An archival photography project at the University of Northern Iowa has landed a federal grant to help its users see the big picture. The Fortepan (FORT-ah-pon) Project will use the grant to develop an augmented reality app called Mainstreet 360. It will let users interact with the archive’s 160 years of photographs as if standing where they were taken. Fortepan founder Bettina Fabos (FAH-bose), a U-N-I professor of Interactive Digital Studies, says the app will help Iowans engage with their local history and become a part of its telling.

Fabos says that the goal of the app, and Fortepan, is to unite Iowans through engaging with their shared local histories.

The app is expected to be rolled out by spring, with the grant’s second year devoted to outreach in libraries and schools in — and beyond — Iowa. The 149-thousand dollar grant is from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Fortepan is the name of a black-and-white negative film that was popular for decades during the last century.