Month: April 2011

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!

As most of you are aware, every First Lady has their project. Michelle Obama has taken on childhood obesity, Nancy Reagan took on the ‘war on drugs’. Jackie Kennedy focused on the preservation and restoration of the White House.

In the following news broadcast, Jackie Kennedy gives a brief narrative on the history of the White House, and why it is important to preserve and contribute to the aura of the mansion. Throughout the hour long interview, she goes room by room describing what work was done. Everything from refurnishing to changing the style of tables in the banquet hall. All of her work was in the name of preservation, and keeping the history of our nation and the residence of our President alive and well. Jackie truly went to great steps in discovering relics in storage, and using the knowledge of Historians and various experts in making sure her findings were accurate.

The fact that both John and Jackie were avid history buffs makes this story  much more interesting, at least in my humble opinion. It’s refreshing to see the respect and admiration to the past from a couple who one would think would be too preoccupied to acknowledge.

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=6EFEF6A4BF31464A&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_762207

One of my favorite history-related sites to visit is the Library of Congress collection of historic photograph and print collections.  I love to look through the different groups of photos (they have thousands so I have never actually seen any of the collections all the way through.  My favorite are the WPA posters; particularly the 1930’s prints for the National Parks.

WPA Prints

I love tongue-in-cheek history that can be shared with everyone.  This next link satisfies this desire.  The other T-shirts are also funny.

Girl Power-Now with Kagan!

This next post isn’t necessarily history, but it did remind of some of discussions on preservation.  I thought that this was a unique approach to temporarily add value to certain historic but neglected properties.

Before I die: NOLA

These links are a little random, but so are my historical interests.

Ok…The Last America Pirate was awesome; the idea behind the course was spectacular, and I am not at all surprised at the amount of work her class put into the project. When something catches your attention like that, it is hard not to be excited about adding a bit of tom-foolery to history!
This got me thinking about my History and Conspiracy Theories class with Dr. Walker last summer. We studied some of the most fascinating “research” I think I’ve ever seen! So, for this blog, I have chosen to share with you a few of my favorite hoaxes in the spirit of Trick-or-History. Some will make you smile, others cry, others make you wonder who in the world spent all their time compiling so much, ummm, data? to prove their point, and others will just make you LOL. Yes, LOL. Who knows, you may even change your mind about some of these events…
Enjoy!
Stanley Kubrick’s Moon Landing as seen through The Shining

This site is full of fun historic facts

After reading about Edward Owens and the class project, I couln’t possibly share anything else today! Alas, perhaps a more intellectual pursuit further along in the week. But for now, just enjoy the hoax!

For the readings this week I have two suggestions…the first is an article on the same website Tabatha suggested everyone check out. It is about funding public history through grants (as you might guess from the title).

http://www.publichistory.org/features/grantfunding.html

My other suggestion is a visit to the Washington Women’s History Consortium. It is a really fun site to explore, it has digitized collections from a number of universities and museums in Washington, thematic collections, oral histories, and lots of resources. You can explore at http://washingtonwomenshistory.org/.

Happy reading!

I really like the idea of transforming old, defunct buildings and structures into new practical and forward looking spaces, much like Union Station in St. Louis. It made me think of Trolley Square in Salt Lake City. http://www.trolleysquare.com/history-gallery.php P.s. There are some great images here, and it seems like a pretty smart way to display high quality photos. Simple but smart.

Turns out that I am actually into facadism, I like the idea of maintaining an aesthetic integrity and historic quality, while updating a building’s utility. I loved the work done in Boise not too long ago, when the south 8th Street (BoDo) historical district was updated. http://www.cityofboise.org/Departments/PDS/Historic/HistoricDistricts/page11057.aspx But I don’t know if I’m that into the bureacracy, “land use law”, zoning, government regulation . . . sound like a lot of technical writing. Not really my idea of a good time, but that’s just me. Historic Preservation (Tyler, et al, 2009) explains just how many hoops surround the whole preservation vs. development issue. I’m glad there are people out there who do this stuff. Who knows, maybe I could end up being one of them?

For me, I am interested in the ideas surrounding “landmarks” and “heritage” and how it changes meaning over time. What is interesting to me is how these struggles represent cultural values, why certain locations and artifacts have special meaning, and how these set of values are used in the conceptual struggle between “public” and “private”. This stuff is hard to wrap my head around. But walking around downtown I have begun noticing the aesthetic integrity of some of our downtown blocks. I’ve noticed that they tend to maintain an average height, the ‘tall’ buildings tend to be the flashy ones like the Idanha and Adelmann buildings, or completely modern. I think it’s a nice mix. Here is my favorite photo that expresses those sentiments.
p.s. I know the author and have permission to post this here.

So just for good measure, I thought I should share my favorite facade ever, the remnants of the library at Ephesus in modern Turkey. It is supposed to have been quite like the library at Alexandria in design and size, being second only to the more famous of the two. I wonder what kind of legal and practical work it takes to keep this thing standing in good condition? Who oversees it? I’ve never checked, maybe I will. I wonder if they could ever build it onto something, or would I prefer to see it in its humble remains? I don’t know, I’m officially on the fence on this one.