Category: Consulting Historian

Working With Museum on Main Street Program to Reach Younger Audience With Oral History

The Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MOMS) was recently awarded a grant to engage underserved, rural youth in using technology to capture local stories related to the MOMS’ Journey Stories exhibit.  As part of the grant, I will join another scholar as we conduct workshops in oral history methods for teachers, students and museum staff around Maryland.   I’m looking forward to working on this project as it seeks to reach a younger audience with a product they can share with the local community and national audience via the Smithsonian’s “Stories from Main Street” on-line resource.

Reconstructing a Community’s Past as a Consulting Public Historian

Havre de Grace Public History
Havre de Grace Interpretive Plan

For most of 2011, I’ve been doing fieldwork to document the public history of Havre de Grace around the time the British burned the town in May 1813.

To aid in understanding this era, I just completed a study of the population and demographic characteristics of the community in the first third of the 19th century.  This work is part of the development of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail. 

The other public historian on this initiative, Chris George, is researching the military history while I design and direct the research that focuses on the community’s past.  

It’s an exciting project, as I work with a great group of volunteers, local historians, and community subject matter experts to piece together the forgotten parts of the town’s past.  This study has involved lots of archival research on life in Havre de Grace just before, during, and after the British attack of 1813.

Participating in Focus Group Discussing How to Strengthen Smithsonian’s Museums on Main Street Program

This week I participated in a focus group discussing how to strengthen the Smithsonian’s Museums on Main Street (MOMS) program.  The Maryland Humanities Council, the sponsor of the initiative in this state, assembled a panel of stakeholders and subject matter experts to share perspectives on how to strengthen the program.  This cultural initiative serves small town museums, primarily through professionally curated traveling exhibits that draw on the expertise and resources of the Smithsonian.  Specifically the group of museum
professionals from around the state talked about how participation in the
Museums on Main Street program helped the humanities and nonprofit partners develop enhanced opportunities involving the program.  The MOM’s blog, Road Reports, has a piece I wrote when our institution participated in Key Ingredients.  Click here to read “Reinvigorating the Past  in Elkton, Maryland.”

Helping 141-Year Old Newspaper Focus Content on Area’s Heritage

This morning Chesapeake Publishing unveiled its newest publication, “Weekend Whig.”  This feature-rich section is loaded with local stories about the people and history of the county.  As they focus these pages on local copy, the publisher noted that they’re tapping into the interest in Cecil County’s roots and the wealth of information and photographs about the past.  I was pleased to have a chance to work with the paper’s editors as they developed the prototype.  For the roll-out, the publisher held a ribbon cutting and reception at the Elkton office today.  With the paper starting a new chapter in its 141-year history, it was great to be able to attended the reception and hear about more plans for the section as I work to help the Whig with coverage related to the area’s heritage.