June 4, 2007

CONTACT: Robert S. Davis, History Department, Wallace State Community
College, 256/352-8265, robert.davis@wallacestate.edu



ALABAMIANS TAKE ODYSSEY THROUGH AMERICAN HISTORY



HANCEVILLE, Ala.--The Family & Regional History Program, a library and
college curriculum to help people to find their family history at
Wallace State Community College-Hanceville, has undertaken few field
trips as extensive as it did from April 12 to 22. This group of
genealogy researchers and sightseers traveled as far north as Freeport,
Maine, in search of America's past and present, with stops in Baltimore,
Boston, Gettysburg, New York, Philadelphia and Washington. They visited
such places as the Library of Congress in Washington and the John F.
Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Due to the sometimes inclement
weather, many places like downtown New York and Harvard were viewed from
the bus windows.



The trip was full of historical ironies. For example, the group visited
the newly renovated Gettysburg Battlefield, where the United States'
fate as one country was arguably decided during the Civil War, as well
as Independence Hall, just 50 miles away in Philadelphia, where the
Declaration of Independence and Constitution were born.


Professor Robert Davis of Blountsville, (director of Family & Regional History Program); Pat
Saint and Rosalee Carpenter of Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga.; Laverne Moody of Hartselle; Johnny
Clendenon of Cullman; Charlotte Adams of Athens; Brenda Sullivan of Holly Pond; Terry
Southern of Glencoe; and Rosemary Davis of Montgomery, at the Alabama monument at
Gettysburg National Military Park during a recent Wallace State trip.


The group saw Lexington Green and Bunker Hill in Boston, where Americans
defied what had become an occupying foreign army. They stood on the deck
of the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Iron Sides) in Boston Harbor, the ship
that in the early 1800s fought the foreign terrorists known as the
Barbary Pirates. Members visited Harper's Ferry where John Brown and his
abolitionists tried to create a national slave uprising in 1859. They
saw the site of the World Trade Center in New York City. During the
trip, the shootings at Virginia Tech took place and, as the campus was
near the return route, the bus also drove past the latest site in
America's trouble with violence.



Not everything on the journey was a hands-on history lesson, however.
Hostile weather in New England blocked the view of the Maine coast, but
the travelers compensated with a trip to L.L. Bean. Other fun stops
included the wonder of Natural Bridge, Virginia; Chocolate Land in
Hershey, Pennsylvania; and Times Square in New York City. Researchers
seeking information on their individual family heritage visited the
D.A.R. Library in Washington, D.C.; the New England Historic
Genealogical Society in Boston; the Maryland Historical Society in
Baltimore; and the Pennsylvania Historical and Genealogical Society in
Philadelphia.



The award winning and nationally recognized Family & Regional History
Program is the only institution in the world that has a free public
library (Mon.-Thurs., 7:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., Fri. 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
Sat. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., when Wallace State College, Hanceville, is open);
college-level courses in family and local history research; and field
trips to other libraries and archives. This summer the program plans to
offer two-day seminars in introductory family history, southern states
research, and computer genealogy, as well as a field trip to Salt Lake
City and the West. For information on the program contact program
director Robert S. Davis (256) 352-8265. Professor Davis is the author
of more than 1,000 publications on research and records including
several books. His most recent works are "Tracing Your Alabama Past" and
"Ghosts and Shadows of Andersonville: Secret Social Histories of
America's Deadliest Prison."

PHOTOS:

Betina Burns of Birmingham and Laverne Moody of Hartselle at Harper's Ferry National Historic Site,
W.Va., on a recent trip from Wallace State Community College-Hanceville.


Wallace State sightseers and family history researchers at
Hershey, Penn., during recent field trip.


Johnny Clendenon of Cullman, Brenda Sullivan of Holly Pond, and
Terry Southern of Glencoe, among other travelers, on a recent Wallace
State trip to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.


Joyce Lambert of Bogart, Ga., and Johnny Clendenon of Cullman
(left), among Wallace State e travelers helping to raise Old Glory at
Fort McHenry in Baltimore during a recent college trip.


Pat Saint and Joyce Kent from Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga., Johnny Clendenon
of Cullman, and (back) Marylou and John Johnson of Trafford, at
Harper's Ferry National Historic Site in W. Va. on a recent trip from
Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.

  Kristen Holmes
  Director, Communications and Marketing
  Wallace State Community College
  P.O. Box 2000
  Hanceville, AL 35077
  256/352-8118
  E-mail: Kristen.Holmes@WallaceState.edu