The narrative of rheas historic realationship with humans #2

This is Francis Patrick Fowler again.  After reading William Cronon’s  article “A Place for Stories: Nature, History, and Narrative” in the Journal of American History, I realized the importance and potential danger of narration in a conservation history.   Narration’s goal is to make something mannered seem natural.  It is to connect different pieces of information rather then simply place them in a chronicle.  While this is good, it is a problem in conservation history where the natural and artificial are supposed to be honestly defined. 

Suppose I was to craft a story about the relationship of humans and Rheas through a typical beginning, conflict, climax and end format: the story could become very human-centrist and omit certain facts.  Rheas would, not surprisingly, be very silent on their opinion on the nature of their relationship to humans.  For example, I wanted the narrative I am working on for my internship to explain how Rheas influenced Charles Darwin’s On the Origins of Species, but I wound up talking more about Darwin.  I wanted to talk about Rheas survived the plumage trade, but I ended up writing more about early members of the Audubon society. 

How was I to create an engaging story while staying truthful and giving Rheas their fair time?  I realized that connecting legacies to the past and the various people that helped conserve the species would be secondary to the task of balancing conservation history and wildlife history.  And the point of conserving history along with wildlife is to reveal an equally authentic and dependent relationship between people and Rheas.  

It is for this reason that I chose to use a narrative that stated that people and Rheas were equally dependent on each other, using mythology, the theory of evolution and the plumage trade as my major themes.  I did this by organizing raw data, then narrating and mediating that data, and then ending with my conclusion.  For mythology, I mentioned the various insults in Brazil for the way a Rhea ran, but then showed that there were indigenous tribes that revered the Rhea.  For the theory of evolution, I used Darwin’s notes on two different Rhea species to demonstrate how Rheas influenced the beginnings of the Darwin’s ideas.  Yet, I showed how these notes at their beginning were disjointed and barley coherent until Rheas were studied again and again.  For the plumage trade, I highlighted the amount of Rheas killed to make dusters and brooms.  But I used an analogy from one of my key sources, Birds and People, that the destruction of Rheas by the undisciplined use of technology ended up being equally destructive to humans in World War One.  It is not a coincidence that much legislation protecting bird species were created right before and after this second carnage.  I finally concluded by tying these themes together with the turn-of-the-century event of the first two Rheas entering the Philadelphia Zoo. 

This natural history of Rheas was limited in how much it explained.  I did not want to distract from the intention of the studbook to give reliable data.  However, I hopefully made the topic more reachable to the human mind while at the same time I did not loose sight that this project was about Rheas more so than humans.

 

A Scene in South America with Rheas and Patagonian Cavies.,” NYPL Digital Collections, accessed May 13, 2019, http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-7a67-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.

Gaithersburg Observatory Exhibition

Since I started my internship with the Gaithersburg Community Museum I had great support from the staff, and they taught me many skill that will be useful in any job. Including how to determine which aspect of a project is most important to focus on when it comes to getting people’s attention.  The exhibition was a big part of the internship and my world included developing a focus group, researching for related data, and meeting local individuals that could help me find information that could not be found in the libraries. The internship opened a number of doors for me since I had to do research in so many different places I got to meet some amazing people. From the National Archives to the local libraries and the Montgomery county Historic Society I had a great time researching and learning about how Gaithersburg International Latitude Observatory made history and help improve the world. I had a great time and the skills I learn will help me in my career. My exhibition got approved and it will be put together on Thursday May 23rd, ready to be displayed. It is a great feeling knowing something you work so hard is something other people will be able to enjoy it and learn from it. I had a great time at Gaithersburg Museum and working on the Gaithersburg Observatory Exhibition.

The Hidden Wonders of Warren and White's Ferry

On April 29th I was lucky to be able to visit the Warren Historic Site in Dickerson, Maryland as part of my internship and explore the grounds. Also referred to as the Martinsburg community, Warren features all three of the buildings that have historically been central to postbellum African American communities. These are the church, the charity hall, and the schoolhouse. Warren features a one room schoolhouse where kids from numerous grades would learn side by side.

The Warren site has begun to undergo several historic restorations, including a total restoration of the outside of the charity hall. Currently the committee in charge of Warren is working to secure grant funding to restore the inside of the charity hall, as well as improve aspects of the other two buildings. I was able to sit in on a conversation between members of the Warren committee and those who sit on the state funding side of things, and it was enlightening. I was able to better understand all that goes into restoring a historic property as well as what the state looks for when awarding funding.

In addition to visiting Warren we also stopped by White’s Ferry just up the road which is also the location of the Confederate Statue that used to be in Rockville near the courthouse. It currently stands on a piece of private property near the state park and has a black metal fence around it. Currently, Sarah Rogers of Heritage Montgomery has been tasked with writing the historic interpretation for the statue in the form of a panel that the owners of the property have agreed to be placed next to the statue. In discussions with her I have come to realize how important it is that controversial historical artifacts and monuments have appropriate interpretation that informs the reader as much as possible while allowing them to come to their own conclusion about the meaning and significance of the piece.

The view at White's Ferry

Two of the historic buildings at Warren (the one on the left showing recent restorations). https://warrenhistoricsite.weebly.com/

They are not ostriches. They are rheas. #1

My name is Francis Patrick Fowler and I am a history major with a minor in public history at UMBC at the Shady Grove campus.  My internship is at the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Bird House, where I have volunteered for several years.  I get in around 6:30am and leave around 3:00pm.  My regular volunteer duties include cleaning bird exhibits, setting up diets, and many other things related to the animals themselves.  My special project for this internship as it pertains to the field of public history is related to working on Bird House exhibits. 

One of the birds in the Bird House collection is the Greater Rhea, a large flightless bird from South America.  I will be helping the studbook keeper at the Zoo for Rheas.  The Rheas studbook is a database with the names, hatch dates and paring of Rheas in North American zoos dating back to the late nineteenth century.  I will be creating a natural history of Rheas section that provides historical information leading up to when Rheas first came to American zoos during the early part of the twentieth century.    

One might wonder why blend scientific data with human history.  A section from a report on a history of conservation exhibit at the Bird House shows that studying both the natural world and the history of how people have interacted with it is important:

Historians of conservation and ecology desire the conservation of stories and thought as a part of the humanities.  Scientists value the conservation of the natural world. Public historians and scientists create exhibits on the history of conservation and ecology with different purposes yet one goal unites them.  Their shared goal is to enact a greater perspective of time and change to create interest, concern, and stakeholders to conserve history and the natural world.  To do this, three approaches are offered by Fish and Wildlife historian Mark Madison: perspectives on the past, connections to these legacies and conserving history along with wildlife.

Perspectives on the past and connections to those legacies will show some of the mythologies, nature writings and human values that have been placed on the Rhea.  Conserving wildlife, along with understanding the historical relationship between people and animals, is a key component to scientific and conservation accomplishments. 

Greater Rhea trio (Pete Oxford/Minden Pictures/Corbis)

 

My exhibition is almost done and it's getting ready for display!!!!!

Since I started the internship I have learned how to catalog primary documents, plan events, coordinate conferences, answer research queries, monitor current events and prepare brochures and educational materials. So far it has been a great internship! I got to be part of the event called discovery day in which they coordinate events for the local children.  I was a part of the coins presentation and post office stamps. The coins presentation was a great event for a historian because they had coins from the beginning of the country when the colonies had their own currency. The coins walk you through the history of the country and how it developed from the colonies to a nation.  We had a great turn out of people to attend this event. Another great event was the one for International Women’s Day, in which they showed how superwoman was created and how it was projecting women’s strength. One event I personally liked was train day in which they had kids from the community come in and learn about the train station, how the train got to its post, the history behind it, and how it impacted the community. I am in charge of remodeling and coming out with a new concept for an exhibition of the Gaithersburg Observatory in which I finished and am pending approval to be displayed. Hopefully by the end of the month the new exhibition will be open for the public to see.  This is how the exhibition looks right now as I am still waiting for the new additions to be approved.

UMBC Special Collections Internship #3

Today is my last day at my internship in UMBC's Special Collections. I have learned a lot about how a Special Collection and academic archive work. My main project has been to create to tutorials to help library patrons understand how to search and use Special Collections, but I have done other little jobs around here as well. As of now I have completed both of my tutorials. One is a video I narrated and edited describing how to search in Special Collections with an emphasis on the massive photo collection housed here. After I finished that video I created one on the anatomy of a finding aid and how to use one. A finding aid is a way to help people navigate and learn what is houses in a specific collection. For my example I used the personal papers of Albin O Kuhn. This video is silent but has descriptive text to accompany it. These videos have been sent off for official approval. As of now there may be a few more edits to be done, but the main work is complete. Once final approval has been given the videos will be up on the Library website and YouTube. With my tutorials finished I have also learned how to fill out call slips for items in the collection, how to handle photographs, searching the collection online and in person, as well as visit other parts of the library where collections are housed. I even went on a research trip in the basement going through old university records to find an answer to an administrative question. Following my internship I will begin work as a student assistant in Special Collections. I am very thankful for all I have learned and am looking forward to using this experience in my future career.

Preserve the Baltimore Uprising Blog #2.

April 10^th was the the Preserve the Baltimore Uprising Gala with Dr. Meringolo, the Baltimore City students and the other member involved. Some of the students showed off their art projects that had a massive connection to their lives in the city and the turbulent times the city has been facing. A group of girls created a great documentary about theirs and others close to them experiences with gun violence in Baltimore. The audience at the event was completely stunned by the projects created. I was speechless by the stories of the deaths of the students’ classmates who had been victims of gun violence.

We also view a short documentary about the round table discussions taking place in West Baltimore about the last five years and the violence, crime and injustices that have been taken place. This allowed the entire event to have a very successful roundtable discussion of their own where, students, teachers, historians. Artists, parents of all ages convey their emotions and opinions on the topic. We made great contacts at the Preserve the Baltimore Uprising exhibition, such as David Armenti from the Maryland Historical Society (MDHS). David seemed very happy to help us in our pursuit of partnering with local institutions to make these lessons more accessible to local communities. He is also interested in our opinions as teachers on how to get more school involvement in the MDHS, particularly, from the inner city.

At the moment, Pat and I are creating our five-lesson unit on oral history and the 2015 Baltimore uprising. We would like to utilize some of the sources from the Baltimore Uprising event and focus the lessons around the history exhibited in the project. By the end of this unit, students will be able to understand what oral history is, why it's important to the historical record, and conduct a full oral history interview in order to reflect on their practices afterward with a completed transcript.  We are planning on working with Dr. M about the final product we would have students completing the unit construct. Our goal is to have the unit done in the next two weeks. It is still up in the air about the website the unit will be displayed on. Dr. M has a few ideas for how we will go about this. All documents will be uploaded in PDF format. Each lesson has a PowerPoint, Student Work and Reading sheets, as well as a written lesson plan for teachers to follow along with. The unit is designed to work with any event though not just 2015 Baltimore Uprising.