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NEH Community Deep Mapping Institute (NEH CDMI) fellows and directors met virtually yesterday to discuss developing and sustaining community partnerships and ethical community-based work. Using the Keweenaw Time Traveler as an example directors shared some of the best practices in engaging and sustaining community partnerships as well as their value in the scoping, creation, and ongoing development of deep maps. Fellows shared the challenges and opportunities they have had in engaging community stakeholders in their own projects. The recording of this virtual workshop and others as they become available can be found on the NEH CDMI Virtual Workshops & Asynchronous Modules webpage. A full schedule of virtual workshops and the in-person institute program can be found on the Schedule page.
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The virtual workshops for the NEH Community Deep Mapping Institute (NEH CDMI) continued yesterday with a session devoted to scoping deep mapping projects. During this workshop Institute Directors shared their experiences scoping deep mapping projects like the Keweenaw Time Traveler and the Hamtramck Explorer. Fellows then broke into teams to scope and develop their plans for their own projects. The recording of this virtual workshop and others as they become available can be found on the NEH CDMI Virtual Workshops & Asynchronous Modules webpage. A full schedule of virtual workshops and the in-person institute program can be found on the Schedule page.
The virtual workshops for the NEH Community Deep Mapping Institute (NEH CDMI) began yesterday with orientation for fellows and directors. Over 40 people participated in the first of the virtual workshop sessions. During the orientation workshop directors shared the key goals for the Institute, outlined plans for the upcoming virtual workshops, and shared details with fellows about the immersive in-person institute taking place mid-July up in the Keweenaw. Fellows then had the opportunity to share their visions for their deep mapping projects. Fellows from the 9 project teams described the scope of their projects, as well as the benefits their projects would have for local stakeholders, academics, and the broader public. The recording of this virtual workshop and others as they become available can be found on the NEH CDMI Virtual Workshops & Asynchronous Modules webpage. A full schedule of virtual workshops and the in-person institute program can be found on the Schedule page.
Fellows for the 2025 NEH Community Deep Mapping Institute (NEH CDMI), hosted by Michigan Tech University and Wayne State University, have been announced! This year’s cohort consists of 9 projects spread across the Western hemisphere ranging from Sao Paulo Brazil to Foothills county Alberta. The application process was competitive: Institute directors received proposals from a total of 1086 applicants and were able to support 23 in-person fellows, a 2% acceptance rate. This year's fellows have a variety of affiliations including academia, museums, heritage institutions, and Tribal and municipal governments and represent 13 different disciplines and professional backgrounds. .
Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in half a dozen virtual workshops before attending the two week immersive in-person institute in the Keweenaw in mid-July. More information about the institute schedule can be found here. Explore the webmap below to learn more about each project accepted this year. A detailed list of fellows and projects can be found on the NEH CDMI 2025 Fellows page. This post was written by Audrey Jiang, a long-time resident of Houghton and current sophomore at Yale University. She worked with Dr. Sarah Fayen Scarlett to complete this project.
I am pleased to report that the contents of the Copper Country Architects website has been entered into the Keweenaw Time Traveler! The Copper Country Architects website, which can be visited here, is an extensive online biographical index of architects who worked in the region and their respective buildings. The highlight of the website is the historical research about each building, which can be sorted by time period, location, and type. These architectural historical profiles were researched and written by Professor Kim Hoagland and students in her SS3515 History of American Architecture course mostly completed in 2006 and augmented in following years. My project builds on their previous work by mapping the information from the Copper Country Architects profiles in location-specific stories in the Keweenaw Time Traveler. Just enter the keywords “CC Architects” into the KeTT search bar, and you will be greeted with a torrent of story entries – chock-full of information about the history, purpose, and design of 150 buildings in the Keweenaw. All of these story entries have been carefully placed on their respective historic maps – which is the magic of the Keweenaw Time Traveler. Here, in this environment, visitors can sift through different layers of a rich storied landscape, with the ability to see how it has changed and continues to change.
The work for the project started by condensing the information from the CC Architects profile of each building into a few sentences for each Keweenaw Time Traveler story point. The content of the profiles vary widely — some are very brief, others very long. For example, in the profile of the Ulseth House below, there is only one paragraph detailing the design of the house. Other profiles, however, such as the profile of the Hugo Field and Lucy Gartner House, read more like lengthy encyclopedia entries. This presented a challenge — how was one to choose the right framework for these entries, considering their differences in content and style?
As I worked, I started to fall back on my two handy tools of narrativization and familiarity. I’ve always believed people connect well to stories that relate to them – as a result, I started looking for familiar details that I could bring out, such that I could trace the arc of a building’s origins to how it became what it is now. I also looked out for specific people or families as anchoring points, so to speak, of a story. I definitely think my experience growing up in the Keweenaw helped me in this respect – I came into the project with a good idea of what people like me might know and be drawn to. After I condensed each of the CC Architects stories, I deposited them into a Google Doc, which was organized by location. Last came the step of entering all of these Google Doc entries into the Keweenaw Time Traveler itself. While not “that difficult” by any means, finding the buildings among the interconnected web of map, icon, and text sometimes required an underrated kind of care and patience. In this task, however, I also felt like I really started to understand the appeal of the Time Traveler – yes, sometimes you may have to search extremely closely for what you are looking for, but in the process of doing so, you get to experience the complexities of many real-world stories in one virtual space.
I came into this project with the mindset of creating engaging stories for others. What I didn’t expect, though, was how those stories would imprint themselves onto me. Suddenly, buildings that I had seen almost all my life weren’t just “that building there,” they were “St. Anne’s Church from my architects project.” I remember walking past the Blum Building in Calumet with a friend, and experiencing the shock of recognition when I saw its distinctive red and gold color scheme. In some sense, trying to create familiar stories for other people familiarized me with the structures of my own life. In addition to a newfound appreciation for the local area, it was also eye-opening to see a different kind of history than the type I’m used to doing. Nowadays, I spend a lot of time in a distant place, reading histories of distant times and regions. It’s nice to get a taste of history that is more intimate, more grounded in my own life and surroundings. So here’s to bringing history closer to communities! Big thanks to the Michigan Tech Social Sciences Department, and especially Dr. Sarah Fayen Scarlett, for making this possible! (And please do check out both the entries on the Time Traveler and the Copper Country Architects website!
 Members of the Keweenaw Time Traveler team attended the 2024 annual meeting of the Social Science History Association in Toronto, Ontario this past week. The Time Traveler team presented a vast array of work at the conference. These presentations included ‘Interpreting the Absent: The Use of Digital Story Trails and Deep Mapping to Resurrect a Former Lumber Mill Landscape’ presented by Dr. James Juip and Dr. Don Lafreniere, ‘Francophone Labour and Migrations in and Out of the Industrial Keweenaw Peninsula’ presented by Dr. Don Lafreniere, Dr. Sarah Fayen Scarlett, and Gary Spikberg. Dr. Don Lafreniere also participated in ‘People and Urban Spaces: A Round Table in Honour of Sherry Olson'. Dr. Olson is Professor Emerita in the Department of Geography at McGill University and is a seminal scholar within the field of historical geography. Dr. Olson’s work has directly impacted the vision and shape of the Keweenaw Time Traveler and many other historical geospatial projects.
 The Keweenaw Time Traveler is partnering with Wayne State University and Michigan Tech University's Social Sciences Department on a pioneering project that will bring together scholars, students and professionals from around the world to explore the emerging field of deep mapping. The joint initiative, called the NEH Community Deep Mapping Institute, will be led by the Keweenaw Time Traveler, and the Hamtramck Spatial Archaeology Project teams and is supported by a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The Institute will run for one year, beginning in January 2025. It will operate virtually throughout the year and also includes an immersive, two-week on-site component that will take place in the Keweenaw Peninsula and at Michigan Technological University in July 2025 and aims to host a diverse group of 40 fellows from around the world. The Institute will fund fellows or teams of fellows who wish to learn the range of skills necessary to create their own public-facing deep map. The goal being to create a diverse group of fellows including students, early career to senior scholars, and professionals in history and heritage who work with public audiences including public historians, interpreters, and those who work in museums, parks, and historic sites and houses. Applicants selected to be fellows will receive a stipend to support travel to and from the Keweenaw. Fellows will be in residence at the Laurium Manor Inn during their time in the region. You can learn more about the criteria and apply for a fellowship on the Deep Mapping Institute website!  More News on the NEH Deep Mapping Institute On Thursday night Ph.D. candidate James Juip joined Chassell Historical Organization President Keith Meyers in a presentation the Chassell Historic Trail. The presentation took place in the ballroom of the Chassell Heritage Center to an audience over 30 community members. Keith and James discussed the importance of collaboration between the Chassell Historical Organization, the Keweenaw Time Traveler, Michigan Technological University's departments of Social Sciences and Humanities, and Chassell Schools in completing this project.
The trail shares the, often overlooked, story of the lumber milling operations in Chassell. The Keweenaw Time Traveler not only helps guests visualize the former mill landscape through historic maps, but also works to interpret the site for children through a digital storybook trail. 'Stanley the Strawberry's Great Adventure' is designed to engage young children in the history of the lumber industry in Chassell. In this short children's book Stanley the Strawberry discovers this forgotten past with the help of Sheila the Shingle and friends. Work on the trail was extensive. It involved historical research and site archeology done by members of the Michigan Technological University Social Sciences Department. Chassell Township School students helped design the interpretive signs based on this research. A generous grant from the John and Melissa Besse Foundation made this work possible. The grand opening of the trail took place in July, 2023. The trail is free and open to all. 
 Anishinabe youth from across the Lake Superior Region have made their way to Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College to attend a Geospatial Summer Camp that is taking place over the next two weeks. This camp focuses on developing computer literacy and Geospatial skills to help solve community identified problems. The camp integrates these technical skills with traditional teachings, cultural practices, and public engagement methods to develop a uniquely Indigenous approach to GIS. Students are engaging with lessons developed by Ph.D. Candidate James Juip that uses the Keweenaw Time Traveler to not only develop their geospatial skills but learn about the past and how it shapes our present landscapes. Students are taking the lessons they learn to develop their own storymaps that share their experiences as Indigenous youth. This camp will continue to run each summer. For more information about these unique experiences and how you can be involved contact Courtney Kowalczak, Environmental Institute Director, [email protected]
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