Authors

Online Games of Today = Secret Societies of the Last Century?

Stacy Klingler — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:00:00 -0500

At a recent In Your Neighborhood meeting, Erin Kelley (our director of Education and Community Engagement) noticed an interesting collection of costumes and props from a secret society on display at the Dearborn County Historical Society. She compared the way people would dress up and take on a role in those secret societies to what today's online gamers do in creating an avatar or virtual character and playing a role within the game.

Her observation really made me think. When I've read about historical secret societies (like The Supreme Tribe of Ben Hur), they've seemed so foreign to me. How strange to imagine grown men dressing in costume or performing rituals. And there is also the darker side of many of these groups which frequently excluded people of color, non-Protestants, and women when they were formed. While it was clear that the appeal of "being a member of the club" was compelling, I just couldn't see the attraction.

But I know lots of people who really enjoy creating avatars and interacting with each other. In the gaming world, you have the chance to be whatever kind of person (or creature, for that matter) you want to be. You can do things you wouldn't normally do in your regular life. And you belong to a community.

Now when I imagine a secret society functioning in the same way, I get it. Erin's comparison suddenly opened up a new way for me to connect to an unfamiliar piece of the past. That is what all good historians, storytellers, docents and teachers do.

I shouldn't have been surprised that Erin might make this kind of observation, because she is often thinking about ties between popular culture and history. We always benefit from stealing some time from other IHS staff members to talk with local history organizations. I can't wait to see how her summer program, which includes public health response to disease outbreaks (like polio), disaster response (like that to the Flood of 1913), zombies, and oral history turns out!

__________________________

Stacy Klingler is assistant director of Local History Services at IHS. Along with the other LHS team members, she travels the state assisting local history organizations. She loves her job because it’s never the same thing twice, unless she has to make a U-turn at Main Street.

How Much Do You Care About the History of Another? – The Sequel

Stacy Klingler — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:30:00 -0400

The Local History Services blogs don't usually generate a lot of comments, so when my April post prompted several responses, I finished the last crumbs of my cookie pie from Hoaglin To Go (a too-convenient elevator ride to the Stardust Terrace Café on the canal level of the Indiana History Center) and eagerly read them.

The commenters responded to the question in the title with a resounding, “YES!” Several commenters were names I recognized as those of some of the most dedicated volunteers we have at the Indiana Historical Society: the county historians. They are the hubs of local history, connecting anyone seeking information about a county with either the answer or the right place to look to find it. (This joint program of IHS and the Indiana Historical Bureau just celebrated its 30th anniversary last year and is as active as ever!)

The comment that really struck a chord with me was from Elkhart County Historian Marcia Brenneman: “I think we get so involved with the process [of doing local history] that we forget or ignore what we are preserving and saving for.” Marcia echoed something I remember from a Seminar for Historical Administration session I attended in 2006. Bob Archibald, president of the Missouri History Museum, said that he started every board meeting with a five-minute (or less) story of an object from their collections. He thought that reminding the board about WHY they were sifting through budget information or discussing conflict of interest policies made the meetings more focused and productive.

So, while we may not be able to solve the mystery of “The Lincoln Eagle” at our next workshop or meeting, we can make a point to share some compelling history. Since my time is short today and I now know that our readers are looking for a local history fix, I will send you an interesting story dug up by Amy Vedra in the IHS Collections Department about a Man Once Thought Dead Elected Governor.

____________________________________

How Much Do You Care About the History of Another?

Stacy Klingler — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:55:00 -0400

A few days ago, while enjoying some chocolate sandwich cookies and walking on the canal, Jeff Harris and I started a conversation about how much (or little) we ever talk about history content with local history groups. As the Local History Services department, you might expect that we're the place to go to get your questions answered about which Indiana county sent the most solders to fight in the Civil War or why the town of Madison isn't in Madison County. But the truth is, when someone asks those specific local history questions, we send them to the IHS reference desk.

What we do in LHS is talk about how local history is collected, preserved and shared with the public. We talk about engaging exhibit techniques, attracting new audiences to history organizations, fundraising for new roofs and archival boxes, and defending the value of local history. We may pick up fascinating details about a particular place on a site visit – like how all of Starke County smelled lovely during the mint harvest and how important that industry was. But rarely do we purposefully talk about the history or a particular place when we are with groups from different sites.

Is that a mistake on our part? Would we engage more local history organization presidents and directors if we made a space for these local history stories to be told in our In Your Neighborhood meetings or during workshops? Would you, Dear Reader, be more likely to read our blog, subscribe to Communique Online or visit our LHS department webpage if we share interesting tidbits of local history? Would you like to hear about another town or county's history?

We're not sure (although Jeff leans one way and I lean the other). Can you help us decide? Tell us if you would like to hear more about the local history of others!

_____________________________

No One Way to Learn History

Stacy Klingler — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:05:00 -0400

I’ve been talking a lot lately about the variety of ways that people learn.

I’m a text learner. I like to read and follow directions because it appeals to my orderly sense of the world – or perhaps to the sense of order I impose on the world. (My nickname isn’t Spreadsheet Girl for nothing.) Jeff, on the other hand, is a do-er. He jumps in with both feet and solves the problem, and he doesn’t require a clearly laid out path to get there. Tamara likes to learn through conversation. She is a consummate teacher and seminar class participant. Jeannette is a visual learner – use the image to communicate a thousand words effectively, and you’ll hook her.
Each of us can learn by engaging with images, talking with colleagues, creating something new or reading a book. But when it comes to self-directed or optional learning – like the kind of learning people choose to do at the Indiana Historical Society or in any of the museums or historical societies we work with at Local History Services – people prefer to have you play to their strengths.

Recently, we’ve been talking about how, within the Indiana Experience, there’s something for most everyone. For Jeannette, Destination Indiana lets her pick and choose historic images and explore them in detail (zooming in on a street sign or a person’s face). For Tamara, she has lots of opportunities to talk with our facilitators (the “orange shirts” as we sometime call them) about her interests. For Jeff, we’ve got the History Lab, where he can roll up his sleeves and mend a piece of paper. And for me, we have the IHS Press coming out with new books every year. (And when we all need a break, we head down to the café for a pecan bar or a cookie pie – dangerous stuff.)

Local history groups also work to help people learn in whatever way suits them, even without access to the staff and technology that we have at IHS. For Jeannette, they have photographs on display, sometimes with magnifying glasses. For Tamara, they have docents who can answer questions and spin a yarn. For Jeff, they usually have “education collections” that can be used to spin yarn, for example. And for me, they have text panels, newsletter articles and other publications. Maybe the local history groups are a little light on the Jeff-pleasers (and who would want to please Jeff all the time!) But overall, they adapt the way they engage visitors on the fly and find something that works for whoever walks through their door.

So how do you like to learn? And where did you have a chance to learn the way you wanted to recently?

_____________________

It’s a Big World!

Stacy Klingler — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:30:00 -0400

Last week, the Grover Museum in Shelbyville hosted a workshop for Local History Services. Because we needed an Internet connection, the director, Candy Miller, kindly moved around their April temporary exhibit It's a Big World – an exhibit that provides adults with the child’s perspective of the world, in honor of the “Month of the Young Child.” You can see Candy sitting in the huge chair that demonstrates what adult-sized furniture feels and looks like to toddlers. (And she said that almost everyone who climbs up in the seat winds up with a smile on their faces.)

: Shelby County Historical Society director in the "Big Chair" in their exhibit It's a Big World!

She also set up tables and chairs, made coffee, duct taped the DSL cable to the floor so we wouldn’t trip and otherwise made me and the other workshop participants comfortable. One of the workshop attendees had trouble walking, so he used the retrofitted elevator to get to the second floor workshop/exhibit space, and Candy kindly moved his car for him. One of the early arrivals (because Hoosiers are always 15 minutes early) had a chance to marvel at the amazing Streets of Shelbyville exhibit. As she walked the red brick streets in the converted Elk’s Lodge ballroom, she saw local artifacts displayed in miniature versions of the “shops” or “offices” where they might have been used. Candy set up lunch at Panzarotti's – the local restaurant that is so popular that you have to make reservations on Friday or Saturday nights. (And for those blog readers who only care about our food recommendations, I’ll note that the antipasto salad was tasty, but that the mozzarella and pepperoni breadsticks were gooey and delicious!)

I decided to describe the Grover Museum and the helpfulness of its director, not because I was surprised by the quality of the museum (which was high) or the flexibility and problem-solving abilities of its staff (of one), but because I know that’s what you can expect from the good small history museums around our state. The staff and volunteers of these places are characterized by passion and perseverance. (Candy told us that it took 15 years to get the Streets of Shelbyville completed.)

So it does my heart good when we can bring a expert (Ron Newlin, who raised money for the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame and the Indiana State Museum Foundation) to give a workshop on fundraising planning pitched for the small organization. So much of the information out there on fundraising depends on having a large staff, funding to do research on potential donors or familiarity with complicated financial tools. (Do you know what a charitable remainder trust is?)

The information is like the big chair in the exhibit – small organizations can use it, but it can be a struggle and it never really fits right. I like to think that we are providing chairs of just the right size for the more than 900 local history organizations in the state. We try not to overwhelm people with all the information, but point them to the most relevant resources for their situation. We don’t assume that any organization has a staff person who can make finding the answer to a particular question their primary focus. The fundamentals of the information we provide is the same, but hopefully, but we make it accessible and comfortable so that it's one less struggle among the many that local history organizations face.

_____________________

The Price of Oil and Local History

Stacy Klingler — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:40:00 -0500

As I was driving down to the Dubois County Museum in Jasper to lead a workshop in strategic planning for local history organizations, I was listening to the radio. The chaos in Libya is causing oil prices to skyrocket. The reports claimed that these unsettling changes in the world may drive gas prices up to $4 or $5 per gallon.

I pulled into a gas station in Martinsville to fill up the IHS van with gas: $55.04 for half a tank. What might an increase in gas prices mean for the work we do in Local History Services? And what will it mean for the historical societies and museums that we work with?

During the workshop, we talked about how to plan given the opportunities and threats that we can’t control: the ever-changing world of social media, the deep funding cuts in local government and the price of gas. Will these local history groups see more visitors, as people look for entertainment and education closer to home, or will they see fewer visitors as schools cut back even further on field trips? Will they be able to harness Facebook, Twitter and the next giant of social media to connect to people near and far, or will they be unable to contend for time attention when their competitors are the History Channel and Who Do You Think You Are? Will they be able to market the “realness” of their authentic photographs and objects with an audience that grew up on reality TV?

While I have worries for our local history groups, every time I get to spend an hour or a day with the people who work in them, I always leave hopeful. They are creative, dedicated and passionate. They are willing to learn and ready to work. They are the backbone of our history community – and they are ready for the challenge – whether they are retired history teachers or recent museum studies graduate students.

I just hope the price of gas won’t prevent me from gaining that inspiration from those face-to-face encounters. Plus, then I would miss out on the local delicacies – like sauerkraut and ribs at Schnitzelbank – that are my other motivation for spending hours in the IHS van. You can’t taste good food via the Internet.
________________________

Seminarians in the House

Stacy Klingler — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:05:00 -0500

Okay – so that's not strictly speaking true – they aren't in seminary. But we don't really know how to refer to the 19 people who come to the IHS for the Seminar for Historical Administration each November. They are curators and exhibit creators, directors and marketing coordinators. This year, they hale from as far as Kona, Hawai'i and Ottawa, Canada, and as close as Crawfordsville and Muncie. They bring with them big problems (budget cuts), great successes (powerful programs), and the chance to have conversations about what is at the core of we are trying to do on a daily basis at the IHS and history institutions everywhere.

The IHS has been hosting the Seminar since 2004, but the American Association for State and Local History created it 50 years ago. I attended in 2006, when I was director of the Putnam County Museum in Greencastle, and my eyes were opened to the powerful role that history organizations have as members of civic dialogues, places of education and crucibles for curiosity.

As one of the people who staff the Seminar now, I reap the benefits of being on the periphery of deep conversations about how the history field can and does change the world. For instance, Mary Cummings from the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society in Michigan recommended a book (Switch) about why some changes in life and organizations are easy and some are hard. Jeff Harris and I are putting together a workshop on managing change in local history organizations next spring, so now this book is on my reading pile for after Thanksgiving. It is amazing to get to know these creative, witty and thoughtful people.

So, what should we call this handful of history professionals who leave the History Center ready to change their organizations, the history field and their communities for the better? A quick lookup in the dictionary tells me that "seminary" comes from the Latin and means "seed-bed." If calling these folks seminarians implies that we – along with AALSH, the amazing faculty members from all over the country, Indianapolis's premier museums and the other SHA partner organizations – helped plant and tend the seeds of leadership and innovation for history organizations, then maybe we should call them seminarians after all.

________________________

Fountains, Footwear and Fortitude

Stacy Klingler — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 09:50:00 -0400

On a recent trip to deliver a traveling exhibit, Jeannette (coordinator, Local History Services) and I made a detour to the tiny town of Fountain City. From the name of the town, you might guess that we were stopping to check out a beautiful water feature in their downtown. But no. We went to see the home of Levi Coffin – perhaps the most famous Hoosier participant in the Underground Railroad. In the end, though, we did find water.

I was unsurprised by many of the stories the tour shared – both those about and 1830s era home and those of the Underground Railroad. Levi Coffin was a Quaker who had the fortitude to act on his anti-slavery beliefs by helping more than 2,000 enslaved people escape to freedom. But what was compelling about the tour were the details that were unique to Levi Coffin’s story, his home and the artifacts in it.

We heard about a pair of wooden shoes that (according to Coffin family tradition) were worn by the only former slave known to have stayed in the area. William Bush was a blacksmith and is buried in a local cemetery. The guide said that she had been skeptical of this family story of the shoes until a visitor shared with her that wooden shoes were commonly worn by blacksmiths as better protection against the heat and tools of the trade than leather shoes. It turns out that the knowledgeable visitor had his own set of wooden footwear for a weekend gig as a blacksmith re-enactor.

The guide also shared particular stories from Reminiscences of Levi Coffin (p. 183):

“On that morning my wife had risen first, and when she heard the two wagons drive up an stop, she opened the door ... She spoke to these conductors, and asked: ‘What have you got there?’
One of them replied: ‘All Kentucky.’
‘Well, bring all Kentucky in,’ she answered, then stepped back to our room and told me to get up, for all Kentucky had come.”

They welcomed 17 people into their home that day.

While it’s important for the site to share the overarching history of the Underground Railroad – it was hearing this unique story, humor and all, that made the tour so interesting. It also made me want to put Reminiscences on my reading list.

But where, you ask, was the water? In the basement.

It turns out that in restoring the basement kitchen a few years ago, they discovered a spring-fed well that amazingly still fills with cool water today. I don’t expect I’ll see another one in my lifetime.

You can find out how to visit the Levi Coffin house at www.indianamuseum.org/sites/levi.html. And, in case you were wondering why we bothered to make the detour in the first place, it’s because the museum won the Corey Award from the American Association for State and Local History this year – the most prestigious award for an all-volunteer organization there is in the field.

____________________

Four Burritos, Three Counties, Two States and One Great Meeting

Stacy Klingler — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:00:00 -0400

Vevay, Indiana – where hay was king – was the site of the most recent Local History Services In Your Neighborhood meeting.

All three of us in Local History Services – Jeff Harris, Jeannette Rooney and Stacy Klingler – hop in the IHS van once a month to spend some time with local history organizations from an area. After finding out what successes or challenges folks have to share, we focus in on a topic of interest to the host organization. In this case, the Switzerland County Historical Society folks were interested in how best to do historical research to share the story of a recently acquired historic farmstead.

Stuart Sanders of the Kentucky Historical Society came across the river to join the meeting. He was interested in finding out how these neighborly meetings worked. And we were interested to hear about Kentucky’s plans for commemorating the Civil War Sesquicentennial.

He got to hear stories from organizations from Ohio, Dearborn and Switzerland counties – stories of a successful regional quilt show, uncovered heroes from police rolls of long ago and an exhibit of rediscovered prints.

But now … for the food. We salute Valerie for the delectable raspberry, chocolate-caramel and chocolate-walnut bars that were refreshments for the meeting. And for bringing us to the tasty burrito lunch special at Los Banditos a couple of blocks up the street we have to thank Martha Bladen, director of the SCHS.

With full tummies, we are winding our way back home from Southern Indiana through the blossoming trees. Want my job?

_______________________

On the Road

Stacy Klingler — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:30:00 -0400

Despite the flurry of activity around the opening of the Indiana Experience, some of us are keeping busy with our usual jobs. For me, this means being on the road, most recently, picking up a traveling exhibit.

Jeannette Rooney and I trekked up to neighborly Middlebury – way north in Elkhart County – to pick up the Local Treasures: Indiana's WPA Post Office Murals exhibit from the Middlebury Community Historical Museum. For the last month, the folks in Middlebury shared the story of their 1930s post office and its mural, in the context of the 35 other murals commissioned in Indiana for the WPA.

I was particularly impressed with how they adapted their peg board exhibit materials to display some of the mural reproductions along with artifacts from their collection. They also had one particularly neat collections item – the first letter mailed from the WPA-era post office, saved by the son of the postmaster.

One of the joys of being on the road is sampling the local cuisine. We had a great lunch with MCHM directors Richard Smith and Don Smucker at the Das Dutchman Essenhaus Amish Style Restaurant. The freshly baked yeast rolls were mouthwatering, but left room for chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes. (Note: It’s taken me the eight years I’ve lived in Indiana to get used to the Hoosier proclivity for multiple starches in a dish.) And I never thought that I liked pie crust until I had a slice of their chocolate-raspberry cream pie.

Next month, I’ll be traveling to Zionsville, Lebanon, Rensselaer, Vincennes, Lexington, Monticello, Anderson, Vevay, Versailles, Pendleton, Westchester, Merrillville and Lafayette.

Let me know if you have any great local eateries to recommend!

_________________________