Encyclopedia of Local History

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2001 by Batinski, Michael C

Encyclopedia of Local History. Edited by Carol Kammen and Norma Prendergast (Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 2000. Pp. xvi, 539. Ill, appendices. Cloth, $79.95).

This book will become an indispensable companion for anyone who reads this journal. Be they members of local historical societies working to preserve the remnants of the past, historians gathering materials from dusty courthouse records in preparation for writing a local history, family historians hoping to discover their roots, teachers assisting students to develop projects for history fairs, or librarians struggling to assist their patrons' search for ancestors-all will discover answers to practical how-to-do-it questions as well as essays designed to stimulate imaginations. What are Sanborn maps, and how can I find one of my community? This Encyclopedia of Local History will point the reader in the right direction. It also inspires the local historian to ask questions that might not have been imagined. What, for example, can culinary history contribute to understanding the life of a community? Or how do local historians in England, Scotland, or Nigeria pursue their craft?

The encyclopedia works at several levels. For the researcher it provides a range of entries on source materials such as account books and court records, photographs and postcards, immigrant passenger lists and census materials. In addition to examining the uses and limitations of these sources, these entries point the reader to bibliographical materials, libraries and web sites. Family researchers will find helpful entries on such topics as the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, Jewish genealogy, and Afro-American genealogy. While the editors assign special entries for established research centers such as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, and the Library of Congress, they are careful to include essential web sites as well. In their effort to anticipate the problems a researcher may confront, the editors have included useful legal definitions such as fee simple and entail as well as an essay on the Freedom of Information Act. For the prospective writer, there are entries on the editing and publishing of manuscripts. For those interested in museums there are several cross-referenced discussions on museums, living history museums, house museums, the ethics of museum work, and such special topics as repatriation and patrimony.

This is an encyclopedia that is designed to provoke questions as much as answer them. The editors have solicited a wide range of essays on such subjects as the history of education, the American Indian, the environment, business, health care, toys, and etiquette to encourage local historians to expand their horizons. In that vein, Sharon Babaian invites readers to give more systematic attention to technology, and in doing so she offers helpful references to prospective researchers. The encyclopedia encourages local history that is truly democratic. Thus, it includes essays on American Indian, Chicano, Asian American as well as African American history and an invaluable appendix listing numerous ethnic groups with relevant bibliographical citations and websites. In addition, there are essays on women's history, children's history, labor history and gay history. Together, these encourage readers to reconsider the shape and content of their work.

Kammen confesses in her introduction that she remains puzzled by the ways the countless contributions to this project fit together. She is too modest. Carol Kammen has spent a long time writing about and thinking about local history. (See On Doing Local History: Reflections on What Local Historians Do, Why, and What it Means [1986] and Pursuit of Local History: Reading on Theory and Practice [1996]). Doing local history cannot be what it once was. While the old local histories, many of which appeared in the nineteenth century, remain indispensable, recent generations have come to appreciate their limitations. Numerous essays alert us to the perils of filiopietism or ancestor worship and boosterism or tourism that inspired the first historians and continue to affect local history today. Kammen believes that local history is worth doing and that it is worth doing well. This encyclopedia will assist us all in doing it well. But she also recognizes that people come to this field with very different interests. The genealogist works in the local library alongside a neighbor interested in fashion or architecture. "Each will bring strengths; each will contribute to our local knowledge of place." (304) The topics selected for this encyclopedia reflect an understanding of this diversity.

Kammen and Prendergast were reminded throughout their project just how illusive a subject local history can be and yet how vital it is to so many of us. What they give us is not so much an encyclopedia as it is a "companion, a helpful friend." (xi) It cannot be comprehensive in scope. Like a friend, it has character. It helps us with our needs and like a "nudging accomplice," it encourages us to look at our subject from other perspectives. The editors asked contributors to avoid the authoritative or "encyclopedic tone" and encouraged them to address the reader directly. Some entries, such as "editing historical works" and "drama and local history, a case study," are written in the first person. This is a friend to be appreciated over time and with use. Browse. Follow your own fancy. Follow the cross references from one essay to the next. There will be surprises. No matter the omissions discovered, you will be amply compensated.