Written by Julianna Witt and Catherine Cubera
The Archives and Rare Books Library is excited to announce a new ARB digital exhibition that has been completed and is now accessible online. This digital exhibition was a part of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People project to process and create a finding aid for the NAACP Bronson v. Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati records through the National Historical Publications & Records Commission grant we received in November 2024.
Created through the use of ArcGIS StoryMaps, this new digital exhibition curated by Catherine Cubera, Christopher Harter and Julianna Witt gives users the opportunity to learn more about the collection virtually. StoryMaps, a story-authoring platform, allows for an interactive and engaging experience for users, combining digital narrative capabilities of platforms like WordPress or Omeka, but with additional features such as embedded timelines and dynamic, customizable maps. These capabilities made StoryMaps an ideal platform for bringing the Bronson exhibit to life. For example, by using this technology, we were able to design an interactive map that uses embedded cartographic points to highlight the nineteen suburban Cincinnati school districts involved in the Bronson court case, helping to create spatial context and greater meaning for users as they make their way through the digital exhibit.
The focus of the exhibit is on the context surrounding the case, the history of the case and key figures and events. The exhibition is broken down by a history of segregation in Cincinnati Public School, an interactive map on the suburban school districts that were involved, biographical information on the expert witnesses, notes on the settlement agreement and a timeline of key events leading up to the case filing and turning points throughout the ten-year legal battle. To supplement the digital exhibition, there are photographs of key documents and links to previous blog posts, the completed finding aid, ARB’s online catalog and the initial press release announcing the project.
The NAACP Bronson v. Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati exhibition will be a permanent addition to ARB’s and the University of Cincinnati Libraries websites.
The Bronson v. Board collection contains the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP’s records related to the case, including correspondence, court filings, background research on segregation in education in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, the conditions of schools, curriculum and how the Cincinnati Public Schools addressed the decree that was agreed upon as a result of the case.
This project has been made possible in part by grant RH-104772-24 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this blog post do not necessarily represent those of the NHPRC.