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Project Proposal: The Cultural and Community Impact of the St. Louis City SC on St. Louis

March 4, 2026 / ikoupep

Over the past two years, I’ve noticed how much energy and pride have grown around professional soccer in the St. Louis region. As a college soccer player myself, I’m especially drawn to the rise of St. Louis City SC and the atmosphere surrounding matches at CITYPARK. Soccer has always been part of St. Louis’s identity, but the arrival of a Major League Soccer team seems to have reshaped how the city expresses that identity. This observation led me to think more critically about the relationship between professional sports, community pride, and urban development.

Research Question:
How has the creation of St. Louis City SC influenced local identity, community engagement, and economic development in the St. Louis region?

The problem arises from a broader question about whether professional sports teams truly strengthen local communities or primarily serve commercial interests. While many argue that new stadiums and franchises stimulate economic growth and civic unity, others suggest the benefits are unevenly distributed. I want to examine this tension specifically in the St. Louis context. My approach will frame the team not just as a sports organization, but as a cultural institution that shapes narratives about the city’s future, diversity, and global connection through soccer.

Primary Source:
St. Louis City SC. “About CITY SC.” St. Louis City SC Official Website, 2023, https://www.stlcitysc.com.

This source provides direct insight into how the organization presents its mission, values, and community initiatives.

Secondary Source:
Smith, Andrew Zimbalist. “Sports Facilities and Urban Development.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 10, no. 3, 1996, pp. 95–114.

This article analyzes the economic arguments surrounding professional sports franchises and urban growth, which will help contextualize the St. Louis case.

Proposed Technology:
I plan to create an interactive StoryMap that combines maps, images, and short written analysis. The map will visualize the location of CITYPARK within downtown St. Louis, nearby businesses, and redevelopment projects. By integrating geographic data with narrative, the project will demonstrate how the stadium’s presence reshapes physical and cultural space. This digital format will allow viewers to see spatial relationships and community impact in a way that a traditional essay could not, aligning with the project rubric’s emphasis on argument, sources, and meaningful technological integration.

Data Set Review (Due 3/18)

March 4, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Sometimes we think of data as something that just exists, that we discover or access. But data sets are shaped by the people who create them, who structure them, and who use them. In order to produce visualizations and analysis that are accurate, critical, and transparent about data sources and bias, we have to evaluate our data sets.

Choose a data set from the list below and answer the following questions in about 300-400 words total. The first four questions are about the sources of the data. You can answer these relatively briefly. If you can’t find the answers to any of them, note that in your review. The last questions are about how we can or should use it, challenges with the data, and any perceptible biases in it. These will take more reflection and should accordingly make up the bulk of your review. Submit the review as a blog post on the class website by Wednesday, March 18 at 1:30, with the tag “Data review.”

Data set profile:

Who is credited as the creator and/or contributors of this data set? Who are they?
What are the sources of their data?
Why did they create or compile it?
How has it been used?
What format is the data set in?

Data set evaluation:

Take a look at the data itself. How have they structured it? What fields have they chosen? What effect might that have on how it can be used?
Read the creators’ description of the data set. Have they described the choices they made in cleaning the data, and if so, how? What effect might those choices have on the data?
Consider the creators’ identities and goals in creating the data set. How might those things have shaped the data, either intentionally or inadvertently?
What would you use this data for?

Data sets to choose from:

Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, STL Metro Statistical Area

Monthly and Seasonal Temperatures, St. Louis (since 1874)

Washington Park Cemetery North Reinterment Index

Tombstone Transcription Project (choose a local cemetery that’s been transcribed)

Illinois Landcover in the Early 1800s

If you have another data set you’d like to review instead, please check with me (the earlier, the better).

Project proposal

March 4, 2026 / pbeltra

The topic I want to deep dive into is the culture and history of the loop. If you don’t know what this place is, it is more middle and a bit north in St. Louis. This strip of the city is very unique in culture, music, art, and food. The atmosphere is inviting and a great place to hangout with family and friends. There is art on the sides of buildings or as sculptures along the street. The food there is diverse, with Fitz, a soda and food restaurant, and just nearby is a Japanese cuisine restaurant. There are different music halls that also align with the loop. Whether it is a comedy show, to smooth jazz, or even heavy metal. There is no one left out for their preferred music genre. If you want to bring some music home, there is a record store called Vintage Vinyl where they sell a plethora of different albums and artists that you can take home and listen to on a playing device. I enjoy many of these aspects in my normal daily life, so this is why I chose the subject of the Loop and its many interesting aspects of this, but what is its history, and how did it come to be developed? Here’s how I’m going to figure out this problem: through a timeline. I’m going to go through the history of The Loop and talk about key points of history it was involved in, and how it came to be. Here is my primary source for my project: https://www.scribbr.com/citation/generator/folders/3lmAk5lf42qkEymTjnzBxy/lists/7yaREtpLTLEgLMlRSJyVUt/sources/36FT9xU7o5i7ITYcOazysQ/

This is the main website for the loop, and it touches bases for the history of the loop and what it includes there.

Anderson, Caleb. “The Delmar Loop: St. Louis’s Vibrant Avenue of Culture and Entertainment.” Powell Law Firm, 19 Sept. 2024, www.plfirm.com/post/the-delmar-loop-st-louis-s-vibrant-avenue-of-culture-and-entertainment.

This is a secondary source for my project. It is a blog post from an outside point of view explaining the culture and history of The Loop. This is what I will use to help explain the history and culture of The Loop in St. Louis.

Lab 8: Text Analysis with Voyant

March 4, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Voyant

Voyant is a tool for distant reading. It helps us identify patterns within a text or set of texts (corpus). Today, we’ll use it to take a birds-eye view of how people view communities in the region. Remember that as a quantitative method, distant reading generally asks us to formulate a hypothesis about what we might find when we analyze our texts. So what similarities and differences might you expect about the texts you’ve chosen? You can compare across geography (St. Louis vs. Edwardsville, for instance) or across chronology (St. Louis in 1860 vs. St. Louis today) or some combination thereof.

Choose at least two texts to compare. You can choose from encyclopedia entries in this Google Drive folder, and/or you can use Wikipedia articles (current or older versions). The texts you choose should be about one or more locations in the St. Louis region.
Skim at least one of them and develop a hypothesis about what you might find when you compare your texts.
Input the two texts as a corpus and choose a visualization with which to test your hypothesis.
Write a blog post describing your texts, question, hypothesis, and results.

Project Proposal

March 4, 2026 / kmagada

The Saint Louis Zoo stands out among American zoos for two major reasons: it is free to the public and it consistently ranks among the top zoos in the United States. What drew my attention to this topic is the contrast between its accessibility and its global scientific impact. Many people think of zoos primarily as entertainment venues, but institutions like the Saint Louis Zoo have increasingly positioned themselves as conservation science organizations engaged in wildlife research, habitat restoration, and international species recovery programs. In particular, the Zoo’s WildCare Institute coordinates global conservation centers focused on species such as cheetahs, hornbills, and sea turtles. The shift from exhibition-focused zoos to conservation-driven institutions reflects broader changes in public expectations, animal welfare standards, and environmental urgency in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss.

The main question I’ll use for the story map would be… How have conservation efforts at the Saint Louis Zoo advanced over time, and to what extent do these efforts produce measurable, documented conservation impacts locally and globally?

Rather than asking whether zoos are “good or bad,” this project investigates how conservation is operationalized within a specific institution. It focuses on evidence-based analysis examining research outputs, conservation programs, and species recovery outcomes.

I will make interactive StoryMap (using ArcGIS StoryMaps) that:

Maps global conservation projects led by the Saint Louis Zoo’s WildCare Institute. Visualizes timelines showing how conservation priorities have shifted over time. Incorporates data visualization (charts/graphs) displaying species recovery efforts, breeding programs, and international research sites.

The StoryMap would allow:

Geographic visualization of conservation impact.
Integration of narrative, images, and data.
Clear comparison between local (St. Louis-based) and global conservation efforts.
Public-facing accessibility, reflecting the Zoo’s own emphasis on education.

Sources to use:
Saint Louis Zoo. WildCare Institute Conservation Centers Reports and Species Recovery Documentation.
Official publications, annual reports, and conservation center descriptions available through the Zoo’s website.

Digital Humanities Project Proposal: The Cultural Impact of the St. Louis Blues on St. Louis

March 3, 2026 / typhill

Digital Humanities Project Proposal: The Cultural Impact of the St. Louis Blues on St. Louis

Observation, Background, Context:
I have always been drawn to hockey and the St. Louis Blues, particularly as a fan and participant in the sport. What strikes me as interesting is how a professional sports team can shape the culture, identity, and sense of community of a city over time. The Blues, founded in 1967 as part of the NHL’s expansion into the U.S., have played an important role not only in St. Louis sports history but also in the social and cultural life of the region. The 2019 Stanley Cup victory, for example, was widely celebrated across the city, with lasting impacts on local businesses, fan culture, and civic pride.

Problem:
This observation raises the question: How have the St. Louis Blues influenced the cultural identity and community engagement of St. Louis over time? While much has been written about individual games and players, there is less exploration of the broader impact of the team on the city’s social and cultural landscape. Understanding this can reveal how sports function as a form of local heritage and collective memory.

Frame:
I plan to approach this question by examining the relationship between the team’s historical milestones—championships, iconic players, and community programs—and the city’s cultural response. My point of view is that the Blues are not just a sports franchise but a symbol of regional identity, and their influence can be traced through media, fan engagement, and local history. By combining historical analysis with modern digital tools, I hope to highlight how a sports team can leave a lasting cultural footprint.

Example Sources:

Primary source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives covering the 2019 Stanley Cup victory celebrations (Post-Dispatch, 2019). This provides direct evidence of community response to a major team milestone.
Secondary source: Smith, John. Hockey and City Identity: The Case of the St. Louis Blues. Sports History Journal, 2020. This article uses historical evidence to argue that the Blues have shaped the cultural identity of St. Louis over decades.

Proposed Technology:
I plan to use a storymap to visualize the cultural impact of the St. Louis Blues. This interactive tool will allow me to combine text, images, archival sources, and data on fan events, team milestones, and community initiatives. Through the storymap, viewers can explore how the team’s history intersects with the city’s social and cultural development, making the research both informative and engaging.

Frederick Douglass Speech Annotations

February 26, 2026 / Margaret Smith

In the Google doc containing Frederick Douglass’s speech on the Dred Scott decision, leave at least two to three annotations on the text. These can be anything that you think would make the text easier and more enjoyable to read: explanations of historical references, definitions of unfamiliar words, context that helps explain Douglass’s meaning, and more.

Lab 7: Frederick Douglass Speech

February 25, 2026 / Margaret Smith

Although we often think of corrections to a text when we imagine editing, literary editions serve lots of functions (and very rarely is correction one of them!). Literary editions layer different kinds of information about a text through annotations, including background on the period or place, context from the author’s life and other works, and variants across different editions of the text. In this way, they help to make the text more approachable and help the reader engage with the text more deeply.

In a printed edition, you’ll often encounter these annotations as footnotes. In digital form, they come in lots of shapes and sizes: links to other pages, pop-ups, and digital footnotes that link back and forth between text and annotation.

Today, we’re using the Recovery Hub Digital Edition Template to annotate Frederick Douglass’s speech on the Dred Scott decision. You read this speech last week and made note of areas where further clarification and background might help people understand the text better. Today, we’ll put that into action.

The Recovery Hub’s template is designed to make the process of creating a digital edition simpler. Although there’s lots of code involved, you don’t have to write it! Instead, you can use their existing code and lightly customize it to suit your text. Today, you don’t have to interact with the code at all! But if you’re interested — maybe you want to try your hand at digitizing your family’s recipes, like we talked about last week? — you can find the template on GitHub.

View the edition

Instructions

I’ve set up the project for us by creating a repository for our code and cloning the template. Here are your tasks:

Head over to this Google doc, which contains the speech. Leave a comment on the section of text you’d like to annotate with your proposed annotation and your name. This could be a single word, a phrase, or a sentence. You should add at least three annotations.
We’ll discuss the annotations together and see what themes emerge.
Once you’ve got a sense of the kinds of annotations people have proposed, go back and fill out your annotation. Here are a few points to touch on:
- Why this annotation? What about the text you selected seemed like it needed further engagement?
- Explain the term, concept, or other content.
- Link to at least one external resource.

Article Annotations – Trace Trettenero

February 21, 2026 / ttrette

Smithsonian – STL partnership and black history

Does digitizing these records effect how the public will interpret STL’s history?
Are there significant STL black history gaps this project aims to uncover? or rather just history from the perspective of individuals?
has this been done anywhere else? if so did it succeed?
I think the quote “whether it’s your grandma doing oral history, or it’s a high-school graduation on VHS” does well to represent the many ways history can be captured and conveyed.
I think that if they ran this program through schools or libraries and had students bring things in, it could be both educational and forward the Smithsonian’s goals.

Article Annotations

February 18, 2026 / typhill

-Do digital tools take away the need to visit historical sites for place-based research? To a degree, yes, but also no. Because you can’t totally get that experience without actually visiting or seeing the historical sites. I think that place-based research is important when answering some questions, but others can be answered by digital adaptations.

-Should historians treat digital tools as supplements or as primary research methods? I think they should use digital tools as a supplementary research method because words/things change over time, and it should not be relied on solely.

-Putnam argues that digitalization has fundamentally changed how historians work. They can now jump between databases using keyword searches. In the past, they have spent weeks in a single archive.

-My Takeaway: Putnam is not against or anti-digital tools; she just argues that historians need to be self-aware about how digital tools shape what we see and what we miss.

-How might text-searching change the types of arguments historians construct? (This is a question I would want to hear what people think because I don’t know)