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Gary Spikberg presenting his work on French-Canadian Migration out of the Keweenaw
This week Time Travelers Gary Spikberg, Brooke Batterson, and Sarah Scarlett presented their work at a conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba hosted by the Three Centuries of Francophone Migration in North America (1640-1940) project (Which the Keweenaw Time Traveler is a partner).
Gary presented his work entitled The French-Canadian Migration Experience in the Keweenaw. His work mapped the outmigration of French-Canadians from the Keweenaw as the region deindustrialized from 1910-1940. The map below shows where the majority of French-Canadians migrated to, largely the industrial cities of the Great Lakes Region.
French-Canadian Migration from the Keweenaw to other Great Lakes communities from 1920-1930
Sarah and Brooke presented their work entitled "Materializing Social Mobility in the Houses of Francophone Migrants in Michigan's Copper Country". In their work they highlight how to use homes as a way of understanding how socially mobile (ie- better off) Francophone's were when they arrived in the Keweenaw versus where they came from. Brooke discussed her oral history project where she has been conducting interviews with French-Canadian descendants with the help of the Chassell Heritage Organization to understand how the French language has disappeared in local families over time.
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A walk in the Copper Country, especially with fall arriving, can be a beautiful experience. It can also raise questions about our past. What is this stone foundation I just found in the woods? Did this trail used to be a railroad? Who can tell me more about this place?
The Keweenaw Time Traveler Team has been hard at work developing a new mobile version that helps you explore those questions. It brings the upgraded interface released for the desktop in June 2022 to your smart devices.
When you go out exploring, use the new Keweenaw Time Traveler Mobile Storytelling platform to:
- Access historical maps of the places you visit
- Use GPS to see your current location on historical maps
- Use the transparency slider to see how your location has changed over time
- Explore stories, memories, and information shared by other users
- Share your own experiences!
Maps and Stories are the focus of the mobile version. You will see orange “Story” points, which are histories, memories, photographs, videos and more, shared by fellow Time Travelers. We hope these stories can help answer questions about the changing Keweenaw landscape and spark some of your own ideas. From your location on the trail or the sidewalk, select the “Share a Story” button to open an easy dialog box. Then, use pictures, audio, video as well as text live from your phone to create your own “Story” point. Sharing your knowledge, perspective, and experiences makes the Time Traveler even better for everyone!
Be sure to visit the Keweenaw Time Traveler desktop version at www.keweenawhistory.com to access mapped historical data from the Federal Census, city directories, school records, and more.
We are proud to share the Keweenaw Time Traveler Mobile Storytelling platform app with you. Enjoy exploring, learning, and sharing your perspectives with the community near and far!
We look forward to the stories and memories you share with us as you travel through the beautiful Copper Country we call home.
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This week, Don Lafreniere (Project Director) traveled to Ghent, Belgium to present at the Spatial Humanities Conference. He was able to introduce the Keweenaw Time Traveler to many European researchers, including the contributions of citizen historians and how it can be used both for storytelling and research in the humanities and social sciences.
This was also a time to look forward to what’s coming next! We’re continuing to work with local schools to bring local history to life, both by creating curriculum for teachers to use and by putting on a Summer Youth Program (SYP) this summer focused around Time Traveler stories! Finally, in the upcoming months we plan to launch a mobile version of the Explore App and begin a webinar series for other communities to learn about (and replicate) our process!
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From August 28th through September 3rd the Keweenaw Time Traveler team and members of Michigan Technological University's Social Sciences Department attended The International Committee for the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Conference in Montreal. Presentations included: Big-data geospatial heritage infrastructures and industrial heritage by Dr. Dan Trepal, Dr. Don Lafreniere, Dr. Sarah F. Scarlett, and Dr. Timothy Scarlett; Company suburbs: how pastoral ideas and real estate investment extended corporate hierarchies into neighborhoods that continue to define North American Cities by Dr. Sarah F. Scarlett; and Scalar sustainability in UNESCO's industrial heritage: community geographies of the slate landscapes of Northwest Wales by Dr. Mark Allan Rhodes, Brooke Batterson, Dr. Kathryn Hannum, James Juip, Larissa Juip, Zoe Ketola, Timothy Maze, and Wandipa Mualefhe.