We're on Flickr!!

A while back we had an excellent intern, Eli, work on developing a shortened walking tour for the LHS. He did a GREAT job producing both an online product and a printed product.

In order to put the version online and on our website, he had to host some pictures on Flickr.
At least, I think that's what had to happen. The reason Eli was doing this work is because he was MUCH more skilled at it than me. But he broke it down for me and told me the details and showed me our Flickr site. Which looked great in my opinion.

At the time, I thought "hmmm, this has some real potential, but how can we use it?"

So I've sort of let that sit for a while and thought about some other things. Like an exhibit. And public programming. And budgeting. And strategic planning. And you know, the regular stuff at the Museum.

So fast forward almost a year later and we're thinking about our current exhibit. Snapshots in Time: Our Community in 1910 and 2010 is supposed to capture images from today and encourage people to realize that THEIR story is the LAUREL story.

Part of that effort involves letting people continually contribute to the exhibit. So we have spaces in the exhibit where people can make their own self-portraits, vote on an issue, and leave a picture.

But then we're faced with the next question: Who actually has printed pictures anymore?

Large sigh.

Okay, so what can we do to collect digital images. We could have them emailed to us and then upload them on our website. Which takes a lot of effort and time and in the end the pictures can't be commented on or really manipulated.

Then I remembered Flickr and how great it looked from Eli's work. So we're back to Flickr. We've decided to post pictures from the exhibit that people have contributed to Flickr. There are some on Flickr that never made it into our exhibit. And some that are definitely up in our galleries.

And a lot of interesting, fun pictures both from 1910 and 2010. But remember, we're still collecting for 2010. So if you have an image, feel free to bring it by the Museum and put it on our wall.

Or email it to me (director@laurelhistoricalsociety.org) and we can post it to our flickr page.

Oh and this isn't the only way we'll continue collecting images from 2010. We'll be making a special effort this summer. Details will be coming soon!

Can you believe it?

We're already starting the planning for our next exhibit. No, not this one that just opened in February, the next one. The one that's scheduled to open February 2011.


It's hard to believe that we're already in the process of planning this exhibit. When I arrived in June 2008, the decision was already made that the 2011 exhibit would be on the track. So I've been waiting for this exhibit for almost 2 years.

And now we're finally here. But where is here? Where do we begin?

We know we want to do an exhibit about the track. Why? Because it will be the 100 year anniversary of the track and we think that's important. And we have A LOT of cool stuff about the track. A LOT.

So where do we go from here? We can't just throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and call it an exhibit. We need to develop themes, goals, etc. Then we start to pick objects, write text, revise text, revise text, revise text...And did I mention, revise text?

So we're doing a couple of things first. Contacting everyone we can who can help us tell the racetrack story. So if you're a person who worked at, frequented, loved, or hated the race track or you know someone who has done any of these things, let us know. We'd LOVE to talk to you.

The other thing we're doing right away is collecting data on what people want us to talk about. Yes, we're asking YOU before we go any further, what YOU are interested in. We've even put it in survey monkey so you can access it easily and give us a quick answer.

So please, visit our Survey and tell us what YOU want to hear about in the next exhibit?


<-----Is it stuff like this? Like how the race track looks and how it has evolved?









Or stuff like this? The stories of the people who worked at the races or made bets at the races ----->



YOU tell us!

Website Tracking

An Early 20th Century Night on the Town

On March 13, the Laurel Historical Society is partnering up with Venus Theatre for an exciting night on the town.

We've done this before, partnering with a theatre in Laurel to have an exciting night on the town.

And this time we have the same goals--helping to support another small local non-profit, promoting cultural life on mainstreet, bringing people into the museum to see the exhibit, and providing another, creative, learning venue for Laurelites.

Last time we had a 1950s theme and worked with the Laurel Mill Playhouse. This time, we're working with Venus Theatre and have an early 20th century theme.

So we'll begin with dinner at the museum in the galleries of our current exhibit "Snapshots in Time: Our Community in 1910 and 2010". After what sounds like a very delicious dinner, we'll take a trip to Venus Theatre and see "Zelda at the Oasis", a play about the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

We think it will be an exciting night. And apparently people agree with us. We only have 4 spots left out of 30.

But this type of collaboration brings to mind some questions...

What is it a Museum or a Historical Society should do? Should we be providing entertainment? Should we only be presenting history through exhibits and lectures?

We know what we think.

But what do you think?

Are you happy to see the LHS involved in this type of programming? If not, why? What do you think we should be doing instead?

And if you are happy to see us doing this, do you have any suggestions for other things we could be doing?

That's all for now folks. Let us know what you think!

Oh and if you want more information on the upcoming event and to save a last minute spot, click here: http://www.laurelhistoricalsociety.org/pages/documents/March6Flyer.pdf