Today in the Humanities... Igloos; Internets; and Cultural Tourism's Top 12 of 2011

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The Kiplingers, a prominent Washington business dynasty, started collecting rare photographs and prints of Washington in the 1920s. They assembled work dating back to 1791, added the work of Civil War photographers Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, and then gathered examples of Washington history through the mid-20th century.

- "Kiplinger family donates its rare depictions of Washington to the Historical Society", Jacqueline Trescott (Washington Post)

The prestigious Carnegie Corporation of New York and New York Times "I Love My Librarian" award goes to D.C. public librarian Venetia V. Demson.  Demson is one of 10 librarians in the country and the first in this region to receive this annual award.

- "Prestigious National Award Goes to DC Librarian," (DC Public Library)

Most of us leave breadcrumbs behind us online. Say you’re shopping online and a pair of leather boots catches your eye. You zoom in, reading reviews. Finally, you refocus and click a link to a Washington Post article. There, in an ad box to the right, are those boots. It’s like they are meant for you, calling out to you.

- "Who Runs the Internet?," Sarah Stankorb (American University, American Today)

One of the few things that we can be sure about in this period of accelerating change is that the monumental advances in communications technology spawned by the invention of the computer and the chip have epochal implications for human learning. A revolution has commenced where science and technology are melding with the humanities.

- “The Revolutionary Implications of the Digital Humanities,” Jim Leach (National Endowment for the Humanities)

Students from the Arts & Technology Academy, a public charter school in Washington, recite portions of Frederick Douglass’s 19th-century speeches in annual contest.

- "D.C.area students compete in Frederick Douglass Oratorical Contest,"  (The Washington Post)

Although there may be extremely cold temperatures outside an igloo, amazingly the inside can be as warm as sixty degrees due to the natural insulation properties of the snow. But igloos aren’t the only type of snow buildings. From hotels to castles to entire villages, people are building all sorts of snow structures around the world. 

- "Buildings Made of Snow," (National Building Museum)

The Top 12 of 2011 DC Insiders list gives you a sample of some of the many different activities there are in the city.

- "Insider's Guide Top 12 of 2011," Sam Edelstein (Cultural Tourism DC Blog)

Soul of the City Starts With a Trip to the Frederick Douglass Home National Historic Site

Students Marvel at the Gap Between Past and Present

The 2011 Soul of the City program is well underway and several of the students have begun to react to their experiences in their personal journals. Here are some of the students' thoughts from last week's events.

Mishayia Valle on visiting the Frederick Douglass House Historic Site...

I was amazed that most of his stuff was from 150 years ago and was still there, his canes and glasses. all the doors were still in the place. A lot of the dishes were still in the china cabinet, etc. I learned that Frederick Douglass had five kids, but the baby died of pneumonia and brain fluids. Fredrick Douglass' first wife, was named Anne after she passed away he married their white servant Helene Pitts.

Daja Alston reflects on the differences between a present-day home and Frederick Douglass' 19th Century home...

Frederick Douglass' house is like no houses now. Years ago Frederick’s house did not have any bathrooms and the husband and wife couldn’t sleep in the same bedroom when they had company. His house also did not have a refrigerator. Nowadays we have all the things they didn’t have long ago. We have bathroom, refrigerators, etc. Fredrick’s house did not have a kitchen when he first moved in the house, so when he moved in the house he built another room for space to build a kitchen in.

Aarionna Powell on Douglass' second marriage to Helene Pitts...

Back in his time it was very different than the time that I am living today. A lot of things has changed over the years. Now we have bathrooms, washing machines, dryers, and ironing boards and irons that you plug up to the wall to get hot. We now have air conditioners and heat instead of making fire for  heat. In his time him and his wife had to sleep in separate rooms; in my time if you are married, you can sleep int the same room as your mate. I would feel as though he was replacing my mother with a wealthy white woman if my father decided to remarry another woman. I wouldn’t want him to remarry another woman. 

The Soul of the City adventure continues this week with a trip to the U Street corridor where the students will participate in performing and digital arts workshops!

Human vs. Machine - History Theatre Version

Is a Human or a Robot More Suited to Teach Us About the Past?

Frederick Douglass' life is regularly taught to school children through living history theater. In 2008, THEARC DC received a grant from the Humanities Council to carry on this tradition in a whole new way; their performance made use of a life-sized animatronic Douglass. In 1992, the Humanities Council supported a living history performance in which Frederick Douglass was portrayed by actor and educator Fred Morsell. Morsell was able to teach the students about Douglass' life before getting into character, and was able to resolve the performance as himself at the end. Check out the footage from both events to compare and contrast. Which is the better method of teaching about Douglass' life? Is there room for both animatronic and flesh-and-blood human living history performances? What are the benefits and challenges associated with either method.

Animatronic Performance at THEARC DC

Morsell's Performance at Orr Elementary