Happy Fourth of July: 1910 Style!

Images provided by Charles Hessler, Laurel Museum Registrar and 2006 LHS Volunteer of the Year.

World Cup Fever and the LHS

For those of you who know me well, you might know that this Executive Director (speaking in the 3rd person here) likes to spend her weekends and weeknights playing the best sport on earth, soccer. (yes, I am biased).

So, for those of you who don't know, we're in the middle of World Cup fever. The tournament takes place once every four years (yep, just like the Olympics) and this year it's taking place in South Africa.

Because soccer is on my mind, I thought writing a blog post about some lessons learned from the world cup might be a good idea. For those of you who hate sports analogies--stop reading now!

For those of you who can stomach the analogies, here are 2 decent ones:

Things are not always as they seem.
This World Cup, we're learning that just because you see something doesn't make it true. Whether it's a 3rd goal against Slovenia or a 1st goal against Algeria, the US has proven to us that we can't always believe our eyes (and ears, hearts, and minds). Sometimes there are things going on that we're not aware of (like a ref that can't see or think or hear me screaming at him from Laurel, Md).
On a more positive note---here's your first sports analogy. This summer, you won't be receiving many flyers from us announcing fun and exciting programs. As usual, we're slowing down our public events in the summer. You might even begin to think we're dozing around here (or watching too much soccer). But don't worry, we have lots of things going on behind the scenes.
Every Wednesday we'll spend time with our Junior Docents working on a new project. We have Laurel Parks and Rec summer camp coming once a week. We have a high school volunteer coming to work on a project that should increase the accessibility of our collections online. We are creating some traveling trunks that will be able to travel to classrooms in the area so students can learn all about Laurel without coming to the Museum. We'll be meeting once a month for out monthly volunteer luncheon (next up--July 6, 12:30 at Lenny's). We'll be going to restaurants to talk about our upcoming Taste of Laurel. Working with Montpelier Mansion on the Between Fences project. And of course working on our upcoming exhibit on the Laurel race track. And you know, between that all, watching some soccer.

Sometimes, it's the little guys who pull through in the end.
This world cup has seen some huge, huge upsets. For those of you not watching, let me summarize it in the simplest way possible. Italy. the champions from 2006, are going home after the first round. (I'm personally loving that fact!)
Some of the most amazing upsets have taken place-- South Africa beat France, Serbia beat Germany, Slovakia beat Italy, and Switzerland beat Spain. Again, for those of you who aren't big soccer fans, these are all huge upsets.
So why do I bring this up in the context of the LHS? Because we are a little guy. Any organization that employs only 1 full time and 1 half time person is a little guy.

But we're pulling through in a big way. Our current exhibit incorporates community input in a way that many larger museums struggle with. All of our collection is inventoried and in Past Perfect, a feat larger museums sometimes can not complete. We have annually changing, interesting, engaging, and informative exhibits. Our public programming is regular, interesting, and worthwhile. And of course--we have a great membership and volunteer base.

So pat yourselves on the back for all that you've done to support the LHS lately. We appreciate you cheering for the little guy.

And this World Cup, if you catch a game, root for the underdog! (Or Spain, because I personally love them!)

So much potential...

So, last summer our Junior Docents worked long and hard on researching Laurel's history in order to put together a Junior Docent video.

They learned all about Laurel's history. Then they tried to figure out what was REALLY important and what they wanted to share. Then they worked on figuring out the best way to present the information. In the end, with the help of our volunteer videographer, they made a video of their work. After some editing, the video is finally ready to be shared.

I put it on youtube in preparation for sharing. I thought that would be the quickest and easiest way to share it.

But then the question arose of: How should we share it?

It made its debut, unexpectedly, at the LHS Gala on March 27 where it played on the TVs without sound the entire night.

But what's next?

I put it in the monthly email that goes to all contacts whose email address we have.

Then I tried to talk to someone about it at a program and realized I had never put it on facebook.

So I did that today.

I haven't put it on our website because I haven't figured out where I want it to go.

But our real goal, our major goal, was to use the video as a tool to engage kids in the Museum. But I'm not sure how many kids are on our facebook or are reading our monthly emails.

So how do we go about getting it to them? Should we make DVDs for all of the teachers in the area? Should we create a badge program to go along with the video for local scouts? How about home school groups?

What is the best way to go about marketing and presenting the video and using it to engage kids? What do you think?

Oh, and here's the video for those of you who haven't yet seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQeDMHnBYM

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!

Season's Greetings

This time of year marks a number of different holidays for people of all religions and cultures.



It also marks an important time of year for the Laurel Museum. The end of December traditionally marks the closing of our exhibit and the final stages of planning for our upcoming exhibit.

This year is no different. Today is the last day to see our current exhibit, "Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll: Laurel in the 1950s". This exhibit was the first exhibit I took part in for the Laurel Museum.

In some ways, I am sad to see it go. No more poodle skirt figurines will greet me as I walk in the door each morning. No longer will I have nostalgic 50 (and 50 something) high school reunions coming back to point out all of their friends in our exhibit.

But sometimes change is good. So as we look forward to the New Year and our new exhibit I am excited about several things:

1) Our new exhibit was planned with the help of several community groups. We looked to different places of worship and service organizations to helps us identify what Laurel is like today. Along the way we met many new friends. I hope we can continue to maintain these relationships in the New Year. If we do, it will benefit us and I hope the community groups we worked with.

2) Our new exhibit is going to be much more interactive than our last. One of the things we realized in our 1950s exhibit was that people wanted to give back. People wanted to contribute their memories, their life stories to our exhibit. We had a function for that--a story book--but it led us to realize that there is so much more than we can do. So with this exhibit, you'll find that there are a number of ways you can interact and contribute to the exhibit.

3) Our new exhibit will continue to grow as it stands in the Museum. I don't want to give too much away, but our exhibit won't be static. Because of people's contributions throughout the year it is up and because we will be changing certain things, our exhibit won't be the same for the entire year. And that in and of itself, is exciting.

So, if you haven't seen our current exhibit, try to stop by in the next 3 hours. Or give me a call and arrange for a tour before we take it off the walls in January. Either way, please join us in looking forward to our next exhibit.

Oh, and we finally settled on a title for the next exhibit:

Snapshots in Time: Our Community in 1910 and 2010

How do you measure success?

Yesterday we hosted our Second Annual Laurel Historical Society Educator's Open House.

Last year for our Educator's Open House we had about 25 people visit the Museum. This year we had 15.

The decrease in attendees made me think: How do we measure success?


Is our goal to have 60 local educators visit the Laurel Museum?
If so, then we certainly are moving in the wrong directions. But here at the Laurel Museum we tend to value quality over quantity, so perhaps raising the number to 60 is not our goal.

Is our goal to have the administrators of local schools visit the Museum?
Perhaps. We had the principal of St. Mary's and the new vice principal of Laurel Elementary School visit. So I was quite excited to meet both of them.

Is our goal to have several different schools represented?
We had a more diverse representation of schools this year and that made me happy. I'd rather see a total of 10 teachers from 4 different schools than 25 teachers from 2 schools. Each school has different needs and different visiting capabilities, so the more I hear from the better.

Is our goal to have schools, home school groups, and scout groups represented equally?
I believe so. I would like to see all the groups well represented. Whether that works out to a teacher for every scout leader or 4 teachers for every scout leader, I am not sure. But I will say I would love to meet as many educators from each group as possible.

But mainly our goal for the Educator's Open House (and for all of the activities we do for educators) is to remind them of one thing: We're here for you.

We want them to remember that we fulfill our mission by serving them. So did our Educator's Open House fulfill that goal? Yes. I think it did.

Now is the time to evaluate what we did, why we did it, and how we can do it better next year. Suggestions and comments are VERY welcome.

One Maryland, One Book and the Laurel Historical Society Book Club

This summer I began thinking a about ways to get an in-depth conversation about history and culture (2 important things at the LHS) going with our members and visitors.

One idea I began to play with was to create a book club. Enlisting the help of a friend, I played with the idea for a couple of months and thought about how feasible it really was.

One thing my friend made clear was that we couldn't just read boring history books. (Now I know what she thinks of my personal reading choices.)

We had to make it interesting.

Of course, I made it clear that our readings and discussions had to tie into our mission. (By the way, The mission of the Laurel Historical Society, Incorporated is to encourage the understanding and preservation of the history and cultural heritage of Laurel.) I'm big on doing things that follow our mission and strategic plan--what else is an Executive Director here for if not that??

So she and I worked on thinking of some books that were both interesting and fit out mission.

The first book we read was a series of essays collected by the NPR Series "This I Believe". This series of essays features essays from the 1950s and today in which famous and ordinary people alike discuss what makes them tick--what they really believe. It was a great book and an even better discussion. In the context of our current exhibit (Shake, Rattle 'n' Roll: Laurel in the 1950s) it was quite exciting to be thinking of the differences and similarities between our beliefs then and now.

The book we read this month was "America’s Women:400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines" by Gail Collins. This book was an interesting overview of the ebb and flow of our rights throughout America's history. The discussion we had allowed us to put into context our own lives and where we fall within that ebb and flow. One participant asked an excellent question: "If we had to pick a hero of our time, someone who would make it into this book, who would it be?" That had us all thinking...

Our next book is actually part of a bigger program within the state. We will be reading James McBride's "Song Yet Sung" which is part of the One Maryland, One Book Campaign. Sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, this campaign is meant to get everyone in the state reading the same book. Here is what the Maryland Humanities Council Website has to say about it:

Imagine if everyone in Maryland read the same book at the same time...

Reading is often a solitary pursuit. But imagine if everyone in Maryland read the same great book at the same time. What kind of conversations could you have and with whom could you connect or reconnect in your community?

The Maryland Center for the Book, a program of the Maryland Humanities Council, invites you to be a part of Maryland's only statewide community reading program--One Maryland One Book. (http://www.mdhc.org/programs/one-maryland-one-book/)

Amazon.com describes James McBride's novel: Escaped slaves, free blacks, slave-catchers and plantation owners weave a tangled web of intrigue and adventure in bestselling memoirist (The Color of Water) McBride's intricately constructed and impressive second novel, set in pre–Civil War Maryland. Liz Spocott, a beautiful young runaway slave, suffers a nasty head wound just before being nabbed by a posse of slave catchers. She falls into a coma, and, when she awakes, she can see the future—from the near-future to Martin Luther King to hip-hop—in her dreams. Liz's visions help her and her fellow slaves escape, but soon there are new dangers on her trail: Patty Cannon and her brutal gang of slave catchers, and a competing slave catcher, nicknamed The Gimp, who has a surprising streak of morality. Liz has some friends, including an older woman who teaches her The Code that guides runaways; a handsome young slave; and a wild inhabitant of the woods and swamps. Kidnappings, gunfights and chases ensue as Liz drifts in and out of her visions, which serve as a thoughtful meditation on the nature of freedom and offer sharp social commentary on contemporary America. McBride hasn't lost his touch: he nails the horrors of slavery as well as he does the power of hope and redemption.(http://www.amazon.com/Song-Yet-Sung-James-McBride/dp/1594489726)

I am excited about next month's book club meeting (Oct 21) for several reasons:

1) We've had GREAT discussions so far at the other book club meetings.

2) The book looks really interesting. A slave having visions of the future which include hip-hop?

3) We'll be taking part in a larger community reading program. I love thinking that I could be reading the same thing as thousands of other people in the state whom I've never met.

4)And we'll do all of this for about 2 hours while munching on cookies and cider. I can't wait.

Invasion of the Junior Docents

Earlier this week I mentioned that we have Junior Docents working in the Museum this summer.

Yesterday was our second day of the Invasion of the Junior Docents and we survived. I have to say, I am learning a LOT from these bright kids!

1) It feels good to really talk history.
Usually when I talk to visitors, I try to gauge how interested they are in the history and base how deeply I discuss Laurel history based on that. Most of the time, I keep it general and broad and delve a little deeper when they seem interested. But usually we don't get down into the nitty gritty stuff.
But with the Junior Docents, I have a captive audience. And I don't have to sit there and lecture to them.
I get to ask them questions. So, why was the River important 350 years ago? Were there many roads? How do you think people got around? It's really fun. I get to watch their minds turn and see them put things together--it's really great.

2) Most kids are more creative than me!
The Junior Docents and I are using a set of materials that the Museum uses to train most of the docents. To make it more interactive and fun, we took the facts in the sheets and illustrated them on a white board.

Here's an example of how they are more creative than me:

We needed to talk about the importance of the Dam in producing water power for the Mill. I drew a block and wrote in the middle of the block "I am a dam". It gets the point across, right?
Well the girls who were working on the drawing with me thought this was hilarious.

After seeing their creations, I can see why. From an abstract drawing of the trip from Wales to the Colonies of Richard Snowden (the original), to the detailed drawing of a burning house, they were MUCH more creative. I can't wait to see what they are going to produce for the videos!

3) With the right people, anything is possible.
Like most things that take place under the auspices of the Laurel Historical Society, we have fairly lofty goals. Earlier this year Monica, our part time assistant, mentioned to me that it would be nice to have the Junior Docents star in a number of short clips about Laurel history. Not only would this allow special needs groups with mobility concerns to see more of the Museum and the surrounding area, but it would be great to put on youtube and on our website. What a GREAT idea!

So off we go trying to organize this. We spoke to Erica Smith of the Laurel Mill Playhouse to discuss script writing. Holly Lilienthal found us a a professional Videographer, Todd Broadwater, who is willing to record and edit our final videos. Maureen Rogers, also from Laurel Mill Playhouse will talk to the JD's about stage presence.

In all honesty, Monica and I know pretty much nothing about putting together short videos. We're doing our best with resources in the community. I hope that with the help of all of these great resources we'll produce a project that is worth the LHS name.

Thankfully we've been blessed with a group of WONDERFUL Junior Docents. Based on what we've done so far--I know they'll help us work through this.

An Important Part of the Community

Since the beginning of the Laurel Horizon Society (the precursor to the Laurel Historical Society) in the 1970s, community members in Laurel have come together to save Laurel's history.

This dedicated group became quite close as they overcame the obstacles to saving their local history. They worked hard to build a quality Historical Society. Our supporters knew of all the great things we were doing for the community preserving and presenting the history and culture of Laurel.

But there was more work to be done!

When I began here last June 2008, I was told that one of the goals of the Laurel Historical Society was to extend our reach further into the community. We needed to let everyone know what great things we had to offer here. And we also needed to know what else we could do for the community.

So for a little over a year now, I've talked to as many people as I can in the community to find out what people know about us and what we can do for them.

In these conversations, I've learned many interesting things.

1) We're often confused with the Historic District Commission.

We are not the Historic District Commission. From what I understand, they work hard to preserve the integrity of the City. From what I understand, they might be the people to contact when you want to put a 20 foot neon sign outside your business.

But I actually don't know all too much about them--because I work for the Laurel Historical Society, not the Historic District Commission. For more information about what the Historic District Commission, visit Karen Lubieniecki's blog. For more information about what the Historical Society does, visit this blog.


2) Many Laurelites don't know there is a Museum.

When I meet people in Laurel--at the dog park, at the grocery store, around town, etc I often hear the same thing: "There's a museum in Laurel?!?"

Yes, there is a Museum in Laurel. And we're here for you! For those of us who know about us, we've become a city treasure.

For those of us who don't know about us, we're a complete surprise. As one little girl told me last week: "I thought I would really hate this place, but I had so much fun!!"

Some of you might be hesitant to come into the Museum--saving it for a raining day when there isn't much else to do. For those people I say--come in! visit! You'll be even more surprised when you see all the fun you've missed out on.

3) Those who know about the Museum have placed our role in a little box. We give tours, we're a good place to drop off the stuff from Grandma's attic and sometimes you can attend a lecture at our Museum.

We're trying to break out of that box. Yes, we have an exhibit. And yes, we do have lectures. We also offer creative children, adult, and family programs. Ever been to a film series at your local Museum? How about entered into a pie-eating contest? Or sampled local businesses food? Our special events have become creative and diverse in their offerings--we'd love to see you try your hand at our next egg toss contest or sit back with some popcorn and enjoy "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

As fun, educational, and lively as our events have become, we are trying to go beyond even the walls of our Museum. We're looking into the community to see what else we can offer to our constituency. We've built partnerships with a diverse group of community organizations. From local libraries to local schools to local businesses, we're working to provide the community with what they need. Whether it is putting together an exhibit for the Library's walls or holding a paper raiser for the local elementary school, we're working to break out of the expectations of what a local Museum should be.

No longer will we sit back and wait for you to come to us. We're coming to you. And asking you what you need. So please, let us know--we're listening.