Back in December, we announced our plans for a new online course to teach people how to research and write about historic places in Baltimore. After a bit of a winter break, we are launching the class with a series of short lessons on how to conduct research, write stories on local landmarks, create compelling visuals and promote your stories through outreach.
What can you do with local history?
Local history is not just about reading books or attending lectures. Local history is something you can do using skills and concepts that anyone can learn. and doing local history can help you accomplish your goals for yourself, your family or your neighborhood.
Here are some examples of what we think Explore Baltimore Heritage 101 can help you do:
- Write a story about your house or neighborhood
- Create an exhibit for your school, community center or church
- Organize a celebration that brings neighbors together
- Raise funding to maintain or rehabilitate a local landmark.
Why do people want to do local history? Many people are curious about their neighborhood or their city. Local history encourages curiosity by exploring how a place came to be. Many people enjoy spending time with the friends and neighbors. Local history—just like local art, food, and music—can bring people together and create community.
Who is Explore Baltimore Heritage 101 for?
Whether you are a complete beginner or an experienced local historian, we think this class has something to offer you. Are you…
- A Baltimore resident interested in learning more about local history and architecture.
- An educator interested in teaching students how to learn more about Baltimore.
- A volunteer interested in contributing stories to our Explore Baltimore Heritage website and app.
If are always curious about local history, but you have never done any research or writing yourself, this class is a great place to start. If you have some experience researching your family history or your house, this class is a great place to try something new—maybe researching your whole neighborhood or working with a friend or relative to help them learn the same skills.
What can you expect for Explore Baltimore Heritage 101?
We are planning to publish at least two short lessons a week for the next five weeks. Each lesson will include a bit of background, a few inspiring examples, and an activity that you can do on your own. Since local history is more fun with friends, we are inviting you to share what you are learning in the comments of each lesson, on the Bmore Historic Facebook Group, or in our new community forum.
What are you curious about Baltimore?
We’re calling our very first activity Curious Baltimore—here is how it works:
- Come up with a question about your neighborhood. You question can be about the history of the neighborhood or a question about why the neighborhood is the way it is today. What makes your question interesting to you?
- Share your question with a friend neighbor. You could post your question on a community Facebook group, NextDoor, a neighborhood email group, or just ask a neighbor what they think. Are your neighbors also curious to learn the answer to your question? Does anyone know the answer to your question? If they do, do you think they have the right answer?
- Share your experience. Comment on this post with your question and what your neighbors thought about it.
Your questions will help us assemble the next part of our Explore Baltimore Heritage 101 series so please share them! In the next few lessons, we will show you how to find primary and secondary sources, read those sources like a historian, and combine sources to help answer these questions.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for the course, please get in touch!
