The Official Blog of the Urban History Association
By Lawrence T. Brown In his critical essay “The Tyranny of the Map: Rethinking Redlining,” historian Robert Gioielli asserted that many people have developed a distorted view of the Residential Security Maps drafted by the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC). Gioielli warned that HOLC maps often obscure the role of local actors in drafting and enforcing […]
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By William Gourlay In February 1923, following the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the founders of modern Turkey assembled to formulate their next steps. Mustafa Kemal, the leader of the Turkish Nationalist Movement that had recently defeated an invading Greek force, delivered the opening address at a “national conference” in the Aegean port city of […]
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The Metropole Bookshelf is an opportunity for authors of forthcoming or recently published books to let the UHA community know about their new work in the field. By Gordon Mantler In the winter of 1983, civil rights veteran and activist Al Raby wrote “The Meaning of Harold Washington’s Campaign,” an essay in which he attempted […]
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Begun initially as a blog in 2015, before expanding to include photographs, maps, and other historical artifacts, Building the Black Press explores the publishing plants, corporate offices, and production spaces used by Black periodicals and their contributors from the nineteenth century to the present day. It highlights why Black press buildings matter—as sites of historic […]
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Picturing Urban Renewal is a history of urban renewal from the bottom up. The urban renewal story typically is told from the perspective of politicians and urban planners. This website gives voice to displaced residents and business owners, community activists, reporters, gentrifiers, and construction workers, as well as to politicians and planners. The goal of […]
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By Amanda Page When I’m asked to offer an example of digital humanities, I point directly to the Scioto Historical website and app. It is a repository of much historical information about Portsmouth, Ohio, and Scioto County—of which the city is the seat. The county is home to approximately 73,000 people, and Portsmouth can claim […]
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The original The Valley of the Shadow website launched thirty years ago and is often cited as among the first digital humanities projects on the web. Two communities in the Great Valley, one in the North and one in the South, are documented in a database of public records, newspapers, correspondence, images, maps, and other […]
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“The Windy City,” “The City of Big Shoulders,” and even “Second City” have long been nicknames ascribed to one of the nation’s premier, but often overlooked, metropolises: Chicago. The capital of the Midwest has served as home for any number of immigrant groups over the course of the twentieth century – Poles, Czechs, and Irish […]
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Riismandel, Kyle. Neighborhood of Fear: The Suburban Crisis in American Culture 1975-2001. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. Reviewed by Davy Knittle In July of 1981, six-year-old Adam Walsh was kidnapped while his mother shopped at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida. Adam’s remains were found two weeks later in a canal just over 130 […]
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Just a reminder to graduate students to submit a piece to the UHA/The Metropole Graduate Student Blogging Contest, one of our favorite annual features. Where else can you reach a wide audience of urban historians eager to read about the innovative new directions current students are pushing urban history? Submission deadline is July 15, 2023. […]
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