Humanities Truck Community Archive

Collection Title: Humanities Truck Community Archive

Description: The Humanities Truck is a fully customized delivery truck that serves as an experimental mobile platform for collecting, exhibiting, preserving, and expanding dialogue around the humanities. Using the truck, we seek to mobilize the humanities and democratize the sharing and production of knowledge by bringing together scholars at American University with community residents across Washington, D.C. Together we can collect, create, interpret, and curate stories that can return to the communities they originated from and circulate throughout the metropolitan region. The truck’s custom-design creates a unique space for facilitating participatory, cultural, and educational experiences in the humanities. It has the capacity to function as a recording studio, workshop and maker space, and exhibit and performance venue. People can engage with the truck’s interior and exterior spaces. The exterior features powerful speakers, an all-weather flat screen television, and brackets for attaching a 120” roll-down movie screen for film showings. The magnetized exterior wall of the truck can serve as an exhibition space or also be used to facilitate workshops. The interior of the truck is sound-insulated, equipped with air-conditioning, a second flat screen tv, and ceiling speakers. It is modular and flexible as tables and shelving can be easily added and moved. The space can function as a recording studio for doing oral histories, a digitization station, a workshop space, or a pop-up exhibit gallery. The Humanities Truck is made possible through funding from the Henry Luce Foundation along with additional support from American University. How do we mobilize the humanities? The Humanities Truck working group seeks to establish an experimental mobile platform for collecting and preserving materials, and inspiring dialog around the humanities. The truck will provide resources and equipment for projects that document experiences, start conversations, and share the stories of diverse and underserved communities in the Washington, DC Metropolitan region. It will function as a mobile workshop, recording studio, and exhibit space that can be driven across the region to work with specific micro-communities across the city in the spaces they already gather.

Pages

: Pride 2022; On June 12, 2022, the Humanities Truck team set up the truck at the corner of 6th and D streets, NW, a few blocks away from the Capital Pride festival. The team pre-made some pride-themed buttons while also inviting participants to create their own. There were three posters set up on the outside of the truck labeled Pride of the Past, Pride of the Present, and Pride of the Future. Event attendees were able to get their portrait taken and then add it to their poster of choice on the truck. Collection contains photos and other documentation of the event.

: Pride 2023

: Reno City: Finding Reno (& the People Who Called It Home); Tenleytown’s Fort Reno Park was once home to Reno City, a thriving African American community. Finding Reno explores the story of Reno City and the daily lives of its residents. On April 27, 2019, the public was invited to participate in the remembrance of the community by investigating historic images from the town and contributing to a conversation about the history and legacy of Reno City. American University Public History Master's students Olivia Herschel, Melyssa Laureano, and Diana Chicas researched and designed the Reno City: Finding Reno exhibit for their Spring 2019 Practicum class under the guidance of Professor Malgorzata Rymsza-Pawlowska. This collection contains photos from the event.

: Rooting D.C. 2020; The Humanities Truck took part in the Rooting DC Conference on February 29, 2020, an opportunity to learn about and discuss urban gardening and food systems. We spoke with conference attendees about their experiences with food systems and access in DC. Maisha-Atrice Ayodele (Unearthing Tales) and Dominique Hazzard (Anacostia Community Museum), in partnership with the Humanities Truck, curated and displayed the above exhibit that highlights historical accounts and contemporary snapshots of food movements in the nation’s capital. This exhibit highlights stories from DC residents about their engagement with the local food system. The stories are organized around the wisdom of adrienne maree brown’s “Emergent Strategy” and Leah Penniman’s “Farming While Black.”

: Shepherd Park: History and Community; Members of the Shepherd Park neighborhood came together for a day of history, stories, and community on April 14, 2019. They brought with them documents, photographs, and other historical materials for digitization and preservation, as well as personal and family stories for oral histories and a community mapping activity. American University Public History Master's students Sara Pitcairn, Emily Rheault, and Haley Steinhilber researched and designed the Shepherd Park: History and Community exhibit for their Spring 2019 Practicum class under the guidance of Professor Malgorzata Rymsza-Pawlowska. This collection contains photos from the event.

: Shove Off Day at City Point 2023; On May 25, 2023, the Humanities Truck went to City Point to celebrate Shove Off Day, recording short-form oral histories and written responses on what Juneteenth means to event attendees.

: Speak OUT!: Pride at the Smithsonian American Art Museum 2019; The Humanities Truck in partnership with the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) invited the Pride community to participate in SpeakOUT; designing a button, contributing to our community video diary, and illustrating their experiences with pride by writing and drawing on the walls inside the Humanities Truck. This event took place on June 9, 2019 while the Truck stood on F St NW outside of SAAM. In addition to the video diary, buttons, and pride illustrations, event attendees enjoyed performances by Pretty Boi Drag, Corazon Folklorico DC, and the Salvadoran Trans Folklore Group. The Humanities Truck also took part in DC's Pride parade on June 8, 2019. This collection features images and planning documents from the events.

: Staughton and Alice Lynd; A collection of photos and interviews with Staughton and Alice Lynd

: Taking the Truck OUT!: Activism around the DC AIDS/HIV Crisis; This collection contains material from AU Public History student Hannah Byrne's exhibit on the history of Whitman Walker's Walk and 5K to End HIV, which faculty Truck Fellow Mary Ellen Curtin adapted for her Truck project about HIV/AIDS activism in DC. Hannah Byrne and Mary Ellen Curtin both presented exhibits at the Whitman Walker Walk and 5K to End HIV, and AU students Kai Walther and Audrey Barnett each completed oral histories for the project.

: Test Collection; This is a test collection about islandora and the truck

: Visual Aids: Day With(out) Art 2022

: Visual AIDS Day With(out) Art 2023; Visual AIDS Day With(out) Art 2023, December 1, 2023, at Studio Walbridge House

: Washington's Black History in Miniature: Norma Adkins' Dioramas; While interviewing Petworth resident Karen Abbott for the 2021 Celebrate Petworth Festival, the Humanities Truck filmed a series of videos featuring dioramas made by Karen’s mother, Norma Adkins, in the early 1970s. Her mother acquired the necessary materials and created all dioramas by hand, crafting scenes often based on stories she was told, her memories, and her life experiences. The eleven dioramas depict a variety of scenes from Norma’s life as a native Washingtonian, including a church choir singing at Brentwood AME Zion Church, her grandmother’s house in Georgetown on 27th and N St., Thaddeus Stevens Elementary School, and a park in Petworth on the corner of Hamilton St. and Illinois Ave. In these videos, Karen narrates each scene and offers insight into her mother’s craft, process, and their family’s history. This collection includes videos of the dioramas, with Karen Abbot's narration, a short form interview with Karen, and photographs of the dioramas.

: Working in D.C.; The Humanities Truck joined local organization Working in DC and Humanities Truck Project Fellow Ludy Grandas to explore the themes of labor and the experiences of workers in the United States over three separate September 2021 events. Nestled in front of the AFL-CIO building, the Truck displayed a photo exhibit and documentary from Humanities Truck Project Fellow Ludy Grandas titled “ Jornaleros: Manos Invisibles” or “Day Laborers/ Invisible Hands” that highlights the experiences of migrant workers in Washington DC. Oral history interviews were conducted that asked participants to reflect on a time that they participated in an act of labor that they were proud of before and after a production of the musical “Working: The Musical” put on by Working in DC.