#daisia

i cant bee leave this hoe quoted me

My service with the Lexington History Museum these past few months has not only made me aware of problems that the history museum is facing, but also made me start thinking of solutions without being asked.

The first day we went to volunteer all five of us were confused.  Tristan had been to the museum on a field trip in elementary school so we had him lead the way to the history museum.  We arrived the old courthouse to see that there was orange construction fencing surrounding every entrance.  After walking the perimeter of the building we realized that there was no secret way in that we had missed.  We called Debra and eventually found our way to her tiny office in Victorian square.  In class we talked about how important first impressions and body language can be and our first impression of Debra and LexHistory was definitely one that gave us certain attitudes and expectations moving forward.  We always felt lost and confused whenever we started any of the tasks that we were given and it came to be what we expected.

Debra looked very calm when we first walked in but as soon as she started talking you could tell she was stressed.   The way she smiled about every negative thing she was saying paired with the tight conditions of her office made us all uncomfortable.  I recognized later that she was just someone very passionate about history with very little help but at the time, it all just felt very strange.

Most of what we learned about the history museum’s situation came from Debra’s complaints about the higher ups and their lack of understanding when it comes to what is important.   We talked about primary research in class and I felt like Debra might be the only one who had done a lot of it to find out what mattered and what didn’t.   When she told us that she was forced to throw a lot of artifacts away it made the “junk” in her office look more valuable.  

Old typewriters, mannequins and miscellaneous items make the LexHistory office in  Victorian Square look like a room in the home of someone being featured on the TLC show “Hoarders.”  In the pictures to the right I took while volunteering in this tight space, you can see the stacks and piles of artifacts and documents that are being stored in Victorian Square.

  When asked if   preserving history is really worth the trouble Debra Watkins, the Director of LexHistory responded, “History is the most important thing we can study. History is a way of understanding the human condition.  If we don't understand ourselves it is impossible to find our place in the world today.” It is obvious that Debra has an uncommon passion for history so it is easy to assume that her opinions on its importance are just that, opinions.  However, when you look at the facts, history is and will always be important.  LexHistory is in a place where they need to convince others that the preservation and education of local history is worth supporting or they may lose the financial battle they have been fighting the past 3 years.   The history museum fights to educate the public because they feel that education about the past can change the future.  Their persistence and their goals make the history museum a cause the public should be fighting for too.

Even without a building, the leaders at LexHistory have the dedication to keep educating.  In July of 2012 the Fayette County Courthouse building was shut down after lead dust, asbestos and other harmful materials were found in the air (Musgrave, 2014).  Two years later plans are finally developing regarding the courthouse reconstruction, but the end result could still be years away.  Right now the building still sits, closed off to the public (as you can see in the picture I’ve taken to the left) and filled with hazardous toxins.    The inside of the courthouse feels like the set of a horror movie.  Lights flicker and damage left from moving everything out would lead you to believe violent acts had occurred there if you had not known better. For now, LexHistory’s base is a narrow office in Victorian square where one woman, Debra Watkins, has become the entire operation.  Pocket museums that house exhibits that cycle in and out are located around the city and run from this office.  Education programs, where history is brought to schools are taught and organized by Debra.  

“I would say the most important thing  the museum does is go into the schools.  I teach them that history can be fun and interesting, but most important to have pride in themselves, their ancestors (no matter what their station in life), and pride in their community”, says Debra when asked what LexHistory does that is so important,” I also teach them that no one is perfect, that does not mean you can't be great.  That just because you may be depressed, autistic, or physically impaired does not mean that you can not change the world (just look what Lincoln, Einstein, and FDR did for the world)”.  In Fayette County,  history education begins the first week of kindergarten. Local history, however, is only featured in the county’s elementary curriculum for the fourth grade year in a unit called 20th Century Kentucky, which is largely focused on business development (“Elementary Social Studies Focused Curriculum”, 2013).   While teachers are encouraged to modify the curriculum model they are given, as the basic outline stands, local history does not appear to be a priority. “[Local history] is important to most people in government,” says Watkins “They just don’t like to spend money on it.”   In response to this issue, LexHistory has created pre made history lessons to supplement the county standard curriculum in an attempt to bring local history into the classroom. 

The public recognizes the importance of history but does not feel that its preservation is a pressing issue that deserves priority when they decide where to make donations, according to Watkins.  As the history museum struggles to stay afloat, many people donate to the Humane Society, local humanitarian causes, or to international efforts, and they do so for justifiable reasons.  Convincing someone to donate to the Catholic Action Center is not quite as difficult as convincing someone to donate to a local history museum, especially one that currently has no building.  With the Catholic Action Center you see where your money is going and you know why it is needed.  Money donated to the Catholic Action Center could feed someone hungry or directly solve an immediate problem (Catholic Action Center, 2014) while the results of a donation to LexHistory may take a little more time to see.  There is currently no building called “The Lexington History Museum” so you can not donate expecting to go see an exhibit you helped fund unless it is placed in a pocket museum around the city.  On the surface LexHistory events such as Day of the Dead or Toy History may seem like fun but pointless events that are only meant to entertain local children.  However, a donation to LexHistory could go towards a new building, and in that new building all of these public funded events could teach a child about something in the past they never knew.  

“We can not understand the problems of today if we do not [understand] how the problem started.  History repeats itself; it is our jobs to learn form the past what we did right to repeat and what we did wrong to avoid” (D. Watkins, personal communication, October 14, 2014).   This is a common idea among those who feel history is important.  Crime rates are higher in areas where more people are uneducated (Sadeghi & Rezaei, 2013).  Those who are uneducated tend to come from uneducated families.  Without knowledge history repeats.   As easy as it is to focus on more immediate problems we can not let history fade into oblivion or these current problems can never be solved.  When we don’t know what others have already tried, it is difficult not to keep trying the same wrong things over and over again.

Keeping history alive is only going to be possible if we keep it in sight.  When LexHistory lost a building, they lost visibility.  In my opinion, mass publicity is the way to keep the museum alive.  Random pop up exhibits in strange places, flash mobs and other cheap but effective viral marketing could help the history museum from becoming a victim of the “out of sight out of mind” affect. Word of mouth advertising is free and so is anything that the news reports.  The more people talk about the museum the more hope there is to keep it finically stable and operating.

Losing the courthouse has made the history museum into more of a concept than an actual place.  Donations have gone down and in turn staffing and programing are becoming harder to maintain.  But no matter how poorly funded, the history museum is an important part of Lexington. Without it supplements to the state curriculum on local history may be lost and the past may be forgotten.  Moving forward without being able to look back is like being in a maze but never remembering the mistakes or right turns you have already made.  While they wait for the future where there is a physical history museum, it is important that the community recognizes the importance of keeping the museum afloat.

References

Catholic Action Center.  Retrieved October 14, 2014, from 

http://www.godsnet.info/catholicactioncenter.htm 

FCPS County Schools Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. Retrieved October 14, 2014, 

from teach.fcps.net/currmap

LexHistory.  Retrieved October 14, 2014, from lexhistory.org

Musgrave, B. (2014, July 19). City takes first tentative steps toward restoring old Fayette  courthouse, two years after closing.  Lexington Herald Leader, Retrieved from 

http://www.kentucky.com/2014/07/19/3343736_city-takes-first-tentative-steps.html?rh=1