Category: Uncategorized

“The New York History Blog,” one of the newsfeeds we follow, shared a post a couple of years ago about attempts to celebrate the Empire State’s past through “history month.”  Created by a 1997 law, the initiative resulted in some activities, but largely enthusiasm waned after a few years Bob Weible, the State Historian of New York, wrote.

Seeking to revive this movement, Weible has authored a number of columns, suggesting the matter be given thought as a method to show “appreciation for the value and power” of the State’s heritage.   However, he examines some broader problems with the craft, in his essay.  “[M]any of us have convinced ourselves that things are just fine the way they are . . .   Often, we even assume that people outside our historical groups don’t know or care about history, just because they don’t join our societies or attend our conferences.  That’s a mistake.”

He continues:  “Most people like—even love—history and use it in their daily lives.  History is not only interesting to people, it’s important.  It’s the bad history teaching, the overly specialized and inaccessible writing, and the boring and uninspired programming that turn so many people off.  There is, in other words, an enormous audience out there just waiting to work with us.”

New York State History Month doesn’t have to fade away, he suggests.  “Let’s begin, not by figuring out how to make this initiative work for us, but how we can make it work for everyone.  This means, to me at least, that we’ll need to work together with open minds, vision, and a renewed sense of public service to teach everyday New Yorkers that they can make history as well as celebrate it.”  The State’s history “has more power than many of us recognize” and we can really make a difference,” he concludes.

I think there is something to this for those of us on Delmarva too, as we have opportunities to put a brighter spotlight on our county and state narratives and foster broader involvement in new, creative ways.  These types of activities help bring us in contact with patrons beyond our traditional audience, making the past more accessible and creating new constituencies as we also reinvigorate the appeal of our message.

They have done something along these lines in one upper Shore county for many years.  The Queen Anne’s County Historic Sites Consortium represents small historic sites depicting the county’s heritage.  Members coordinate activities and have specially promoted days where all the sites, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Mason Dixon Line, open.  As the Star Democrat noted in 2011, it provides an interesting and informative presentation for visitors as they learn about the county’s past.

It would be great if others on the Shore would do something similar, coordinate events and consider added ways to present the story.

Many heritage institutions across the country are trying a new participatory approach to stimulating conversations about the past.  Called “pop-up museums,” the idea is that people bring personal objects and stories to an event.  As the activity unfolds, anyone may stand up to discuss their item or share a story.  This type of approach stimulates the community conversation and new discoveries as the crowd contributes unique thoughts, knowledge, and experiences to a designated theme.

At the Cecilton Library program on February 10 at 6:30 p.m. you are invited to pop-up and share your personal stories and objects during a program called “Remembering World War II.”  It will be a lively evening as we invite people to bring items and we collectively learn more about the men and women who lived during the World War II era.  By recounting the first and second-hand stories of those who fought for our freedom or served on the home front, we will more uniquely capture the individual and community level experience of the period while learning more broadly about the history of our nation and region through aging items such as photographs and letters.

The objects related to the World War II-era that people could bring are widely varied.  Military memorabilia, posters, artwork, personal photographs, ribbons, letters, ration books, patches, newspapers, and more are perfect.  The idea of the artifact is to help with the recounting through the personal object and conversation while also generating interest, participation and conversation.

There are stories you will want to hear, and I will moderate the dialogue, providing context for the shared evening while also keeping things moving along,  But you and the other patrons are invited to take the lead, sharing the tales of the greatest generation, while we pay tribute to a vanishing generation of veterans and disappearing memories.

You won’t want to miss this community show and tell focused on the greatest generation and the World War II-era.  Of course, you don’t have to have an object.  Stories are an excellent, less-centralized way to learn about the past.  Or you may simply want to watch and learn, as we hear from the tradition bearers and the heirlooms that have been important for their families.

Space is limited so be sure to register for the program.  Click here for more details about the program and click here for the online registration form.

Since the Delmarva History Facebook (FB) page launched on October 24, 2013, the number of likes has grown steadily, the pace accelerating as the website matured.  And when we surfed over to update the curated newsfeeds on this Wednesday morning in early February, we noted the landing page had passed an important milestone, 1,500 likes.

Thanks everyone for liking, sharing, and conversing about on the Delmarva’s past on this FB page.  It’s been amazing to see the quick growth as we networked with older, more established formal and informal groups, while also adding our original content, photos, articles, and brief updates.

We always looked forward to sharing our interest in the Peninsula’s unique cultural heritage with a large, regional community, a virtual group of individuals who also valued the subject matter.  Using the web as a way to distribute our work and our enchantment with the past, we were an early adopter.  That began about 1996 while supporting a local historical society’s outreach in a once modern way beyond traditional print products.  We advanced as web 2.0 platforms such as blogs made dynamic networking easier.

But we were a little slow to catch on to the efficiencies and effectiveness of FB for creating an audience, exchanging information, and enriching a community.  Still, after following a number of established regional pages, from formal and informal groups (some highly specialized, while others focused broadly on an area), and being encouraged to start one, we gave it a try.

It is the way to network and engage ever broader audiences in line with some purpose and mission.  Whether, as a cultural resource institution holding the community’s heritage or as an individual digitally working on the “bottom-up model” we are all able to more universally share the narratives of earlier times.

The platforms allow us transform how we grant access to our materials, making our work more valued and our institutions more vibrant places, while learning, exploring, and engaging new, broader audience.  They are also idea for collective learning, for there is enormous power of the crowd when it comes to conversations and exchanging information.

With digital just beginning to provide greater access to people, the transformation is in its early phase, the technologies making it simpler and simpler with each passing year.

The mission of our regional FB website, as we stated in the autumn of 2103, is unchanged, the sharing of heritage related content about the Delmarva Peninsula and the land around the Delaware and Chesapeake.   Our site contains original and curated stories from an array of sources, helping readers and us discover the fascinating past on Delmarva and the nearby region, while everyone learns as a virtual community.

I always enjoyed seeking out the narratives that create a distinctive sense of place, the rich, deep, and varied stories about earlier times in our fascinating small towns, from the Delaware River and Bay to Western Maryland, and the heritage that connects communities and families to their roots .  That is what I enjoy digging up and sharing here and FB has helped significantly.

Sharing is encouraged, too.  Many other institutional FB pages, groups, and individuals are generous with their materials, and we encourage sharing of our original items, too.  But please credit your source, wherever you get it from.  That is something we always work to do on our end.

Some Links of Interest

Journalist Jim McClure writes a popular York County PA heritage blog we follow, as a content provider for the newspaper’s blog and other products.  He has blogged a couple of times about how things are changing in the digital age for heritage institutions.  We’ve shared them with some of the institutions we work with and are sharing the links here.

Part III – Using York County History To Create A Community Embodies a Modern Trend.

Part II ; Part I

In the mid-1980s, we formed a committee of the Singerly Fire Company in Elkton to gear up for the organization’s 1992 centennial celebration.  While the committee planned a cluster of traditional initiatives, the working group also developed two larger heritage-related goals.

One involved restoring two priceless hand pumpers, veterans of many of a fight with the flames and smoke in Elkton.  Since the 1820s when the first Hydraulion arrived from Philadelphia, the centuries moved rapidly along, human and animal power giving way to motorized units and the alarm bell and steam whistle fading as electronic signals took over.  But these aging relics stayed with us, although by the late 1900s they were in need of restoration.

The Department also had heritage collections, items such as photos, movie footage, and material resources, all reflective of the fire service traditions.   So it was time to open a museum.

As volunteers fundraising was our first obligation, for it required a substantial budget to accomplish these objectives.  Thus we launched an annual antiques show and a Paper Americana Show.  Both highly successful events helped underwrite these initiatives, and they continue to this day.

Yesterday, the Paper Americana show returned to Elkton for its 28^th run (the Antiques show started a few years earlier).  This show is one that is particularly important to me, as someone always on the lookout for photographs, postcards, newspapers, advertising pieces, books, and ephemera for my local collection, as well as interesting visuals for lectures and talks.  In those pre-Internet days we didn’t have Ebay so you attended shows and auctions, and searched print catalogues.

Each year we planned the show, recruited quality dealers and managed the operation.  I also had a great chance for doing some double duty, quality shopping time.  Since we started the venture, I have never missed one, although after a few years I handed off management of the event to Gerri Ayers.  She has stayed with it for decades, continuing to capably oversee the fundraising initiative in a changing marketplace.

As the date approaches I start looking forward to seeing some of the outstanding Delaware and Maryland materials.  Over the decades several dealers, such as Neil Boyle and his wife, have been my source of superb Delmarva items, adding substantially to my collection.  Neil always had the best inventory of real photo cards of any dealer in the show, in those earlier years.

In more recent times, another generation has brought their inventory to the show.  Steven Cohen and his wife Pam and Mary Martin Postcards are some of those vendors.  They too have an enjoyable high quality collections available.

Saturday was a great day for browsing, acquiring materials, and enjoying knowledgeable discussions about the region’s history and its paper collectibles, all while continuing to support fire service tradition now nearly 30 years on.