Monthly E-News from Michael Bouman, Executive Director
Missouri Humanities Council
Contents:
- Making More of Web Pages
- The Gift of a Reading Mother, by Julie Douglas
- "That's Entertainment" Chautauqua Update
- May 18-19 Chautauqua in Nevada, Missouri
- Smithsonian "Between Fences" at the Mansfield Community Center
- Sac and Fox Heritage Exhibit at the Kirkwood Public Library in May
- Lose Your Mother Book Review
- Silly/Serious Sloganeering
A web site about a raid on the village of Deerfield, Massachusetts in the winter of 1704 is worthy of being our lead article. I saw mention of this site in the Summer 2006 edition of History News from the American Association of State and Local History. The web site undertakes to tell the story from the point of view of each of the five cultural groups who had a stake in the outcome of that raid.
The site made a big impression on me because I've been wondering how to tell layered stories of things like the Black Hawk War, the Indian "settlement" of parts of southeast Missouri, or the curious and fascinating heritage of the white and black residents of towns like Fulton in the Civil War. An "inclusive" history of any place would approach the task in the manner of Deerfield, I think. I'll provide the link to Deerfield and some more information on this topic in the attached piece on layers.
http://mohumanities.org/E-News/May07/layers.htm
This month my colleague, Julie Douglas, is thinking about Mother's Day and the joy of family reading. Check her wonderful book recommendations at the link below:
http://mohumanities.org/E-News/May07/reading.htm
That's Entertainment Chautauqua Update
Now is your chance to participate in a "living history" festival that your community will remember for years to come!
MHC is now accepting applications from communities interested in hosting MHC's Chautauqua in June of 2008. Information about Chautauqua and community applications is available on the MHC website at http://mohumanities.org/programs/chautauqua/index.htm
You can request postal copies of the information by calling 1.800.357.0909 or sending an email to patricia@mohumanities.org. Applications are due to MHC no later than May 30, 2007. Three Missouri communities will be selected and notified early this summer to allow a year of planning for the event.
As announced in our March E-News, "THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!" will be the theme for MHC's Chautauqua 2008. "From circus acts to movies, and popular fiction to popular music, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! spotlights a broad range of mass entertainment by portraying innovative figures that helped democratize this field. Far from the highbrow, these figures brought often-inexpensive entertainment to new kinds of audiences."
We are also accepting applications from Scholars interested in applying to participate in MHC's Chautauqua 2008. Link here for the Call for Chautauqua Scholars and application instructions. Inquiries should be sent to patricia@mohumanities.org.
May 18-19 Chautauqua in Nevada, Missouri
Notable women from history will take the stage at Cottey College when the Women's Leadership Council of Nevada presents a Community Chautauqua on Friday evening, May 18, and Saturday afternoon and evening, May 19, 2007.
In partnership with the Woman Chautauqua Institute at Cottey College, now in its second year, the public programming will offer a lineup of characters that includes Bess Truman, Settlement House founder and Nobel Peace Laureate Jane Addams, Jacqueline Kennedy, Laura Ingalls Wilder, geneticist Barbara McClintock, Mohawk writer Pauline Johnson, and more.
The Chautauqua performances will take place in Cottey's Missouri
Recital Hall, located in the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the
Arts, at the corner of Tower Street and Highway 54 in Nevada.
There is no admission charge. An outdoor food court will offer old-fashioned foods and cold beverages at reasonable prices
throughout the two-day event.
Nevada is located near the western border of Missouri, 90 miles
south of Kansas City and 60 miles north of Joplin. For a detailed schedule and directions to the Cottey campus, please send
an email request to: CWL@cottey.edu
"Between Fences" at the Mansfield Community Center
Nearly every year, we are able to help Missouri towns obtain a touring exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution. We like the exhibits that come from the "Museums on Main Street" program (MOMS) because every town that sponsors the exhibit creates all sorts of activities to enhance its value. Typically, more people visit these activities than live in the county!
Spite Fence c. 1906-1910 by Gilbert B. Ellestad. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society
The Laura Ingalls Wilder Home in Mansfield is taking the lead in creating activities in Mansfield. You can see the "Between Fences" exhibit at the Community Center beginning May 11 and ending June 22. This will be your last chance to see this exhibit in Missouri. Also, be sure to visit the Wilder Home and Museum. It's a destination for tourists from all over the world.
You can find details of all the activities as well as directions to the Community Center at the excellent Wilder Home web site: http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com
Kirkwood Public Library Hosts Sac and Fox Heritage Exhibit
The touring exhibit on the Sac and Fox Heritage will end its first year of circulation during the month of May at the Kirkwood Public Library, through May 28. Created by Sac and Fox tribal members in three states, the exhibit is a large panel with photographs and text. The exhibit is reserved by various venues through the end of this year, but is available for January and February 2008. The library web site is at http://kpl.lib.mo.us/
I'm scheduled to deliver a talk about the creation of this exhibit on Saturday, May 19 at 2:00 p.m. The Sac and Fox exhibit curator, Sandra Massey, will be with me to share the podium. Replicas of the exhibit in poster size will be available for sale at the Library's gift shop.
I read an outstanding reflection on the long shadows cast by the institution of slavery. The book is by Saidiya Hartman, and I've quoted just one of many marked passages in my new blog, "Creating Interest" at http://creatinginterest.blogspot.com/2007/04/chosing-your-past.html
The History Museum of Springfield-Greene County is the subject of a small homily on the importance of capturing an idea in a single phrase. I've recorded an MP3 to go along with it.