Black Friday at the National Archives

Friends and I visited the National Archives in Washington, DC on Friday, primarily to see the Cuban Missile Crisis exhibit which was developed in partnership with the JFK Presidential Library (itself part of the National Archives network).

This is an interesting example of discovering new sources as time passes.  The main feature of the exhibit are "secret" recordings that President Kennedy made of meetings in the Oval Office.  The exhibit had six stations where visitors could listen to excerpts of recordings from the meetings of Kennedy's advisors during the crisis.  The Archives did a good job using images to identify speakers as well as providing captioning so that you could read what was being said, and summarizing it on a nearby panel, since there were often too many people to get close to the audio speakers.

I'm not a Cold War scholar so I don't know if these recordings provided information that scholars did not previously have access to, so can't say if our understanding of the crisis changed with their release.  If the information from the recordings isn't new, it could confirms other sources which strengthens our understanding of the events.  In either case, historians and the public now know more.

In an interesting case study in "what is history" - there were six of us in the group.  Four of us, who are in our early 40s (a PhD in military history, a lawyer with an undergrad history major, a historical storyteller, and me), read just about every label.  The other two folks waited for us outside.  I should note that they were 16 and 20 years old during the missile crisis, so lived through it and therefore felt that they didn't need to see the exhibit.

Joseph Priestley and Timelines

I don't know as many historical dates as I'd like.  I didn't have to memorize dates in school.  That said, I do know roughly when things happen - I can put wars in the right chronological order, for example - but I normally would not have been able to tell you that September 17th is the 150th anniversary of the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. 

I'm a big fan of timelines, probably as a result of also being a visual learner.  I've learned something new today, before I even finished my first coffee, that should appeal to teachers in central Pennsylvania.  Joseph Priestly was one of two people to pioneer timelines. 

Here's an article from the Friends of the Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland, PA about Priestley's role in the development of timelines:
http://www.josephpriestleyhouse.org/uploads/extras/The_Man_Who_Drew_Time.pdf

Thanks to Amy Fox and her Trailheads blog at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for this!  Visit http://patrailheads.blogspot.com/ to read Trailheads and learn more about the historic sites and museums that PHMC administers for the people of Pennsylvania.

I'm curious!

I meant to take my camera with me when I visited my parents' last week in southern Maine.  I've been trying to figure out what happened with the "welcome to" sign in their town, so wanted a photo to illustrate my question.  I once again forgot, so hopefully can describe it instead.

All the signs say that the town was founded "c. 1640."  What's more interesting is that this date is on a wooden block mounted to the sign.  It looks like they changed the date after the signs were put up.

So, what happened?  Did they put up signs saying that the town was settled in 1640, only to have someone dispute that date?  Was the solution to adjust them to say "about"? 

Why might someone dispute a settlement date?  It always reminds me that coastal areas were settled much earlier than those of us farther inland (we had a whole other conversation about whether Maine's Cumberland and York counties were formed before or after Pennsylvania's). 

But what constitutes settlement?  Is it the first time some fisherman decided to land there, because they needed to repair a boat?  The first time someone came up from Massachusetts and built a temporary building?  Is this why it might be in dispute?  In any case, it appears to be an interesting example of historical uncertainty and interpretation?

I'll do a bit of googling to start to answer my question.  Maybe I'll head over to the local historical society the next time I visit.  Maybe I'll find the right person to get the full scoop on the signs.

Another example of changing interpretations

I will eventually have a chance to read and comment on the books our 2012 teachers are reading this summer but I've been caught up in end-of-fiscal year paperwork in the office and classwork at home.  I just wrote a paper about our Teaching American History grant projects, focusing on our 2010 cohort.  It was fun to revisit that year.  We're hoping to turn the paper into a journal article later this year.

Thanks to one of the aggregator emails I receive, I just read an interesting article about the latest findings about when humans first came to the Americas.  While I don't have the background to evaluate these findings or their interpretation, I thought this article was an interesting discussion of how the archaeologists involved did their research..
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-paisley-caves-20120712,0,7874773.story

The Challenge of July 4th

If we think back to July 4, 1776, there's something of a conundrum for us today.  We want to celebrate our forefathers who decided that the best way to secure their rights at British citizens was ultimately to separate from Great Britain and declare independence.  We want to admire the Declaration of Independence and it's goal that "all men are created equal".  Yet, we know that this was not the case in 1776 and it is not the case today.  The President's House in Philadelphia embodies this contradiction - President George Washington lived less than a block from Independence Hall, with household slaves that he periodically rotated back to Mount Vernon so that he would not have to free them under Pennsylvania's 1780 Act for Gradual Abolition of Slavery.

I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution but don't make assumptions about my politics from that fact.  I note that while I have a Pennsylvania DAR license plate on  my car, I also have a "civil marriage is a civil right" bumper sticker.  For me, being patriotic is about recognizing the history of those who have fought for our freedoms but also to recognize that we are still striving for the ideal that citizens of the United States are entitled to equality of opportunity. 

To tie this back to reflections on history, here's an example of a historic site grappling with the challenge of 1776.  If you're in Philadelphia, visit Cliveden (http://www.cliveden.org/) to learn not just about the Battle of Germantown but also the history of slavery at its site: "Is it possible to change what a historic site means?"

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!  Stop and remember EVERYONE who has fought for our freedoms, for more than 326 years!

Early American attack ads

I finally had a chance to start watching the results of an experiment in teaching at the college level.  Dr. Patrick Spero, one of the speakers at our upcoming teacher institute, experimented this semester with his American Presidents class.  Students created video ads for presidential campaigns, instead of writing papers.

Here's a link to the first post in the series, which explains the assignment as well as giving links to the first batch of ads:
http://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2012/03/03/what_if_adams_and_jefferson_did_attack_ads_6.html

On my summer vacation.....the Revolution is not inevitable

My husband and I actually went on a vacation for five days last week.  We can't usually make our schedules coincide, but mid-May worked (for the same reason it worked 10 years ago for our wedding).  Being history geeks, we spent three days at  Colonial Williamsburg.  I especially recommend the evening "gambols" at Chowing's Tavern.

Parts of the interpretation are wonderfully complex - we saw a good two-woman show about Oney Judge, who grew up as Martha Washington's slave, escaping to freedom while living at the President's House in Philadelphia.  The show did a great job of exploring Oney's choice to take uncertainty and freedom over luxury and slavery.  You can learn more about this story by visiting the President's House while we're in Philadelphia - it's adjacent to the Liberty Bell pavilion and its interpretation/recreation was a subject of much debate.

One of the interpreters, portraying the printer/publisher of one of Williamsburg's newspaper, was annoying in that he didn't do a good job of engaging people who joined the group during the conversation.  He was very good at making one point though - for this individual, it was 1774.  He could not imagine that the escalating dispute with Britain would result in violence.  In 1774, independence wasn't inevitable. 

It's sometimes hard to remember that history is a series of choices - a choose your own adventure.  At any point, a different choice could have been made.  The constructs of time travel and parallel universes in science fiction often make my head hurt, but there's an interesting idea that we have to remember - every decision is a choice.  I don't know if they lead to the creation of a parallel universes, but it while it is inevitable that there will be a future, what that future is will be the results of many choices yet to be made.

So how can you make history surprising again?

History Day(s)

I hope everyone enjoyed the Library of Congress workshop on the 2nd!  It was great to meet this year's teachers and I look forward to getting to know you better.  In June, you'll have the chance to discover resources in the Pennsylvania State Archives, State Museum of Pennsylvania, and the National Archives (at its Philadelphia location and online).

I spent much of Friday and Saturday judging at the National History Day in Pennsylvania contest.  Crazy as work and grad school is, I do my best to take time to judge.  This year I'll have covered all four levels - a local school contest, regional, state and national.  I get inspired every year by seeing the enthusiasm of all these students for history.

This year's NHD theme is "Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History".  Students don't have to connect to all of them, but do need to make a connection to some part of the theme.  It's always interesting to see how they do that.  Just to name a few topics I've seen this year - the birth control pill as revolution; Henry Ford's industrial revolution in creating the moving assembly line; Martin Luther, Prohibition, Tianamen Square, the 1971 Titans football team from Alexandria VA; the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society; Kent State; the Christiana Riots; Title IX.  It was wonderful that there was no overwhelming trend in topics this year (after the year where I judged 7 documentaries on the Navajo Code Talkers). 

It also shows that there are interesting stories everywhere.  We've done a better job in the last 30 years of acknowledging that history isn't about dead, often rich, white men.  We still have work to do to make sure that history is about all people, rather than relegating women, people of color, servants, and others to sidebars. 

While the focus of this year's program is the American Revolution and Constitution period, I think we'll be able to dig around a bit to find the people behind the men in Philadelphia and Valley Forge!

Catching up....

I'm behind.  I'll admit it.  I've spent part of this morning catching up on the April activities.  I wasn't surprised to find that I'm 60% left-brain, 40% right-brain.  I will dispute the idea that I'm not verbal (this finding would shock my husband as well) - I didn't feel like the test differentiated verbal from aural.  I use words, a lot.  I'll write directions rather than draw them.  I don't process well aurally, however - I need visual anchors, but they can be words.

I think I can illustrate this by following up on my post about going to the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference in  mid-April.  It was a lot of fun, though 4 days away put me really behind.  I enjoyed being in Boston right before Patriots' Day and the Boston Marathon, watching more runners arrive every day.  George Takei was an amazing featured speaker.  He covered a broad range of topics from his experience being interned with his family during World War II as a Japanese-American, to being an Asian actor and the stereotypes that can ensue, to his current work in the fight for marriage equality.

Being an academic conference, presenters generally read their papers.  I hate this.  I actually prefer when the presenter uses a powerpoint, as long as they don't then read the powerpoint!  A powerpoint slide with 2-3 main points gives me something to process visually, which then gives me anchors for the information which I'm receiving aurally.  Plus - it's a conference about popular culture; how can you not have visuals!

Several of you commented about how you didn't like history in school - all those dates and facts.  While we're focusing on the American Revolution and US Constitution - since our project is funded by a Teaching American History grant that is supposed to focus on "traditional" American history (a subject of much debate over the 10 years of the grant program's history) - history as a field is much broader.

A number of the presenters were from fields like English (I have no idea what "translation studies" is, when it's in an English department!) but some were from history.  One colleague from Penn State Harrisburg's American Studies program presented an interesting talk about Milton Hershey's use of advertising images, including a baby in a cocoa bean image that I don't remember ever seeing. 

I went to an interesting session about Civil War reenactors.  One presenter talked about how all of the reenactors that he interviewed said they became interested in the Civil War after reading Bruce Catton's illustrated history of the Civil War which was published in the 1960s.  The speaker then looked at how the reenactors' view of the Civil War matches up with the view presented by Catton, rather than the different views presented by history scholars.

Being a pop culture conference, I did also go to sessions about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Dr. Who," as well as children's literature, popular romances, and all sorts of other things.  I did find one other person whose work intersects my grad work - she turned me on to a whole other community of quilters, the Modern Quilt Guild, that I didn't know about.  I have lots of ideas that I wish I had time to pursue!

I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!  By then, hopefully I'll have submitted my final paper for the semester so will be able to enjoy a month off before my summer session class really kicks in at the end of May.

PS - it's May Day - one the one hand, a signficant holiday in labor history.  On the other hand, at my undergraduate alma mater it was also a celebration of the end of the semester.  There will be lots of references to strawberries and cream, bread and roses on my Facebook feed today.

Tangential Connections

I'm using vacation on April 11-14 so that I can go to the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association conference in Boston with some of my grad school classmates.  I've been trolling through the conference program, trying to decide what sessions I want to attend. 

I should probably briefly explain why I'm in grad school.  The short answer is that I love working with adult learners, like all of you.  I like helping people connect with resources that will help them do their jobs better. Perhaps I have the soul of a reference librarian.  The longer answer is that I'm hitting mid-life (eep).  We didn't end up having kids so I'm looking for a new personal challenge.  Being a geek at heart, I decide to go back to school to get theoretical underpinnings and more background for the work I do.

As a history museum person, I'm most interested in the learning that occurs in informal settings, like a museum visit or in a hobby group.  I'm thinking of doing my research in the quilting community since it's something I have some familiarity with, as a lifelong needleworker, but am not part of personally.  So, back to the conference program.  There are no sessions that tie at all to quilting or other related hobbies.  How can I use the opportunity of the conference wisely, given that the university and I are both investing money in my attendance?

I'm obviously going to the session where another Penn State grad student is presenting, especially since I know him through a former job, to provide support as well as keep up my network.  But what might relate in some way to my research?  I'm currently thinking that I'll follow the "Fandom" track - yes, there is a scholarly community studying fandom - because fan groups have a lot in common with quilting groups.  They are voluntary, informal groups of people with a common interest.  I'll keep my notebook handy for eureka moments inspired by the presentations and discussions.

So why am I writing about this?  Presumably you expect some part of our topic to apply to your teaching or you wouldn't have applied.  But everything won't apply directly to your classroom.  So, as you move through this year, be on the lookout for ideas and content that may appear to only tangentially relate to your classroom and be prepared to capture the eureka moments they may inspire.

Down the Rabbit Hole of Blogging

I've been resisting writing a blog generally since my life's a bit complicated at the moment (more about that shortly) so this year's Keystones of the Federal Union TAH project is giving me a push.

I'm the project coordinator for this project, based in Harrisburg at The State Museum and State Archives (but I don't work for them, which I'll explain in another post).  I'll be your guide through the historical content pieces of this project as well as summer institute logistics and resources.

So, a bit about me - I have a masters in history with a certificate in museum studies.  My career has been entirely about professional development in the history world.  I spent seven years creating and delivering professional development for history museum professionals, both paid and volunteer.  Since 2003, I've had the delight of working with teachers through three Teaching American History grants.

I titled my blog "Reflecting on History" because I hope that's what you'll do.  In the complicated part of my life, I'm also a grad student.  I'm almost at the end of my first year of a D.Ed. program in Adult Education at Penn State Harrisburg.  One of the key elements this year has been reflecting on our practice - as we learn theories of adult learning and more about the field of adult education, we have to then reflect on what we do as adult educators to think about how this new knowledge affects what we do in our everyday work lives.

I hope that as you learn more about the period of the American Revolution and U.S. Constitution, you will reflect on how this new knowledge affects your understanding of this period in American history.  You'll probably get tired of hearing me say this, but my intent is that you as an adult learner will learn more about American history.  Since you are the expert in your classroom, I expect that you will then take your knowledge of American history and figure out what pieces fit into your teaching.  You won't be able to take everything we do immediately into the classroom.  Part of your reflecting on history is thinking about YOUR practice.