Photograph: Gift of Richard Cahan.

Neighbors, students, Catholics, Lincoln Parkers, curators, activists, Poles, Democrats, people interviewed by Studs Terkel, or advocated for by soon-to-be President Barack Obama…the possible ways of identifying and engaging communities (and communities within communities) are endless.  A fabulous aspect of working in public history is that you are challenged to think about the meaning of community on a regular basis.  From my perspective, public history gains most of its energy and spirit from the presence of a community on any given theme or project.  It is an honor to meet someone in his or her turf and become inspired by that corner of the world.  We try to capture that energy as best we can to suggest meaning and make connections among people from all different walks of life.  However, such description does no justice to the power of the first-person account.  Why report when a living, breathing person like writer Stuart Dybek, who was interviewed for the Catholic Chicago oral history project, can still declare “I did this”?

The beauty of working with communities is the variety of perspective–people who identify as a group and who have lived a similar experience still maintain their own perspectives, and it can be tricky to attempt to represent every single voice and view–or to claim authority over someone else’s voice.   I have heard of visitors to the Catholic Chicago exhibit, for example, who thought it was great but still didn’t think we had license to tell their story.  That gets complicated.  On the other hand, many other visitors thought we did it well and thoughtfully.  You aim to do the best you can and never attempt anything less than respect.  It doesn’t mean everyone thinks you got it right.

Another way to think about community is through politics or an event, such as the 1968 National Democratic Convention.  Recently, my fellow curators and I recorded oral histories from numerous people who wanted to tell their stories about 1968.  What we collected was a rich set of very unique experiences, one completely different from the other even though they spoke on the same topic.  In sum, these interviewees form a community, even though they came to the museum individually to document how they lived through those historic moments.

My next project, on Lincoln Park, will approach community in another way.  Since the Chicago History Museum is part of the Lincoln Park community, we are not so much going out into the “field,” as they say, but inviting people in to join us and share how they relate with this dynamic neighborhood–and the famous park, too!

Tags: 1968, Catholic, Chicago, community, Jill Grannan, Lincoln Park, neighborhood, nuns, oral history, religion

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