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Observing Local History in Indiana
Responses by Rebecca Conard, Jannelle Warren-Findley, and David Glassberg
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LOCAL HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE
By Rebecca Conard | |
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Trying to get a handle on the wide-ranging thoughts and concerns expressed by Linda Rippy, Charlotte Sellers, and Joe Skvarenina in response to Keith Erekson's probing questions, I felt compelled to pick up the local newspaper. In this instance, it happened to be the weekly paper published in the small midwestern town where I grew up, and where my parents still reside. The front page carried a photo essay about an Arbor Day tree-planting in memory of one of my former classmates. It reminded me that my hometown, like thousands of communities across the country, has a long tradition of remembering the departed with memorial gardens, parks, groves, and forests. It also reminded me that civic groups, often established by women, typically spearhead such caretaking efforts, and have for generations. And it reminded me that, in the 1920s and 1930s, a group of local citizens in this community worked with the state board of conservation to turn an adjacent natural lake into a state park bordered by campgrounds, fish-rearing ponds, a reforested "natural" area, and a new city park. Other local citizens provided technical assistance or labor for this effort courtesy of New Deal work relief programs. |
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Today, residents and out-of-towners routinely use the state park for outdoor recreation and the city park for family gatherings and community celebrations. The recent tree-planting ceremony took place in the city park. Many older residents know bits and pieces of this history, but few understand the ways in which the development of our local park and outdoor recreation system is woven into the fabric of state and national history. The young teens who buzz along recreational trails on their motorbikes probably have not found the bronze plaque, reading "George Washington Memorial Forest," that was placed there by the Iowa Daughters of the American Revolution in 1932. |
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The local historical society has never developed an exhibit, published an interpretive brochure, or otherwise interpreted the history of the lake parks and recreation areas that give this community its distinctive identity, even though the historical museum sits across the street from a campground filled from May through September with visitors and even though hundreds of historical photographs reside in local newspaper files, private collections, and the historical society's own collections. Instead, the museum displays typical items donated by pioneer and prominent families and operates an ongoing rummage sale in the basement to augment its meager budget. |
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Rippy, Sellers, and Skvarenina identify a long list of what would seem to be endemic challenges and constraints in the practice of local history. Like many local museums, the one in my hometown employs no paid staff, has few actual members, does not interpret its collections, avoids programming, and relies on free publicity through the local newspaper. From the outside, it appears to be stagnant, yet the members currently have their hands full working on a newspaper preservation project in collaboration with the state historical society. Not only is this important work, but it is also the kind of effort that volunteers can fit into busy personal schedules, that requires more care than skill or training, and that provides a social outlet. The latter is both an asset and a liability, because the social aspect of local historical work all too often becomes insular and exclusionary. To paraphrase Sellers, there is so much work and so little help that loyal volunteers become vested in the enterprise to the point where it is difficult for newcomers to break in. Moreover, assistance or "counsel" from outside professionals, however much needed, can be threatening: among other things, it reinforces the obvious—there are too few people to do so much work—but also because outsiders, however knowledgeable and well-meaning, do not always take the time to understand or appreciate the challenges and constraints under which local historical organizations operate. |
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