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Stories from North of Main: Neighborhood Heritage Story Mapping

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Abstract

This article discusses the use of ESRI’s ArcGIS Story Map application for heritage place-making in a small, diverse, deindustrialized urban neighborhood in Binghamton, New York. “Stories from North of Main” is a Story Map that weaves together the multiple meanings residents attach to neighborhood places by layering audio, images, and text to create stories of work, home, and community life, past and present. Story Maps make visible and legible the place attachments of newcomers and long-time residents in changing city neighborhoods. These place-based stories can offer an alternative to elite-driven heritage and counter the negative narratives attached to marginalized neighborhoods.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded, in part, by a Binghamton University Sustainable Communities Transdisciplinary Area of Excellence grant and Binghamton University’s Center for Civic Engagement. We thank research assistant Kate Dillon as well as the Anthropology and Sustainable Communities students who conducted and coded interviews and researched and created Story Map content. Thank you to Dr. Pamela Mischen for introducing us to the neighborhood and for Safe Streets for embracing us as partners in this effort. We appreciate the reviewers and editors of this issue who provided thoughtful feedback and guidance, and Maria O’Donovan for sharing expertise on Binghamton’s history. Most importantly, we wish to thank the residents of the North of Main neighborhood who generously shared their stories, knowledge, and experiences with us.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Skidmore College, 815 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY, 12866, USA

    Siobhan M. Hart

  2. Sustainable Communities Program, Department of Public Administration, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, USA

    George C. Homsy

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  1. Siobhan M. Hart
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  2. George C. Homsy
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Correspondence to Siobhan M. Hart.

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Hart, S.M., Homsy, G.C. Stories from North of Main: Neighborhood Heritage Story Mapping. Int J Histor Archaeol 24, 950–968 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-019-00529-4

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