Bay to Belly Exhibit Wins National Award
Virginia Peninsula's Bay to Belly traveling exhibit, which was produced by two professors and three students, received an Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History.
"It's the most prestigious (AASLH) award," said Sarah Linden-Brooks, a former history professor at the College who now is the director of Sail Nauticus in Norfolk. "It's a really exciting thing."
The multimedia project was one of 53 honored by the AASLH in the United States this year, and only the third from Virginia in the past three years.
Linden-Brooks and computer graphics and design instructor Randie Trestrail led the project, which was produced in conjunction with the Watermen's Museum in Yorktown. The students involved were Sophia Lancione, Kathryn Pellar and Simone Stokes. Lancione handled the graphic design, Pellar wrote the script, and Stokes edited the video and did research for the project's oral histories.
"Bay to Belly: A Delectable Story About the Chesapeake Bay's Food and Culture" explained the importance of the seafood industry to the area and the processes that take the food from the bay to dining room tables.
It first went on display at the Watermen's Museum in December 2020, and since has been to numerous schools, museums and libraries, mostly in Southeastern Virginia, from York County to Gloucester County to the Eastern Shore. It recently was on display in Mathews County, but now is back at the Watermen's Museum, but not on display.
"It has been traveling pretty much since it was released," Linden-Brooks said.
If organizations are interested in having the exhibit on display, they can reach out to the Watermen's Museum (757-887-2641) for dates in the winter and spring. Linden-Brooks added they are hoping it will find its way back into local school systems this fall. She said when it was in Mathews, every student in the county's elementary school and middle school had the opportunity to see it.
"They had watermen come in and talk with the kids. They brought in live interpreters to work with the students," Linden-Brooks said. "They did some really fun things."
That was what she had hoped for when doing the project.
"I'm still really proud of the work our students put into the project," she said. "The graphic design work is incredible, and that was student-led. The videography was led by one of the students. It was just an incredible opportunity to give our students access to this real-world development of an exhibit and all that goes into it."
What she thought made the exhibit a success was the content.
"It spoke to them," she said of those who have seen it.
The recipe section has gotten the most attention, she said, but that didn't surprise her. It made people think about their family recipes and gatherings where seafood often is the centerpiece.
"Food's something people can relate to and get passionate about," she said. "That's been fun."
Again, she pointed to what was done in Mathews, where it was on display from May to September.
"In Mathews, the kids voted on their favorite way of eating the crabs, oysters and fish," she said. "It was a really fun way to see the kids relating to the exhibit content in a way that we wanted to have happened, how people are realizing how they are part of this longer bay tradition of reliance and use of the bay's natural resources."
The American Association for State and Local History is the pre-eminent body in the United States that works with public history organizations, dealing in state and local history. The submission process for the award included letters from peers and historians who reviewed the exhibit but didn't have any direct connections to it or its partners.
Steve Ormsby, the president of the Watermen's Museum, and Mike Steen, the museum's director of education, provided educational expertise. Funding was provided by the College's Educational Foundation, Virginia Humanities, corporate sponsorships and donations.
"It really was a partnership project," Linden-Brooks said.
The AASLH awards program began in 1945. For more information about the awards of the organization, call (615) 320-3203 or go to www.aaslh.org.
About AASLH
The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), a national nonprofit association, provides leadership and resources to help the history community thrive and make the past more meaningful for all people. AASLH serves the tens of thousands of history organizations, professionals, and volunteers around the country who help people of all ages develop critical thinking skills and understand how learning history helps society make progress toward justice. Through research, advocacy, and our field-leading professional development program, AASLH advances public history practice and connects history practitioners to critical issues in the field and to one another. For more information about AASLH visit www.aaslh.org.