Produce, Prepare, Propel: Reflections from the ACE Mellon Program’s Digital Humanities Team

What is the value of digital work in park-centered or place-based interpretation? This article offers an answer to this question by reflecting on the work of the ACE (American Conservation Experience) Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship Program’s digital humanities (DH) team. Thanks to deliberate investment from the ACE Mellon Program, we were able to support broad and boundary-pushing digital work—applying the wider field of DH to specific program goals. This work focused on three main categories: producing engaging digital projects and storytelling, preparing fellows and their partners to create their own digital products, and propelling fellows forward into their next career stages through professional development opportunities. The ability for the DH team to work collaboratively, flexibly, and remotely has enabled us to find creative interpretive solutions for Fellows’ individual projects as well as for telling the story of the program as a whole. In this article, members of the DH team offer examples, resources, and lessons learned that can be applied to programs or organizations at various scales who are interested in creating their own DH projects.