Paul Quigley, James I. Robertson Jr. Associate Professor of Civil War Studies and director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, received a National Endowment for the Humanities planning grant as the principal investigator for the project “Experiencing Civil War History through Augmented Reality: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Environment at Pamplin Historical Park.”

Located in Petersburg, Virginia, the park houses Civil War-era fortifications, earthworks, a battlefield, and a historic plantation. The project seeks to find alternative ways to think about military history and help audiences understand history within its physical context.

Two teams of researchers, one focused on the humanities and the other on digital media, will address research questions and develop technologies in order to engage a broad audience. Team members include David Hicks, School of Education; Virginia Tech faculty and staff from the Department of Computer Science, the School of Visual Arts, and University Libraries; as well as colleagues from Virginia Commonwealth University, Pamplin Historical Park, and the park’s National Museum of the Civil War Soldier.