We are deeply grateful to all of the people who shared their stories, photos, documents, and opinions of the Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood with us. Thank you! We hope that we accurately represent your memories and feelings towards the RNC neighborhood.
We are grateful to the Hazelwood Christian Church for allowing us to use their beautiful spaces, both the Church and Fellowship Hall (formerly the Kitselman Mansion) for all five of our scanning events, as well as the final public presentation of our research. Thank you.
Thanks to the Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood Association for their guidance, suggestions, interviews, and support. Jeff Eads, Bill Morgen, Melinda Messineo, and Heather Williams, Program Manager for Government Relations and Community Development at Ball State, were especially helpful throughout our project. Heather Williams enthusiastically supported this project from the beginning, came to our class to talk about Muncie Neighborhoods, and was helpful with ideas and contact information for the duration of the project.
A Provost’s Immersive Learning Grant provided important funds to support this research. We are grateful for the support of the Office of the Provost and Ball State University for our project. We are particularly grateful to the staff of the Immersive Learning office for providing support and guidance throughout the project: Kelli Huth, Director of Immersive Learning for Entrepreneurial Learning, Matt Bailey, Project Manager, Stacey Alexander, Project Coordinator, and Robbie Mehlin, Video Coordinator and Designer. Kelli came to our class to talk about the history of immersive learning at Ball State, and Robbie made a poster and short film about our project, for which we are grateful.
Susan Smith, archivist at Minnetrista, met with us to discuss the Minnetrista archives, and then provided us with photos and pieces of information about the RNC Neighborhood. Thank you, Susan!
Professor Jim Connolly, the Director for Middletown Studies, gave the class an important overview of the history of Middletown Studies at Ball State, providing the history and context for this project.
Brendan Pieczko, the Digital Archivist for Manuscript Collections at Bracken Library, provided assistance in the Ball State archives for which we are grateful.
Susan Brin Hyatt, anthropologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), provided the inspiration for this project, for her work on a suburban neighborhood in Indianapolis. The model for our project was led by Professor Hyatt and carried out by her ethnographic methods class in 2009.
We appreciate the support and inspiration that all of these people and institutions have brought to this project. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Erickson and students in her Anth 459/559 Ethnographic Methods course of Fall 2016
The Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood 