Tall Grass Prairie to Technoburb: Digital Exhibition Experience

FAIN: MD-296298-24

Naper Settlement (Naperville, IL 60540-6517)
Jeanne Schultz Angel (Project Director: June 2023 to present)

Development of digital formats and humanities content for an immersive visitor experience on the history of Naperville, Illinois. 

Naperville Heritage Society (NHS) seeks a discovery award of $30,000 to enable our team, in partnership with humanities scholars and leading digital media production and interactive experience design partners, to identify and storyboard the exhibit experience best suited to engage visitors in the history of Naperville’s transformation from Indigenous land to a small farm community to the science and technology industries that defined the 21st century city. Re-telling Naperville’s origin stories allows for a wider view of history, sparking questions and conversations about America, exemplifying NEH’s American Tapestry initiative “to tell our country’s history in all its complexity and diversity.” The digital exhibit experience will let visitors navigate between centuries of history to be inspired by the diverse stories of the people who migrated to this place over time.