A research project conducted by the Mary Ball Washington Museum & Library and made possible by grants from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Jessie Ball Dupont Fund.

GATHERING AND CATALOGUING ORAL HISTORIES
There is nothing so rich as the recording of history from personal recollections of those who lived it or who can recall conversations with those who did.

The opening phase of this project involves taped interviews from 50 or more local citizens. The recordings will be indexed, organized and catalogued and made available to researchers, scholars and Mary Ball Washington Library patrons and museum visitors.

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH ON FAMILIES OF BLACK REVOLUTIONARY WAR PATRIOTS
This part of the project will complement the personal interviews by providing a genealogical study of at least 10 local African-American families whose ancestors fought on land or sea as patriots in the American Revolution. This research will be accomplished with the help of certified genealogists and the results will be available to participants and to the public.

REACHING OUT TO THE PUBLIC FOR HELP
A special effort will be made to involve and communicate with the local community to generate interest and support for the project. We hope to visit area churches and local organizations to ask for their help. We will be seeking documents, photographs and other artifacts that help show the history of the region. Many of these items will be used in a special black history exhibit at the Museum opening in 2003.

INVOLVEMENT WITH THE SCHOOLS
We seek the participation of the educational community in this project-both students and teachers. Utilizing Virginia's standards of learning (SOL's), one of the project's goals will be to find ways to bring this rich history alive and make it meaningful and useful to our children and to the schools at all levels.