Seeing the Work of Young Scholars, While Judging Maryland History Day

The Maryland Humanities Council sponsors Maryland History Day, an annual program that encourages Maryland students to research, analyze, and develop their own year-long projects based on historic events and people. The competition, which begins at a school level and builds to county, state, and national contests, had over 16,000 Maryland participants. I was fortunate to have the experience of participating as a judge at the state contest on April 25 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. That was an enriching experience since I got to see some of the fine work of a cluster of scholars in the web site cohort, as well as having the opportunity to work in the run-off contests for displays. This is a valuable project for young scholars and I was pleased to be able to see some of the outside work of these young people.

Working With Students on Oral History

For course assignments, I try to employ projects that engage students in the practice of history while also helping them understand the subject they are examining. 

As this time in the semester rolls around, it’s time for everyone to present one of those deliverables, an oral history project.  As we wrapped up this task, I was pleased with the outcome as all the participants produced engaging work, while several had developed outstanding projects.

Everyone had identified an appropriate individual for the task and obtained quality information from the interview.  Those that excelled had gone beyond that to place the data collected during the lab in the larger context of what was happening in the period to provide meaningful interpretations to their work.

I am usually impressed with a number of the class presentations each semester and have found oral history assignments to be a worthwhile means for engaging my students in the practice of history while helping them gain better comprehension of the subject matter.  For example, two students

focused on the Vietnam War today.  One interviewed a relative about the draft during the war, while another focused on the war veteran’s reaction when he returned home in the late ’60s.  Another student interviewed a small-town police chief.  He’d been on the job for forty years, beginning when the force of two men had to share one gun.  He talked about the professionalization that has occurred over the decades.

While I can lecture on these subjects, the hands-on experience students acquire in these interviews is helpful.  I am happy with how these turned out
and how this also appeals to a young group of college students.

Participating in Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street Opening

Main Street Delaware City, Inc. opened the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit Between Fences this week.  This project, which brings rural Americans one-of-a-kind access to prestigious Smithsonian exhibitions and first-rate educational programs, is a joint project of the Smithsonian and the Humanities Council.  For the show that is making its way through Delaware, I had the opportunity to do a talk about the story behind our regional boundary, the Mason-Dixon Line.  Born as the result of a bitter territorial dispute over land grants, the talk examined the line’s past, but goes on to discuss how it has become a symbolic dividing line for regional attitudes and customs.  It was a nice evening at the Delaware City Arts Center and a great group turned out to hear the talk.

This is the second time I’ve worked with the Smithsonian traveling exhibits.   The first occasion  was when Key Ingredients made its way through Maryland. Here’s a piece I wrote in August 2007 for the Smithsonian blog, Road Reports Across America.

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Reinvigorating the Past in Elkton, Maryland

The Historical Society of Cecil County was pleased to sponsor Key Ingredients in northeastern Maryland. Building on the Museum on Main Street product, we curated a display, held lectures, and sponsored a photo contest. When the evening arrived to kick off the activities, 17 downtown Elkton shops, galleries, restaurants, and bars stayed open to celebrate the Smithsonian’s arrival. We also partnered with the local Arts Council and the Elkton Alliance, the Maryland Main Street’s revitalization authority, for the visit, which was made possible through the Maryland Humanities Council.

It was an unsually comfortable August evening on the Chesapeake Bay when we opened our doors to welcome the public and a great crowd turned out. People filled our headquarters as fantastic original music flowed and shop owners and restaurants greeted some 400 visitors. Before strolling through the business district on the “Taste Loop,” I was already so pleased with the pleasant evening, the outstanding exhibit, and the astounding turnout that filled our museum. But as dusk settled on Cecil County, I strolled down Main Street with Jean Wortman from the Maryland Humanities Council and her husband. That’s an experience I will long recall for it was wonderful to see the business area filled with strollers enjoying the ambiance of the evening, the entertainment and displays, and the samplings of local food that a dozen restaurants offered. As we passed from shop-to-shop, enjoying conversations at every stop, it was reminiscent of a downtown I recall from forty or more years ago, when Elkton’s business district regularly filled with shoppers and strollers on Friday and Saturday evening.

This was a wonderful opportunity for the community and the Society. Hundreds of patrons visited the museum and businesses on opening night and a large portion of the assemblage was new to our downtown and to our organization. After the show, a number of the older businesspeople remarked about how much they too enjoyed the evening for it reminded them of a time long ago when the heart of the historic town was a bustling place on shopping nights. It was wonderful for us to be able to facilitate this occurrence for it demonstrated to key community stakeholders the power of our museum as an anchor in an old town that is working to draw people downtown and it demonstrated the value of working together on large initiatives.

We thank the Smithsonian and the Maryland Humanities Council for making this possible and we look forward to building on this broad-based demonstration project.

Maryland Life: Bridge Over Troubled Waters: What Killed George Askew?

The February 2009 edition of Maryland Life has an article I did on railroad engineer, George Askew.  He was killed in 1903 in a tragic railroad accident on a bridge over the Elk Creek.  What most interested me in this story was that his great-grandson, an investigator for the federal government, walked in one day with the railroad man’s pocket watch in hand.  Family stories had it that he was killed in Elkton, but there weren’t many details beyond that so the relatives wanted to know if we could piece together this story.  I said I thought so and this tragic story emerged, providing details on the pocket watch forever frozen in time at 8:43.  It was the exact time Engineer Askew died, according to the coroner’s report.

Click this link to read a blog post about George Askew.