Talk of augmented reality, and it often brings to mind a future where glasses or displays are adding digital elements to what we see. Yet as use cases emerge, the technology is also proving to be valuable for engaging with history.

The latter will be on view inside a new office building at 21st and L streets in downtown D.C. In the lobby of the building, Baltimore AR/VR studio Balti Virtual created an augmented reality exhibit to educate visitors on the site’s past as a home to one of the District’s first schools built solely with public funds to educate Black children.

In the lobby of the building, the exhibit features images including the Thaddeus Stevens School, as well as its namesake and notable alumni. Scanning the images with Balti Virtual’s AppAR8 app on a phone or iPad will bring them to life in a “magic window” with animation and speech from each figure. Along with Stevens, the figures on display include alums of the school such as Washington Post columnist Colbert King and the singer Roberta Flack, as well as prominent D.C. figures such as the surgeon and blood bank pioneer Dr. Charles Drew.

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