The Dallas Historical Society has come up with a truly brilliant idea for preserving and recording what people remember about growing up in Dallas. But not nearly enough people are taking advantage of the opportunity.
The project is called My Hometown, and the society wants regular, ordinary residents to write about growing up in this area. It’s not about politics or famous people; rather, says Damon Wright, who is overseeing My Hometown: "It’s about the sandwich shop that used be down the street and what was on the menu and what you ate there. We’ve found people aren’t so much interested in R.L. Thornton as they are in things like that."
Eventually, the society wants to compile the memories in an on-line encyclopedia — "one ice cream stand at a time," it says. But the response has been slow, with only a couple of dozen submissions since August. Wright says that may be because the idea of writing is intimidating, but it shouldn’t be. The society isn’t concerned with grammar or spelling or even length (250 words, about one double-spaced, typewritten page, is enough) — just your stories. And anything works, even something about the changes on your block in the past decade.
The stuff up now, much of it revolving around East Dallas, is amazing, including a discussion of life here during the Depression. So e-mail Wright with your memories, or post them on the My Hometown blog (you’ll need to scroll down a bit). This is too good an opportunity to pass up.
