Listening to the past
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When I signed up for the Community Field School at John C. Campbell Folk School, I thought I was doing it to learn more about Brasstown history and help preserve it, which I did. What I didn’t expect was how deeply personal the experience would be.
The Community Field School, led by professor Kelley Totten from Newfoundland and Labrador; and Susanna Pyatt, collections and archives manager at the folk school, is an immersive program in cultural fieldwork and exhibit creation.
The class is centered around completing fieldwork for an exhibit all about Brasstown that will be showcased inside the log cabins that were built in Cherokee and Clay counties and moved to the sight.
In class, myself along with nine others learned practices in taking field notes, interviewing, photography and archival research. We learned hands-on by touring the archives, sitting in on various other classes to observe, and taking photos around the campus.
Our final class was a large brainstorming session before we set out into the community. We discussed themes and reflected on what we already knew about the culture of these hills.
Being a native of Brasstown with deep family roots, I have heard the stories and learned about how people shaped their lives around hard work and the kindness of neighbors, and I wanted to capture it.
When it came time to actually get out into the community and shape an exhibit around Brasstown, I already knew whose stories I wanted to include.
It’s odd to think that I was actually doing this. I was going out and collecting the oral history and ethnographic fieldwork for an exhibit on my home.
That might sound technical, but what it meant, in practice, was this: we listened. We asked questions. We recorded the voices of those who’ve carried the heartbeat of Brasstown in their stories, their work, and their memory.
Completing this field work has taught me how to ask better questions, how to document with care, and how to see the familiar with new eyes. But more than that, it gave me a renewed sense of pride in where I come from.
These hills are full of stories, and some of the best ones live right down the road from me.
I used to think history lived in books. Now I know it lives in people, in their laughter, their long pauses, their memories of honeysuckle summers and bitter winters. And it’s up to us to gather those stories before they fade.
The ribbon cutting for the log cabin exhibit will be held at 11:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 22, in the Log Cabin Museum at the folk school. The event is part of the school’s ongoing 100th anniversary celebration.
Stacy Van Buskirk is a staff correspondent for the Cherokee Scout. You can email her at segv2014@gmail.com.