Category: Uncategorized

That’s me!    I think the class/project was a really great idea on the professor’s part.  A couple of my friends wanted to watch the movie Must Love Dogs recently.  One part I find hilarious, but frightening is when the main character is making profiles for dating online and photoshops her heart out creating several different versions of herself, all of which are fake.  I knew the pirate story was a hoax anyway, because Jimmy Buffett is the Last American Pirate.

Reading about the “Last American Pirate” was very fun! I scrolled past the first blog post, but unfortunately I read the Wikipedia article and some of the YouTube comments, which spoiled everything for me, but I completely bought it before that.

I loved reading the reflections of Mills Kelly, the professor who taught the class. At first I found myself considering ways in which other academics could object to his methods, but after taking in everything I feel it would be pretty hard to brush off this project entirely. It made me consider just how seriously we take the written word sometimes. I agree with Patrick Murray-John, one of the folks who commented on Kelly’s blog, that it was unsettling in a good way. I’m sure all of us have read something in a book or article that has totally shocked or surprised us, but we don’t really question it if there is a citation, or if the author has some credentials. Now, most of the time information will be correct. But this reminded me to always ask questions, look at sources, and verify information when possible. This was a great exercise.

I bought “The Last Pirate” hook, line, and sinker.  I started at the beginning of the blog and read how Jane came up with her idea for her research paper, how she struggled to find the sources she needed, and then found her smoking gun with the will of Edmund Owens.  I kept thinking “this is what I love about history!” and “I should do a blog about my research for my thesis (not nearly as compelling as pirates).”  In the last post, when I discovered that it was a hoax, I was somewhat disappointed, but also it was kind of exhilarating to have a good surprise perpetrated on me like that.

Like Stephanie, I have been mulling over the reasons why I was so easily duped by this.  For me, the links, the videos, the story about Jane were all very convincing.  But, I also really wanted to believe the whole thing.  The story resonated with the best-case scenario of historical research that I have in my head, where if you work hard enough you can find exactly what you want and really break new ground.  I thought that the class that made the blog sounded like an interesting premise.  It sounds like it proved its point effectively and truly engaged the students who participated.  I am not sure that I would ever have the guts to teach that class.

1.)  I read a very interesting article about a married couple that are pros in preservation, who bought and restored a 1880 Maryland house.  They designed the home  to be energy efficient and wheelchair accessible for their son.  They worked with their local historical commission to be sure that they preserved as many materials as possible, and did not change the front of the home.  They enclosed a side porch and turned it into a hallway so their son’s wheelchair could fit, and they also constructed a new elevator in the back of the home so their son could go upstairs.  The home uses a modern geothermal system to heat and cool the home.  The family also added on a new kitchen, and a studio in which their son could have his physical therapy. They built the home so it included “sustainable preservation.”  The homeowners, Logan and Paca both have a background in preservation, and included their experiences in the restoration work at their own home.

http://www.preservationnation.org/magazine/2011/march-april/designed-for-living.html

 

2.)  The National Trust for Historic Preservation site provides information for those looking for a job in historic preservation.  The site is user friendly, and you may search for jobs by title, or just look at openings by state.

http://www.preservationnation.org/careercenter/?gclid=CLLNydmzjKgCFchg2godlhFKDA

3.)  For those of you who may travel over the summer, below is a site that includes historic hotels, and of course you may search by state.  The site includes over 200 hotels, they are over 50 years old, or are sites of historic importance, or architecture.

http://www.preservationnation.org/travel-and-sites/travel/historic-hotels.html

1)”Lost San Diego” presented by San Diego’s Save Our Heritage Organization.

 For those of you who are into looking at “before and after” stories and photos of historic sites, this is pretty interesting. The reason this project is interesting, though, is the way in which it was put together. It obviously comes from a group who is passionate about their local history, but it serves as a lesson in how not to present this information. Click on the links above the photographs and think about what kinds of information or arguments they could or should have included.

http://sohosandiego.org/lostsd/index.htm

2) Cultural Heritage Tourism success stories

This was linked from Preservation Nation’s website. It is a list of successful heritage tourism programs and many of them certainly made me want to hop in my car or on a plane and visit right away. My favorites are the article on Chicago’s neighborhood tours (“A Cultural Mosaic: Chicago’s Neighborhood Tours”), which includes a “Roots of Chicago Blues and Gospel” tour, and “A Niche in the Northwoods: Michigan’s Great Outdoors Culture Tour.”

http://www.culturalheritagetourism.org/stories.htm

3) Walt Disney Family Museum

Finally, a quick video. Dr. Madsen-Brooks mentioned this museum in class due to its poor branding (the museum is actually a museum about the Disney family, rather than a Disney museum for families). As an unabashed Disney history geek, I knew about this museum beforehand but I hadn’t really looked into it. Anyway, while the museum may not be suited for all ages, it is certainly one of the most technologically-advanced museums I have ever seen – it is the definition of the “edutainment” concept we discussed in class. Pretty cool stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blN8WbtBydk

Last fall when I was in Portland I went to visit the campus of my alma mater Lewis and Clark College. In the last few years a decision had been made to, in some way, recognize the participation of the slave York as a member or the Corps of Discovery. The college commissioned Alison Saar who creates public sculpture connected to African American history. Here’s a link to an interview with Ms. Saar about her work:

http://www.portlandart.net/archives/2010/11/interview_with_13.html

I also wanted to share something about an author I really enjoy, Merritt Ierley. He is a social historian. His books include:

With Charity for All: Welfare and Society, Ancient Times to the Present

The Year that Tried Men’s Souls: A Journalistic Reconstruction of the World of 1776

A Place in History: A Centennial Chronicle of North Arlington, New Jersey, Birthplace of Steam Power in America

Wondrous Contrivances: Technology at the Threshold

The Comforts of Home: The American House and the Evolution of Modern Convenience

I have heard him interviewed on NPR, but I couldn’t get to an actual audio recording or even a transcript at the NPR website. What I did find was a New York Times article that quotes one of his books and it made me laugh because it was about front porches.

Most of the history websites that I think are fun and worth looking at have it do with historic houses and museums. One site that I really like is one that’s a bit different than other museum websites because it incorporates a lot of the different fields that are important in museums. The Getty has links to their museum, research institute and their conservation institution. All of those areas are vital for museums, and The Getty does a great job of making them accessible to the public.

I also like Ben Franklin’s Interactive Timeline. I think for things like time lines, that can be really boring, this is a good example of how to make one more interesting. I had fun scrolling though and exploring different aspects of his life, and liked the little clips that were available to play. Things like this are great because so often, in this field, it can be easy to fall into telling just one linear timeline-story.

The last link isn’t really a reading… ok, so it isn’t a reading at all, but I still think it is worth looking at  🙂  Strike it Rich! is kind of like Oregon Trail, in that you chose a historic character and try to win the game by, well, striking it rich. I’m putting this in for a couple reasons. First, because it’s kind of fun. Second, I love that public history websites can be games and still educational. People seem to forget that the public gets a lot of it’s knowledge about historic events because of entertainment (I know someone who thinks they know all about World War Two because of Call of Duty… really.).

Anyway.. links for your learning enjoyment!