Find the Historical Society Banners

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Phil Andrews at the Press Conference. Photo from MCHS.

On July 1, 2009 the Montgomery County Historical Society started placing large colorful banners throughout Montgomery County. Have you seen one?

Through a grant from The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) the Montgomery Connections project has been designed to grab your attention and teach local history as it relates to your daily life. This project combines striking historical images on the banners with public service advertisements, cell phone downloads and website materials. All of the materials are in English, Spanish and Chinese.

In a Montgomery County Historical Society press release, Beth Hickey, Director of Project Development and Outreach, explains:

While this is a project of the Montgomery County Historical Society, it could not have come to completion without the amazing support we experienced from the Chinese and Spanish speaking communities, as well as the Montgomery County arts community. During our early project testing we held a series of focus groups and were encouraged by the response from the Hispanic participants. They felt the project would provide opportunities to talk to their own children about their experiences in their home countries during times of hardship. And I was overwhelmed by the support from the Chinese community and their excitement about the fact that we were reaching and including them in a project about local history. This really has been an amazing experience and has fostered new relationships between the historical society and other local cultural groups… relationships that I hope only continue to grow.

I was pleased to participate in one of the focus groups and give my feedback on the images and messages. The thought-provoking reactions reported from other focus groups helped me connect current issues with our history. The banners will do the same.

The first round of themes include:

• Yarrow Mamout, and his story as a Beall family slave
• Blanche Corwin, a home demonstration agent who founded the Bethesda Woman’s Farm Market during the Great Depression
• Dora and John Higgins and the Rockville Civil War raid
• Fred Van Hoesen, an agricultural agent and his story of assisting farmers in the county

For the next two years the banners will be moving around our busiest public spaces. Keep an eye out and dial your cellphone!

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