![[Children on row house steps, Washington, D.C.] (LOC)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2108/2178388371_d4f6736e6e.jpg)
Documenting the present, in the past. Photograph by Louise Rosskam, courtesy of the LOC archives.
So what is going on with the Overbeck project, you ask? Well they have these amazing lecture series! The latest installment in the lecture series is local author Gordon S. Brown, who will deliver an Overbeck History Lecture on the growth of the Washington Navy Yard under its first commandant. The lecture is based on Brown’s new book The Captain Who Burned His Ships. For most of the past two hundred years, in fact, the Yard was a larger employer than the U.S. Congress and a dominant factor in Capitol Hill’s social and economic life.
The lecture will take place on Tuesday, November 8, at 8:00 p.m. at the Naval Lodge Hall at 330 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E. Admission is free but a reservation is required due to limited seating. Please email them giving your name and the number of seats you will need.
RE: And one of the most amazing, awe-inspiring, and downright nerdiest of this neighborhood’s charms is the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project.
Thanks to THIH for bringing attention to the Overbeck Project. I think we’re even OK with the “nerdiest” label, since you’ve also included “amazing” and “awe-inspiring” to describe us. We look forward to welcoming your readers to next week’s lecture.
But I can’t pass this opportunity to point out that the Overbeck Project is WAY more than the four-times-a-year lectures for which it’s best known. In fact, the Overbeck Project started – 10 years ago — to collect recorded oral histories from people who have lived on the Hill for many years and/or who lived here years ago. That endeavor — thanks to over 100 volunteers through the years — has been very successful, with close to 200 interviews collected. You can read full transcripts of 136 of those interviews on the “Interviewees” page of the website: http://www.capitolhillhistory.org/interviews/index.html.
You can even use the Search feature to find interviews that mention particular topics. Try putting in your own address to see if your house has ever been mentioned.
Look for an article in the upcoming November Hill Rag for more about the Overbeck Project, and feel free to contact me through the website to volunteer to help us continue this very rewarding effort.
Bernadette McMahon
Overbeck Project Manager
RE: And one of the most amazing, awe-inspiring, and downright nerdiest of this neighborhood’s charms is the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project.
Thanks to THIH for bringing attention to the Overbeck Project. I think we’re even OK with the “nerdiest” label, since you’ve also included “amazing” and “awe-inspiring” to describe us. We look forward to welcoming your readers to next week’s lecture.
But I can’t pass this opportunity to point out that the Overbeck Project is WAY more than the four-times-a-year lectures for which it’s best known. In fact, the Overbeck Project started – 10 years ago — to collect recorded oral histories from people who have lived on the Hill for many years and/or who lived here years ago. That endeavor — thanks to over 100 volunteers through the years — has been very successful, with close to 200 interviews collected. You can read full transcripts of 136 of those interviews on the “Interviewees” page of the website: http://www.capitolhillhistory.org/interviews/index.html.
You can even use the Search feature to find interviews that mention particular topics. Try putting in your own address to see if your house has ever been mentioned.
Look for an article in the upcoming November Hill Rag for more about the Overbeck Project, and feel free to contact me through the website to volunteer to help us continue this very rewarding effort.
Bernadette McMahon
Overbeck Project Manager
Indeed. The oral history database is a huge asset to all of us that care about local history!
Indeed. The oral history database is a huge asset to all of us that care about local history!