The Address Book: A Pocket-sized Guide to Gay Freedom

About This Project

Summary

Part of the Hidden Histories series under JOVRNALISM, The Address Book: A Pocket-sized Guide to Gay Freedom is an immersive web-based experience that reimagines Bob Damron’s groundbreaking 1965 travel guide for queer Americans. Through augmented reality portals, photogrammetry-based 3D models, archival media, and spatialized audio, the project revives a hidden map of LGBTQ+ life in mid-century America.

Goals & Objectives

Merging investigative journalism with emerging technologies, it uncovers lost safe spaces and coded networks of survival, offering a powerful reflection on community, resilience, and the ongoing fight for visibility in the history of queer communities.

Results & Impact

This project sparked public interest in queer history through live AR demos from Niantic Studio's community. It also boosted visibility for the ONE Archives Library, making hidden stories accessible and proved to employees that have used the Address Book how technology can reshape collective memory.