Sunday, I visited the Newark Historical Society’s Museum on Main Street to acquire a copy of a new title, Histories of Newark, 1758 – 2008, published by the Delaware Heritage Commission and the City of Newark. The attractive title will serve as a valuable reference and it is enjoyable to read. By-the-way, if you’re on Main Street stop in and see the displays since they are informative. It was a good weekend for acquiring research materials for my collection.
Month: January 2008
Acquiring Delmarva History Materials at the Paper Show
I always look forward to the last Saturday in January because Singerly Fire Company holds its annual paper americana show on that date. The Elkton organization has sponsored these shows, which bring over 30 paper, postcard, photograph, and advertising dealers from the tri-state region to Cecil County, for 20 years now. I’ve never missed one for it’s a great place to browse for items related to the region’s history. As the time for the show approaches, I start looking forward to seeing some of the outstanding Delaware and Maryland postcards brought to the show by Neil Boyle. From Neil and Jane this year, I purchased two Delaware whipping post postcards and a photo of the Easton jail. For over thirty years, I’ve added substantially to my collection thanks to Neil and the quality stock he carries. He always has the best collection of real photo cards of any dealer at this show. This year the folks from the Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library were there selling off excess inventory from their collections and items that were donated to them. They had a magnificent 1825 H.S. Tanner Map of the New Castle and Cecil counties, which I’ll get framed for my office. Saturday was a great day for purchasing materials to study the region’s history. (In the photo above, the Corbit-Calloway librarians work to get their booth ready for the show opening.)
Digitizing Old Sounds
One tradition for kicking off the Christmas Season along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad through northeastern Maryland was the annual lighting of the “Holly Tree by the tracks.” The B & O held the first public ceremony in 1948 when thousands of people gathered to ring in the season as lights from thousands of bulbs on the evergreen softly illuminated the Jackson, Maryland, hillside. For many years, the company dispatched a special train from Mount Royal Station to Jackson for the occasion. After 1971, the tree was dark until a group of volunteers started making sure the tree festively blazed for the holiday season.
Over the decades, I have periodically attended the ceremony, so when I came across an old 33 1/3 long playing record that captured the magic of the 1954 lighting, including carols, speeches, a visit by Santa, and the illumination, I was very excited. That old vinyl, a long unheard broadcast, has sat silently on a shelf for a long time. But thanks to an old record player I could enjoy the snap, crackle, and pop of the vinyl recording as the lost sound poured from the speakers.
Today, we can easily digitize sounds and video images to make research with these sources easier.
Learning Historical Research Methods
Our son, Kyle, an 11th-grade AP history student at Bohemia Manor High School in Chesapeake City, is working on his 2008 National History Day project. This year’s theme is conflict and compromise in history. For the juried project, students must do original research, place the topic in a historical perspective, and interpret their findings.
For his assignment, he compares how three counties on Maryland’s upper Eastern Shore (Cecil, Kent & Queen Anne’s) handled conflicts and compromises related to school integration.
Over the Christmas holiday, Kyle started his documentary research, collecting primary materials such as newspaper accounts, school board minutes, and so on. Right now, he is focused on interviewing individuals with first-hand knowledge of that time, and he did his first interview with a lady from Kent County this evening. It was fascinating to hear the digital recording of that interview as he successfully applied new research skills to acquiring data and got information that provided deeper insights and understanding.
He plans to become a high school history teacher, and it’s great to see him developing the profession’s skills with this learning opportunity. It provides valuable first-hand experience in working with primary sources and interpreting bodies of data. I will enjoy watching his effort unfold over the next few months while hearing about his work and seeing the final results.