MONUMENTS
Project Partner: Kris Plunkett
Mission
The Monuments project is an ongoing collaboration supporting Kris Plunkett’s PhD research. The project focuses on building and organizing a database of monuments that will eventually be made publicly available for educational use and outside research. Because monuments are closely tied to community memory and local history, this work helps create context that can support deeper understanding of memorial landscapes.
What we did
Reviewed external monument datasets and verified entries in the project database
Added missing monuments and abolitionist memorials to the spreadsheet
Cross-referenced datasets to improve database accuracy and completeness
Flagged uncertain entries and tracked progress across monument records
Skills/Tools
Database development
Data cleaning
Data verification
Cross-referencing and record review
Google Sheets
Before: Raw monument records from external datasets
After: Verified and refined entries in the project database
Featured Highlight
Love Data Week Monuments Datathon
As part of Love Data Week 2026, the team organized a Monuments Datathon that invited students from across majors to help cross-reference records and add new monuments to the spreadsheet. The event not only supported project progress, but also gave students the opportunity to work directly with a real-world dataset.
