Making History: Or why your blog matters

Doing some reading for my prospectus tonight, I was reading Peter Burke’s thoughts on microhistory. In it, he quotes an anthropologist named Clifford Geertz who writes about the need “to ferret out the unapparent import of things.” I’ve been chewing on this little phrase all night and finally realized that this has, unknowingly, been a life principle for me, not just as a scholar but as a writer and a blogger. I am fascinated by the tiny little nothing-detail that means something bigger.

That is what blogging has become for me – an opportunity to “ferret out” the important truth inside the day-to-day-everydayness. It’s amazing to me how blogging becomes a way of writing my own microhistory. I could probably write down every teeny life detail, however boring that might be to read, but somehow blogging the little stories tells a big story. And if every blog is a microhistory, then all the blogs in the universe together might tell an even bigger story. This is the strength of the blogger and I have been taking it for granted.

So congratulations. I bet you didn’t know that you, blogger friend of mine, were a micro-historian. Keep on making history.

love, elizabeth

Treasure Hunt

The week of Thanksgiving, I got an invitation to do something I’ve dreamt about since I was a little girl. My friend Zoey lives in a very old neighborhood, near several recently leveled lots, and in the process of all of that digging and soil-turning, a lot of lost treasures began to surface. Zoey spotted a couple things – part of a tea cup, half a pocket watch, and other sundry bits of glass, pottery, and tile from decades (and more decades) ago. I was so interested to hear what she had found and when she invited me to come over and dig with her a little bit, I was thrilled. Zoey is one of those people who lives her life all the way to the edges of it, not interested in missing the weird, or the unusual, or the unexpected. She really inspires me to keep finding new things to love about Columbus and about life, in general.

Here are some snapshots from our hunt. Zoey totally has a knack for this kind of thing and she graciously shared some of her finds with me. I can’t even tell you how cool it was to dig in the dirt and uncover things that had been abandoned or thrown out or left behind years ago. (This is another reason I’m so excited to start my dissertation – I can spend hours poring through archives, touching history with my fingers. It’s crazy to me.)*

Some of my favorite finds: a handful of old bricks, some with writing on them, some pale green tiles, and five antique bottles. One of them is for Listerine (I think I can safely date it pre-1955 because the name of the original owner of the pharmaceutical company is on the glass, another one for Revlon (a company that has been around since the Depression), and at least one that looks like an old spice jar. A few of these things have found a permanent home in our living room and other things will probably be used for a mosaic project I’m hoping to start.

*DISCLAIMER: If you’re going to do any kind of treasure-hunting or digging like that, please know I am not advocating trespassing, theft, vandalism, or anything that might be dangerous to you or to property. If you are planning to do something like this, I encourage you to take someone else with you, go during daylight hours, to be careful not to harm any equipment or property, and to be mindful of any legalities specific to your circumstance. Safety is more important than any THING.

Are you a treasure hunter? A history buff? Have you done any projects with found objects?

love, elizabeth

PS: I have a Christmas present for you guys coming tomorrow…so check back tomorrow morning…