We’ve always believed that rivers hold stories—layered in silt, whispered through eddies, tangled in cattails and current. For over a decade, Secret History has gathered those stories in person, face to face, dock to dock. But now, we’re opening a new chapter.
Peoples River Stories is a participatory new media project, a web-based map where anyone can drop a pin and share a memory, confession, observation, dream, or historical fragment about a river they know. It expands the world of Secret History beyond our shantyboat and beyond U.S. borders—inviting people everywhere to claim space for their own river stories.
We built this with the quiet, poetic design of an archive. A map where memory becomes geography. Where your story joins a larger chorus resisting erasure—whether you grew up on the banks of the Danube or fell in love on the banks of the Ohio.
You don’t need a boat or a microphone. Just a moment, a river, and a few words.
This new platform will be featured in full exhibitions of Secret History, offering audiences a way to contribute, reflect, and trace patterns of resilience, displacement, and joy across global waterways.
🡆 Explore the map and add your story: map.peoplesriverhistory.org
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