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Re: Patriot pile on



Danna,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts about children and history.  I know myself growing up I loved the whole Schoolhouse Rock series and I do believe that did impact my career choice along with a simple subscription to a book club my parents provided me.  I especially enjoyed the America Rock series due to being born on Independence Day.  I know for a while they stopped running the series but brought it back for this generation.     

I do not think we as a society stress enough how history is as important to the past as it is to the present especially here in the States.  There are many quality programs that we will never see again due to shortsighted individuals that deemed them unimportant.  I am proud to say that I am a Librarian and Archivist even when many question what we do.  

It is also nice to know that there are other people who appreciate history as much as I do.  I agree that we should promote our positions proudly and continue to teach others the importance of our history.  

Shirley Derrick, MLIS
Assistant Records and Information Manager
Briggs & Stratton Corporation
PO Box 702
Milwaukee, WI  53201-0702


>>> dbrussel@CAPACCESS.ORG 07/06/72 07:00AM >>>
I did want to touch on a couple of things discussed on the list.

Regarding children and history, there are so many things that can keep a
child excited about history. On the 4th my husband and I had a party and
most of the invitees were from the library and archives community in and
around DC. One guest was the five year old son of an archivist and a
librarian. Toward the end of the evening I pulled out my tape of "America
Rock" the series that ABC used to run in the 70's between cartoons (this
was part of the Grammar Rock and Multiplication Rock series). The son was
enraptured and I noticed nearly all of us singing along with "I'm Just a
Bill", "Sufferin Until Suffrage", "The Premable to the Constitution" (which
several of us noted helped us with tests) and "Fireworks on the 4th of
July". For those of us who were young when these were popular, I wonder
if these pop classics had an impact on our choice of career.

Related to that I've been reading the what document or event made you
happiest to be an archivist. I'll be honest, though it thrills me to see
Thomas Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration of
Independence or to see an Edison film that shows immigrants arriving at
Ellis Island, knowing the stories behind the materials, and the
interesting tidbits and being able to share that with people is what
makes me happy to be doing what I'm doing. Though to me it is important
to arrange and describe our collections, it is just as important to let
our publics know what we have, to show them how to use it and to help
them to see the importance and the stories behind these materials. I love
being a teacher, a reference archivist, a person who looks for creative
ways to help our users use the materials we are working to save. That's
why I love America Rock; I know the preamble of the consititution by
heart thanks to the ability to make memorization easy and fun. I like the
work many of us are doing to help teachers use historic documents and the
growth of History Day throughout the United States. I like Archives Week
and the programs we are developing. I am hopeful that someday we will
have an Archives Legislative Day so that we can remind our legislators
about the importance of preserving our history and the need for their
support.

Off the soapbox and on to work.

Danna Bell-Russel
Learning Center Specialist
(but an archivist and teacher at heart)
National Digital Library Learning Center
Library of Congress

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