Not Your Father's Museum Intership

While I would love to own a bright yellow Volkswagon Bug, my bright orange Element provides more storage space.  This posting on philaculture.org does make me additionally wistful at the lack of a Bug.  Yes, I would drive through Phila with a giant bug on top of my car - what a creative, fun method of civic engagement!  

Organization: American Philosophical Society

Job Categories: 

Volunteer & Intern, Philadelphia County (PA), Artist Development & Residencies, Museums

The APS Museum is seeking an intern who owns or leases a VW Beetle hard-top. The intern will drive the vehicle in conjunction with a 2-week (October 12-24, 2009) art performance titled The Voyage of the Beetle and will work with an experienced performance artist, who will stage guerilla performances throughout Philadelphia. Vehicle should be properly insured with valid tags. Availability of up to 8 hours per day during the performance run. Must be willing to have lightweight giant beetle affixed to roof of car during performances (will not damage car -attached via removable roof rack). Generous stipend and reimbursement for fuel/parking costs acquired during performances.

To Apply:

Send letter of interest and resume to jdrozdek@amphilsoc.org

Deadline: 10/05/2009

Posted: 09/04/2009   Expires: 10/05/2009

Stops Along My Path - NYS Historical Markers

One of my earliest glimpses into the past was through the window of my parents' car.  Whether in the green Buick station wagon or the red Rabbit hatchback, my seat in the car was the right rear one, and that view was my entrance to worlds present, past, and imaginary.  The car window provided one of the best forms of car-bound entertainment in those days before hand-held technology.  One of my favorite past times was to look for historical markers.  While on regular trips around our small community in New York's Finger Lakes region or annual summer treks to my grandparents' home in Maine, sitting in the car was a trip into the past, if I paid attention.  One didn't have to leave town to find the blue and gold metal signs.  Geneva had many, from the one right down the road from our house marking the Iroquois site of Kanadesaga to the one marking the site for the Geneva Medical College, alma mater of Elizabeth Blackwell.  The markers seemed to be everywhere when I was a child.  Perhaps that was due to New York State's dedication to the practice.  Perhaps I noticed because I was looking.  

It seems I'm not the only one who enjoys looking.  While doing research for this post, in addition to finding a search engine on the New York State Museum site listing markers,  I discovered a page on Waymarking for NYS Historical Markers.  According the website's FAQ,  "Waymarking is a way to mark unique locations on the planet and give them a voice."  Categories are as varied as "All Things Star Wars" to "Ginormous Everyday Objects."  The specific use of Waymarking to collect historic markers allows not only for a scavenger hunt method of visiting historical sites but also provides the ability to visit them from one's armchair.  

To go back to a question we raised alongside the Memorial Arch at Valley Forge - "Is this history?"  Waymarking is not history - but its a fun way to use technology to gather representations or reminders of historical events and places.  One could say its the next step in the evolution of preserving a memory.  The marker installed in the early 20th century by the State of New York tagged a location as being a specific coordinate in space and time where something we consider momentous happened, a location we believe marks a specific change over time.  The electronic waymarker is simply the 21st Century extension of such a marker.  Luckily for those of use who still appreciate and enjoy reminders that we can see and touch, a waymarker doesn't replace the blue and gold metal signpost.  It augments that object by extending its reach into cyperspace.  

Waymarking may also serve as a tool to connect the more technology-embedded youth of today to three dimensional objects.  When I bundle my family into my bright orange Element next summer for a trek to Wisconsin to visit my parents, perhaps we'll use Waymarker.com to track historic markers across five states, using the iPhone to encourage us to look out the window in search of history instead of playing video games.  After all, one can always play PacMan or watch videos when its too dark to see the landscape.  

Managing History Readings for September 21, 2009

I am intrigued by a question in this week's texts. “How does an individual use history to define one's self?”

According to the readings, individuals do not seek out history to understand someone else's life; they do so to understand their own. Moreover, they view the historical fact or object or story through their own cultural lenses and interpret it with personal senses of self. While there is an emotional response, the ultimate result is personal validation, or an “existential” authenticity.

Authenticity is a term historians use – are guilty of over using – when validating the representation of a time, person, or place. I will admit to having cavalierly bandied about the term, most often in reference to the (proper) representation of a time period through (appropriate) use of external props that are justified by documented knowledge. However, the survey and sociological survey studied suggest that authenticity is internal, not external; that the use of a 1930 teacup isn't emotionally satisfying because its use places us in another period of time, but because our internalizations of that period of time is one more layer in our definition of who we are, how we fit, where we come from, and what we want to be.

Perhaps the next logical question to be asked by public historians requires flipping the observation of an exhibit or object from,“What does this object say of the past” to “How can this object help define someone's future?”

Texts referenced include: Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelen, The Presence of the Past (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000) and Hyounggon Kim and Tazin Jamal, "Touristic Quest for Existential Authenticity" in Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 181-201, 2007.

Interesting Find

My journey to Temple includes a significant commute.  While I can read for the hour I'm on the train in each direction, the hour in the car can feel like wasted time intellectually.  On my "to do list" was to find academically relevant material to listen to during the drive.  While visiting the web site for the Library Company of Philadelphia recently, I found that they have several programs saved in podcast format.   

Thoughts on Readings for 9/14/09 Class Discussion

Managing History readings for this week are: Ian Tyrrell's, “Historians in Public," Cathy Stanton's intro to “The Lowell Experiment,” and Carl Becker's presidential address to the AHA.

These readings are a foundation for understanding our chosen field – its history, key figures, affect on culture, morality, economics, etc. They also start us – very solidly – thinking about the obligations inherent in our choice to serve as historians within the public sphere.

Tyrrell's work provides an immense amount of critical information. If as historians we espouse studying our past in order to understand our future, Tyrrell's book provides data that can help us avoid the hypocrisy of not knowing our own past. (It's one thing to join the American Historical Association (AHA). Its another to realize that it has existed since the late 1800s and to examine its role in shaping the field of history.)

Becker's piece challenges us, as it did Tyrrell, to question how, in 1931, he was representative of historians' views of the public and of their obligation to the public and how he was revolutionary.

Stanton gives us another analysis of the rise of public history. While she and Tyrrell draw on similar sources, the tones are different, perhaps because they have different reasons for presenting the information. Tyrrell is looking backward, documenting where we've been in order to explore the role the teaching of history plays. Stanton is setting a current example of that role in context.  

My Initial Foray to Valley Forge

As a relatively new Pennsylvanian, there are many PA historic sites, formal and informal, that I have never seen.  On Labor Day I ventured to the National Historic Park at Valley Forge.  A deliberate "blue highway" route was chose for the trip down.  Another time I would like to stop and take photos of some of the wonderful early American architecture along that path, especially Route 100 south of Allentown.


I have to confess.  I didn't do my homework.  Valley Forge is a much larger parcel of land than I expected. (I was imagining closer to the scale of Fort Stanwix, not Gettysburg.)  The couple of hours I had allocated were no where near enough time to view the entire park, even quickly.   So, after leaving the Visitor's Center and vowing to come back another day with a picnic lunch and bicycles, I climbed back into the car and drove the 8-10 mile loop, noting the different areas from my window.  Two stops were made.  One at the National Memorial Arch and another at the Muhlenberg Brigade.

At the National Memorial Arch, my attention was caught by a plaque discussing the restoration of the arch stating that, "During 1996-1997 The Freemasons of Pennsylvania contributed more than one million five thousand dollars necessary to preserve the Arch to its original grandeur."  The question that sprang immediately to mind is, "Who pays for history?" I muttered it loud enough that a friend heard me and retorted with his own question, "Is this history?"  Further ruminations, and work this evening on my blog, have highlighted that I need to do some solid thinking, and likely historiographical research, into the semantic difference (and opinions) on the difference between "history" and "historical." Is Valley Forge history or historical? Is the National Memorial Arch historical? What about memorials in general? Are they historical when they are built or only when they reach some magic age themselves?

At the Muhlenberg Brigade we had time to look into some of the reproductions of the 12x12 cabins Washington had ordered built to house the troops.  We then headed over to hear a member of the park service speak on the construction of the encampment and the daily routine of the soldiers.  [more pictures]  All in all, a good first taste of the park.  I look forward to going back.  

A Walk About Jacobsburg

Three months ago to the day, I went to Jacobsburg Historical Society to welcome the executive director as a new member of the Nazareth Club of Rotary International, for which I currently serve as vice-president.  While I've lived 2.2 miles away from Jacobsburg and the Boulton Historic Site for almost two years, I had not visited.   Jacobsburg, along with the Moravian Historical Society and the general topics of Moravian and Nazareth history, were areas I had, honestly, actively avoided.  All were of extreme interest to me.  That was the problem.  I was afraid that if I even briefly explored the local history I would fall into it, not to resurface, and place actual priorities at risk.  

To reach Boulton one drives up to the edge of the woods, stopping just shy of the Bushkill Creek.  I pulled into the circular drive in front of John Joseph Henry's Federal style estate house, stepped out of my Element, and turned to face the Old Henry Homestead across the road, which now houses the Museum of the Pennsylvania Longrifle.  In truth, I stepped back into my element, an element I left fifteen years ago when the museum education program at the College of William and Mary was cancelled.  The world of tangible history.  

My intent is for Jacobsburg to be an important part of my journey the next two years and a frequent topic of conversation here.  To introduce one of my newest important places to you, I took a short walk around some of the grounds last Friday.  Pictorial evidence can be found here.  (All photos are my own.  Captions are based on the extent of my knowledge at this time and considerable help from the current press kit for the Society.  Any errors are my own and any commentary is not on behalf of the Jacobsburg Historical Society.)