Choose a Long Island village and trace its history—its changes and moments of continuity, and the forces guiding change or lack thereof—over the course of the twentieth century.
Papers must be analytical: i.e., they need to go beyond description and focus on the deeper causes for change and/or continuity.
In doing this, students should focus on how their chosen village’s trajectory reflects broader twentieth-century developments while also maintaining an eye on the unique, local factors shaping their village’s (relatively) recent history. Students must incorporate five primary sources—these can include newspaper articles (I’ll demonstrate how to navigate the College’s database for newspaper articles).
FOR Long Islanders interested in local history, two exhibitions at historical societies provide a glimpse of the Island’s origins and development. At the Bridge Hampton Historical Society, the focus is on East End farming families who sowed their first seeds 350 years ago. At the Oyster Bay Historical Society, a collection of family photographs and heirlooms celebrates the lives of Italian-American immigrants who flocked to the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
But these shows are only a modest illustration of the growing interest among Islanders in their local history. In Nassau and Suffolk Counties, there are 120 historical societies, nearly one for every town, which put on exhibitions on a broad range of topics. This fall, besides the shows in Bridgehampton and Oyster Bay, the offerings include ”Not for Pride or Glory,” at the Northport Historical Society, about the town’s role in World War II, and ”Discover Setauket: Brookhaven’s Original Settlement,” at the Three Village Historical Society, which traces local events from pre-colonial days to the present.
”When it’s a part of their own personal history and things that they can remember, they relate to it,” said Wally Broege, director of the Suffolk County Historical Society. ”I believe there’s more interest in things people can relate to.”
Most of the local societies have an average of 200 members. But some, like the Suffolk County society, have close to 1,000 members. The Friends for Long Island’s Heritage, which calls itself ”a citizen’s support group” for local history, has over 4,000 members.
Though most of the societies print a periodic newsletter, a few publish quarterly journals, like the Oyster Bay Historical Society Freeholder. The Long Island Historical Journal, published by the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is devoted to the study of local history from colonial times to the present.
The growing appetite for local history can also be found at the Island’s larger museums, like the Nassau County Museum of Art, which had a show last year on the American Revolution that included sections on the Island’s role in that war, and Guild Hall, which, in 1998-99, had an exhibition on colonial times in East Hampton. Then there are the Island’s colleges and universities, including St. Joseph’s College and Stony Brook, which offer courses in local history.
”In the last five years, my students have been more interested in local history,” said Rosalyn Baxandall, professor of American studies at the State University of New York’s Old Westbury campus. ”They choose to do papers when they don’t have to; if it’s a paper on slavery, they’ll choose Long Island slavery.”
Some historians argue that this phenomenon has its roots in the bicentennial, which fostered a nationwide interest in local history. Others say it is more broadly related to the growth of the suburbs after World War II. In the past few years, this growth reached critical mass, as suburbanites became a majority of Americans, according to the Census Bureau. As more people live in the suburbs, and identify themselves as suburbanites, they develop a hunger to learn about where they live.
”There’s a genuine interest in the people who live on Long Island, in how their communities got settled and got started,” Dr. Baxandall said.
She added that the Sept. 11 terror attacks had created a new wave of American nationalism, which, in turn, would create even more interest in local history. Other Island scholars echoed this view.