Pinning History: My Experiences with History Pin

In last week’s class we discussed the power of digital photographs and audio clips in history. We were tasked with the assignment of “pinning” historical photographs onto modern maps using the website “History Pin.” The site is a community of shared glimpses into the past with pictures, audio clips, and video. Anything can be pinned to the map and help communities across generations come together and learn about the past.

Last week I was feeling particularly nostalgic and homesick and I decided to focus my interests on Saskatchewan when pinning. First, I wanted to show the construction of the Delta Bessborough in my hometown of Saskatoon. The hotel began construction at the beginning of the Depression and due to the financial downturn of the decade it was several years later that the hotel was official opened. It has become a landmark in Saskatoon’s downtown core and a site for many conferences, music festivals, and weddings since.

I had some issues with pinning the image using street view. First, the street view image of the Bes had a fish-eye filter on it, warping the turrets at the top of the hotel. Second, after I thought I was finished and saved my image I went to check my work and found the image nowhere near the location I was certain I had pinned it. After a little fiddling I was reach a final product I was happy with.

Delta Bessborough 1931

Faded out Historical Image

Despite how handy it is to have the ability to see how a building has changed over the course of its construction, I believe that History Pin is fair more beneficial for monuments, buildings, or locations that no longer exist. I decided to pin the Weyburn, Saskatchewan Mental hospital to the map. Bear with me while I get a little sappy. I grew up in Weyburn and one of the coolest and creepiest places I ever went was the old mental hospital there. While I lived in Weyburn, the mental hospital was converted into a number of things, including an old folks’ home. It was a rich part of Weyburn’s heritage but it was becoming a financial strain. In 2008-09 the massive building was torn down. It broke my heart to see that eerie place knocked to the ground. For the Weyburn Mental Hospital, History Pin provides an opportunity to see what it used to look like in its glory days, if you could call them that.

Pinned Image on the map

Street view of Weyburn Mental Hospital today.

However, was bothered me the most about History Pin was that it relies too heavily upon the street system of Google Maps. You can pin an image out in the middle of a field on the map but you won’t be able to pin it to street view because it is not on a street. This is incredibly limiting when considering military historians could greatly benefit from recreating battle fields on modern day landscapes for people to better understand the terrain.

But, I must remind myself that this isn’t necessarily meant for the academic crowd. It’s intended for the general population to interact with each other, to engage with their personal history and their community’s past. All the things I pinned meant something to me and perhaps they mean something to others as well. This is a prime example of digital history become public history and inspiring the public to become part of making history.

To say the least, I have an infatuation with History Pin now and I suspect I’ll be doing a considerable amount of pinning in the future.