Step 3
EXPLORING HISTORY: Preparation for Knowing

"The past wears an armor that thickens, and I was a fool to think hunger and a wish could pierce it. I had learned the dates and the map, had seen in photographs a long-braided woman and the anguish of old men. I had browsed on books in the National Battlefield gift shop, and I was fed full with history. . .I was grateful for all of that. All that can make a visitor ready to know. But that public way of knowing is not knowing in itself, only a preparation for knowing. Knowing is a change of heart, physical, slower than the eye's travel across a page of text, or across a stone dressed with words." 

Kim Stafford

Kim Stafford points out that gathering information is not the same as knowing. Rather, it is a "preparation for knowing." When we learn historical facts, finding out what has happened in the past and how people responded, we are gathering the raw material of life. Just as our first-hand experiences make us think about what choices we have, think about what we want, what things work and don't work, so do the vicarious experiences we acquire by finding out about other people's lives. As we think about experiences, either first-hand or vicarious, we transform information into knowledge.

Where can you learn more about the history of your place? What has happened there before? What other people have experienced the place, and what did it mean to them?

Places to look for history:

a) People. Who is still alive and living in your community that has visited the place you are studying, or who lived nearby? If the place is important to your family, can you interview a grandparent or other community member about what the place means to them?

b) Local newspaper archives. (looking for events that occurred at the site)

Local museums usually have copies of the local newspaper. Often, the newspaper office itself has an archives of past issues. Call ahead to see what issues are available.

If you know when an event occurred that you want more information about, you can check the issues near that date to see if anything was published. Disasters such as bad storms or floods are usually covered by local newspapers. So are crimes or significant public events.

c) County courthouse records. (to trace ownership of the land)

Who has owned the place you are investigating? Are their clues as to where the owners came from, what they hoped to do with the land, or why they sold it? Are there still people in the community who have the names that appear on the ownership records that you might be able to interview?

d) Agency records, if the place is part of a government project, such as a state park or a federal irrigation district

e) Published books, if the place is significant enough to be mentioned

f) Family records, such as photo albums, land deeds, letters, diaries

Writing Assignment:

After you have done some research, both in the library and through interviews, write about an event that occurred in the past of the place you are investigating, or describe an old photograph taken at the place, asking questions and suggesting answers about what you see in the picture.

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