Thanks to our summer interns!

Historical Society interns work hard on a wide variety of projects. This past spring and summer we’ve had five students dedicating their time and energy to MCHS needs. You might get to hear from them in person in the near future, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at some fruits of their labors.

Josh, an MCPS student (and repeat intern, our favorite kind!) has been transcribing a 19^th century diary, written by Caroline Miller Farquhar of Norbeck. Carrie’s diaries have been featured a few times before (and one of the earliest volumes is currently on display in our exhibit on Montgomery County women in the Civil War), but there is still this one last volume to transcribe. Thanks to Josh (and the many other students who have taken their turn with Carrie’s peculiar handwriting), we’re almost there.

Two students from GW’s Museum Studies program chose to fulfil their internship requirement here at MCHS. Maggie has undertaken the task of updating the location inventory for our main storage area; in the process, she’s seen many of our artifacts and, I think, learned some interesting new facts about household management in the 19^th century. Here is our brass clock (or spit) jack, a mysterious item which inspired some internet searches. This puppy is worthy of a whole blog post to itself, but for now here’s a quick summary: clock jacks were used to evenly roast meat in a fireplace without too much tending. Once wound up, the clockwork mechanism – shown below – kept the spit (which hung from the bottom) turning.   This brass clock jack, circa 1850, was made by George Salter of England and is thought to have been used at the home of Charles England in Potomac. Ours still has its key, but it’s missing the round spit from which the meat hung; here’s a picture of a more complete one, from the collections of the New-York Historical Society. 

Maggie’s fellow-student Caitlin cataloged a significant portion of our medical book collection, adding the records to our computer database. One entertaining gem is the 1860 edition of Walker’s Manly Exercises and Rural Sports, published in London and owned by George Minor Anderson of Rockville. You will no doubt be delighted to learn, O manly readers, that this fine volume is available as a free ebook, complete with illustrations (for example, the link here takes you to the section on “vaulting” and “pole leaping” - scroll down to the picture, I implore you). Inspired by the artistic gymnastics portion of the London Olympics? Try it for yourself! (Note: MCHS is not responsible for any injuries incurred during Manly Exercises.)

Becky, a recent graduate of UMBC, interned here during the spring semester and stayed on as a summer office assistant. Her current project will be on view at the County Fair next week, as the “Old Timers” have once again kindly lent us space in their building. Becky surveyed our artifact and library collections for an exhibit on entries at both the past and current incarnations of the Fair. It’s good to have interns – they help you get to the things you haven’t yet gotten to, like taking photos of an 1884 knitted bedspread with crochet-lace border, made by Annie H. Settle of Virginia and entered in the “antiques” category of the Rockville Fair sometime in the early 20^th century.

Our fifth intern’s project is not quite ready for the internet yet, but it will be soon! Cathy, a student of the Johns Hopkins online museum studies program – and also a professional videographer – is creating a short promotional video to help MCHS tell the world about all the cool stuff we have and do.

Of course, this only brushes the surface of the many things our interns have done over the past few months. Less ‘exciting’ activities included stocking the shop, scanning photos, cleaning out the Dairy House, labeling newsletters, washing coolers, and dressing a mannequin in a 19^th century gown (well, hopefully they thought that was exciting). Museum work, especially in a small institution like ours, requires a certain willingness to do all kinds of boring and/or unexpected tasks.  The hard work of our interns (and of all our volunteers) helps keep MCHS running – we couldn’t do it without them!

Carrie Farquhar’s diaries donated by Roger Brooke Farquhar, Jr.  The clock jack donated by Warren Conklin.  Exercise book donated by the Anderson family.  Annie Settle’s bedspread donated by Gladys Benson.

 

High school jersey, 1970s

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which reads in part: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”  Essentially: if you let boys do it, you’d better let girls do it too… and while you’re at it, don’t just allow it, encourage equal participation.

Many longer and more thorough reports than mine have been written on the effects of Title IX and its current rate of success.  (Last week’s Gazette had an interesting series, including several local accounts.)  Though much of the popular focus has been on improvements in athletic opportunities, it’s worth remembering that Title IX applies to academics as well.  However, our collections are best suited for an example of the growth of women’s sports in county schools, so until someone donates a nice 1973 shop-class project by their mother or aunt (hint, hint), let’s take a look at a sport uniform.

This cotton/nylon jersey was worn by a currently unknown female student at Northwood High School in Silver Spring, in the mid-late 1970s.  Happily, our library has a large collection of local school yearbooks, and the yearbooks for Northwood in 1973, ‘74, ‘75, ‘76 and ‘78 (sorry, we’re missing a year) give us some clues as to this jersey’s history.  (A full-on study of athletics at any given school requires more sources than just the yearbooks, of course, but I was mostly looking for pictures of uniforms; and hey, yearbooks are fun.)

Northwood High School opened in 1956, closed in 1985 due to declining student-age population in the area, then reopened in 2004 when the neighborhood once again required it.  In the 1970s, the school colors were black and red, and the team name was the Indians.  (Today the colors are the same, but the school mascot is a Gladiator.)  The Arrowhead yearbook gives a hint of the sports available for girls each year*.  In 1973, girls are shown participating only in swimming and gymnastics, though other teams (perhaps intramural) probably existed.  Only a year later, though, there are pages for girls’ tennis, field hockey, basketball, volleyball and softball.  The young women on the basketball teams (just one team at first, later the Junior Varsity team) in 1974-1978 are wearing jerseys like this one; the style also shows up on a softball player in the only photo of that sport included in 1974; by 1983 other uniforms have replaced it.  Two #44s appear in the books, whom I won’t call out in case they don’t want their names randomly appearing on the internet (although, hey ladies, if this is your jersey please let me know!).

I didn’t find any references specifically to Title IX, but the tone of the mid 1970s books does give a sense that yes, there is a new interest in, and attitude toward, girls’ athletics.  In 1976 that attitude (perhaps because of that year‘s editor?) is particularly evident.  That year, the girls’ basketball team had switched from a female to a male coach, a point which is emphasized in the yearbook: “He proved that men too can make good coaches for an all-girls’ sport involving skill and talent.”  The cross-country page features this headline: “Cross Country Team Includes Girl Runners” and, only a few sentences after informing us that one of those ‘girl runners’ was a state champion, the author points out that the (male) coach “expressed his lack of male chauvinism by insisting that the girls receive the credit due them.”  2012 gives that a sarcastic “gee, thanks,” but depending on the school’s culture at that time, such an “insistence” may have been highly progressive.  Happily, by 1978 the novelty of serious girls’ teams seems to have worn off, at least in the Arrowhead.

*Comparing the numbers and types of sports available to the county’s public school students since the late 19th century is actually quite interesting, and there were many girls’ teams in the early-mid 20th century… but that will have to wait for a later article.

 

Cheerleading megaphone, 1931

Today’s item is related to current sporting events – but no, it’s not a primitive vuvuzela. This cheerleader’s megaphone from 1931 is made of sturdy brown cardboard, with a metal ring on the mouthpiece end. It’s a little squashed, but otherwise it’s in good condition. In ink, on the inside, is the inscription: “Presented by Student Council to Neal Potter Cheer Leader Bethesda Chevy Chase H.S. 1930-1931.” Neal Potter (1915-2008) served on the County Council for many years, and was elected to one term as County Executive. But before his political career, he was a high school student concerned with raising the Pep level at games. (Sorry, political junkies; I’m sure I’ll delve into our campaign collections sometime in the near future.)

Potentially surprising fact #1: In the early 20^th century, the activity of cheerleading was dominated by men. The acknowledged “first cheerleader” was Jack Campbell, a medical student at the University of Minnesota in 1898. Montgomery County yearbooks from the 1930s and 1940s show co-ed squads, but over the decades cheerleading came to be seen as a “girls” activity. Towards the end of the 20^th century boys started joining squads again, sometimes as a joke, but also as important parts of the increasingly gymnastic and athletic routines.

Potentially surprising fact #2: The sports Mr. Potter and his peers were cheering for at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) did not necessarily include football. Football was considered too dangerous – a Georgetown Prep player was fatally injured during a game in 1895 – and although it was played at private schools in the area, and as a club sport, football teams were not officially permitted by the Montgomery County Public School system until 1944. Instead, the most popular public school sport in the 1920s and 1930s was soccer. (Begin your personal degree of World Cup Fever… NOW!) We might think that the local popularity of soccer is a relatively recent phenomenon, but not so. As noted in the 1940 Richard Montgomery yearbook The Rocket, “soccer continues to be the favorite outdoor sport.” However, once football was added soccer dropped off in popularity almost immediately; B-CC got rid of its soccer program altogether because of lack of interest, and it was not reinstated until 1960. The formation of Montgomery Soccer, Inc. in the early 1970s, and the late 20^th century rise in immigration from Latin and South America (where soccer is king), have helped bring the sport back to its former popularity.

Unfortunately, we do not have the B-CC yearbooks for Mr. Potter’s years in our collection; our earliest Pine Tree is from 1936, and it does not mention an organized cheerleading group. Perhaps Mr. Potter was given this megaphone in appreciation for his ’pro bono’ pep-raising work, as it were.  However, for your enjoyment, below is a photo of the 1943-44 squad from the 1944 Pine Tree.

 

Blair High School button collection, 1956-1960

This weekend, Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring is having a 75^th anniversary celebration. In honor of my alma mater, here’s a little school spirit from the late 1950s.

This little “South Seas” type figure – itself unrelated to Blair, I think, unless it was a souvenir from a themed dance or homecoming parade – is festooned with fifteen buttons, all either pro-Blair or anti-rival. The donor, who grew up near the intersection of Colesville Road and University Boulevard, attended Blair – the old Blair, now Silver Spring International Middle School – and graduated in the class of 1960. The rivals represented here are Bethesda-Chevy Chase (“the Barons,” visible on one of the front buttons), Wheaton, Richard Montgomery, Walter Johnson, Suitland, Bladensburg and Northwestern High Schools. County locals may be thinking, hey, those last three aren’t in Montgomery County! (Today we have a Northwest, but Northwestern, Bladensburg and Suitland are in Prince George’s County.) At the time local high schools were few enough that to make up a full division, teams often played schools from neighboring counties, not just their own.

The little “mascot” was something of a bonus donation. The donor was helping to clean out her childhood home, and offered the Historical Society some pieces from the family’s old farm in Wheaton, dating from around 1900. When I went to pick them up she offered me some 1920s tennis rackets, also from her family, as an afterthought. It was only as I was leaving that I spotted this little guy and mentioned that I too had gone to Blair; after a little discussion it became clear to her that I thought he would be a perfect addition to our 20^th century collections. She seemed dubious, but was happy to make my day and send him off to posterity at the Society, along with the older artifacts.

I get this a lot. Being a relatively young curator has some disadvantages (although occasionally it does provide me with the element of surprise). Reactions to my interest in recent artifacts are usually positive, but sometimes are more along the lines of incredulity and/or indignation (“Just because YOU weren’t born yet doesn’t make it historical!”), and I can understand this point; hearing early U2 on the “oldies” station gives me the same feeling. Sometimes disbelief is mixed with speculation; I swear the donor is trying to think of other things they can foist onto my collections, as if, like in old cartoons, my head has turned into a giant “sucker” lollipop. (Contrary to semi-popular belief, we don’t accept just anything.) Sometimes people are pleasantly surprised to learn that the Historical Society is not just about colonial homes and 19^th century farms. My goal is to make it less of a surprise!