VSU HistoryPin is Here!
The high volume of Freshmen Studies users gave me a bee in my bonnet about giving wider access to large groups of people. Being an archives, sometimes we do not have enough of the resource to go around at the exact moment someone needs it. With only one or two copies of some things, including print materials, I thought about ways to share information students are looking for.
HistoryPin seemed to be a good answer. It’s a website that allows you to upload photographs (that you have in your copyright. And lets you retain your copyright.) and “pin” them to a Google Map. You are also able to write a story blurb about the photograph. Also exciting is that it allows people who view the photographs to add their own stories.
Since all our freshmen visitors were searching for buildings on campus, I decided to take historic photographs of campus and campus buildings and pin them. Each has basic information– when was the building erected? What was it originally used for? Who was it named for?– the most basic information that the students are looking at. At the very least, if the blurb doesn’t cover everything a student is looking for, it will provide the basic information for them to begin a more in-depth search.
With the building photographs, I created two “Collections”– one is of the historical buildings on campus, the second one is “Yesterday and Today” which will show buildings as they appeared through time- from the earliest photograph we have up to their current appearance.
Up next? The possibilities are endless. I plan on highlighting student activities, campus activities. There will be a “campus tour” using the buildings. It may take a little bit of time with everything else we have to do, but I hope it will become a useful tool for our students to learn about campus life at VSU in years past.
VSU Special Collections and University Archives | Historypin.
