Eastern State Penitentiary is by far one of the most interesting places I’ve ever been in my life. Located in Philadelphia, Pa, this massive prison comes out of no where in a residential section of the city, surprising its viewers with its imposing size and impenetrable walls. I had the opportunity of experiencing this prison during the day, on a normal school hour tour, and on Halloween night, in the thrill seeker’s Terror Behind the Walls, a Halloween fright show, that is the prison’s most notorious fundraiser.

The websitefor Eastern State Penitentiary has information about the prison’s history; from creation to eventual shutdown, famous inmates, restoration projects, and a timeline of famous events that shaped the prison’s history. While this site is helpful for a basic background on the prison, it is more of a commercial enterprise, attempting to get people to donate to the preservation effort. There is even a strong emphasis on art within the prison, which I did not quite understand until I started to evaluate the site. Using the Public History ResearchCenter’s guidelines, I evaluated this site for scope/content, authority/bias, timeliness/permanence, value added features, the technical aspects, aesthetics/visual clarity and appeal, and promotion of a community of interest.

One of the most important things I discovered about this site was its creators and their mission statement. This is not a “historical site”, but rather a “public history site”. The Eastern State Penitentiary Historical Site, Inc. is a subdivision, or beneficiary of the PA Council on the Arts and the Independence Foundation. Their mission statement says they want to “ make the Penitentiary accessible to the public; to explain and interpret its complex history; to place current issues of corrections and justice in an historical framework; and to provide a public forum where these issues are discussed”. Their goal is to do this through education, preservation, conservation, and public programming. This is apparent throughout the site, supplying links to all information presented, and easily readable/downloadable PDF forms or information. Though educating the public about the prison and its preservation is an important trend throughout the site, I was surprised by the lack of educational resources, for example a lesson plan for the classroom, or tools for educators.

Like I said before, I was shocked by the emphasis on art throughout the site, but upon learning that the funds for the site are appropriated by the PA Council on the Arts and the Independence Foundation, I realized their authority over what the prison is used for is and what the site deems important. The site offers online exhibits (as well as at the prison itself) of sculptures, videos, oral histories (audio), and dioramas, this art shows the prison’s unique culture and history. This site is constantly updated, commercial, exhibit, and preservation are all reasons that this site works smoothly and is up to date.

This site is most importantly easily navigable. On the top of the webpage is a content bar/site index that remains constant, even when you move throughout the sections of the website. Under each section on the site index is a drop down menu that shows the viewer before they click the link what they will see, for example under “exhibits” are the sub categories “prison history exhibits” and “artist installations”. The pages also do not appear cluttered because, like a blog, only a short intro to what type of exhibit or preservation technique is shown, followed by a “read more” link allowing the viewer to make the decision if they would like to continue or scroll down for different exhibits. There are no flash plug ins on the site, which I think is better because, as an easily distracted viewer, I found that I could focus my attention much more on the content, rather than streaming media. The site also provides a lot of links, some historical, but most about the surrounding area, an example would be a column devoted to
Philadelphia attractions.

Finally, we can get down to the nitty-gritty. The font that the site used is consistent across the board. They used bolded and larger face type to highlight headings and important features, but made sure to keep the text readable, dark texts on light backgrounds. Each section on the site index bar had its own color, varying the themes of the pages just enough to keep the viewer interested. The site also has a lot of photos throughout its pages, but also dedicates a section to photos of architecture, people, and objects– all which you can save or print. There are extra features like a movie and 3-d pictorial tours (powered by futureHISTORY), all which function well on a high speed internet connection.

Overall, I would give this site a B- as a historical site. While it is readable and easily navigable, it lacks historical density that I was hoping to find. It provides the basics; timeline, famous inmates, bibliography, genealogy, and a six page downloadable history, but there is very little meat to the research. Because the site is more commercial, it is fun to play around with, but I would not use it as the basis of a term paper.