Ella’s story map looks over the history and development of St. Louis’ Forest Park and the significance of the 1904 World’s Fair held in Forest Park. I already knew a bit about the 1904 World’s Fair from Dr. Averett’s class on St. Louis but this piece revolving more around the history and layout of the park alone was incredibly interesting. The map shows a recreation of the original layout of the exhibits and stages of the 1904 World’s Fair that was themed around the hundredth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.
The story map does a great job of showing the reconstruction of the park and how it was transformed into the fairgrounds, as well as showing and explaining a lot of the main attractions of the fair. Along with detailed historical commentary, the visuals of the story map and the maps themselves were pleasing all following a red yellow, and cream theme. The entire presentation was easy on the idea and easy to read which was a massive plus.
I think it was smart how you waited to introduce the racial hierarchy theme of the fair to show that the fair was not some glittering festival, but something that attempted to glorify white, Western culture and paint other groups as primitive.
The one large thing I would toggle is the zoom of the map because without really interacting with the map the viewer wouldn’t be able to figure out what each building was. Once I zoomed in, again, I thought the map was amazing. I also think it would have helped if you did certain spotlights on buildings or exhibits to really magnify their role in the fair and maybe also add some personal accounts from fair goers to add to the uniqueness.
Overall I thought this was a really good project and I enjoyed learning about a city and an event that I tend to not think about.
Great feedback Hank!