Join us for WHS’s We Want More History Day Series with Lena McDonald. Participants are invited to attend either the full day of workshops, or one of their choosing.

Location: Westmoreland History Education Center

What places tell your community’s story?

Why do we save some places, objects, and stories while others disappear?

Historic buildings and landmarks may seem like obvious pieces of our past, but deciding what is “historic” and what is “worthy of preservation” has never been as objective as it might appear. For generations, historians, collectors, preservationists, and institutions have shaped our understanding of the past by deciding which places, objects, people, and stories deserve attention.

In Plain Sight is a thought-provoking workshop that invites us to look more closely at the history around us and ask who has been included, who has been overlooked, and what we might still have to learn.

Led by Lena S. McDonald, the workshop will explore the history of historic preservation in the United States, from antiquarianism and the early collecting of “old things” to the development of the National Register of Historic Places and modern approaches to preservation. Along the way, we’ll consider how ideas about historical significance have changed, and why the stories we preserve are never entirely separate from the people doing the preserving.
We’ll explore questions such as:

• Who gets to decide what is historically significant?
• Why have some people, places, and communities received more attention than others?
• What makes a building, landscape, object, or community “worthy of preservation”?
• Can preservation ever be completely objective?
• What can we learn when we look beyond famous buildings and well-known historical figures?
• How can lived experiences and communal histories change our understanding of a place?
• What happens when communities themselves have a say in identifying the places that matter to them?

The workshop will also look at the gaps that remain in our historical landscape, including the underrepresentation of women and other communities whose contributions have often received less recognition. McDonald will encourage participants to think beyond individual “great” people and famous landmarks and consider communal histories, lived experiences, and cultural landscapes as important parts of the historical record.

Participants will leave with a broader understanding of what historic preservation can mean and new ways to think about the places they encounter every day. Rather than asking only, “Is this old?”, we’ll ask more interesting questions: Who used this place? What did it mean to them? Whose stories does it tell? And whose stories might still be missing?

Because cultural significance is about people and use, not just buildings. And the history of a place is richer when the people who live there have a voice in deciding what matters.

What You’ll Learn

• The history of American antiquarianism and historic preservation
• How ideas about historical significance have changed over time
• How the National Register of Historic Places determines eligibility
• Why decisions about preservation inevitably involve interpretation and subjectivity
• The importance of women’s history and other underrepresented histories
• How communal histories and lived experiences can reshape our understanding of place
• How to look at buildings, objects, and landscapes as evidence of people’s lives
• Why public engagement matters in deciding what places and stories are worth preserving

Noon-1PM Lunch

1PM – 3PM Workshop 2 – History is Everywhere

Whose stories are missing from the history books?

Some of the most important pieces of our local history can be found in places we pass every day, family photographs tucked away in albums, old buildings and landscapes, community memories, newspaper clippings, event programs, and objects that may never have made their way into a museum collection.

Workshop 2: History Is Everywhere is a hands-on workshop designed to help you uncover those stories and begin researching the places and communities that have been overlooked, under documented, or left out of traditional histories.

Led by Lena S. McDonald, the workshop will introduce practical approaches to local historical research, including archival and online research, oral history, fieldwork, artifact research, mapping and digital tools, and evaluating online sources.

We’ll explore questions such as:

• What can a building or landscape tell us about the people who used it?
• Where can you find historical evidence when it isn’t in a traditional archive?
• How can family photographs, newspapers, ephemera, and oral histories help reconstruct a community’s past?
• How do you evaluate information you find online?
• How can you turn your research into something meaningful for your community?

Participants will also learn how to shape a research project, identify potential sources, document their work, and think carefully about the ethical responsibilities that come with researching other people’s histories.

You don’t need to be a professional historian to participate.

Whether you’re interested in researching a neighborhood, gathering place, organization, historic building, community institution, or a story that has never received the attention it deserves, this workshop will give you tools to get started.

Because history isn’t just what has already been written down.

History is everyone’s story.

What You’ll Learn

• Designing a local history research project
• Finding and evaluating primary and secondary sources
• Using libraries, archives, museums, courthouses, and online collections
• Conducting oral history research
• Documenting historic buildings and landscapes
• Using photographs, maps, artifacts, and ephemera as evidence
• Exploring digital tools such as GIS, StoryMaps, and historic aerial imagery
• Approaching historical research ethically and respectfully

Come ready to ask questions, follow a lead, and look at your community with fresh eyes.

Register Here(opens in new tab)