In a unique after-school activity, 30-plus elementary school students from Salem
Hyde Elementary School became imaginary pen pals with dignitaries, leaders and
innovators who lived in Syracuse 100 years ago.
This correspondence project-which included collecting old postcards featuring
Syracuse images and writing between the students and local historians
impersonating people from Syracuse's past-was a collaborative effort of Syracuse
University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), the Arts Branch of the
YMCA's after-school program, the Onondaga Historical Association Museum &
Research Center (OHA), and SU's Office of Community Engagement and Economic
Development.
The students' efforts will be on display at an exhibition titled "Postcards to (and
from!) the Past," opening with a reception during this month's
Third Thursday (Th3)
city-wide art open on Thursday, May 21, from 5-7 p.m. The exhibition will be at two
venues: the Downtown Writer's Center gallery, located on the second floor of the
Downtown YMCA, 340 Montgomery St., and the OHA museum, 321 Montgomery
St.
The project commenced with students writing to fictional characters and moved to
the second phase, in which they corresponded with real figures of local and historical
significance. The fictional character correspondence will be on display at the YMCA,
while the historical figures correspondence will be exhibited at the OHA. The student
experience was enhanced by visitors, including one of the SU students participating
in the program and a local actor who showed up in period clothing with
accompanying props.
"The interesting thing about postcards is that they are both visual and literary," says
Gail Hoffmann, assistant professor in the foundation department in VPA's School of
Art and Design, who worked with two SU students to organize the collaborative
project with the YMCA and the OHA. "They immediately document a place and a
time, and the message on the reverse side is like an old version of a text message or
Facebook posting-relating what someone is doing at that particular moment in an
abbreviated form-a way of connecting through space and time."
Gregg A. Tripoli, executive director of the OHA, who helped select the characters the
students would write to, says he picked people with whom he thought the young
people would enjoy corresponding. Historical figures included Herman A. Ecker, a
local innovator who built a flying boat that is on display today at the Smithsonian's
National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. "I thought it would be
interesting to the students to write to a local man who built a flying boat using things
he had in his garage or bought at the local hardware store," Tripoli says.
Other characters selected included Harvey Baldwin, Syracuse's first mayor. "The
questions we got from the students were all across the board: from asking if Herman
Ecker was scared flying the plane, to what it was like being a woman in those days,
to what people did for fun 100 years ago, what sports they played, what kind of
clothes they wore, did they go to school-just the simple everyday things," Tripoli
says.
Organizers say the opening event will be a celebration of the collaborative project, as
well as a way of interesting more students to participate in the arts.
"I think the project gave the kids a unique way to interact with history-through
creative writing, and through correspondence, rather than by simply absorbing dates
and names from a text book," says Philip Memmer, director of the YMCA arts
branch that includes the Downtown Writers Program. "The postcards, along with the
efforts of the YMCA creative writing instructors and the OHA historians, made
history come alive in a unique way for the students."
The postcards featuring the student questions will also be on exhibit via the Urban
Video Project-beaming onto the OHA wall starting Thursday and running
intermittently along with other UVP exhibitions during the summer.
"The Urban Video Project is opening so many new doors for people and
organizations invested in promoting a healthy, vibrant city to find one another and
forge new collaborations that involve multiple parties," says Marilyn Higgins, SU
vice president for community engagement and economic development.
About Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA)
VPA is the creative center of Syracuse University. The college comprises five areas:
the School of Art and Design; the Department of Communication and Rhetorical
Studies; the Department of Drama; the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School
of Music; and the Department of Transmedia. Together, students, faculty and staff
play a vital role in the academic and cultural life of the University and Syracuse
communities. Learn more about the college at http://vpa.syr.edu.
About the Urban Video Project
UVP is a public arts initiative of Syracuse University and Time Warner Cable that
aims to bring art to the streets and buildings of Syracuse's Connective Corridor-the
signature strip of cutting-edge cultural development connecting University Hill with
downtown Syracuse-by projecting artwork onto local buildings daily from dusk-11
p.m. The UVP currently projects at three locations: the Monroe Building at 333 E.
Onondaga St., the Onondaga Historical Association Museum (OHA) at 321
Montgomery St. and an LED screen at the Syracuse Stage's on 820 E. Genesee St.
