About

Hi! Thank you for taking a look at my blog.

My name is Jamin Wells and I am a Ph.D. candidate in American history, which is to say I made it through classes and exams but I’m still working on the dissertation. I’ve been researching and writing for about a year. Along the way I’ve learned a thing or two about how to—and not to—research shipwrecks and the shore. (No doubt I have much more to learn!) Even better, I’ve found some really great “stuff” hidden in archives, print media, and (of course) online. This blog is my attempt to share what I’ve learned, show off some of the cool stuff I’ve found, and work out ideas about how shipwrecks helped make the world we live in. It will also be a place to post and comment on shipwrecks in today’s news.  And above all, I hope you will contribute–share your shipwreck story with us, comment on a post, or forward this blog to a friend or colleague.

A caveat—this is my first blog and until a few weeks ago I was a skeptic about the use of blogs, twitter, &c., &c., to do anything more than bloviate about contemporary events. After completing the two-week “Public Engagement and Material Culture Institute” (PEMCI) at the University of Delaware, I saw the “digital light.” Interactive sessions and site visits to several cultural institutions hammered home the seemingly obvious point that Web 2.0 is a central, arguably “the” way to share academic research with a broader audience. I also learned just how difficult it could be to speak to a non-academic audience. So please excuse the missteps I’m bound to make, join me in a conversation about shipwrecks and the shore, and look out for some new (aka non-blog) Web 2.0-shipwreck fun in the months to come!

~June 2011

Here is some of my other work:

• A digital exhibit for the Hagley Museum and Library
• An article published in The Northern Mariner
• An article published in New Jersey History