“If this Place Could Talk: Researching the History of an Old House” Examined in Talk at College of Southern Maryland

“If this Place Could Talk: Researching the History of an Old House” is a talk I am giving at the College of Southern Maryland on Oct 19, 2012.  The free program takes place at the Leonardtown Campus, 22950 Hollywood Road, Building A, Auditorium, Leonardtown  at 7:00 p.m.

Just as families have a past, old houses and properties have histories. When was the structure built? Who lived in it? How has it changed over time? And what are its stories? The lecture will introduce participants to strategies of discovery: organizing a research process, finding available records and documents, and     interpreting the findings.

The program is part of the Maryland Humanities Council’s speakers bureau series.  It brings historians, writers, poets, and living history scholar-actors to the community to present programs to audiences across Maryland.

Working With Museum on Main Street Program to Reach Younger Audience With Oral History

The Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MOMS) was recently awarded a grant to engage underserved, rural youth in using technology to capture local stories related to the MOMS’ Journey Stories exhibit.  As part of the grant, I will join another scholar as we conduct workshops in oral history methods for teachers, students and museum staff around Maryland.   I’m looking forward to working on this project as it seeks to reach a younger audience with a product they can share with the local community and national audience via the Smithsonian’s “Stories from Main Street” on-line resource.