eLabs Events
Enhancing Access and Discovery: Voices of the Eastern Shore as a Model for Local, Metadata-Driven Digital Projects
August 13, 2025 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time
On August 13 at 3:00 PM ET, join eLaboratories for a presentation on Voices of the Eastern Shore, a digital edition that demonstrates the value of a multi-disciplinary approach to editing. Led by Dreanna Belden—Director of External Partnerships at the University of North Texas Libraries and a graduate of the Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents (the precursor to eLabs)—Voices of the Eastern Shore brings together the best practices of library science and editing to bring to life the Somerset County Historical Trust’s long-held goal of publishing the letters of Elizabeth Upshur Teackle.
During her presentation, Belden will introduce the project and its origins, sharing insight into how a historical society like the Somerset County Historical Trust made an editing project like this possible. She will also highlight how her multi-disciplinary training informed the project’s editorial approach and impacts the accessibility, discoverability, and sustainability of the project and its materials. Belden’s presentation will conclude with updates about the project’s vision for collaborations with other historical societies who wish to bring their documents into conversation with Voices of the Eastern Shore.
With insight into alternative paths of entry into editing and discussion about best practices, this event is ideal for archivists, librarians, community historians, and anyone else interested in beginning their own documentary editing project.
About the Presenters
Dreanna Belden, Director of External Partnerships, has been with UNT Libraries since 2003. Her interests involve working with museums, libraries, and archives to place historic materials online as partners of the Portal to Texas History. She’s spoken nationally and internationally about her research, including at Library of Congress. She is Co-Director of the project Texas History for Teachers, and Co-Director of Voices of the Eastern Shore. She’s Vice-President of The Dallas Way and is a Past-President of the Texas Association of Museums. Dreanna has formerly served on Boards for the Texas House Oral History Project, PBS’s Texas Our Texas programming initiative, the Collaborative for Children, and for KERA/KXT, Public Media for North Texas. She’s a successful fundraiser and has reviewed grants for the National Endowment for the Humanities, National Historical Publications and Records Commission, and Humanities Texas.
