About the Project

• Project lead: Peter J. Kastor, Samuel K. Eddy Professor, Washington University in St. Louis. Peter Kastor is a scholar of the early American republic.  He is the author or editor of eight books and has worked on projects in the digital humanities for over thirty years.
• Arts & Sciences
• The Center for the Humanities
• The College Office
• The Graduate School (now the Office of Graduate Studies)
• The Transdisciplinary Institute for Applied Data Science (TRIADS)
• The Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy
• The University Library

Humanities Digital Workshop (HDW)

This project would have been impossible with the support of Washington University in general, and several offices within Arts & Sciences Computing in particular.  The Humanities Digital Workshop (HDW) has been the principal partner in this project from start to finish, provided technical expertise and guidance as well as extraordinary research assistants.  

• Doug Knox, Assistant Director
• Stephen Pentecost, Senior Humanities Specialist
• Joseph Loewenstein and Ken Keller, Co-Directors

Arts & Sciences Computing Web Team 

After the Humanities Digital Workshop completed the work of supporting the data production for this project, the Arts & Sciences Computer Web Team provided the front end and back end development for the Website, building the Web platform and shepherding the project to completion.

Other faculty, staff, and administrators who provided key support

• Maggie Fiock (Arts & Sciences)
• Dennis Martin (Arts & Sciences)
• Jennifer Moore (University Library)
• Michael Schaefer (University Library)
• William Winston (University Library)
• Arts & Sciences Computing Web Team 

Individuals

The following individuals provided specialized technical support.

• Mia Collymore Abbas, a recent graduate of Washington University’s McKelvey School of Engineering, conducted the preliminary GIS architecture for this site. A talented coder, she built the infrastructure for the map and worked with the Jaime Lee to design the develop a visual design for the map.
• Bryan Haberberger of Habesoftware built the map for this project.  An extraordinary full-stack developer, he developed the GIS components of this site.
• Jaime Lee, a recent graduate of Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Art and Design, developed the visual aesthetic and user interface for this project.  A gifted designer, she took the initial plan for the content of this project and transformed it into an elegant and functional design plan.
• Anahi Molina provided excellent line editing of the Website text.  Her feedback on the earliest draft text helped guide the project forward and proved invaluable for the writing on this Website.  She helped guide this project to the sweet spot that balances the objectives of academic research with the goal of engaging a general audience.

This project benefitted from outstanding feedback from the following: 

Organizations

• Spry Digital was a terrific private-sector partner for the front-end design of this project.  Spry provided a terrific point of connection between the developers and Washington University who were building the Website and the goal of making this site engaging and accessible to all users.
  • Nancy Berrier
  • Beth Gunter
  • Heath Harris
• The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington (now the George Washington Presidential Library) provided a venue for an early stage discussion of the data in this project.  In 2016, the Library hosted a workshop on statebuilding during the early American republic that provided an opportunity to explore the data on federal employees during the Washington Administration.  That essay was later published as “Washington’s Workforce: Reconstructing the Federal Government at the Moment of Its Creation,” in Washington’s Government: Statebuilding for a New Nation, Max Edling and Peter J. Kastor, eds. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2021).
• Members of the Missouri Regional Seminar in Early American History provided expert feedback on the initial version of this Website. Coordinated by the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri, the Missouri Regional Seminar is a collaborative group of scholars connected by a shared passion for researching early American history.
• The Society for History in the Federal Government provided expert feedback on the initial version of this Website.  SHFG consists of people engaged in historical work from across the numerous agencies of the federal government.  Feedback on the earliest incarnation of the federal government from people who currently serve in the federal government was invaluable to developing this project.