Why Care About Historical Societies?
By Donna Potter Phillips, 2021
Why keep
historical materials? Why, indeed, keep all this “old stuff?” How did this idea begin?
A
Massachusetts Historical Society online presentation in January 2021, with
speakers Alea Henle and Peter Drummey, answered that question.
“Historical
societies preserve the cultures of the early United States,” Henle stated, “by
preserving the papers and artifacts that were in their everyday use.” Where
else can you go to see (and perhaps touch) kitchen tools from 1889 or 1920?
How did the
idea of historical societies begin? Before 1791, when the Massachusetts
Historical Society began (as The Historical Society), there was no National
Archives, no Library of Congress, no big history collections. There were
collections in private hands but often these were sold and scattered when the
family died out. Harvard University was the first to attempt to collect the
scattered materials of our country’s history which were widely scattered, some
even in Europe. The New York
Genealogical & Biographical Society was formed in 1804 and the New England
Historic Genealogical Society in 1845. Many historical societies came from
states, counties or towns wishing to mark their centennials. The Massachusetts
Historical Society had as its original mission to collect materials pertaining
to the whole of U.S. history but never had the money to ensure that mission’s
survival. “It was only due to the dedicated officers and volunteers of these
organizations that kept them alive,” said Henle.
Alea Henle
showed a slide of a guest register from 1850 for the Connecticut Historical
Society and remarked that in that year the Society had over 100 visitors! There
were some folks who did value and seek out their history.
Today, historical
societies are spread across the nation. As folks moved from east to west they
took this idea with them. Initially they collected selectively and only what
“they” (usually males of white European ancestry) felt was important. Native
American and minority histories were not of much interest to the majority.
Thankfully, that notion has long since disappeared for the most part.
Today, and
I’m thinking of my own state of Washington where I have road-traveled the most,
nearly every little town proudly has its historical society. And what’s in
these places? Artifacts collected or donated from the people who lived there
through time! If your ancestor lived in Okanogan County, surely the Okanogan
Historical Society would have some item they used during their life time or
something quite like it.
Historical
societies are places housing the cultural history of America. The items in
these places aren’t just “artifacts,” but are their things, their
everyday things, the things they used.
I must say that I have enjoyed with wide eyes
and open mind each and every historical society I have visited.
