Rye Historical Society and Town Museum
and Rye Town Museum
10 Olde Parish Road
Rye, NH
Guidelines to Discovering Rye’s Story
Click Experiencing Rye’s past... for an introduction to thinking like an historian and working with primary source materials as well as an exploration of the museum learning philosophyalso includes guidelines for:
Identifying primary source materialsExperiencing primary source materials
Collecting primary source materials
Click Interpreting Rye’s past... for an introduction to researching and communicating like an historian as well as an aide to creating unique stories about Rye’s past
also includes guidelines for telling stories about:
People from Rye’s pastPlaces in Rye’s past
Events of Rye’s past
We’ve all been telling stories since the day we each started talking. Think of some of the stories you tell everyday... The stories that you tell are part of history. Your own perspective is what makes your story unique and important. It is history through your eyes.
The reason you tell stories is because you have experienced something first-hand, and have a natural need and interest to interpret what you have experienced. All people share the need and interest to create history, including people who were on this earth long before we were, and also, those who will come long after we all have gone.
People who came before us have left their stories for us to experience in the form of textiles, ephemera, images, documents and recordings. At places like museums we can experience these past people’s things and interpret them like we do the things from our own lives.
Historians are storytellers who make sure that their facts are always correct. As long as historians’ information coincides with facts proven by scientists, they are free to interpret whatever they may experience from the past and tell the stories that they discover. Those stories are history!
The Rye Town Museum invites you to come experience Rye's past through its collection of artifacts, images, documents and recordings. You be the historian. Learn about the collection and how to experience it, then interpret it for yourself. Discover Rye’s past and tell Rye's history through your eyes!
Identifying primary source materials
The stories we tell about our own lives are based on our own everyday experiences. But what are the stories that historians tell based on?
Historians experience the past through things that exist today from the past. The things that exist today that are from the past are called primary source materials. They were created at the time of an event or from the memory of someone who lived during the time of the event. Primary source materials may include:
Textiles and ephemera: any objects made by people
Visual images: photos, drawings, maps, post-cards
Written primary sources: diaries, town records, poetry, speeches
Recordings: oral histories, music
Experiencing primary source materials naturally leads us to interpreting primary source material. When historians write a story about the past they are interpreting the primary source material they have experienced. Historians interpretations of primary source materials are called secondary source materials, some examples of which are:
Text books
Television programs (History Channel, PBS,...)
Movies (Forrest Gump, ...)
Historical-fiction books (American Girl,...)
It is very important, as an historian, to be able to distinguish primary source materials from secondary source materials.
Some questions to consider when determining whether or not something is primary source material are:
What is it?
When was it created?
Who created it?
What does it relate to- what event, person, or place?
Experiencing primary source materials
By experiencing primary source materials historians gain the knowledge and facts they need to tell history. When you are at a museum like the Rye Town Museum you can become an historian and experience primary source materials for yourself. You have to ask a lot of questions in order to gain knowledge and facts from primary source materials.
Each different type of primary source material will have to be experienced in its own way. Although similar, the questions you will have to ask when experiencing each type of primary source material will differ from type to type. What will always be true for all types of primary source material is that the more questions you ask, the better. These are examples of some you should ask:
Textiles and Ephemera- any objects made by people
From what material is the artifact made?
What condition is that artifact in?
What purpose did the artifact serve for its original owner?
Who once owned the artifact?
What does the artifact say about its maker, owner, saver?
Visual images- photos, drawings, maps, post-cards
What was the overall purpose for the creation of the image?
Who would have seen this image when it was created?
How can you tell when the image was created?
Who or what created what is in the image?
Why was this image saved?
Written sources- diaries, town records, poetry, transcriptions of speeches
What type of document is this?
What is the tone of the writing?
Note the language- is it different than your own?
What type of audience was this written for?
Who would have created or saved this document?
Why was this document created?
Recordings- oral histories, music
What is the style of the recording?
What type of audience was this recording created for?
Who did the recording?
Why was the recording saved?
Who or what was recorded?
Collecting primary source materials
In order for historians to tell a good story they must have experience with the right primary source materials. Historians rely on museums to provide them with just the right mix of primary source materials to experience.
Just as identifying and experiencing primary source materials are important skills in the study of history, collecting primary source materials is as well. The most important part of a museum is its collection. What a museum collects is based on the museum’s mission statement. A museum’s mission statement expresses the purpose of its existence.
Rye Town Museum’s mission statement expresses that it:
"...seeks to preserve the town’s past and appreciate its heritage...and to engage people in the vital aspects of Rye’s history so that current issues may be better understood and future plans respect the natural and human history of the town."
Based on its mission statement, the Rye Town Museum collects only those primary source materials that relate to Rye’s history. Because of this, all stories told from experience with the primary sources at the Rye Town Museum will share the common theme of Rye’s past.
A cohesive, related and comprehensive collection should provide a least one type of primary source to answer the who, what, when, where, why and how of the story a historian seeks to tell. Look for stories within the Rye Town Museum and see if you can find the who, what, when, where, why and how of the story.
Click here to go back to the top of the page
What makes every story unique it its storyteller. The subject of a story may be the same from one story to another, but the perspective from which it was told may never be the same. Your perspective is like your signature, or your fingerprint. It is yours and yours alone. It is based on your abilities, your interests, your personality, and your experiences. Perspective matters not only in the stories you tell about your own life, but also, in the stories you will tell about the past.
When experiencing Rye’s past within the Rye Historical Society Museum, you naturally want to experience the primary source materials that interest you. Although you should always try to experience a variety of types of primary sources, it is okay that you are drawn to a particular one over another. Because you experience a source in which you are interested, your experience will be that much more personal and meaningful.
Historians are storytellers who make sure that their facts are always correct. Facts do not change, but they may be used differently. Similarly, primary source materials do not change, but they may be experienced differently. And also, the past will never change, but it may be interpreted differently. These differences may exist because historians, as storytellers, will always tell their stories from their own perspectives. Their interpretations of history will always be unique. People in Rye’s history One hundred years from now, someone may try to tell the story of your life. Think about how someone would describe you. Where do you live? To whom are you related? To which groups do you belong? What is interesting about you? What have you done in and for our town? What makes you a unique, memorable person? These questions pertain to not only you, but all people- past, present, and future. Choose a past Rye resident to research. Ask all the same questions, and more, about him or her. Tell his or her story. Remember, the more questions you ask, the better your story will be. Some places to start your search for answers: Primary Sources- Secondary Sources- Compare a current map of Rye to a 1900 map of Rye, and then to an even older map. Think about Rye’s land, buildings, roads... What differences do you notice from map to map? What changed, remained, emerged or disappeared? There are several different categories for places in Rye’s past: In researching the story of a place in Rye’s past you may want to start with maps of Rye and New Hampshire’s seacoast. It will be helpful to look through collections of photographs from both then and now (chronological illustrated history of Rye in binders downstairs). You may also look through property records and deeds (both upstairs) for specific information. The Rye Town Museum has several secondary sources on particular houses and buildings in our town that may help you tell your own story about a place in our town’s past (upstairs bookcases). Learning a little background on architecture when researching a building and topography when researching a piece of land will also be helpful in telling the most informative, interesting story possible. Time-lines can be very useful in studying history. One of their drawbacks, though, is that they are not very descriptive. They cover the basics- the name of the event and when it occurred, but do not go much beyond that information. When researching events of Rye’s past you need to color the time-line of Rye history with details, descriptions, personalization, character... When you discover the details, descriptions, and character of an event of Rye’s past, you discover a story of Rye’s past. Time-lines name events but they do not tell stories. Check out the back of the Rye Town Museum’s brochure (or click here ). For every one of the important events of Rye’s past listed, there are a dozen interesting stories of Rye’s past. As you research an event of Rye’s past, keep in mind:
The Rye Town Museum invites you to come experience Rye’s past through its collection. You be the historian, and tell a story about a person, place or event from Rye’s past. You are an important member of the Rye community and the Rye Town Museum values your perspective. You know about the collection and how to experience it, and now it is time for you to interpret it for yourself!
Rye Directories (located in the research room upstairs)
Town Reports (located in the research room upstairs)
Vital Records (located in the research room upstairs)
Trefey (and other) Photo Albums (located both downstairs and upstairs)
Misc. Framed Photographs (group, individual- located throughout museum)
Rye Directories (located upstairs)
Painted Portraits
Rye People (gravestones) book compiled by Louise Tallman
History of Rye, N.H. (1623-1903) by Langdon Parsons
Veterans Lists
Places in Rye’s past
Lost Rye- buildings either gone forever, or just gone from Rye (example: Stoneleigh Manor, The Farragut)
Reused Rye- buildings or places with new uses in the new times (example: Garland Tavern, The Rye Town Museum building)
Recycled Rye- buildings or bits of buildings that have been moved around Rye for different purposes (house on corner of Washington and Lang, the RHS Museum)
Recovered Rye- buildings and places that have been saved or preserved (Tower Cottage, Parsons Field)
Events in Rye’s past
Scope- Start wide and narrow your focus. Become familiar with the larger event and then research its implications on a smaller scale. Go from world politics to local happenings. Being aware of the bigger picture will make the specific story more interesting.
Personalization- One way to make a story about an event of the past more memorable or interesting is to personalize it. This is where researching people and places comes in handy. Who will the story matter to?
Perspective- Always important when telling any story, perspective becomes even more important when telling the story of a particular event. Be aware of your personal perspective- it is okay to let perspective factor into your storytelling, but be careful not to let bias creep in. Bias is the negative effect of an overbearing perspective.
Click here to go back to the top of the page