This message has been crossposted to a number of Public Hisotry and Heritage oriented Lists. I apologize in adavance for any inconvenience. To entire list, I am currently working on a lesson plan that will be used as a preperation activity for middle school and high school students who will be completing Student Service Learning Programs at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. This prep. activtiy will attempt to introduce these students to the services rendered to the community by people, professional and volunteer, who work in a heritage, history or cultural capacity. The activity will be composed of two parts. Part one will examine a local controversy concerning historical interpretation. A historic building is being torn down in your neighborhood some people are for it, some against, what are the issues involved? How do we attempt to solve it? What different kinds of people can help us? That sort of thing. The second part will consist of an examination of a set of people who work in a heritage or public history capacity . Basically who they are, what do they do, and why do they do it? And here is where I need help. I need people on this list to contribute brief essays for this part of the lesson. I would like to be able to draw on about a dozen different essays written by as diverse a population as possible, on why heritage people do what they do. The ideal essay will contain the following: 1. A brief biography 2. A brief job description 3. A brief statement on why you chose to do what you do, focussing on more or less tangible benefits that you hope to see in the community, society, or individuals.. (It makes me feel all warm inside is not necessarily a bad reason, but it is hard for teenagers to take that seriously sometimes.) 4. Frustrations of your job and reasons why you may leave or have left the field Aside from wanting every single person on this list to contribute, I especially would like the following to consider jotting a few things down: 1. Volunteers 2. Board Members 3. Community Activists 4. Consultants who do a great deal of pro bono work as a matter of policy 5. Non-profit lobbyists for heritage issues 6. People working for or with ethnic or gender related heritage projects 7. Politicians or government employees involved in heritage issues 8. Staff that work in fields not restricted to these areas, but who have chosen to work in a heritage capacity for ree or a lot less money than they would get in private sphere, ie PR, development, computers, secretarial, building contractor, architect etc. 9. People who are considering leaving the field or who have left the field. Either as a volunteer or profesional 10..Anyone else who spends any part of their day in heritage or historical pursuits (Except researching, writing and teaching traditional classroom lessons, not that these aren't a service to the community, its just not the fields I am covering. Let me also tell anyone thinking of helping, that I will only use these in my institution and there is no plan to print, publish or sell anything produced. I will also be happy to fictionalize anyone who would like to contribute anonymously. I may do this for everyone I haven't decided. I was thinking about buying everyone who contributed a drink, but I can't figure out how to work that. maybe a reception in my room at AAM. Oh well lets see what happens. Thanks to everyone in advance. THese thoughts are mine and do not reflect the opinions of my employer, co-workers, employees, friends, relatives, or signifigant others. Matthew A. White Director of Education Baltimore Museum of Industry 1415 Key Highway Baltimore, MD 21230 (410)727-4808 [log in to unmask]