Writ Large

Writ Large tells the story of New York City’s educational past in space and time. The web application locates the many and varied sites of teaching and learning in the built environment that have been an integral part of neighborhood life and the transformation of the city over time. To support new historical perspectives about education and the city, Writ Large connects sites found on the map with relevant archival collections.

In 2017, Professor Bette Weneck of Teacher’s College sought to enhance her History of Education in New York City course by deepening interaction with archival collections and helping students interpret educational patterns and practices through data visualizations. The Provost’s Office funded her proposal to create a digital active learning mapping tool that supported student research.

In collaboration with Professor Weneck, the CTL worked to create an intuitive interface for searching and pinpointing locations on a map. The application uses historical Sanborn map layers to reveal how a neighborhood and its teaching and learning sites changed over time. A hierarchical graph shows connections between sites, such as a primary school with preschool and playground offshoots.

Professor Weneck’s students piloted the application by first surveying an assigned neighborhood through original archival research and secondary readings, then populating the sites of teaching and learning in Writ Large. In the process, students rediscovered the city’s history and how education contributed and shaped its people. Students also publicized archival resources that could be used to support new research.

In Weneck’s words, Writ Large fulfilled its mission to “draw students’ attention to what lies at the margins of knowledge about the city’s educational history, and to involve them directly in correcting the historical record.”