Retrieving the Past: UMBC History Interns : Heurich and the World of Tomorrow

Hello everyone, as we have quickly approached the halfway mark for the semester, I would like to update everyone on my work thus far. As hinted in my previous edition, I have decided to focus the topic of my tour for the Heurich House Museum on Technology. Specifically, I will be focusing on the technology that resides inside the house, how it was used, who installed it and the impact it had on the lives of all who dwelled there. Additionally, I plan to incorporate larger themes of the industrial revolution and its impact on American domestic life at the start of the 20th century. The house overall is certainly a marvel when considered from this lens, it was the first house in DC to incorporate fireproof design features, it contains “speaking tubes” that allowed folks to communicate between floors, and it had a burglar alarm system. These are just a few of the many examples I plan to discuss with my audience! Something I am particularly proud of is while attempting to find out more information about a particular company that install electrical appliances in the house, I stumbled across previously unknown photos of Christian Heurich’s Brewery. A book, celebrating the work of the Thomas W. Power Company in Washington D.C, features photos of the Breweries engine room. When I shared this with Jenna, she was very excited as the Museum does not have many interior photographs of the Brewery itself. For my research I have also been trying to find new stories to tell guests when they come to visit. These could include something about technology being used, something that helps visitors connect with the house, gives them a better insight into the period, or even just something for them to relax and have fun with. One story in particular involves Christian’s wife, Amelia Heurich. One day in 1914 Amelia went out to the mall to spend some time outdoors. While there, she witnessed the groundbreaking for the construction of the Lincoln Memorial. A pretty incredible thing to contemplate witnessing. Besides my topic and storytelling, I have also been considering different ways in which I could structure my tour in order to maximize audience engagement. One such idea I have been thinking of is including a scavenger hunt of some sorts on my tour. The challenge with this aspect of my tour will be working within the confines of preservation as I cannot have visitors running around in rooms for the risk of damage to the house. After speaking with Jenna on this particular thought, she thinks it’s a good idea and believes I should certainly try to think of some way to incorporate elements of a scavenger hunt. While researching and developing this tour is one of the main purposes of fellowship, we have also gotten to learn about professional skills and museum operations. In regard to professional skills, Jenna took some time sat down with me the other day to do some goal setting. For this we went over what I hoped to accomplish and learn during the rest of my fellowship. After some discussion I decided I wanted to learn what went into exhibit design by talking to our curator, how to conduct programing with a lack of resources, and how to use museum software such as past perfect. As for museum operations, in October I got the chance to meet with a guy named Dan, the museums preservationist. Dan took us around the whole house showing us some of the preservation work he has done, how things are maintained in the house, and answering some of our other questions about his role. The coolest part of our adventure with Dan was that he took us up to the roof of the house and showed us a hidden room! In fact it was so secret that some of the other museum staff have not even seen it.