Big announcement!
An exciting and important update: I’m very pleased to announce that OldInsuranceMaps.net is now officially a Charter Project of OpenStreetMap US! OSM US is a US-based non-profit that supports the community of mappers around OpenStreetMap, as well as numerous tools and websites related to open mapping efforts. As part of the Charter Project program, OldInsuranceMaps.net is now affiliated with OSM US’s 501(c)(3) status, which not only makes it possible for people and organizations to make tax-deductible donations, but will further open the door to more grant opportunities and partnerships down the road. Also, OSM US already includes two other fantastic community-focused history projects, OpenHistoricalMap and Yesterdays, so joining the network brings a multiplier effect to this whole digital public history stack.
Having an Advisory Board
Another change I’m especially looking forward to is that as a Charter Project, we need to have an Advisory Board to guide the direction of our work going forward. While I’ve enjoyed being in charge of everything, mostly, the project and its community continues to grow and the landscape around it continues to change so it will really strengthen the whole effort to have a wider range of stakeholders involved with decision-making.
I’m happy to say that Riley Champine, Associate Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond has agreed to join the Advisory Board, so for now it will be the two of us, with plans to add another member within a year. Since the fall of 2023, Riley has led a massive effort using OIM, which, as part of an NIH-funded research project led by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, has had dozens of DSL students georeferencing tens of thousands of Sanborn maps. Riley is an enthusiastic mapper and cartographic storyteller and it will be wonderful to have him aboard. Welcome, Riley!
What’s coming next?
Well, stay tuned! We have some organizing to do and plenty of good tickets to work on for now… But this move to OSM US will cause no changes to how people can access and contribute to the platform.
In the meantime, we would love to hear from you in the #oldinsurancemaps channel of the OpenStreetMap US Slack, on Bluesky or the Fediverse, or just write a good old-fashioned email: hello@oldinsurancemaps.net.
A bit of reflection
When I started this project in grad school, I didn’t set out to create something that would exist long-term. I wanted to try building a new approach to crowdsourced historical map georeferencing, and then test it out on a set of maps that I had long admired, old fire insurance maps. Since then, and especially over the past few years, the whole thing has turned into something that I now think does deserve a permanent home, due not so much to my own efforts as to the wide range of personal and institutional interest that the project has drawn from people around the country.
I have always seen OIM as an engine for open data, community engagement, and research, rather than a commercial endeavor, and likewise hoped that the next chapter of the project could retain these values. As I’ve gotten to know the OpenStreetMap community, through OpenHistoricalMap, Yesterdays, and all the people these projects have brought to OIM, I’ve found plenty of overlap in the OSM US ethos with what I had always envisioned for the project. Plus, as a national organization full of technical resources and smart, energetic people, I couldn’t be happier for OSM US to be the foundation for whatever comes next.
Credit where its due
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the many partnerships that have given this project life, especially the ISR / DSL teams for hosting and development funding, and the Midlo Center here in New Orleans whose collaboration has made it possible to get people together for georeference-a-thons and some good old fashioned local history fun. Many more of these to come!
Also, the individuals (hopefully some are reading this) who have gotten in touch over the years to either donate a bit of money or just send encouraging words. Even the shortest emails like “as an amateur local history geek, I find this work amazing” meant a lot, especially early on when things were slow.
This is all to say that if you have ever sent some money over, been part of an event, or even just said something positive about the project, in those moments you became part of it and helped make it better. So thank you! Forward!
