Over the last few days of January we introduced The History List to some of New England's—and the nation's—leading genealogy, historic preservation, and museum organizations.

Our thanks to . . .

• Pat, President of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists
• Ryan and Tom at American Ancestors, formerly known as the New England Historic Genealogical Society (est. 1845)
• Carol at the Massachusetts Historical Society (est. 1791) and to Dennis, the Society's Executive Director 
• Rob at Historic New England, founded in 1910 as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities—I still find that name charming—and today the owner of 36 historic properties throughout New England
• Matt at The Freedom Trail Foundation, whose costumed guides portray characters from the period as they conduct the official tours of trail, and to Mimi, the Foundation's Executive Director
• Dan, Executive Director of the New England Museum Association

. . . for their interest, questions, suggestions, and support in meetings and briefings over the last few days.  Each organization puts on dozens of events a year, and a few put on more than 100 different events.

Our initial group presentation took place in November with presidents and board member at all-volunteer historical societies. Following that was a December meeting with executive directors of the historical societies, historic building organizations, and history museums that are part of the Charles River Group.

The major points of feedback from our most recent meetings, along with where we stand with each:

• A submission form that makes entry easy and allows for a complete listing—Text can be cut and pasted from Word, other documents, and sites while maintaining basic formatting and without introducing odd characters or spacing.  There is essentially unlimited space for text and pictures formatted in the way the organization wants.
• Ease of entering repeating events—The time we've invested in handling the multitude of repeating event scenarios seems to have paid off.  We were told that we've made it easier than any other event entry form used.
• Institution hours—An area that we've been working on and will improve further.
• Covering all types of locations—The ability to handle all locations—cities and towns as well as properties that may be far off the beaten path—has been a central part of The History List from the outset.
• Reaching beyond their base—The History List provides a way to reach both individuals in the area and those traveling to the region that they don't reach with their own site and list.
• Reaching a younger audience and the future—Through the web and mobile (see below).
• Focused on the type of person they're trying to attract—The focus on history creates a positive editorial environment and gets them in front of the very people they wish to reach.
• Analytics are of interest—Analytics will be added, though probably after the launch.
• Tools to include events from different partners into one calendar—We are exploring this based on the use cases we were given.
• Mobile—It's been a part of the vision from the earliest days and is definitely on our roadmap.

We also received this challenge: "Win the Revolutionary War!"  And we took it to heart, working now to make a special effort to reach organizations and institutions closely related to the Revolutionary War, in New England and throughout "the Colonies," to enlist their participation in this early stage.  (Our scope remains national and the focus is history into the mid- to late-20th century.)

Coming up, we'll meet with representatives of the USS Constitution Museum—"Old Ironsides" gained its legendary status during the War of 1812, whose bicentennial is being celebrated starting this year—and with the Bostonian Society (est. 1881), which operates the Old Statehouse Museum. 

If you and your history-related organization would like to meet about or receive access to The History List, let us know.  In the coming weeks, we'll be in Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Washington, DC and are interested in hearing from organizations in or near those cities.

For occasional e-mail updates, including notification of the launch, sign up here.

Updated May 12, 2013: The Washington Monument reopened today.  This time lapse video shows the repairs.

Updated November 27, 2013: David Rubenstein bought a copy of the Bay Psalm Book, printed in 1640 and believed to be the first book printed in what is now the United States, after the Old South Church voted to sell one of the two copies they own.  The sale, for around $14 million, set a record for a printed book.  He has indicated that he "plans to lend it to libraries around the country."

Updated February 24, 2013: According to news reports, David Rubenstein is again making a large donation connected with President Washington, this time donating $10 million toward the new National Library for the Study of George Washington, which is scheduled to open September 27, 2013.  This donation puts the group over their fundraising goal for the project and was announced on what would have been Washington's 281st birthday.

The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which owns and operates the site, does not accept federal funding.  The campaign to construct the Library was led by a $38 million contribution by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.

David Rubenstein, billionaire investor and philanthropist, has donated $7.5 million to repair the Washington Monument following recent earthquake damage. 

The day before the press conference he said, "I come from very modest circumstances, and I'm very fortunate to have achieved wealth beyond what I ever expected."  The son of a postal worker, he underscored again the impact that coming face to face with history can have: “I visited when I was a little boy.  I was probably 8 or 9. I grew up in Baltimore. My parents took me to it."

According to The Washington Post: 

Congress allocated $7.5 million in December on the condition that private donations would match that amount. The combined $15 million in public and private funds is expected to cover the cost of repairing damage directly caused by the quake, said National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. Repairing water damage will cost more, as would a seismic study or reinforcements to strengthen the structure against future earthquakes, she said. 

The monument was built with private $1 donations eventually totaling over $1 million, Rubenstein said. Construction began in 1848, but funds ran out during the Civil War when the monument was left as an embarrassing stump for years. It was finally completed in 1884 and was the world’s tallest man-made structure until it was eclipsed by the Eiffel Tower. It remains the tallest structure in Washington.

While we're all generally familiar with this part of the history of the monument, the fact that stones with historical or social significance were donated, was new.  As described in the Wikipedia entry:

Excavation for the foundation of the Monument began in early 1848.  The cornerstone was laid as part of an elaborate Fourth of July ceremony hosted by the Freemasons, a worldwide fraternal organization to which Washington belonged. . . .

Construction continued until 1854, when donations ran out.  [Matthew Brady's photograph (right) of the partially-completed monument is from the Library of Congress.]  The next year, Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 to continue the work, but rescinded before the money could be spent. This reversal came because of a new policy the society had adopted in 1849. It had agreed, after a request from some Alabamians, to encourage all states and territories to donate commemorative stones that could be fitted into the interior walls.  Members of the society believed this practice would make citizens feel they had a part in building the monument, and it would cut costs by limiting the amount of stone that had to be bought. Blocks of Maryland marble, granite and sandstone steadily appeared at the site.  American Indian tribes, professional organizations, societies, businesses and foreign nations donated stones that were 4 feet by 2 feet by 12–18 inches . . . One stone was donated by the Ryukyu Kingdom and brought back by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, but never arrived in Washington (it was replaced in 1989). . . . [O]ne from the Templars of Honor and Temperance stated "We will not buy, sell, or use as a beverage, any spiritous or malt liquors, Wine, Cider, or any other Alcoholic Liquor.". . . In the early 1850s, Pope Pius IX contributed a block of marble. In March 1854, members of the anti-Catholic, nativist American Party — better known as the "Know-Nothings"—stole the Pope's stone as a protest and supposedly threw it into the Potomac (it was replaced in 1982).  Then, in order to make sure the monument fit the definition of "American" at that time, the Know-Nothings conducted an illegal election so they could take over the entire society.  Congress immediately rescinded its $200,000 contribution.

When it finally was completed, the dedication, on February 21, 1885, was a grand affair.  Here is the invitation and the full text of the speeches delivered:

Two days ago I wrote about the very negative review that had been written in a LinkedIn group after the owner of a small company that gives tours of Old Wilmington posted a note promoting her tours.

At the time, I wondered whether the tour owner would respond, and I noted that one of the ways that The History List tries to ensure high-quality content is by requiring that those who post use their names (instead of a "user name").

In this case, it looks like a policy of using real names was key to straightening out what appears to be a misunderstanding.  Here's the follow up post:

After the critical review, I wrote Lori and asked her about her experience in the LInkedIn group and explained that we plan to add reviews to The History List.  Her response validated our thinking that the combination of requiring that people use their real names and making it easy for those responsible to respond to individual reviews addresses these sorts of problems.  Here's what Lori had to say:

Yes, I think a review listing would be great.  It didn't sound like that she had taken my tour. Not sure if that is a way to combat that.  I'm the only tour guide and I'm sure that I would have remembered a disgruntled customer.  I also do not charge for the tour until the end to give anyone who didn't enjoy the tour a chance to speak up.
 
I think giving the company getting a bad review a way to respond is good.  In three years that was the first negative feed back I've received and I was glad that I had a chance to make a rebuttal.

If you have other comments and would like to send them privately, please do so.  We read all of the feedback and suggestions and take them into account as we continue the development of The History List.
 

In an earlier post I wrote about the three experiences that motivated me to found The History List.

The presentation below captures the fundamentatl reason The History List matters, which is also one of the primary motivations in its creation: By bringing people face-to-face with history, we will create more opportunities for more people to discover and connect with history.  And that will help all of us better understand and engage in our world today.

The inspiration and motivation for creating The History List came from three experiences: Serving on the board of our local historical society, attending little known events and looking for other similar events, and seeing the way in which traveling in the region created the interest to read more about the history behind the markers and monuments.

The challenges of local historical societies

When we moved to New England from outside of the region, I wanted to learn more about the history of the old (c. 1780) house we'd just bought.  This led me to the local historical society and, before long, election to the board and an appointment to our city's historical commission.  This, in turn, led me to take a closer look at the challenges facing organizations working to preserve local history.  Other than not enough time or volunteers, and not enough money, which are problems common to almost all organizations regardless of mission, two stood out:

• Making their collections available to interested individuals, which includes the challenge, especially for small organizations, in simply cataloging the collection.  And given that fewer people are attending local history museums and historical societies, making collections available online becomes even more important, which poses another set of challenges.

• Making people aware of their events and programs.  While most of the programs presented by a local historical society may be of interest mainly to the residents of that community, some programs are of broader interest, and there are few good avenues for publicizing these beyond the community where they're presented.  Likewise, for those interested in learning more about a certain topic, where do you turn to stay updated on programs and events that would be of interest?

The challenge of discovering little-known events

The first fall we were here we happened to notice a sign in front of the fire station of a nearby town promoting an event that Saturday.  We went and had a great time.  It was perfect in every way.  There weren't that many people there, which was fine for us as spectators, but it did make you think that more people would have attended if more would have known about it.

Talking with one of the reenactors that afternoon, I asked where I could go to find out about similar events.  After thinking for a minute, he pulled out his business card and wrote his personal e-mail address on it: "If you'll send me an e-mail message next spring, I'll send you a link to a couple of websites that list other Revolutionary-era reenactments in the region."

A few weeks later I sat in on discussion with the executive directors of some of the larger historical societies in the area and heard the plan they were considering for promoting events at their organizations.  I offered up a few ideas, and realized later that, the more I thought about a scalable, sustainable approach, the more interesting and the more challenging designing the solution became.  (A few years later I had the opportunity to brief this same group and invite them to participate in the closed beta for institutions.)

The experience of coming face with history

The last experience was the most motivating: Becoming more and more interested in learning about the history behind the monuments and markers that I saw around me.  (The marker on the spot where Dawes, Revere, and Prescott were stopped on the morning of April 19, 1775 is shown at right.  Later that morning the first shots were fired in the Revolutionary War.)  And when I started reading about the people behind these events I realized that history was so much more than the names and dates learned in school.  Instead it was the personal stories of decision, courage, and sacrifice:  How would I have reacted if I'd been there?  What decision would I have made?  Would I have been willing to make the sacrifice they made?

In most cases, it wasn't until I read the first-hand accounts and dug deep in the research and biographies that I began to understood the complexity of many of the events that have been reduced to a paragraph or two in most history school books.  And it was then that I started to make the connection between the events "in history" to the choices we face today.

The History List: Bringing you face to face with history.

October 20, 2011 update: The ideas above are captured in a presentation in this recent post.