Entering the third week of my VHP internship I found myself ready to dive into our plans for Olustee. This week, the focus was on consolidating these actions further. Other interns will be focusing on organizing research that has been done into the possible identities of soldiers in the mass graves. This information has been compiled into a helpful Google Drive with aptly marked folders for easy access. Furthermore, I specifically will be doing research into Baker County. From my work last semester this has proven to be quite difficult. Research done by another intern during the spring semester revealed that the Baker County library did not have the relevant sources we needed. Additionally, the library did not seem to have collaboration with the Baker County Historical Society. I believe that the historical society would be a great avenue for exploring sources and present day memories on Olustee. Therefore, I will make it a priority to either go in person sometime this summer or speak with them over the phone. I will need to be timely with contacting them as they are only available the third Saturday of every month. Nonetheless, I believe they will have invaluable sources regarding Olustee or at the very least Civil War memory.
Baker County is a significant area to understand for the overall project as this is where the battlefield and state park resides. Understanding the locals, the memory of the battle, and the culture surrounding it will be essential. Another way I think I can learn more is through a method I used last semester to understand the nearby Lake County. I watched several videos from the board meetings for their county commissioners.
Certain counties have these videos uploaded to their own Youtube channels. Within these meetings community issues were discussed and members from the community were allotted time to speak. Through this method I learned their concerns and who the key players were. Even within Lake County there was acknowledgment of Olustee. I recall watching videos where residents felt uneasy about a local fall festival being called the "Olustee festival" because they believed not enough was being done to recognize the suffering of African Americans that happened during the battle. I would hope to find similar insight if I can locate records or videos of Baker County meetings. Moreover, I will still be using what time I can to investigate historic church records. It is possible that churches with history stretching back to the antebellum period would have information about the soldiers or battles. I plan to also visit the local historic St. Lawrence AME church in Eatonville. I would like to see if they have any records or church historians who have relevant sources.
Lastly, it was discussed that it may be helpful to see how African American communities in Baker County will be handling the upcoming Juneteenth celebrations. This could lead me to finding city council meetings or even simple community gatherings to discuss the festivities. Juneteenth will draw memories and conversations surrounding the Civil War era . This renewed energy towards the time period would be perfect to evaluate how much is known about Olustee as well as help promote the project. Therefore, this is mainly where my efforts will be for the upcoming week. I hope to make headway into what the public thinks about Civil War memory.
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