refusing to renounce his religion. It was not until the fourteenth century that Valentine’s Day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Chaucer who first linked Saint Valentine's Day with romance. In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in honor of the engagement between England's Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. In "The Parliament of Fowls," the royal engagement, the mating season of birds, and Saint Valentine's Day are linked:

For this was on St. Valentine's Day,
When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.

Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging hand-made cards on Valentine's Day had become common in England. Hand-made Valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine's cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Massachusettes, began mass-producing them. Today, the holiday has become a commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are Valentines.

Week 4 Digital History Assignment

The Valley of the Shadow or The Valley Project is a digital archive of primary sources that documents the lives and people in August County, Virginia, and Franklin County, Pennsylvania during the era of the American Civil War. The creators of this website take a unique approach to examining the Civil War. Rather than create a site that covers the entire scope of the Civil War, the designers focus on microhistory. Examining Civil War history at the local level offers a fresh perspective on the War. Anyone interested in the Civil War can easily research the endless amount of books and websites dedicated to the subject. However, The Valley Project may be the only website, which analyzes the effects of the War on the citizens of these two counties. The benefit of taking this microhistory approach to history and the internet is that the user does not become overwhelmed with information and topics. Many times larger, more complex websites cover too many topics, which causes the user to get lost in the navigation and become sidetracked from the original reason for research. The Valley Project largely avoids the possibility of this occurring.

Similar to the subject of the website, The Valley Project homepage is simple and effective. With one graphic and a large box reading “Enter,” the homepage briefly describes the sites’ contents. The page explains the focus of the site, accessible materials, and the significance of studying the citizens of August and Franklin counties. The following webpage remains consistent with the homepage offering the user three diagrams to choose from. Within each octagon shaped diagram the user can click and view numerous pieces of evidence ranging from letters and diaries to census and tax records. This allows the user to embrace the more human element of the War or examine the economics of each county.

The Valley Project is not for someone new to the subject of the Civil War. The user should already possess knowledge of John Brown and the raid at Harper’s Ferry, as well as other specific incidents relating to the War. However, those interested in local history of ordinary citizens who have been largely forgotten in Civil War history will largely benefit from the Project. Perhaps the greatest attribute of this site is that it reminds the user of the amount of human beings affected by the Civil War.

While The Valley Project, created by the University of Virginia, appears largely academic, The History Channel website screams corporate America. However, while The History Channel may lack detail and variety it contains plenty of technological enhancements. As The Valley Project examines microhistory and the human element of the Civil War, The History Channel website takes a macrohistory approach focusing on popular themes, events, and individuals throughout history. Once the user types in the address www.historychannel.com, information and graphics appear in every corner of the website. Advertisements for films and insurance companies dominate half of the homepage. This immediately brings a commercial feel to the site.

One of the websites’ best features is the interactive and video component. Before navigating from the homepage users can view a variety of video clips. However, the focus on black history appears condescending and patronizing. Clearly after February The History Channel’s homepage will change focus. This raises another issue, which is the inconsistency of the site. Where The Valley Project remains dedicated to the citizens in August and Franklin counties, The History Channel constantly changes.

Another problem of The History Channel is the search function. For example, conducting a search on John Brown only produces encyclopedia entries, many of which have nothing to do with Brown or Harper’s Ferry. Moreover, searching for United States history results in a video clip of John F. Kennedy and links discussing his assassination. While the search function needs improvement The History Channel takes full advantage of new technology. The site offers podcasts, interactive timelines, audio, video, and broadband. In short, while The History Channel lacks the scholarly element and content of The Valley Project it embraces the interactive approach to history and provides the user a broad perspective on the subject of history.

DoHistory.org attempts to combine the best elements of The Valley Project and The History Channel. However the site falls short in both cases. DoHistory simply contains too many options and information with little direction and much confusion. DoHistory's creators explain that the goal of the site is to highlight the history of “ordinary” people and teach users how to interpret fragments that survive from any period in history. Like The Valley Project, DoHistory tries to focus on microhistory using interactive tools and a variety of search options. A benefit of DoHistory is rather than simply presenting evidence the user is shown the process of conducting research.

However DoHistory remains too confusing for most to enjoy. The historical experience of the user is not as important as the level of computer knowledge. The homepage contains thirty six hyperlinks. Absent from the homepage is any description as to the nature of the site. DoHistory is also a vague domain name. Therefore a user may never reach the inside of the site because there is nothing on the homepage explaining the sites’ focus and importance. The site never explains why the user should be interested in the subject, Martha Ballard, whereas The Valley Project connects the citizens of their study to the Civil War.

Clearly DoHistory is designed to demonstrate the value of thorough research. It is a teaching site for beginning historians or those simply interested in a fun project. However unless the user is computer savvy DoHistory is a missed opportunity for the creators. While the concept is inventive and a unique way to use the internet for history the creators may have benefited more by starting with less and creating a more advanced project as a compliment.

Whether micro or macro, John Brown or Martha Ballard, clearly there exists no one standard way to present history on the internet. History remains a broad topic and people will vary in their historical interests making it essential to have many options on the internet. The academic, the history buff, and the child may not visit the same sites. However, if all of the sites and their creators use the internet as a tool to promote, teach, and spread history while teaching users to remain critical and question sources then the internet will have a place in the history profession for a long time to come.