In Summer 2021, Kale Doyen was one of two Digital Scholarship Summer Graduate Interns within the University Library System’s Digital Scholarship Services (DSS). In this program, the Graduate Interns gain experience in the skills of contemporary digital scholarship through project-based work and make a public presentation of their work. As time permits, the Graduate Interns will also have the opportunity to gain experience working with faculty and students as part of the library’s Digital Scholarship Services.
Kale presented her digital exhibition featuring interactive maps and photographs in a Zoom presentation to faculty and students on August 13, 2021. Her exhibition features works from the Lower Hill District and the surrounding Hill District photographed by the PCP leading up to its demolition in 1957. This exhibition aims to recover a more comprehensive visual history of the Lower Hill District than what was presented contemporaneously to the public by redevelopers, the Allegheny Conference for Community Development (ACCD). To gain public support for demolition, the ACCD disseminated photographs of the Lower Hill District that aligned with their quantifications of blight by obscuring the built environment. Photographs from the PCP, by contrast, recover what many residents remember of the neighborhood they defended: populated street scenes, sites of cultural significance, and the broader lived experience of the Lower Hill District.
To explore Kale's project visit https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c5066f95b9cb45ccb11b01135e515807.