American Studies professor Nicole King and her “Preserving Places and Making Spaces in Baltimore” class are currently engaged with rehabilitating the Curtis Bay and Brooklyn communities in South Baltimore. Their current project, “Mapping Baybrook,” uses digital mapping and visualization technologies to convey the history and culture of the Baltimore community referred to as “Baybrook.”
The project was featured in the Maryland Gazette story “Brooklyn Park: College students celebrate Baybrook at Polish Home” on November 21.
“The students went into the community to talk to its residents, and to document and preserve a sense of place and memory of a community that emerged from the Industrial Revolution as not really Baltimore proper and no longer Anne Arundel County,” the aricle says.
“Mapping Baybrook: From Main Street to the Harbor,” an event to share what the students learned, will take place at the Polish Home Hall, at 4416 Fairhaven Ave. on Saturday, December 1st from 1 to 5 PM.
“What people will see and hear are artwork inspired by the community and the recorded voices of residents that will serve as illustrations of the stories that came from Baybrook,” says Moore. The event will also mark the launch of the Mapping Baybrook website, which was designed in collaboration with UMBC’s Imaging Research Center.”
Collin Wojciechowski ’13, who is a student in the class, also wrote a post about the project for UMBC’s Breaking Ground blog.
“The factories have closed and the jobs have left,” said Wojciechowski. “ Oil drums and fly ash piles have replaced the homes along the waterfront. Crime is up and quality of life is down. The once proud residents have moved on or passed on and the main street that once boasted laughing children is now a major trucking throughway for petroleum distributers. The sense of community is just a distant memory. Told to grandchildren like me as a fairy tale.”
Tickets for this event cost $10 and all proceeds will support the nonprofit Baybrook Coalition.
