The Maryland Humanities Council sponsors Maryland History Day, an annual program that encourages Maryland students to research, analyze, and develop their own year-long projects based on historic events and people. The competition, which begins at a school level and builds to county, state, and national contests, had over 16,000 Maryland participants. I was fortunate to…
Working With Students on Oral History
For course assignments, I try to employ projects that engage students in the practice of history while also helping them understand the subject they are examining. As this time in the semester rolls around, it’s time for everyone to present one of those deliverables, an oral history project. As we wrapped up this task, I…
Participating in Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street Opening
Main Street Delaware City, Inc. opened the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit Between Fences this week. This project, which brings rural Americans one-of-a-kind access to prestigious Smithsonian exhibitions and first-rate educational programs, is a joint project of the Smithsonian and the Humanities Council. For the show that is making its way through Delaware, I had the opportunity…
Maryland Life: Bridge Over Troubled Waters: What Killed George Askew?
The February 2009 edition of Maryland Life has an article I did on railroad engineer, George Askew. He was killed in 1903 in a tragic railroad accident on a bridge over the Elk Creek. What most interested me in this story was that his great-grandson, an investigator for the federal government, walked in one day…