An Overview: The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities

The original idea for an electronic article seemed simple enough. Using digital media, we wanted to give readers full access to a scholarly argument, the historiography about it, and the evidence for it. Our early models of the article contained neat squares and lines and carefully arranged explanations of the links from one part to another. We admired the recently published New York Review of Books article by Robert Darnton on the possibilities of digital scholarship, and after years of building the Valley of the Shadow Project digital archive, we welcomed the opportunity to offer an interpretive analysis based on its sources. Through two sets of readings by peer reviewers and presentations to a range of audiences, we have revised our presentation and our argument while maintaining the original purpose of the article. This essay introduces the electronic article and explains its development, as well as our intentions for it. The full electronic version of this article can be found at www.historycooperative.org/ahr/. 1