Making Meaning at Historic Places (2026-2027)
Background
Recent trends in interpreting historic landscapes and sites have become more expansive in at least two important ways. First, more sites are being considered worthy of active interpretation. Second, more emphasis is being placed on actively involving community stakeholders in making meaning at these sites. This is true of “official” historic sites, such as state-run monuments and historic houses, and also of sites whose meaning is being reclaimed or reinterpreted, such as neglected African American grave sites. One common thread running through this interpretative trend centers around interpreting historic places and landscapes based on social and environmental justice, along with closely related themes like reparative justice and reconciliation.
Project Description
The project team will examine the interrelationship between historical evidence, experience of place and social and environmental justice. What is distinctive about social and environmental justice in the experiential context of a place, building or landscape? How do these ideas function on the level of individual identity and community-building? In addition to the physical sites themselves, how can digital methods extend our understanding and recover environments that no longer exist?
Now in its second year, this year’s “Making Meaning at Historic Places” Bass Connections project will expand on the research and outputs from the previous year’s research on Catawba Trail Farm. The project will also expand the research focus to include new historic places and a larger chronological focus made possible by using AI technology. The team will conduct primary research relating to labor at Duke Homestead and its connections with the surrounding community. The project may also include a third site in neighboring Hillsborough, NC.
During 2025-2026, research focused on Catawba Trail Farm, a site owned and operated by Urban Community AgriNomics (UCAN). UCAN is a non-profit organization that builds community and addresses food insecurity in Durham through community gardening at Catawba Trail Farm. Though they do not operate Catawba Trail Farm as a traditional historic site, the directors of UCAN are interested in reclaiming the history of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the property as part of their community-building efforts. Projects included oral histories of UCAN founders, the identification of historical topics, and prototypes for possible exhibit development. We also piloted using AI for the transcription of selected digitized plantation-era records and the creation of relational databases.
Previous research in this area has focused on Bennett Place – an N.C. State Historic Site in Durham known for an important Civil War surrender – seeking to expand its stories and history to include Native Americans, environmental history and the development of Bennett Place as a memorial site. Over the past two years, students have worked with archival and digitized primary sources to create StoryMaps, a digital walking tour and a prototype pop-up traveling exhibit related to Bennett Place. They are also creating a dataset digitizing James Bennett’s early-19th-century account book.
Anticipated Outputs
- Primary historical research on Catawba Train Farm and Duke Homestead
- Analog and digital projects including databases, StoryMaps and virtual walking tours for each site on the North Carolina Lives and Legacies website
- “Pop-up” public exhibit
- New content for possible use in revised exhibitions in historic site visitor centers
Student Opportunities
Ideally, this project team will include two graduate students and six undergraduate students interested in history, anthropology, literature, sociology and/or computer science. Students should have interests or backgrounds in digital storytelling, public history and humanities, social and environmental justice or environmental history.
Team members will develop skills in group work, historical research and digital storytelling. Students will conduct historical research using primary and secondary sources, gain familiarity with digital storytelling methods and learn data management skills such as the importance of controlled vocabulary and data entry protocols. Team members will have the chance to engage with community organizations and stakeholders. Graduate students will have the opportunity to participate in project planning, lead subteams and produce historiographic essays and other content to further the goals of the project.
All students will have the opportunity to travel to field sites in North Carolina and Virginia.
Timing
Fall 2026 – Spring 2027
Fall 2026:
- Discuss reading, syllabus, and introductory activities
- Introduce research process
- Travel to historic sites and library special collections
- Meet with historic site staff
- Work on individual and small group assignments
- Create preliminary progress reports
Spring 2027:
- Review and adjust assignments
- Travel to historical sites of conscience in Virginia
- Prepare symposium materials, web page materials and project documentation
Crediting
Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters
See earlier related team, Making Meaning at Historic Places (2025-2026).