Inhabiting a space with the knowledge that it will cease to exist in the near future can evoke a certain feeling. As I write this, a tapestry depicting my favorite album is pinned behind my head and a curtain of fairy lights with strands of pink, plastic roses dangles across the room. There are printed photographs of my family and friends that peel away from the tape which holds them to the pale yellow wall next to my bed. It is as if they know that they cannot remain here. I close my eyes and think of the home I have built on the Residence Campus. Soon, my recollections are all that will remain of this home.

My memories of the Residence Campus blend together with those of other Simmons students to form a collective memory. Collective memory refers to how groups of people remember their shared history. In this instance, Simmons students share a common history of living on the Residence Campus. Their feelings about that space determines how they remember it together and what the memory means to them. The 54 Pilgrim Road Project compiles archival photographs of past generations of Simmons students, and conversation with the current generation of Simmons students, all of which contribute to how the Residence Campus will be remembered. It is that shared cross-generational memory that my project hopes to capture.

From the current generation, I heard stories of those who felt that the Residence Campus offered their first moments of independence. It became the home in which they developed the skills and confidence of adulthood. Others described the Residence Campus as a safe space and a refuge where they could be their authentic selves for the first time in their lives. While some of these experiences were intermingled with criticism, my friends and peers lovingly remember the Residence Campus as their home, just as I do.

Archival photographs provide insight to the memories of past generations of Simmons students. The archival images featured in The 54 Pilgrim Road Project depict traditions, festivities, and celebrations, as well as quiet moments of everyday life. Though I cannot converse with the subjects of the archival photographs in the same manner in which I spoke to the current generations of Simmons students, these snapshots allow me to infer how past generations of Simmons students felt about the Residence Campus. The images of students suntanning on the balcony of Evans Hall and dancing around the Maypole on the quad, among others, lead me to believe that past generations of Simmons students built communities, memories, and homes here, too.

This home exists in the buildings and structures of the Residence Campus. In those archival photographs, the physical spaces were often a background to the actual subjects of the image. The 54 Pilgrim Road Project highlights the significance of the buildings and structures themselves to the collective memory of the Residence Campus. I selected each image from the Simmons University Archives with the intention of returning to the location at which it was created, and photographing the modern space. I then paired the images and animated them. In each recreation, the archival photograph fades in and out of a modern image to highlight the similarities of the physical spaces in both the past and the present. These similarities reveal the significance of the physical spaces to the formation of our memories of the Residence Campus in both historical and modern contexts.

My ultimate goal for The 54 Pilgrim Road Project is to contribute to the collective memory of the Residence Campus through its preservation. Of course, I do not mean preservation in the literal sense, given the One Simmons Plan. However, The 54 Pilgrim Road Project serves to document the Residence Campus during its final years, while reflecting on its one hundred and seventeen years of history. By doing so, I want to honor both the experiences of past generations and our own, as well as honoring our home. Beyond these ambitions, I hope The 54 Pilgrim Road Project inspires you to begin looking around the spaces you inhabit and recognize the significance, both historical and personal, and consider how you will contribute to their collective memory.