This week in my oral history class, I shared with students some oral histories collected in 2007/8 with survivors of the 1918 Flu pandemic. It’s often said that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes, and in this case, the resonances with our own pandemic era were very pointed for me and my students. Descriptions… Continue reading Pandemic Rhymes: Oral history and the 1918 Flu pandemic
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“The Black Side of Town”: Challenging Avondale’s White-only Narrative
This is third in a series of posts about the history of Avondale Estates. Avondale Estates was restricted to white-only residents (or at least homeowners) for much of its 20th century history. And today the city is still almost 80% white.[1] Much of the recent diversification of Avondale’s population has come since 1998, as a… Continue reading “The Black Side of Town”: Challenging Avondale’s White-only Narrative
Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City | Creative Time Reports
Spatial Justice: Rasquachification, Race and the City | Creative Time Reports.
Gastronomic history
Now this is living history I can get into... NY Times writer revisits the sights, sounds, and tastes of an early 19th c. French guide book, Almanachs des Gourmands, penned by Napoleonic-era aristocrat Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de la Reynière. Some of the restaurants he lists are still around today. http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/travel/22Grimod.html
Propagating Historical Memory: Anne Frank’s Tree
In my "History and the Public" class we are always talking and thinking about ways to commemorate and mark and interpret places that aren't there anymore, or how to link sites with a variety of interpretive strategies. The challenge: to think outside of the box about how we can mark and share history on any… Continue reading Propagating Historical Memory: Anne Frank’s Tree
Historical Value: Families look to local museums for affordable entertainment – Framingham, MA – The MetroWest Daily News
Here's an upside to the recession for some... glad there's some recompense for the manifold ways in which cultural non-profits are taking on the chin... Historical Value: Families look to local museums for affordable entertainment - Framingham, MA - The MetroWest Daily News Posted using ShareThis
Museums take on immigration debate with exhibits
an AP newsstory on the role that museums - some of my favorites - are taking on the immigration debate. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6645764.html
on the “usable past” and this blog
Public history is a collective public narrative that commemorates and maintains stories about who we are as a people and involves the creation of a “usable past” that speaks to the present, emerging from a dialogic relationship between the legacies of the past, the struggles of the present, and the promises of the future. The… Continue reading on the “usable past” and this blog
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