Mark Trushkowsky History 268: Oberlin History as American History

Professor Carol Lasser Skate or Die

It all began on September 2nd. Five days earlier Jesse had bought the slickest looking old school, yellow, white, black and red striped, low top roller skates. That was impetus enough to send us down South 58 to Country Skateland. From there it was only a matter of time before natural talent and athleticism, coupled with quality music, good times and middle/high school social scenes elevated roller skating to prime recreational consideration. This going on outside of class, I signed up to do the genealogical research project on the Pettiford family and bakery. When that fell through, the idea began to form. Why not combine local historical research with a personal interest/hobby? What better motivation than finding information on how activities you are taking part in fit into the historical context of the town. As roller-skating was a newfound passion, a historical look at roller-skating through Oberlin history became the obvious synthesis. I became enthralled at the idea of learning about what people in this town were thinking and doing about roller-skating one hundred years ago. I was a little nervous and skeptical at first, not sure how legitimate recreation would be as an academic pursuit; but then that was exactly the point. After three years at this school, it was really important for my academic pursuits to be working around me and my interests as all learning should. History especially is best learned, I believe, with the student in the center, making the history relevant to hers or his life, seeking to place themselves as a part of the history. This opportunity is unique and special in a small town local historical sense, with feelings of home and the pleasure of linking everything around you to a past that is sometimes more accessible than that of the larger national or global proportion.

The choosing of my topic out of the way, the next step was to accrue information and figure out something interesting to do with all of it. My original plan was to meet with a sixth grade student, with an extra curricular love of skating. The idea was to see if I could get a student to do research and perhaps set up a web page on the history of something they enjoyed. The key was that it would all be out of the love for skating, not for school or grade. The problems came once my research hit several snags. I had a couple of avenues that I could have followed. I could have leaned more heavily on either my research on just the history of skating in general or on the current trends and attitudes on skating using my access to skate kids as my primary resource. I decided a history of skating in general was not that compelling or interesting, as it was full of dates and famous events, champions and celebrity skaters and had very little anecdotal stories of small town rinks, which was more along the lines of what I was going for. I felt the skate kids were a resource to involve and entice into the project, but didnít feel comfortable getting the brunt of my information from them. I felt that would be more of a series of interviews and not historical and would revolve around their individual attraction and dedication to the sport. Whereas I felt their experiences were entirely relevant in studying the trends of roller skating in this town, I felt I could only do so with more background information detailing the past leading up to and hypothesizing about the changes. Historically this town has had many skating rinks and been very skating friendly, but now there is definitely some negativity associated with it. The problems of my research basically revolved around the lack of information I could find. At first the lack was not so daunting if I added ice skating to my question. But after several weeks of fruitlessly pouring over business records and phonebooks in Archives and reading old newspaper articles from the reserve room all I had was a collection of loose fitting dates. Most of the articles, ranging from 1881 to the early 1900ís, are only a few lines long, some just saying as little as ìa new skating rink openedî and giving the managers name. My next step was to go to O.H.I.O. and read the oral histories there. In retrospect, it might have been nice to work with a class, or some other group of kids because they have access to personal interviews with grandparents, parents friends of the family and anyone else who may have had a story to tell. Many of the oral history interviewers just repeat questions to interviewees and do not often ask that one extra question about the specifics, at least when the person was talking about recreation and roller skating. They would ask what the person did for fun and recreation in their youth, and the person would say roller skating, to which the interviewer would then say something like, ìSo what was your motherís maiden name.î There was one woman I remember who talked about this one High School skating party in a big room over the present Ohio Gas Office, but the interviewer left it at that, which is understandable and forgivable, but a thorn in the side of my purposes. It was very frustrating to be hitting so many walls and only finding information on one extreme or the other. My initial conception of the project was leaning more towards the one extreme that I got through the oral histories, which was some idea of what role skating played in the town, specific memories of times had at rinks or of standard manners of enjoying oneself. Coming from the other direction, it was so disappointing to not be able to construct the economic and social issues that led to there being at least six rinks operating at different times from the years 1881-1895. I got the dates of their openings, but could only confirm the location of three roller skating rinks ñ one behind Talcott, the other in the Ingersoll lot on East College, and one on the second floor of Town Hall (which was also the Community Center and the Ford Garage). It always seemed like I was just on the verge of finding the great story. One of the oral history files was empty except for an index, which listed ìDiscrimination at the Elyria skating rinkî and an extended section on Gayterís ice skating rink. Of course, this would be the mystical missing oral history with no transcript or tape. At times it felt as though this town had a deep dark secret about roller-skating and someone covered the tracks a little too well for it to be coincidence. I was glad to find out about Gayterís though, since it really seemed to be a hub of social activity in its day. I wish Iíd been able to find some business documentation and records from it though, beyond the memories and rumors of the oral histories and the few pictures I found. The was also a fount of information on the Rockefeller womenís ice skating rink in that cache of information I found in Hales Gymnasium that Liz is using for her project. But roller skating alas proved ever elusive. Though they were so nice and as helpful as they could be at Archives I also often wished that I could just go back and do the research myself. I know what I was looking for and would have no other priorities or obligations save to find what it was I was looking for, hoping to cease not till death.

Though I went through such frustration on the acquisition of particular information on my topic, it would be hard to call my project a failure. It did several very wonderful things for me over the course of the semester. One, it gave me some practice at testing my ingenuity at local history and gave me an idea of what is out there and how to use the archives from some experience rather than just by instruction by Roland. I was also exposed to so many other amazing stories and documents about the history of this town, especially since I looked through so many oral histories and miscellaneous files. At any given time there were at least five subjects I would have loved to go off and find out more about. The project also gave me the inspiration for a way to leave something lasting at this school (aside from tales of my stellar personality and sense of humor), and a way to incorporate working with Oberlin public school students and the presentation of history in a engaging way outside of the context of classroom requirement.

My idea would be a duplication in some ways of our class, but for younger kids. The thought would be to pair up Oberlin college students with a middle school or high school student, either with similar interests and focuses for local historical research (ideally), or a direction dictated by the interest of the public school student. The union would take place outside of the classroom on both sides of it and would give local children access to the archival and other research facilities of this school to find information about the history of things they are interested in over the course of history in Oberlin. For the college student it would be an ideal way to work on oneís pedagogy, especially if like me, one would like to be a history teacher. It need not be limited to those with that profession on the horizon since the project could be thought of in terms of its historical context only, or the content of the interest could be taken into account as well. I can really imagine the kids getting so excited and so into the project. How could they not? It would open up the town, its buildings and places would talk with the faded sounds of memory, and it would make history real for them in a way I fear is often lacking in school. American history is, in some ways, a constructed national monologue based on certain voices with a certain agenda all for the purpose of creating a national sense of pride and direction. As such it is easy to have it reduced to a set of given events that happened neatly in a line, to be memorized. The worst part about the presentation of history in classrooms I was in or have since worked with, is the separation the children feel from what they are learning. Clearly there is a problem with History if the children donít feel, or see how they are, an affected part of it. I hope to combat these deficiencies in my classroom and think this project could also engage a lot of these issues. Of course, the topic and the enthusiasm would determine the success, but I canít think of a better supplement to Social Studies, than this, especially since the same issues are bound to come up on a local level as in the national level. Unless, of course, the student wants to examine the Boo Radleys of Oberlin History.

On a practical level, it depends on the efforts of those involved as to how this would all work out. The decision would have to be made whether the project was being done for fun (my preference) or for perhaps a presentation of sorts to the class, or maybe even web page production. I envision the Oberlin College students meeting occasionally to discuss how things are going and having a base to ask for help when needed. It always feels good to have a public presentation on the combination of hard work and personal interest but it would have to be up to each individual group to decide whether to and how to have a display of their project. Itís really important to me to have no pressure of meeting requirements or making demands, feeling that can be found in so many other places. One of the lessons I think is important to pass on is that learning and working and research could be fun, if you are doing something the is of your own inspiration. I do realize at the same time, that certain kids are going to need, or will learn better with a definite end goal in mind. If that is the case I would say one should be set up, but that the child should have a large say in what it is.

Perhaps the best way to gauge interest, and perhaps even the best way to instill it would be a small week long stint working with a teacher in a class. This way in a small controlled implementation of the theories of the project, children could get an idea of what is out there and how local history can be startlingly refreshing. It could be a supplement to a topic they are learning. For example, since February is African-American Heritage month we could have some kids researching various things, ranging from the presence of African-American Civil Rights leaders (i.e. Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. DuBois) in Oberlin to incidences of Civil Rights struggles within the city (i.e. the Barbershop controversy) to autobiographical writings of African-Americans from different times in Oberlinís history. Those are just a few things I was interested in hearing about, but again, the point would be for the kids to think about any independent idea, interest or thought theyíve had about the roles and lives of African-Americans in Oberlin. From this kind of exercise, everyone would get exposure to the possibilities and those with strong inclinations would gravitate towards it.

Another aspect I would like to incorporate into this project is one Iím really excited about. Iíd be interested in trying to get middle school and high school to keep a daily journal of their lives and the neighborhood/city/country around them. I think it would be so empowering to have these kids writing something that would go to O.H.I.O. and be part of Oberlin recorded history. I would facilitate a group of kids and in addition to the daily writings, we would meet at least once a week and all write on a topic that was open, but incorporated personalities and location. Not only would this be a wonderful exercise for myself and the children but it would be such a great resource to have available in twenty years and beyond. Everyone from these children once theyíve grown up, their children, kids of that time, people doing research on the daily lives of Oberlin during this time period, people with a curiosity and an afternoon to spend pouring over the books, the beneficiaries are limitless. It is a very different direction to be coming at the issue of local history but the same issues could be brought out, if not more. It may be easier to have discussions of myth vs. history and questions of power and voice in history through these exercise. Having the kids write about the same things and reading the different takes on events and people is a stark example of how this might be done. One of the most important things to keep in mind in when thinking about history, especially local history, is the question of the intent of the source. I think the most effective way to teach a discerning eye and to drive home this point is the journal writing. By having to decide what they are going to include for future readers and talking about those decisions could really educate them on the way history is constructed. Thinking about ones self as a historian puts a certain pressure on you that is imperative to really engage the children. Why one writes certain things and omits others; how one chooses to present ones self to people who will read their works, both now and later; all of these issue will come out when trying to get the children interested in compiling their local history.

I wish I had these ideas at the beginning of this semester, but I really needed to go through this class and think about the issue raised before they could formulate. Both of these two projects reflect the most important things I got out of local history as I extrapolated from our class. The major theme is doing for oneself. This has different meanings and implications for each of the respective ideas. For the first it is an attempt to create an outlet and structure for reviewing the facts for yourself and formulating ones own idea of the voices of a town. For the second it is doing for oneself in the sense of taking an active role in the insertion of ones own voice in the historical discourse on the local level. The two major things good historians do in my mind is to do extensive amounts of research in things that interest them that perhaps have not been thoroughly examined on the one hand, and write histories based on their experience with their subject matter on the other. For these kids on the latter, the subject matter is their lives, the context, the small Midwestern town of Oberlin Ohio.