MCHP in the news

The community projects have been in the news a bit lately.  There are some interesting things happening among our eight teams and we want everyone to know.  Below are links to some online coverage (and hopefully the links live a while longer).  Let me know if you see some articles that I’ve missed.  And while I’m at it, here’s a link for the SAD #74 (New Portland) technology blog http://sad74tech.blogspot.com/2008/10/maine-community-heritage-project-new.html.

Thanks,

-Stephanie

http://www.workingwaterfront.com/articles/Islesboro-students-add-island-history-to-Maine-memory-network/12837/

http://www.villagesoup.com/print/Print.cfm?StoryID=135961

http://www.coastaljournal.com/website/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=945:bath-students-to-undertake-massive-history-project&catid=58:regional-news&Itemid=43

http://www.umpi.edu/news/releases/969-08-09025

http://www.dailybulldog.com/db/?p=187

Thomaston Students planning oral history interviews on the Great Depression

MPBN's Keith Shortall demonstrates interview techniques for tenth graders in Thomaston

Maine Public Radio Producer, Keith Shortall, visited Thomaston High School on November 18 to talk to students about interviewing for oral history.  Students there will be conducting oral histories with local residents on their memories of the Great Depression in Thomaston and Shortall spent some time with the students talking about interviewing skills.  He also did a live interview with his aunt, Signe Gardner of Thomaston, so the kids could see how to conduct an interview and ask questions.

Kristie and I had visited the previous week to talk with students about how to prepare for an oral history project.  Two sections of teacher Krystal Gamage’s Economics classes are gearing up to do oral history interviews with local people who remember the Great Depression.  While we explained the basics of oral history – what it is, why we do it and how to run the recording equipment, we also had some lively discussions about what the questions might be.  Each student came armed with 10 questions they might like to ask and we talked about them and added more to their list.  There were some really great questions and showed a real understanding of how to relate the history to the current state of our economy.  Even more surprising to us was how knowledgeable about how to ask a question so that you don’t end up with just yes and no answers.  We also discussed how you might gear questions to particular people – women, men, or those who were children at the time.  It became clear to all of us that many of these people were likely to have been kids during the Depression just because so much time has passed.  It was a very interesting day & the students were great at putting their ideas up for discussion.

Over Thanksgiving break students will contact their interviews and ask preliminary questions over the phone.  They’ll arrange a meeting date and conduct their interviews in December.  Once the interviews are complete, students will transcribe their interviews and pick 2 or 3 interesting clips to post on the Maine Memory Network and the Thomaston MCHP site.  The original recordings and transcripts will go to the Thomaston Historical Society and Thomaston Public Library.

More to come on this exciting project.  Stay tuned….

-Stephanie

Oral history & the loss of an idol

Very sad to hear of the passing of Studs Terkel. He was an important historian and storyteller who helped to democratize the telling of history. His stories of “ordinary” people in their own words made history come alive for us all and helped us see where we fit into history. He was a personal hero to me and after discovering his work as a teenager, I’ve spent a lot of my life recording stories and studying Maine history.

You might wonder just what Studs Terkel could have to do with the MCHP. Sure, he never worked with us and likely never even heard of our work. Still, I think there is a connection. Nearly everyone I talk to while visiting the MCHP towns mentions a desire to record local history stories and certainly there are people all over Maine doing just that. Terkel’s books like Working and The Good War gave us personal stories of American history and I think the personal nature of those stories has made us all realize that we can play a part in telling our history. I talk to people all the time who are starting an oral history project or who want to share their own story and are looking for an outlet. Oral history is a very democratic approach to history and anyone can do it — sure there are methods and approaches that you should use and it can be intimidating to think of recording equipment. It’s probably not as hard as you think, though. And I promise you: it’s loads of fun. What’s better than hearing stories and especially stories of people and places close to you? And believe me, there is nothing like having those recorded stories after the teller has passed away.

At Maine Historical Society, we’re very interested in seeing more oral history go up on the Maine Memory Network and have recently created guidelines for uploading audio or video files. There are oral history recordings all over the web but MMN offers a central place for Maine stories. We’ll be posting those guidelines soon but feel free to get in touch with me if you want more details.

-Stephanie (sphilbrick@mainehistory.org)

Farmington team plots GIS mapping points for MCHP project

Melanie Taylor Coombs and Nancy Porter plots GPS points for their MCHP maps.

The Farmington MCHP team has built a mapping component into their project. They are plotting several points on portable GPS units and then using that information to create maps for their Community Website. One of the team members central to this effort is Tyler Durand, an intern for the Center for Community GIS and a student at the University of Maine at Farmington. Tyler, along with the rest of the Farmington MCHP team are identifying historic sites important to their exhibits, capturing the coordinates and then will create maps that show the location of the sites while also providing links to more information. It should be a really interesting way to get into some of the collections and information they plan to share. What’s more they seem to be having a great time doing it — traipsing across fields, riding on back roads and talking to people around town as they map the coordinates. The reports I’ve heard back from them indicate that they’re finding lots of interesting things and picking up all kinds of stories from the landowners they meet.

Have fun everyone — don’t forget to wear your orange while you’re out there!

-Stephanie

Melanie Taylor Coombs, Director of the Farmington Public Library, scales new heights as she captures GPS coordinates for the Farmington MCHP project.

Bath Students Kickoff MCHP Expedition by Exploring Downtown

Bath 7th graders touring downtown Bath, October 1, 2008

Bath Middle School student at Bath Historical Society, Ocotober 1, 2008

The Bath MCHP team decided to have an introductory kickoff day for the students working on the project. In this case, the kids are 7th graders from the Black House team at Bath Middle (for those of us outside of the school world: kids are broken up into teams with groups and they cycle through all of their classes with this group). Since BMS uses expeditionary learning, the kids will approach the year as an investigation into local history. Groups of four kids will study one downtown building and look at the architecture, business use, the people there and any events related to that structure. In the process they will learn about local history while developing research and writing skills.

This orientation day was designed by the local MCHP group made up of Historical Society staff, Patten Free Library staff and the BMS teachers. The Kickoff was October first and 45 students arrived at Patten Free Library at 9 a.m. After introductions, they divided into three groups and cycled through three activities:

1. A walking tour and scavenger hunt.
2. An introduction to the MCHP and the Maine Memory Network.
3. Learning about historical collections at the Historical Society and how they can be used to investigate history.

The day went off without a hitch – well, it rained which always makes a walking tour much more fun. Still, the kids asked questions, participated in discussion and quickly associated information learned in one session with things they heard in the next. They had worked with their teachers earlier in the week to brainstorm what they already knew about Bath and what they wondered about but don’t yet know. That will serve as their benchmark and they’ll revisit those questions and assumptions throughout the year. In addition, they created their own maps of downtown Bath and designated the places of importance to them. The day was made all the stronger because the team (teachers and library & historical society staff) got together several times to plan the event. They even went on a dry run of the tour so that the teachers would know what the kids would learn and could better prepare them. All in all, a really impressive event. The Brunswick Times Record and the Coastal Journal joined us so we’re hoping to see ourselves in the paper, too.

The students were interested in the idea that they are one of only 8 towns in the state (in the country!) to be doing this and that they are the first to have access to the new Maine Memory Network tools to build web pages. But they were just as interested to learn that Maine’s first governor was from Bath and quickly remembered having seen the monument near Domino’s Pizza, – hey, we all have different landmarks in our towns. Maybe now they can say, it’s the Domino’s next to the Governor King monument.

New Portland MCHP

Marilyn Gorman showing us the school she attended as a child in New Portland. The Historical Society now uses the building for exhibit and storage space.

Our very first MCHP community meeting was July 3 in New Portland. We couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome or more interesting kickoff – a look around town, lunch and tons of interesting stories. We started off the morning with a tour of the bicentennial exhibits at the fairgrounds and a tour of the historical society. Like many small towns all over Maine, New Portland has a very interesting history – even if the rest of us are aware of it. The NP Historical Society is the storehouse for local history, full of photos, clothing, objects and information about the history of life along the Carrabassett River in western Somerset County. The NP team, comprised of educators from SAD #74, folks from NP Community Library and the Historical Society, met and immediately identified dozens of important (and interesting) topics that contribute to the history of the town. They’re about to dive into their community resource inventory and really find out what resources support the telling of their history. This is one committed team! In the interest of the project, they decided to meet together over the next month to work on the Community Resources Inventory and even declined to be reimbursed for travel expenses to Orientation so that more funds would be available for their project expenses. They’re investigating several topics and some of the potential themes are: agriculture (apples, sheep, maple syrup), industry (wood products, ice and others), wars and the NP homefront, the Wire Bridge, the New Portland Fair among others.
–Stephanie

2008 MCHP Community Project Teams

The Maine Historical Society, in partnership with the Maine State Library, is excited to announce that the first eight Maine communities have been selected to participate in the Maine Community Heritage Project (MCHP). The communities are: Bath, Farmington, Hampden, Islesboro, Lubec, New Portland, Presque Isle, and Thomaston.

Community Profiles:

Bath: The Bath team—a partnership between the Patten Free Library, Bath Historical Society, and Bath Middle School—will explore the history of downtown Bath and create an online map exhibit with links to highlight important events, sites, and people in Bath’s history. Bath is a small mid-coast city located on the Kennebec River.

Farmington: The Farmington team—a partnership between Farmington Public library, Farmington Historical Society, Mount Blue Middle School, and the Center for Community GIS—will identify local resources, use technology to promote the study of history, and to put their recently completed walking tour online. Farmington is located in the western Maine foothills of Franklin County.

Hampden: The Hampden team—a partnership between the Edythe L. Dyer Community Library, Hampden Historical Society, Reeds Brook Middle School, and the Hampden Communication Committee—will promote broad citizen involvement in presenting Hampden’s history and is interested in using broadcast and web media to make local resources available to the public. Hampden is located in Penobscot County, south of Bangor.

Islesboro: The Islesboro team—a partnership between the Alice L. Pendleton Library, Islesboro Historical Society and Islesboro Central School—will collaborate to preserve the island’s historical resources and to create a user-friendly way to access local historical source materials about the island. Islesboro is a small island community in Waldo County.

Lubec: The Lubec team—a partnership between the Lubec Memorial Library, Lubec Historical Society, Lubec Consolidated School, West Quoddy Lightkeepers Association, Association to Promote and Protect the Lubec Environment, and the Lubec Bicentennial Committee—will focus on preparing for Lubec’s bicentennial in 2011 and providing new research for an updated town history. Lubec is a small seacoast community on the Canadian border in Washington County.

New Portland: The New Portland team—a partnership between the New Portland Community Library, New Portland Historical Society, and MSAD #74—has created a new partnership to document and share the town’s history for the upcoming bicentennial and the 20th anniversary of their library. New Portland is a small town on the Carrabassett River in western Somerset County.

Presque Isle: The Presque Isle team—a partnership between the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library, Presque Isle Historical Society, MSAD #1, and University of Maine at Presque Isle —will utilize the MCHP to strengthen existing partnerships and tie their work into Presque Isle’s downtown revitalization, upcoming sesquicentennial, and their existing oral history project. The city of Presque Isle is located in central Aroostook County.

Thomaston: The Thomaston team—a partnership between Thomaston Public Library, Thomaston Historical Society, Georges Valley High School, and The General Henry Knox Museum—is committed to forging strong community relationships that will give student and adult researchers access to local history resources, capture local stories, and generate local interest in town history. Thomaston is a town in mid-coast Maine on the St. George River.

For more information, please contact Stephanie Philbrick, Community Partnership Coordinator, Maine Historical Society, at sphilbrick@mainehistory.org or (207) 774-1822.