I only recently came up to Philadelphia after living about a decade in Baltimore, where I earned my B.A. in history from Goucher College. Sometimes I feel like I’m still getting to know the city, and I’m looking forward to sharing some of the bits and pieces of Philly’s rich history that I unearth along the way.
Broadly, I’m interested in issues of access and inclusion, and I believe that public history is a public service. I think that technology has great potential to change the way we think about and create history. Previously, I’ve applied this theory in work experience in a number of public archives and history non-profits. I currently do fun things with data as a digital projects assistant at the American Philosophical Society’s Center for Digital Scholarship.
My thesis research centers around the settlement house movement in Philadelphia, and will feature a history project in partnership with the Lutheran Settlement House in the Fishtown neighborhood. In my free time I enjoy things like including craft beer, cats, skee ball, hiking, and British crime television, and I blog sporadically at cynthiaheider.com.
100% of the SBD rewards from this #philly5151 post will support the Philadelphia History initiative 
