Greater Philadelphia in the Great War is an effort to create an online database of the thousands of Philadelphia-area residents who served in the First World War. Drawing on a list of names and addresses discovered by Charles Greifenstein in the Pennsylvania State Archives, Historiscope is developing an interactive online database. Drawing on digitized public-domain documents, the database connects previously distinct sources, such as casualty lists, newspaper articles, and government documents to create a comprehensive social science dataset and a biographical encyclopedia. The data will also be used to create an interactive map to display how the First World War affected the towns and neighborhoods in the Philadelphia area.
The first phase--a MySQL database--is complete and has been populated with the initial data from the Pennsylvania State Archives, as well as data from other sources, including "honor rolls" from the Evening Public Ledger. The second phase—the development of an interactive online interface—is currently in progress. We will open the database to the public on April 6, 2016, the 99th anniversary of the entry of the United States into World War I.
Interested in volunteering? At the moment we are in particular need of volunteers with knowledge of PHP, MySQL, and/or CSS to help with the construction of the database interface. Please contact Us if you are able to donate your skills and some time.