by Jilly Horaneck
Elm Staff Writer
The Chestertown community will be able to learn more about the role of work in American culture through the new exhibit by the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program.
According to C.V. Starr Center’s Assistant Director, Jean Wortman, it is designed to bring Smithsonian-like exhibits to rural areas throughout the United States.
MoMS “fosters community dialogue and collaboration as all segments of the local community come together to develop their own public humanities programs and exhibitions to celebrate local history that relates to the theme of the Smithsonian exhibition,” she said.
The theme for the exhibit is work and labor, and is entitled “The Way We Worked.” The exhibits that will be at the museum as part of the program will highlight the local stories of work in the Chestertown community.
The exhibits featured within the project are co-led by Sumner Hall and Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center with many students of WC and Kent County, along with multiple interns who work on separate projects together.
Junior Cherie Ciaudella, who is leader of the oral history team for the exhibit, said, “‘The Way We Worked’ really isn’t one event or one museum, but a cumulative community effort with more than 30 scheduled events that cover the theme of ‘work’ in various ways. Broadly, this project is about the institutions, businesses, and people that make Kent County what it is today, and about fostering deeper connections between them.”
Freshmen Mairin Corasaniti, who is working on the exhibit team, said, “Our exhibition follows the museum’s theme of African-American history and community involvement, so we are trying to tell the work stories of Kent County’s African-American citizens and the overarching tales of the staple jobs in our community.”
The museum’s exhibit will include interviews with over 50 community members who shared their personal work stories on videos in interviews with students. This is an exhibition curated by WC freshmen in the GRW Class, “Museum Meaning in Museums,” with “tools which [have] been enhanced by augmented reality” designed by the Miller Library team, according to Wortman.
It also includes all ages by including a children’s corner, where children who come to the event can have activities to help them understand their local community in a relatable way.
Corasaniti said, “To be honest, the exhibition has so many fantastic attractions, and different aspects will appeal to different students. A group of interns is running a program that has outdoor historical tours of special work sites in Chestertown, which might appeal to more outdoorsy people. We also have done some augmented reality work for a few feature objects that will help students explore the history of objects and have fun with it.”
Corasaniti said it is a must see for all in the area.
“The Way We Worked” will be open to the public from March 31 to May 20. It will be located at Sumner Hall, which is located at 206 S Queen St, Chestertown, MD 21620. To see the schedule and more information on the over 40 programs and exhibitions that will be happening during the six week period, you can visit http://garpost25.org.
“I love the local history, and the little-known community stories that have come to light because of this project,” said Wortman.
Wortman highly recommends for everyone to come and see everything the museum has to offer, including speaker Barbara Ehrenreich, the New York Times best-selling author of Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America on April 14, and an original musical production by local musical legend, Marlon Saunders, called “Choppin at the Shop.”