The Happenings of a not-so Professional Historian

The side of the Opera Housing, Harrington, WA 

A mural painting on the side of a building. 

The Studebaker shop sign. 

The ticket counter at the Opera House 

So I know we're supposed to do our blog posts on the books we've ready but I thought it would be more fun to talk about the adventure that Arianne and I took this weekend. On our way back from the MAC on Thursday, Arianne said she was going to take a trip to Harrington to get more pictures and information on the stops she's doing and I thought I would tag along. We headed out on Saturday morning and got to Harrington at about noon. We stopped by the Studebacer shop, I needed pictures and we just stumbled upon a gathering of locals having a small BBQ. Jerry and his wife were there as well as the owner of the Studebaker shop and another local man. We asked if we could take pictures of the shop and if there was anyone who could let us into the Opera House. The local man let us into the Opera house and gave us a private tour of the town and some of the old houses in town as well as the cemetery, old churches and the old wheat thresher factory.

One of the original settlers in Harrington.  

This may not seem like a great day but this was so great. I think the best part of history and public history for that matter is learning about the everyday lives and happenings of regular people. We read about famous people in our textbooks and will probably never meet their decedents but going to a place like Harrington allows for that opportunity. The local man we met was the last decedents of one of the original families (sadly I cannot remember his name), and was gracious enough to take us around town and even showed us his personal house along with his prized pictures of him family over the years. this kind of stuff just doesn't happen in big cities or in suburbia. I just couldn't get over how amazing it was that the people of Harrington opened their doors and essentially their lives to us just because we asked... well that and the fact the Jerry remembered us from our class tour.

I think everyone should go to have this kind of experience, being shown around by the locals is the best way to learn the history of a place like Harrington. I also this more hands-on, active way of learning history would make learning way more fun than just reading a textbook. I find the best way to learn something is to experience and live it first hand. Go out and see where people lived, see where battles were fought, stand where famous people stood in order to get a better idea of what they experienced. Horwitz actually kind of touches on this in his book when he talks about going to the Battle of Shiloh site. He could almost feel what the soldiers were feeling and that made it more real; brought history to life and made it relatable. That's what history is about!