We’re on the hunt for two U.S. communities to include in Vivian Li’s Innovator in Residence Project, Anywhere Adventures!
Visitors to the mobile experience are currently able to explore three American communities, Seattle, Chicago, and Southeastern Wyoming, through items from the Library’s digital collections and learn about the stories, people, and events that shaped everyday life in these places.
With the site, visitors can do a deep dive of each locations’ local history through themes, such as transportation. In the travel log above, Vivian learned about the history of tugboats, specifically the oldest wooden tugboat, the Arthur Foss, currently moored in Seattle’s Historic Ship Wharf. Similarly, Wyoming visitors can learn about the adoption of motor vehicles in Southeastern Wyoming by visiting the site of Lovejoy’s Novelty Works, the workshop of the first man to drive a motor vehicle in Wyoming. Chicago visitors can visit Canal Origins Park to learn how engineers reversed the course of the Chicago River.
During the second and final year of the project, Vivian is inviting readers like you to nominate their own hometowns for inclusion in the project!
When we launched in December, we asked readers to nominate their hometowns in the comments of that blog post and the nominations have been rolling in! So far, we’ve received the following nominations from regions across the U.S.
Northeast
- Providence Rhode Island – Katherine Minahan
- Solvay, New York – John Montreal
Mid-Atlantic
- New Egypt, New Jersey – Ellie
- Baltimore, Maryland – Amanda
- Patterson, New Jersey – Audrey Fulcher
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Paul
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Lisa
Southeast
- Charlottesville, Virginia and Albermarle County – C. Eisenberg
- Pascagoula, Mississippi – Angel S. Padgett
- Edgefield, South Carolina – Ashley
- Durham or Asheville, North Carolina – Tori
Northwest
- Boise, Idaho and Treasure Valley – Rachel Welker
- Canyon City, Oregon – James Valade
West Coast
- Camarillo, California – Mae
- Santa Monica, California – AnnMaria De Mars
Midwest
- Kansas City, both of them! – Kelly Rawlings
- Cleveland, Ohio – Robin
- Sauk Rapids, Minnesota – John
There’s now two weeks left to nominate your hometown as an Anywhere Adventures location and nominations will close on Friday, January 30th. If you think Anywhere Adventures should come to your hometown, leave a comment below! Comments from the previous post and this post will be combined into one pool of nominations.
Comments (6)
I think you should come to San Antonio, TX, to see how our vibrant city is honoring our Mexican-American and Texan heritages. While most folks think about the Alamo when they think of San Antonio, we are bigger than just that historical icon. From the Spanish Missions to the King William district to our culinary innovations, San Antonio reflects the world in culture, heritage, and community.
Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana (Howard Ship Yards – steamships, U.S. Army Quartermaster Depot until the 1960’s)
Bowling Green, Kentucky – Corvette Plant and Museum, Civil War forts and memorials, Western Kentucky University, and underneath and near is Mammoth Cave.
I think you should include Manassas, Virginia. The city is proud of it’s rich history. It was a transportation hub in the early 1850’s which led to its role in the Civil War, The site of not one, but two battles. The key landmarks are the Manassas National Battlefield Park, which preserves the sites of two major Civil War battles, and the historic downtown area with its well-preserved 19th-century architecture. Our town has a unique blend of history, community events, and educational opportunities that make it a worthy subject for the series.
My mining hamlet Superior az . Pretty dull place until you get into the details. fabulous landscape, scenery and javelina pigs tipping over garbage cans. Site of one of the biggest proposed mines in the continental United States, about 90 percent of the way to going and going to use 250 billion gallons water in AZ desert. g. 65 miles from Phoenix, 25 miles from the edge of the metro area and yet virtually untouched by any kind of big growth, any kind of good shopping except for wine, any kind of crime. First community in Arizona to build a connecting trail to the 800 mile long Mexico to Utah, Arizona national scenic trail which is now a big deal around here. 19 patrol cops for 2500 locals. National quality arboretum Boyce Thompson. New expensive questionably necessary bridge. New expensive questionably necessary main Street paving, maybe 6 mil. Unoccupied houses galore. Majority Hispanic who mostly speak fluent Ingles and are great neighbors. Very little beat the heat building styles.
I think you should include Trenton New Jersey – Civil rights riots of the 1960’s, large industrial history of Iron, ceramics and pottery, Revolutionary War Battle of Trenton and the crossing of the Delaware River, Lenape Native America inhabitants, Second oldest State Capital.
I came here to nominate something in the Mid-Atlantic region and especially a secondary city from an original Quaker colony, so am glad to second Trenton! Karen didn’t specifically mention the “Trenton Makes The World Takes” sign on the Lower Trenton Bridge across the Delaware River (see https://www.drjtbc.org/bridge-info/trenton-makes-the-world-takes-sign), but the crossing itself has a long and varied history, and the sign was first installed in 1935 as the result of a contest and is now in its fourth iteration as a regional symbol. Plus, the Delaware River, Delaware Valley, and Delaware Bay all offer a cultural, scientific, and natural history to draw upon (including Washington’s crossing, as Karen also mentioned).
Another aspect of this region to be aware of is hundreds of years of religious diversity: Quakers, Anabaptist Germans, Catholics, Moravians, etc., from a variety of European countries (plus an early Jewish community in Philadelphia). All of the issues surrounding displacement of Native Americans and the institution of slavery arise especially early as well. The region also bridges the transition from pre-industrial artisan-based production of goods, to natural resource discovery and coal, oil, and mineral extraction, to the rise of the old industrial Northeast, to post-industrial decline and the rise of a service-based economy.
Some other cities to consider would be Allentown/Bethlehem and/or Reading and/or Lancaster in Pennsylvania. I’m always a Philadelphia advocate, and Baltimore is a fascinating place (though Maryland was founded by Catholics, not Quakers), but I’d argue for choosing a place of a different quality than what’s been done so far, so suggest a smaller but still urgan place than those.