Posted November 19, 2014

Public History Truck receives grant to expand its mission

Kevin Cook
This year, History Truck's exhibition cycle will focus on neighborhoods in North Philadelphia, near Temple’s campus.

Temple’s History Truck has some serious street cred. The brainchild of public-history graduate student Erin Bernard, Class of 2015, SMC ’08, the mobile museum has garnered enthusiastic press since its creation a year and a half ago and was named the IRL (In Real Life!) Project of the Year at last summer’s Philadelphia Geek Awards.

Now, thanks to an $85,000 grant from the Barra Foundation, the truck will expand its offerings in the coming year.

Seth Bruggeman, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Public History at Temple, explained how the grant will be used: “It supports History Truck’s 2014–2015 North Philadelphia exhibit cycle, and it will enable us to consider possibilities for incorporating History Truck into the History Department’s graduate program in public history.”

Bruggeman recognized early on how powerful the idea of a mobile museum was. “Erin conceived of History Truck as a way to challenge our expectations of what museums are and who they can serve,” he said. “Along the way, History Truck encourages Philadelphians—who are often isolated from one another despite living in adjacent communities—to recognize themselves as part of a story that’s larger than any one neighborhood.

“If all goes well,” Bruggeman said, “we’ll end up with a plan for making sure that every cohort of public-history students we graduate gets an opportunity to do a stint with History Truck.”

The truck’s exhibition cycle comprises three stages: information gathering through oral histories, identifying a topic for further research and development, and then presenting the findings and stories in an exhibition. The stories are also posted in an online archive.  

Last year, the truck’s exhibition cycle, which focused on Philadelphia’s East Kensington neighborhood, culminated in Manufacturing Fire, an exhibit and collection of curated audio clips about the intersection of fire and activism in the neighborhood. Full audio versions of the interviews will be available in Temple University Libraries Special Collections.

This year, History Truck will focus on neighborhoods in North Philadelphia, near Temple’s campus.

To collect the oral histories, History Truck holds block parties, which are advertised publicly on Facebook. Bernard parks the truck, opens the doors and records interviews with residents who share where the neighborhood has been and where they see it going. It’s an especially positive experience for older members of the community, who delight in talking about their neighborhood.

“It makes [the neighborhood] feel really empowered to know that they have a story worth telling,” said Victor Peterson II, a local organizer and co-founder of the Free Breakfast Program, who co-sponsored a recent History Truck block party in North Philadelphia.

“The truck resonates with most people,” Bernard added. “And that, to me, is surprising, exciting and beautiful.”

- Anna Goldfarb

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