Germantown: Historical Society Involves Community in Exhibit

“Claiming Our Place: Inhabit Germantown” exhibit
The second room of the “Claiming Our Place: Inhabit Germantown” exhibit features artifacts chosen by community curators.
“Claiming Our Place: Inhabit Germantown” exhibit
The second room of the “Claiming Our Place: Inhabit Germantown” exhibit features artifacts chosen by community curators.

Over the summer, the Germantown Historical Society premiered its newest exhibit entitled “Claiming Our Place: Inhabit Germantown.”

The exhibit is the result of a grant from the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage for their “No Idea is Too Ridiculous” program.  The program’s intention was to help grant recipients promote creativity within their respective projects.

“We tried to think outside the box,” said Carolyn Wallace, GHS program coordinator.

Carolyn Wallace
Germantown Historical Society program coordinator, Carolyn Wallace, spoke about the pieces selected for the exhibit.

The collection for “Inhabit Germantown” was arranged by different guest curators picked from the Germantown area.

“[The exhibit] opened this summer as a way to have more community input into the things that are going on here,” said Wallace. “It’s kind of interesting to see the different things that spoke to the different people in this neighborhood.”

The pieces in the collection varied from children’s toys to weaving equipment to an antique bicycle. Each artifact was meant to represent the different aspects of the history of Germantown, in order to show a more complete picture of life there throughout the years.

The curators ranged from a neighborhood historian, a writer and a fashion designer. They each arranged their own area of the exhibit and wrote a piece explaining their vision for the space.

“Claiming Our Place: Inhabit Germantown” had its last showing on Sept. 14 but more momentous finds will return to the Germantown Historical Society.

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