We are a storytelling species. Recently, I shared an example of the potential for storytelling in our communities using primary source documents.
In subsequent posts, I intended to share examples from different formats and venues that show how some historians are reaching audiences in ways that go beyond the standard tour.
Read what I learned about storytelling and history at the recent Stockbridge Indian Conference held in Stockbridge, MA here.
Illustration from Native American Tourism of Wisconsin (natow.org).
I read your post here and I found it very enlightening. Change is always inevitable and it’s best we (as Americans) at all times keep an open and a patient mind when being exposed to people of cultures new to us. I think it is also important to keep in mind that all Americans have a story to tell about their families and origins. Without these stories (ones from oral traditions and written documents) much wind is taken out of the sails of our historical record…Archaeological excavation is great…but sometimes empirical evidence is too lacking. Interdisciplinary studies (with respect to historical probing) I think comes in handy. If one course of study is depleted with adequate source material…another course of study may fill in missing details on a particular historical subject of interest.
Nonetheless—this was a very good piece.
Michael DeBonis.