Mapping Renewal Pilot Project

FAIN: PW-259124-18

University of Arkansas, Little Rock (Little Rock, AR 72204-1000)
Deborah J. Baldwin (Project Director: July 2017 to September 2021)

The development of a pilot database with online access to archival collections, 1940-1970, focusing on urban renewal, desegregation, and civil rights era history in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The project would provide online access to maps, architectural drawings, photographs, and other archival materials via a beta version of a database and Web portal, and would result in enhancements to controlled vocabularies, a tested workflow, and a white paper detailing lessons learned.

The Mapping Renewal Pilot Project will bring together humanities scholars and technical specialists focused on creating access to and providing context to spatial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, through the digitization of maps, architectural drawings, reports, and related architectural photographs. This project will result in several products: a tested workflow for digitizing, geocoding, describing, and making available a large amount of material in a virtual collection; new controlled vocabulary terms added to our existing controlled vocabularies; an ontology specific to the needs of researchers in urban history; increased availability of additional digitized primary resource materials; archetypal descriptions of our three target audiences (as a result of the reports from focus groups and usability testing); and a beta version of a project website with specific interfaces designed for each audience.

Associated Products

Mapping Renewal (Web Resource)
Title: Mapping Renewal
Author: Center for Arkansas History and Culture
Abstract: The Mapping Renewal beta website focused on creating access and providing context to segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas. Geographic segregation in Little Rock was, in part, the result of urban renewal projects of the kind that swept the nation in the mid-twentieth century. In the 1960s, urban renewal in central Little Rock comprised one of the largest demolition and clearance programs in the country. Instead of reinvigorating the city, these programs, like so many others carried out across the U.S., further promoted segregation and white flight. Mapping Renewal aims to make valuable humanities content widely accessible through digitization and geolocation of a unique compilation of materials that will allow a range of users to integrate the history of Little Rock into larger studies of the twentieth-century American metropolis.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://mappingrenewal.ualr.edu

Expansion or Segregation? (Web Resource)
Title: Expansion or Segregation?
Author: Acadia Roher
Abstract: This StoryMap covers the history of I-630 in Little Rock, and the effects this interstate had on the city’s development. Primary URL:
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://gislabualr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=4201e770c78a41c9ae993f4421f1fb26

Vanished (Web Resource)
Title: Vanished
Author: Acadia Roher
Abstract: This StoryMap covers slum clearance programs in Little Rock, and the effects it had on the city’s black communities.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://gislabualr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=7abc83726b1d4989934ec48bb0e6c7f6

Strategies of Division (Web Resource)
Title: Strategies of Division
Author: Acadia Roher
Abstract: This StoryMap covers school segregation in Little Rock and the effects of urban renewal programs on reinforcing racial segregation of the city.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://gislabualr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=4622222209bd41cc93fcd17ecb774eac

Mapping Renewal NEH Project Blog (Blog Post)
Title: Mapping Renewal NEH Project Blog
Author: Shannon Lausch
Author: Acadia Roher
Author: Andrew McClain
Abstract: Over the course of the project, ten blog posts about the project were written by various project staff. All posts can be found at the primary URL. Individual blog post titles are listed below.
Date: 10/01/2019
Primary URL: https://ualrexhibits.org/mappingblog/
Blog Title: Trivia with a twist; West Rock to East: Housing Segregation during Urban Renewal; #Hyping Hillcrest History with Hashtags; Mass displacement at Granite Mountain; Collection highlight Metroplan records; Town and County: Westward Sprawl in Little Rock (Part 1); Fleeing Downtown: White Western Suburbs; Town and Country: Westward Sprawl in Little Rock (Part 2); Segregated Neighborhoods, Segregated Schools; Arthur Ashe, Winthrop Rockefeller, and the struggle for civil rights.
Website: Mapping Renewal NEH Project Blog

Mapping Renewal: A Collaborative Approach to Digital Mapping Projects (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Mapping Renewal: A Collaborative Approach to Digital Mapping Projects
Author: Shannon Lausch
Author: Elise Tanner
Author: Geoffrey Joseph
Abstract: Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on providing spatial context to archival materials related to urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. Our team will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss what archivists need to consider before embarking on similar projects.
Date: 05/20/2020
Conference Name: Society of Southwest Archivists

Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed a Digital Humanities Project (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Mapping Renewal: How An Unexpected Interdisciplinary Collaboration Transformed a Digital Humanities Project
Author: Elise Tanner
Author: Geoffrey Joseph
Abstract: Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture’s “Mapping Renewal” pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. An unplanned interdisciplinary collaboration with the UA Little Rock Arkansas Economic Development Institute (AEDI) has proven to be an invaluable partnership. One team member from each department will demonstrate the Mapping Renewal website and discuss how the collaborative process has changed and shaped the project.
Date: 04/27/2020
Conference Name: Digital Initiatives Symposium 2020

Mapping Our Past, Envisioning Our Future: GIS Technology in Archives (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Mapping Our Past, Envisioning Our Future: GIS Technology in Archives
Author: Shannon Lausch
Abstract: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer rich tools that enable archives to locate their collection materials on a map. Creative possibilities abound, from guiding visitors through a story map to charting a city's growth throughout centuries. Before beginning such a project, archivists must consider the expertise and partners needed to make it successful. Panelists will discuss their GIS-based projects, including how to forge new partnerships, address audiences' needs, and adapt archival descriptive practices across disciplines.
Date: 08/01/2020
Conference Name: Society of American Archivists

Mapping Renewal (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Mapping Renewal
Author: Elise Tanner
Author: Shannon Lausch
Abstract: Funded by a National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) Humanities Collections and Reference Resources Foundations Grant, the Mapping Renewal pilot project focused on creating access to and providing spatial context to archival materials related to racial segregation and urban renewal in the city of Little Rock, Arkansas, from 1954-1989. Thousands of archival materials were digitized for this project, including maps, photographs, reports, and architectural drawings. These materials were then georeferenced to place them on a modern-day map. The website will be publicly available in January 2020.
Date: 04/16/2020
Conference Name: Arkansas Historical Association

Digitized items in CONTENTdm (Database/Archive/Digital Edition)
Title: Digitized items in CONTENTdm
Author: Shannon Lausch
Abstract: Our online catalog includes all the materials digitized for the Mapping Renewal beta website. This includes the digital items and their respective metadata.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://arstudies.com
Primary URL Description: arstudies.com is the primary research portal to the CAHC's shared catalog. The funded items are available directly at the secondary url listed below.
Secondary URL: https://tinyurl.com/w4lzx5u
Access Model: online public access catalog

Arkansas Primary Source Sets: School Desegregation (Web Resource)
Title: Arkansas Primary Source Sets: School Desegregation
Author: Kristin Mann, PhD
Abstract: Primary source set, curriculum materials and framworks for middle and high school students exploring school desegregation cause and effect in the United States.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://ualrexhibits.org/primarysources/primary-source-set/school-desegregation/

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