The NDSU Archives is offering you a glimpse of how Fargo looked a century ago.
A new project by the NDSU Archives is combining history with geography through Historypin.com. The dynamic website allows users to “pin” historic photographs onto a Google map. The site gives viewers the opportunity to see historic photographs superimposed onto the current Google street view map, and compare what present buildings looked like in the past.
Historypin was created by the non-profit organization We Are What We Do in partnership with Google to allow archives, libraries, schools and individuals from around the world to share historic photos to tell the story of the past.
So far, the NDSU Archives has uploaded five collections of photographs ranging from 1876 to 2009. They include the NDSU/NDAC campus, Hawthorne neighborhood, Clara Barton neighborhood, downtown district and the tornado of 1957. Additional collections will be added over time to cover other parts of North Dakota. Visit the Historypin Web page at www.historypin.com/channels/view/id/12313037.
Contact archivist Trista Raezer or archives associate John Hallberg with questions or comments at 231-8914 or NDSU.library.archives@ndsu.edu.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.