History Truck Unlimited: the New Mobile History, Urban Crisis, and Me
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HISTORY TRUCK UNLIMITED: THE NEW MOBILE HISTORY, URBAN CRISIS, AND ME A Thesis Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree Master of Arts in History Erin Bernard May 2015 Thesis Approvals: Dr. Seth Bruggeman, Thesis Advisor, Department of History Dr. Hilary Iris Lowe, Department of History Dr. Jay Lockenour, Department of History ABSTRACT The Philadelphia Public History Truck is a nearly two-year-old mobile museum project which creates interdisciplinary exhibitions about the history of Philadelphia neighborhoods with those who live, work, and play within the places and spaces of the city. Since I founded the project in 2013, I have navigated partnerships with both grassroots organizations and larger institutions and faced a wide-ranging gamut of experiences worthy of examination by public historians concerned with power and production of history as well as practice-based reflexivity. The first half of this thesis documents my key reflections of the first eighteen months of work and serves as a primary source on the project. This paper also places History Truck into a long historiography of both public history and mobility in the United States of America to explain the emergence of what I am calling the New Mobile History, an emerging form of practice in which community members and public historians work together from the onset of project development using ephemerality and movement as a tool for creativity and civic-driven history making. By analyzing oral history interviews with Cynthia Little and Michael Frisch, I argue firstly that Philadelphia was the birthplace of this New Mobile History. Secondly, I posit that for this New Mobile History to continue evolving, public historians must balance digital work and relationship-based process to create exhibitions which directly serve communities of memory. Lastly, I consider one possible future for History Truck, including its transformation from project to nonprofit organization manned by post-M.A. fellows who have the ability to work passionately on city streets and with new media. ii DEDICATION To Gabriel and Genevieve, You are the most beautiful inspirations I could ever imagine. I will always support you and the pursuit of your dreams. Love, Mom iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With the greatest of thanks to Dr. Seth Bruggeman -and secondly to- Dr. Hilary Iris Lowe and Dr. Jay Lockenour To all who have assisted, collaborated, funded, inspired, supported, and offered a place to share: Bill Adair, Phillip Adams, the American Alliance of Museums, the Asian Arts Initiative, the Barra Foundation, Robert Blackson, the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Deborah Boyer, Sister Helen Brancato, the Cecil B. Moore branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis Colburn, Maura Cuffie, Laura Deutch, Grace DiAgostino, East Kensington Neighbors Association, Anne Eckert, Peter Erickson, Karen Falcon, Dr. David Farber, Kenneth, Finkel, Fireball Printing, Gail Friedman, Dr. Michael Frisch, Levi Fox, Patrick Grossi, Heather Hart, Maddie Hewitt, Hidden City Philadelphia, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Andrew Isenberg, Mark Krendel, Cynthia Little, Kaycee Itohan Osadolor, Kensington Community Food Co-op, Buddy Kamp, Najja Keita, Sean Kelley, Jordan Klein, Jebney Lewis, the Liberal Arts Department of Moore College of Art and Design, Little Baby’s Ice Cream, Little Berlin curatorial collective, Mandi Magnuson-Hung, Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Polly McKenna Cress, Angela McQuillan, Amy Miller, Maria Möller, Lauren Popp, Karen Pushaw, the National Association of Museum Exhibitions, the National Council for Public History, Dr. Harvey Neptune, Pepon Osorio, the entire staff of the Painted Bride Art Center, Victor Peterson, Philadelphia Geek Awards, Philadelphia Urban Creators, the organizers and attendees of the Winter 2014 Philly STAKE dinner, Kristi Poling, Nathaniel Popkin, Michael Roberson Reid, Keith Ragone, Dr. Jessica Roney, Erin Shipley, Zivit Shlank, Margery Sly, Ellen Snyder-Grenier, St. Francis Inn Ministries, Phil Sumpter, Sweet Freedom Bakery, Sweetsboro Pastry Shoppe, Taller Puertorriqueño, Temple Contemporary, Tree House Books, Lee Tusman, the Wagner Free Institute of Science, Dr. David Watt, and Peter Woodall With special thanks to David Benson Jeffrey Carpineta Theodore A. Harris And the utmost of gratitude to my parents Jane and Bob for your unconditional love, constant patience, and heartfelt belief in me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ .iv LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... vi PREFACE ......................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1. HISTORY TRUCK AS PRIMARY SOURCE .............................................1 Introduction: From Idea to Reality ..........................................................................1 Forty-Eight Hours of Trucking ..............................................................................15 CHAPTER 2. HISTORY TRUCK, A HISTORY ..............................................................28 Peddle to the Metal ................................................................................................28 Mobile History in Philadelphia ..............................................................................37 Community Curatorial Process and the Dialogic Exhibition .................................43 CHAPTER 3. TRUCK TO THE FUTURE ......................................................................53 Sustaining Truckness .............................................................................................53 Conclusion: In Memoriam .....................................................................................64 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................68 APPENDICES A. HISTORY TRUCK EXHIBITION CYCLE.......................................................73 B. HISTORY TRUCK DATA REPORT.................................................................74 C. SAMPLE ORAL HISTORY QUESTIONS ......................................................79 D. STORYTELLING BLOCK PARTY (KENSINGTON) NOTES .....................81 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Pie Am Kensington, the first public parking event in East Kensington. 4 October 2013. Photocredit: Zivit Shlank. .............................................................5 2. Visitors to Manufacturing Fire at Little Berlin explore First and Flames. 4 April 2014. Photocredit: Brittany Bernard............................................................9 3. Visitors were prompted to “choose a route to walk to the post office” and could move a yellow or blue wooden peg along the route. Then, visitors were asked (on the wall) “Which color did you pick?” Blue corresponded to the safest path for non-white post office goers; yellow corresponded to white post office goers. The perimeter of both paths resembled an island. I found a Letter to the Editor from 1966 which referred to the neighborhood as “An Island of Fear” and reproduced it for inclusion in the wall installation. 4 April 2014. Photocredit: Erin Bernard. .....................................................................................12 4. Meadow’s collage on Barbara Easley Cox (from Tree House Books). 1 August 2014. Photocredit: Erin Bernard. ............................................................15 5. From left: Najja Keita, Maura Cuffie, and Victor Peterson of Free Breakfast Program. Erin Bernard and Kaycee Itohan Osalodor of History Truck, and artist partner Theodore Harris. 15 November 2014. Photocredit: Mark Krendel. ...................................................................................18 6. Erin Bernard, Theodore Harris, Naj Keita on GTown’s Morning Feed. 14 November 2014. Photocredit: Jill Saull. ...........................................................24 7. Interviewing neighbors at A Lot More Historical. 14 November 2014. Photocredit: Mark Krendel. ...................................................................................25 8. Cell phone text message. 14 November 2014. Photocredit: Erin Bernard. ...........26 9. Smiles during A Lot More Historical. 14 November 2014. Photocredit: Mark Krendel. ...................................................................................64 vi PREFACE This document is the written reflection of a much larger project which included the planning, fundraising, development, relationship-building, and implementation of the Philadelphia Public History Truck in project form. This thesis offers key reflections, theoretical analysis, and historiographical evaluation of the project, as well as sample data and photographs from the project’s existence. For more information on History Truck’s early existence, please visit its wordpress page: www.phillyhistorytruck.wordpress.com. To view its current social media presence, visit www.facebook.com/phillyhistorytruck or follow on twitter @historytruck. In addition, please visit the Center for Public History at