Whatis“隐藏的历史”？
Just as I was about ready to post this blog, I had to rewrite my opening because I just spent 45 rewarding minutes on the phone with a wonderful gentleman, Mr. Brown. Our mission at The Mariners’ Museum and Park is to connect people to the world’s waters – because through the waters, through our shared maritime heritage – we are connected to one another.
Why is this so important? Hidden Histories will give names, agency, and interpretation of the unidentified Black people depicted in our Collections. The purpose is to tell a fuller history of our shared maritime heritage. It will expand our understanding of our local, national, and global communities’ richness. The best part? We will be seeking opportunities to engage with the community for help gathering these names and personal stories.
This is exactly what our program, Hidden Histories, is all about. Last summer, when we realized that we would not be back in the office any time soon, we decided it was the perfect time to reevaluate our Collection. Staff members had discovered photos in the corporate archives. They were then shared with our department of interpretation.
You may think that some of this sounds strange. Collections? Corporate archives?
Here is a summation by Mr. Bill Barker, Archivist for The Mariners’ Museum and Park, “The institutional archives are the documents that the museum has generated during its existence. Itcontains things like presidential correspondence, board minutes and reports, financial statements, and etc. The early personnel records in the institutional archives included the images of early African American workers at the Museum.
The archival collections consist of the letters, photos, diaries, ephemera, maps and etc. that the museum maintains and uses to tell our maritime history. They originate from outside the institution and have been intentionally collected by the museum.”
Where to begin?
看着没有身份证的21个人的照片，一个人如何开始？
So, the first thing we did was form a committee. Taking part in the investigation are team members in the Department of Interpretation, Collections, Digital Services, Library and Archives, Conservation, and Park & Lake all on board with the project. The “golden photo” which triggered our committee formation is above.
Ongoing process!
While we expect this to be an ongoing process and a constant reinvestigation of the Museum’s practices, we are starting with the portion that is incredibly close to home. So our first goal is to identify the Black Americans who built The Mariners’ Museum and Park that we see in our pictures and historical documentation. We want to honor these currently unidentified community members. We want to give them the credit they deserve for their efforts and talent building our institution. As we tell our own story better and more fully, we will turn to the other Black Americans’ stories within our Collection. We will be continuing to build the evidence that we are all connected to one another through our shared maritime heritage. It is time to practice what we preach and identify those important community members!
TheDaily Presspublished an article on the Museum’s 90th birthday celebration that appeared on October 21, 2020:Mariners’ Museum set sail 90 years ago, and it’s reaching more people than ever – Daily Press。这个故事发生在使用詹姆斯年代的照片cott and Mr. McKinley Banks, brick masons, in 1934, working on the Museum’s entrance. Mr. Banks’s granddaughter saw the picture and contacted the Museum. I had a lovely Zoom meeting with her. I learned even more history about Newport News, our Park, and “Daddy May,” as they called him. We then realized he was in the original photo of the 21 men, as was Mr. James Scott.
We got a huge surprise during the Christmas holidays from one of the archivists at the Museum, Bill Barker. He found the same photo but with notations!
NAMES.
A very welcome holiday gift!
Well, this certainly was a treasure trove of information. Honestly, the “Queen of Research and Detective Skills” title belongs to Cindi Verser,Collections Management Specialist.She put complete names to faces thanks to her attention to detail. She found draft registrations, census records, obituaries, and more. We have been able to identify some of the employees. We are still working on several others. As you can see, some of the names are very common in this area, like Spratley and Diggs. And Brown? Johnson? Moore?
一位档案管理员找到了其他文书工作。施工后，有两名先生们留下来。他们成为清洁部门的一部分。这是他们的员工照片：
Two other gentlemen were also in the Janitorial Department at this time. Here are their photos:
I was thrilled to have the following photographs shared with us from the corporate archives. These are all from June to September of 1935. They include exterior museum buildings or “great hall.” Pouring footings and the first library section on the right.
借助博物馆档案管理员比尔·巴克（Bill Barker），甚至来自公司档案馆的更多信息！这些员工中有许多没有照片或名字。
“The Mariners’ Museum Report 1930-1937”, Courtesy of The Mariners’ Museum and Park.
Thanks again to theDaily Pressfor the article published on February 7, 2021, about our programming in honor of Black History Month:Who built the Mariners’ Museum? Staff is trying to identify people in old photos for Black History Month. – Daily PressThis triggered more interest from the community. A gentleman reached out to the reporter who had written the story. That’s the gentleman that I just spent 45 minutes with on the phone, Mr. Brown. He generously shared with me where the families were living. He shared family connections, and a little bit of gossip. And when the pandemic allows, he has offered to walk around the local African American cemetery with me to share even more Hidden History. I can’t wait!
Truly a small world
Oh, and if you need an example of how small this world is, my new friend, Mr.Brown,我父亲CDR同时在海军武器站工作。唐纳德·哈克（Donald L. Hark）是基地的执行官。我父亲是那种会遇到每个在基地工作的人。因此，他们很可能会互相交谈！
你能帮我吗？
对于我们在博物馆的我们来说，这个隐藏的历史项目是社区参与的完美典范。您听说过关于家人的哪些故事？您还记得1930年代初在博物馆工作的家庭成员吗？也许您是继承家庭照片的人？您可能会在本地网络中与商业组织，教堂或妇女俱乐部等联系，以分享有关我们项目的信息。如果是这样，我很想和您交谈。请通过[email protected]