The Connecticut League of History Organizations

President’s Update

Dear Friends,

For the first time in a several months, I found time to read a non-work related book: the novel, Making It Up by Penelope Lively. And of course, it turned out to be about work—littered with archaeologists, museum conservators, preservationists, and book collectors.

One can never escape. And yet…the book ended up providing a kind of escape. I once had a friend whose life goal was never to lose his sense of wonder. As I see it, part of our work involves providing people with opportunities for wonder and imagination. Sometimes I lose sight of that when tied down by the tools that make the “work of wonder” possible: budgets, newsletters, appeals, proper storage. But in several Making It Up passages, Lively set work-a-day museum concerns next to musings about the links through time provided by historical objects. Those passages reminded me of our business’s bottom line: making connections, piquing curiosity, provoking wonder.

The artifact in question would grow no older, age would not wither its stitches or its paint or its feathers; it would defy time, safely delivered into the care of the museum. It would no longer be used, or worn, or played; its function now would be to serve as evidence for the interesting vagaries of human behavior. People would look at it and be intrigued, or shocked, or impressed; they would wonder about the making of it, and about the lives of those for whom it had been significant… …as a conservator she found herself exposed to some pretty provocative stuff. The objects that she handled frequently suggested attitudes and assumptions that were a far cry from the lifestyle of a 47-year-old western European woman; they spiced up her days, provoked fantasies, and speculation. She spent her time with things that referred her to unknowable others, up practices and beliefs that she could barely envisage. She pored over the insect tracks in a feathered hat…and from somewhere far away and long ago there came an echo of voices that she could not understand; imagined sights and scenes drifted above the sheets of polythene on her table, the bottles and the brushes and the instruments.

Enjoy the summer, enjoy your work, and enjoy the opportunities for wonder that history provides.

Sally Whipple
President

CLHO.org

Incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 1950, The Connecticut League of History Organizations serves to unite, support, and promote historical interests and activities state wide.

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Events

CLHO Annual Conference
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

The day dawned bright and beautiful on Mystic Seaport when 100 people from institutions across the state gathered for the CLHO Annual Conference A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words. Over sixty-six organizations, from large to small, were represented at the conference. The morning opened up with two keynote addresses. Matthew Isenburg, president and founder of the Daguerreian Society, first spoke on “How to Read a Historic Photograph” and elaborated how pictures speak not only through their images but also through the processes used to create them and details that can be seen through the wonders of modern computer technology. Mary Anne Stets of Mystic Seaport then spoke on “Rights and Reproductions” and while her examples were geared towards a large collection, there were numerous “pointers” for smaller institutions.

After lunch in the sunshine overlooking the water, attendees broke into two groups for the afternoon “how to” sessions. First, Matthew Isenburg returned with a workshop on Power Point Tricks & Historic Photographs while Warner Lord of the Connecticut River Museum was Bringing Fresh Eyes to Historic Views through the museum's extensive collection of glass plate negatives. Session two had David Rau of the Florence Griswold Museum making Digital Hay: Making the Most of Archival Images through New Media and Barbara Austen of the Connecticut Historical Society exploring Photographs in the Archive: What Do You Do With Them? The third session explored Scanning Scrapbooks: What? Why? How? and Now What? with James Campbell of the New Haven Museum and Historical Society while Nancy Finlay of the Connecticut Historical Society presented Digitization: The Promise and the Pitfalls of Putting Your Collection Online. Attendees were pleased with the “very ambitious and interesting agenda” and found the “programs very professional and inspiring.”

Won’t you join us for the 2009 CLHO Annual Conference?