StoryMap

Welcome to the Providence Waterways StoryMap! We are excited to share our passion for the waterways of Providence with you, through history, narratives, short stories, images and fun facts. This interactive StoryMap puts the power in your hands; to explore it however you want to. Why? One idea kept jumping up and waving to us throughout the evolution of this project: connection.

The Providence Waterways project began during a time when many of us were struggling to feel connected – to each other, to our friends and families, communities, and nature around us. It was a time of isolation and worry. The idea of connectedness became an antidote to that as we thought together about all of the ways water connects people to each other: past, present and future. Through themes from public health to immigration, labor to industrialization and spirituality to our everyday chores, water is ever-present.

It is exactly this powerful connection that we hope for you too, as you explore this StoryMap in the way that best suits your needs. Reading at home? Yes. Going out to visit the sites? Wonderful. A little of both? Perfect. You can immerse in this StoryMap as a group, or by yourself. You can read every word and view every image, or jump around, following your own curiosity. We hope this will lead you to participate in our prompts, share your stories, and help us expand on this project because it’s not done! This is just the beginning. By participating in the project, you can become part of it, too.

So, please, dive into our StoryMap (click the button below), swim around in these ideas and take a cool drink of the stories we have gathered for you!
Visit The StoryMap

Welcome to the Providence Waterways StoryMap! We are excited to share our passion for the waterways of Providence with you, through history, narratives, short stories, images and fun facts. This interactive StoryMap puts the power in your hands; to explore it however you want to. Why? One idea kept jumping up and waving to us throughout the evolution of this project: connection.

The Providence Waterways project began during a time when many of us were struggling to feel connected – to each other, to our friends and families, communities, and nature around us. It was a time of isolation and worry. The idea of connectedness became an antidote to that as we thought together about all of the ways water connects people to each other: past, present and future. Through themes from public health to immigration, labor to industrialization and spirituality to our everyday chores, water is ever-present.

It is exactly this powerful connection that we hope for you too, as you explore this StoryMap in the way that best suits your needs. Reading at home? Yes. Going out to visit the sites? Wonderful. A little of both? Perfect. You can immerse in this StoryMap as a group, or by yourself. You can read every word and view every image, or jump around, following your own curiosity. We hope this will lead you to participate in our prompts, share your stories, and help us expand on this project because it’s not done! This is just the beginning. By participating in the project, you can become part of it, too.

So, please, dive into our StoryMap (click the button below), swim around in these ideas and take a cool drink of the stories we have gathered for you!
Visit The StoryMap

Welcome to the Providence Waterways StoryMap! We are excited to share our passion for the waterways of Providence with you, through history, narratives, short stories, images and fun facts. This interactive StoryMap puts the power in your hands; to explore it however you want to. Why? One idea kept jumping up and waving to us throughout the evolution of this project: connection.

The Providence Waterways project began during a time when many of us were struggling to feel connected – to each other, to our friends and families, communities, and nature around us. It was a time of isolation and worry. The idea of connectedness became an antidote to that as we thought together about all of the ways water connects people to each other: past, present and future. Through themes from public health to immigration, labor to industrialization and spirituality to our everyday chores, water is ever-present.

It is exactly this powerful connection that we hope for you too, as you explore this StoryMap in the way that best suits your needs. Reading at home? Yes. Going out to visit the sites? Wonderful. A little of both? Perfect. You can immerse in this StoryMap as a group, or by yourself. You can read every word and view every image, or jump around, following your own curiosity. We hope this will lead you to participate in our prompts, share your stories, and help us expand on this project because it’s not done! This is just the beginning. By participating in the project, you can become part of it, too.

So, please, dive into our StoryMap (click the button below), swim around in these ideas and take a cool drink of the stories we have gathered for you!
Visit The StoryMap
The Providence Waterways StoryMap is best when viewed on a desktop (not a mobile device)

Editors

Further Reading: Why Pronouns Matter
TRACI PICARD (she/her/hers)
Lead Researcher and Editor, Providence Waterways

Traci Picard is most engaged by curiosity and questions. Working as a public historian, she is more interested in why we tell the stories we do than exactly what date the “important events” happened on. She got into this project out of a deep love for the waterways of Providence and an excitement about the many ways water can lead us into other conversations.

Traci serves as co-chair of the Snowtown Research Team and takes on project-based research work. Her abiding passions are collaboration, walking and urban nature, and her top research interests are maritime medicine; the historic convergence of African, Indigenous and European medical knowledge; and all aspects of labor history. You can often find Traci in her delightfully overgrown West End backyard with a stack of books, her trusty Catahoula companion and a handy camera.

SAM COREN (he/him/they/them)
Researcher and Editor, Providence Waterways

Sam Coren is a public scholar, creative practitioner, and PhD candidate with a lifelong interest in the history and nature(s) of cities. They are currently working on a dissertation titled Watershed Metropolis: A Fifty-Year History of Rhode Island’s Urban Rivers. Sam has also exhibited as a research-based artist at sites in Providence and upstate New York, exploring humans’ relationships to distressed landscapes.

Editors

Further Reading: Why Pronouns Matter
TRACI PICARD (she/her/hers)
Lead Researcher and Editor, Providence Waterways

Traci Picard is most engaged by curiosity and questions. Working as a public historian, she is more interested in why we tell the stories we do than exactly what date the “important events” happened on. She got into this project out of a deep love for the waterways of Providence and an excitement about the many ways water can lead us into other conversations.

Traci serves as co-chair of the Snowtown Research Team and takes on project-based research work. Her abiding passions are collaboration, walking and urban nature, and her top research interests are maritime medicine; the historic convergence of African, Indigenous and European medical knowledge; and all aspects of labor history. You can often find Traci in her delightfully overgrown West End backyard with a stack of books, her trusty Catahoula companion and a handy camera.

SAM COREN (he/him/they/them)
Researcher and Editor, Providence Waterways

Sam Coren is a public scholar, creative practitioner, and PhD candidate with a lifelong interest in the history and nature(s) of cities. They are currently working on a dissertation titled Watershed Metropolis: A Fifty-Year History of Rhode Island’s Urban Rivers. Sam has also exhibited as a research-based artist at sites in Providence and upstate New York, exploring humans’ relationships to distressed landscapes.

Editors

Further Reading: Why Pronouns Matter
TRACI PICARD (she/her/hers)
Lead Researcher and Editor, Providence Waterways

Traci Picard is most engaged by curiosity and questions. Working as a public historian, she is more interested in why we tell the stories we do than exactly what date the “important events” happened on. She got into this project out of a deep love for the waterways of Providence and an excitement about the many ways water can lead us into other conversations.

Traci serves as co-chair of the Snowtown Research Team and takes on project-based research work. Her abiding passions are collaboration, walking and urban nature, and her top research interests are maritime medicine; the historic convergence of African, Indigenous and European medical knowledge; and all aspects of labor history. You can often find Traci in her delightfully overgrown West End backyard with a stack of books, her trusty Catahoula companion and a handy camera.

SAM COREN (he/him/they/them)
Researcher and Editor, Providence Waterways

Sam Coren is a public scholar, creative practitioner, and PhD candidate with a lifelong interest in the history and nature(s) of cities. They are currently working on a dissertation titled Watershed Metropolis: A Fifty-Year History of Rhode Island’s Urban Rivers. Sam has also exhibited as a research-based artist at sites in Providence and upstate New York, exploring humans’ relationships to distressed landscapes.

Contributors

Click the button beneath each contributor’s photo to learn more about them!
Eric Weis
Richard Blodgett
Mike Jarbeau Arnold
Casey Merkle
Ira Picard
Rekha Rosha
H. Scott Alexander
Greg Gerritt
Dr. Tiara Moore
Aimee Bachari
Sylvia Ann Soares

Contributors

Click the button beneath each contributor’s photo to learn more about them!
Eric Weis
Richard Blodgett
Mike Jarbeau Arnold
Casey Merkle