After having researched for my interpretive Sunday off and on for a month I finally got to present it to the public. Overall, the excessive heat kept people away from the Bertolet Cabin where I was located. The few people who did stop by had mixed reactions to my presentation. I think that the public expects more action on an iterpretive Sunday, not just a static exhibit.
My display for "What's in a name" constited mostly of examples of various ethnic groups' family trees, and facsimile frakturs, that I was to explain to the public as they came though the cabin. I ended up with four ethnic groups: English Quakers, Pennsylvania Germans, Scots-Irish, and Lenape Indian. Basically what I found was that the Quakers, who belived in egalitarian relations between the sexes, tried to repsent both the maternal and paternal line when coming up with first names for their children. The Scots-Irish tended to name boys after their grandfathers, and the Pa Germans and the Lenapes usually didn't go by the first names they were given. I also included in the display handouts on genealogy, teaching people about different resources, and giving them blank family trees to fill out.
I was stationed in the Bertolet Cabin from noon until about 4pm. The heat was oppressive. It was about 100 degrees outside that day in the sun, and it was humid. I was wearing eighteenth century garb, so I was extremely hot, and had very little energy. The Bertolet cabin is in an out of the way location from the rest of the historic buildings and so I think that was a significant factor in keeping people away. I had four groups of people walk through the cabin. Most were not terrbily interested in my display. One older couple asked questions and took time to read everything that I had set up. Most people listened obligingly.
They asked me questions about the bakeoven most of all. I think that on interpretive days what the public really wants is a demonstration. They would have been perfectly happy to watch me bake something in the bakeoven, or to watch me cook on the hearth.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Mary, while you are an exceptional baker and chef, you're the world's best historian first and foremost. You should be proud that you are expanding your sphere of knowledge and understanding of history's multi-faceted disciplines, such as genealogy. Just think of all you have learned and taught this summer alone!
I love you!
-Jake
Post a Comment