I have just started working on an exciting new investigation that is seeking to answer questions about the impact the military has on people and communities when it uproots long-established families to create a wartime reservation. This particular migration occurred in Harford County, Maryland, as the government established Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1917, six months after the United States entered World War I. To create the Proving Grounds, families occupying nearly 73,000 acres were forced to make a “patriotic sacrifice” and move. They had no choice but to quickly relocate for the “good of their country,” so hundreds were displaced, many with large farms that had been in their families for generations.
As many of the displaced and their descendants still live in the area, two local partner organizations, Harford County Public Library and Hosanna School Museum will document their stories. Using “youth curators,” the project will collect their oral histories, documents, and photographs, as we examine their reactions and efforts to make a new life work.
The goal of this project, which is being underwritten by the Maryland Humanities Council and the Smithsonian Institute is to work with “youth curators” to help them create an exhibit that will tell this unexamined story. So soon, thanks to the stakeholders and “the youth curators,” we’ll have a better idea of what really happened when the big government moved in, and families moved out.
I’m serving as the project scholar. It’s always exciting to investigate the changes that have come to our communities, and I’m particularly looking forward to this youth-oriented project.