Volunteer Assisting Novato Historical Guild

The Novato Historical Guild (NHG) is a membership nonprofit organization founded in 1976. NHG’s mission is to collect, preserve and make available to the public exhibits and information related to the history of the Novato area. Guild volunteers staff the Novato History Museum and the Hamilton Field History Museum in a partnership agreement with the City of Novato. 

The goal of this project was to create two StoryMaps and to train volunteer members of the Novato Historical Guild on how to use the ArcGIS Online platform. The Novato Historical Guild aims to use StoryMaps to create compelling and interactive narratives that are centered on historical events in the City of Novato. Corinne Nidoy, a GISCorps volunteer in Vancouver, was selected for this project.

The Novato Historical Guild (NHG) had a vision to create a collection of StoryMaps to explore the effect that pandemics have had on the City of Novato and its citizens, in particular focusing on the 1918 Spanish Influenza and COVID-19 pandemic. Over the span of two years, NHG had amassed a multitude of news articles, photos, and interviews centered on the effects of these pandemics. Using the raw material, Corinne helped create two StoryMaps: one focusing on the historical impact of the 1918 Spanish Influenza, the other showcasing the COVID-19 pandemic.

NHG StoryMap Collection

A historical map of Old Town Novato was georeferenced and overlaid onto a more recent map from the City of Novato Public Works Department, highlighting Novato’s growth over the last century

Additional phases of the COVID-19 StoryMap will be published by the NHG in the coming months. To support the creation of future phases, Corinne created a StoryMap template that NHG can build upon. During this mission, NHG volunteers underwent training with Corinne to learn more about the ArcGIS Online platform with a focus on StoryMaps. To supplement the training, documentation was created that was tailored specifically to the needs of NHG volunteers to equip them with the tools they need to create more visually appealing stories about Novato and its citizens.

Project completed