My name is Samantha Parker, and I am interning this summer with the Patapsco Heritage Greenway. I am a current graduate student enrolled in the Public history program at UMBC. The project that I am researching this summer is for a UMBC Public History graduate class that will take place in the Fall of 2017. The class, entitled Introduction to Public History, is based in different towns or regions of Maryland, changing each semester.
This semester, the class will take place in the towns of Relay, Halethorpe, and Elkridge. Students will be assigned historic sites, and they will do research on the sites in order to understand why they are historically significant, how the history of the sites has changed and evolved, and what the sites mean to the members of the community. At the end of the semester, students will present their research findings in a creative way to their peers, and to members of the community. My role this semester is to research thirty historic sites in the three towns mentioned above, as well as to assemble research guides that students can use to conduct thorough research of these sites. This project will shed light on the past events and the continued historic significance and relevance of the towns and the people of the Patapsco Valley.
If you have information or resources you’d like to share about these areas, I’d love to look at them! You can contact me at info@patapsco.org.