Call for Volunteers - Immigrant History Trail Committee

The Immigrant History Trail is a participatory placekeeping project seeking to uplift the diverse immigrant, working-class histories of the Chinatown neighborhood.

Our approach:

We will create physical markers that take the idea of an official historical plaque as a point of departure. These can include posters, stickers, road signs, and banners, and they will all ask those who see them to make a phone call. When the number is dialed, the caller will hear a story.

The scattering of signage for the Immigrant History Trail can be experienced as a sort of scavenger hunt. Keep your ears open because maybe you might hear the old shoreline whispering. Would the new shoreline (after years of sea level rise) shout if it could? “Here I am, this is what is coming.” Beach Street could have words of wisdom to offer. Rowhouse bricks might tell you that they’re tired. I am interested in the idea of secretive paths provoking a desire for deeper understanding through walking.

The audio recordings will be original archival documents or new recordings created by a roster of local community members and volunteers. We may voice our own stories, or serve as “voice actors” for a story that resonates with us.

We will also create an online archive that collects historical texts and images relevant to our audio recordings. The website will serve as a repository that invites audience members to retrace our “trail” as a non-linear path around Chinatown.

Call a phone number, receive a message, leave a message.

This story happened here.

Walk 5 steps and look up. Imagine this.

We are currently seeking volunteers to serve on an Immigrant History Trail committee. We will meet once a week between mid-April and September 2021. This committee will help actualize our Immigrant History Trail by aiding with creating voice recordings and making signage to put up across Chinatown. Please sign up using this form and email me at daphne@chinatownclt.org if you have any questions. We will hold an open first meeting on April 22, 2021 at 5-6 PM on Zoom.

移民歷史蹤跡是一個參與性的公共藝術項目，旨在提升唐人街社區各種工人階級移民的歷史。

方法：
我們將會根據官方歷史牌匾設置的標記作為基礎，從而設計自己的標记。這些標記將包括海報、貼紙、路標和橫幅，它們都會向路人顯示可以撥打電話，並且在撥打號碼後，都會接聽到一個有關移民歷史的故事。

移民歷史蹤跡的標記會被隱蔽地散佈在不同的地方，因此可以作為一種尋寶遊戲來體驗。倘若你用心聆聽，您可能會聽到老海岸線的竊竊私語。經過多年海平面上升後的新海岸線會大聲吶喊說：「我在這裡，這就是即將會發生的事了」！海灘（Beach）街可能會提供一些智慧的話語。排屋可能會告訴您它們已很疲累。我對秘密路經的想法很感興趣，因為它們能夠激發人們通過走訪和聆聽來加深對唐人街地域歷史的瞭解。

錄音可以是原始檔案文件，也可以是當地居民或志願者創建的新錄音。我們可以講自己的故事，或者做一個「配音演員」去講述一個與我們有共鳴的故事。

我們還將創建一個在線檔案，以收集與我們的錄音相關的歷史文本和圖像。該網站將作為一個資料庫，邀請讀者通過跟蹤各種不同的行走軌跡來重新瞭解唐人街。

撥打電話號碼，收到信息，然後留言。

這個故事發生在這裡。

走五步，抬頭仰望。想象一下。

我們目前正在尋找志願者，擔任移民歷史之路委員會成員。我們將於2021年4月中旬至9月期間每周舉行一次會議。這個委員會將通過幫助錄音和製作在唐人街的標記來幫助實現我們的移民歷史蹤跡。如果您感興趣或有任何問題，請發郵件到daphne@chinatownclt.org。我們將於2021年4月22日下午5-6點舉行第一次公開會議。