There’s an exhibit on display at the Museum of the City of New York currently, a series of photographs that chronicle some of the history of food carts in the Big Apple. It’s an interesting retrospective, a way to think about the “then and now” – the immigrant experience, our changing (and unchanging) dietary habits, the history of New York.
The exhibit made for a great backdrop this evening for the official launch party for HistoryPin, a website that aims to link our personal family histories and photographic records with a larger story and to pin those photos and stories to Google Maps.
Who was here, what was here before us? Where were our families? What did their world look like? What artifacts remain, and how can we connect these cultural remnants to people and places today? These questions can uncover a wealth of information of both personal and cultural value.
HistoryPin has been in beta for a year, a creation of the U.K. non-profit We Are What We Do. HistoryPin officially launches today with the release of its Android app. (An iPhone app is on its way.) The site and the app let you view the history of a particular location, by taking historical photos and pinning them, as the name suggests, to Google Maps. You can also contribute their own photos – both present-day and family heritage photos – to the site.
Article source: RRW http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/readwriteweb/~3/8uyXMqWqawI/historypin_links_past_present_place_photos_in_a_po.php