Reflections & News About Working With the Past
This week Maryland Public Television aired an Outdoors Maryland feature on covered bridges in the region. For the program called “Spanning Time,” I talked about the history of some of these old structures, examining how spans evolved over time.
I participated in the Summit of Local and Regional Historical Societies in Baltimore, a couple of weeks ago (May 16). Attended by representatives from historical societies, heritage groups and museums throughout Maryland, we began to take stock of the challenges, strengths, and weakness of museums and special collections libraries and started outlining an agenda for subsequent discussions about planning for the future. It was a helpful experience to hear about the challenges we’re all facing as patron expectations change in the 21st century. It was also interesting to see how similar the problems are and what the opportunities are with things like social media and new types of programming for another generation of patrons. Since this was the start of the summit, meetings will continue through the remainder of 2011.
I am pleased to be working as a consulting public historian on a large Harford County project called “Reconstructing Havre de Grace’s Community History – The War of 1812.” As part of the development of the Star Spangled Banner National Historic Trail the City of Havre de Grace has obtained a National Park Service grant to research and interpret the history of the town at the top of the Chesapeake Bay around the time of the war.
The other public historian involved in the project, Chris George, is researching military history while I design and direct the research that focuses on the community’s past. For much of 2011, I will be working with a great group of volunteers, local historians, and community subject matter experts to piece together the forgotten parts of the town’s past. That will involve lots of archive research on life in Havre de Grace just before, during, and after the British attack of 1813. It’s an exciting project as the nation and Maryland prepare for the Bicentennial of our second war with Britian and I’m looking forward to participating in some extensive fieldwork with a fine group of volunteers in Havre de Grace.
As a charter member of the Cecil County Historic District Commission, I’ve served on the panel since it was created in 1999. As my current term expires this month, I was just notified that the county commissioners reappointed me to serve until March 2014.