Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You (American Association for State and Local History)

299 Pages·2010·4.42 MB·English

by  David E. Kyvig

Nearby History
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY
BOOK SERIES
SERIES EDITOR
Russell Lewis, Chicago History Museum
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Norman O. Burns, II, Maymont Foundation
Ken Bubp, Conner Prairie Interactive History Park
J. Kent Calder, Texas State Historical Association
W. Eric Emerson, South Carolina Department of Archives and History
Garet D. Livermore, New York State Historical Association
Thomas A. Mason, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
Eloise Scroggins, Indiana Historical Society
Jerome L. Thompson, State Historical Society of Iowa
Ann Toplovich, Tennessee Historical Society
Barbara B. Walden, Community of Christ Historic Sites Foundation
STAFF
Bob Beatty, AASLH
Jack Meinhardt, AltaMira Press
ABOUT THE SERIES
The American Association for State and Local History Book Series publishes
technical and professional information for those who practice and support his-
tory, and addresses issues critical to the field of state and local history. To sub-
mit a proposal or manuscript to the series, please request proposal guidelines
from AASLH headquarters: AASLH Book Series, 1717 Church St., Nashville,
Tennessee 37203. Telephone: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. Website:
www.aaslh.org.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) is a nonprofit
educational organization dedicated to advancing knowledge, understanding, and
appreciation of local history in the United States and Canada. In addition to
sponsorship of this book series, the Association publishes the periodical History
News, a newsletter, technical leaflets and reports, and other materials; confers
prizes and awards in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field; and sup-
ports a broad education program and other activities designed to help members
work more effectively. To join the organization, contact: Membership Director,
AASLH, 1717 Church St., Nashville, Tennessee 37203.
Nearby History
Exploring the Past Around You
Third Edition
David E. Kyvig and Myron A. Marty
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
Published in cooperation with the American Association of State and Local History
Published by AltaMira Press
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.altamirapress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by AltaMira Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kyvig, David E.
Nearby history : exploring the past around you / David E. Kyvig and Myron A.
Marty. — 3rd ed.
p. cm. — (American association for state and local history book series)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7591-1249-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7591-1300-8 (pbk. :
alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7591-1301-5 (electronic)
1. United States—History, Local. I. Marty, Myron A. II. Title.
E180.5.N98 2010
973—dc22 2010014475
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition vii
Acknowledgments xiii
1 Why Nearby History? 1
2 What Can Be Done Nearby? 17
3 Traces and Storytelling 45
4 Published Documents 61
5 Unpublished Documents 91
6 Oral Documents 113
7 Visual Documents 133
8 Artifacts 159
9 Landscapes and Buildings 177
10 Preserving Material Traces 193
11 Research, Writing, and Leaving a Record 211
12 Linking the Particular and the Universal 227
v
vi Contents
Appendices
A Forms to Request Information from Federal Agencies 259
B Sample Gift Agreements 263
C Sources of Archival Storage Products and Information 267
D Using the World Wide Web (WWW) in Nearby History 269
Index 273
About the Authors 283
Preface to the Third Edition
I
n September 2007 a session at the annual meeting of the American Association
for State and Local History (AASLH) in Atlanta, Georgia, marked the twenty-
fifth anniversary of the 1982 publication of Nearby History: Exploring the Past
Around You by the AASLH Press. Lorraine McConaghy described the extensive
program of adult education classes and workshops she developed at the Seattle
Museum of History and Industry. Using “Nearby History” as its title and theme,
this program had thrived for a decade and was stirring ever more interest. It
had already provided encouragement and guidance for over fifteen hundred
participants in a variety of explorations of family and community history. Other
speakers talked about writing some of the ten books that had built on the model
of Nearby History to guide research into specialized aspects of community life.
Members of the audience offered their own accounts of having successfully put
Nearby History to work in college classrooms, local historical societies, libraries,
museums, and elsewhere.
The fact that the book continues to be useful to various groups of people for
whom it was intended as well as others beyond our original expectations is im-
mensely gratifying to us. We recognized when we wrote the book that scholars
had not often provided this sort of research guidance to those outside their guild
and that some academics close to us disparaged our effort, calling it “nearly his-
tory.” We nevertheless wanted to offer assistance in historical inquiry and analy-
sis to people curious about the past of a particular place but lacking sophisticated
training in historical research methods. We strongly believed that anyone of
normal intelligence could find rewards in the investigation of the past as long as
they received straightforward, easy-to-comprehend explanations of how to pro-
ceed. The large and diverse audience that has made use of our book over the years
demonstrates that we had judged correctly their desire for assistance in accurately
accounting for aspects of the past that had personal meaning to them.
vii
viii Preface to the Third Edition
Evident to us as well at the Atlanta meeting was that, in the quarter century
since Nearby History first appeared and even in the years since a second edition
of the book was published in 2000, the possibilities for exploring the past had
evolved. In some cases the changes were subtle, and in others they were quite
dramatic. Most obviously, new technologies such as digital cameras, camcorders,
and voice recorders had transformed the possibilities for gathering and preserv-
ing information. Likewise, the extraordinary expansion of the Internet and the
availability through it of resources that we could only dream about having access
to a mere decade earlier had greatly extended the reach of a nearby historian’s
opportunities.
Developments in recent decades compel historians, professional and amateur
alike, to have a rudimentary familiarity with computer and digital technology and
a readiness to use it in their work. Understanding how it works is helpful but not
essential, for we can rely on persons for whom mastering technology is second
nature. Using it successfully in our work is what matters.
As authors, neither of us is a “tech whiz”—or even a “techy” at all—but that
does not keep us from relying on electronic technology in our work. All of the
writing for this book and the previous edition was done on computers; in contrast,
we wrote the first edition on electric typewriters. As our work progressed on this
third edition, we relied heavily on the Internet as we gathered and exchanged
materials and ideas via e-mail. Edited drafts resulted in a finished manuscript that
was transmitted to the publisher electronically. The images appearing throughout
this book, as also in books done separately by both of us, were scanned for elec-
tronic transmission to the publishers. In one instance, images were scanned out
of other books—with the copyright holders’ permission.
Our research, too, involved the use of electronic resources, such as the World
Wide Web and digitized library catalogs. In almost every chapter, readers will
find recommendations for websites applicable to the topics being treated. The
appendix contains an elementary introduction to the Web, but facility in using its
resources—for you as for us—is acquired only through applying fingers to the
keyboard and eyes to the screen.
Less obvious but also important, the work of a generation of historians has
raised novel questions and suggested fresh possibilities for the examination of
the past. Finally, the passage of time has caused new perspectives to emerge
regarding historical human relationships, not to mention the manner in which
social, political, economic, and cultural institutions interact with each other and
with individuals. We have sought throughout this third edition to call attention to
these new questions and perspectives.
At the same time, we realize that the basic concepts underlying Nearby History
have stood the test of a quarter-century’s time. The confidence we held in the
capacity of people of diverse backgrounds and circumstances to do history well
has repeatedly been confirmed. The questions we posed for historical inquiry still
resonate with a host of readers from students to those long removed from school.
Preface to the Third Edition ix
The approach we laid out remains applicable as interested individuals seek to use
the best practices of serious historical research to address questions that touch
them. Those who have used Nearby History are persons who seek to make their
investigations of topics of interest and importance to them as historically valid
as possible.
All of these various factors, together with the encouragement we were given
in Atlanta and other situations, led us to undertake this third edition of Nearby
History. We offer it in the same spirit we began with long ago: our belief that,
with a little guidance, literate people of any age and background can master
most historical research techniques. If they possess reasonable amounts of
curiosity, judgment, and persistence, they can successfully explore a past that
intrigues them and come to better understand the origins and development of
present circumstances.
From the outset, Nearby History has sought to bring together historical stud-
ies of families, communities, and built environments, indeed the widest possible
range of subjects within the realm of the everyday life of ordinary people. So
much unites these topics, we believe, that artificial divisions among them should
not be allowed to persist. Each area influences the others, and all involve the
immediate world. We wish to demonstrate the excitement and value that may be
derived from exploring the history of what is close at hand. Each edition of the
book, including the current one, begins with a discussion of the importance of
examining the history that exists nearby. Then to clarify the range of opportuni-
ties and to suggest specific possibilities, we offer an extensive list of questions
to be investigated concerning the family, neighborhoods, local institutions of
varying sorts, and the community as a whole. Thereafter, several chapters de-
scribe methods for using available evidence from and about the nearby world,
including written documents, oral testimony, visual and aural records, material
objects, buildings, and landscapes. These chapters can be, and often have been,
used independently or in any sequence, depending upon the nature of the topic
being studied and the needs of the individual investigator. Next, we offer some
ideas for organizing and sharing the results of a personal inquiry into the past.
In the final chapter, we describe some of the work of academic historians in the
fields of family and community history. By underscoring the fact that academic
and nonacademic historians share interests, we hope to increase the respect of
each group for the other as well as promote greater communication and coopera-
tion among them.
When we began developing Nearby History, we were conscious of the dis-
tinctions frequently drawn by professional historians between their own work
and that of amateurs. The conventional professional wisdom said that amateurs
reworked the local past, while professionals adopted higher concerns with na-
tional and world history. The argument continued: the interests of amateurs were
relatively unimportant and frequently too personal to be taken seriously, while
professionals addressed important issues with a detachment and clinical skill that