youryongestreet — the crowd sourced archive begins to fill up
The Toronto Library's youryongestreet project has been up and running for just over two months now and stories and other items are beginning to fill up the empty expanses along the map. As I wrote in the Toronto Star in October of Yonge:
It’s quintessentially Toronto and representative of nearly every architectural style, shape, and size that make up this city, from shiny skyscraper to the one or two-storey “messy urbanism” that characterizes so many of our streets.
It’s also one of the few streets in Toronto that runs from downtown to the city limits, then deep into the 905 and beyond. It’s everybody’s street; a unifying symbol in a city artificially divided by politics.
The Toronto Public Library recently launched youryongestreet, a participatory online exhibit of people, places, and events where anyone can upload their stories, documents, maps, pictures and videos connected to Yonge St.
I've excerpted a bits of the opening chapter of my book Stroll: Psychogeogrphic Walking Tours of Toronto along the map. My long Yonge Street stroll, from bottom to top, is what I consider my most important chapter for the above mentioned reasons. Most Torontonians' lives have touched the street in some way. Add what you did, or what you saw, because if you don't no one else will know.
One thought on “youryongestreet — the crowd sourced archive begins to fill up”
Shawn:
My Mother, Gabrielle Robert-Klein, was commissioned to design and make a quilt for the last big anniversary of Yonge street. I don’t know where it is kept and I don’t know if asking her would give us an answer (she suffers from dementia). At the time she was the president of the Etobicoke Quilters’ Guild. She also designed and put together a quilt in 1991/92 for an anniversary of the City of Toronto. I believe that quilt is kept in the library at Metro Hall.
Reagrds,
Yvonne Penney