Using AI to Organize and Publish Slavery Research Online: The Cowenhoven Project

Abstract

The Cowenhoven Project (cowenhoven.org) is a multi-part digital humanities project combining archival research, genealogical scholarship, and data science in an effort to recover the names of people enslaved in New York and New Jersey by the Van Kouwenhoven-Conover family. In this presentation, I explain how I was able to build a database with more than 275 named individuals and their enslavers, then the website, visualizations, and blog that allow the public to learn about them, all using Claude Cowork. By using agentic AI and my digital publishing skills, I was able to turn a simple spreadsheet into an engaging and interactive DH project that celebrates their memory and, hopefully, allows them to be discovered by their descendants. Part of the panel, Approaches to Sharing Slavery Research, moderated by Karin Wulf.