Cleveland History Blogs

Beginning this past Spring, the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities has been working on a collaborative project with Neighborhood Progress, Inc. entitled Re-Imagining A More Sustainable Cleveland . Aside from building a participatory website for project communication and documentation, the Center, through the hard work of undergraduate students in the CSU History Department, has collected over [...]

Patricia Ford, born 1958, raised in Cedar neighborhood, attended Camp Mueller from age eight to thirteen. Ford relates her experiences at camp, which she attended as part of her care at Antioch day care. She was apprehensive about leaving home at first but learned to love camp. She remembers the good food and the counselors [...]

Norma Nelson was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on the college campus of A and T College where her father was a professor and then Dean. Norma’s mother was a friend of Jane Edna Hunter, the founder of the Phyllis Wheatley Association and was given a job as a dietitian in the cafeteria. Due to [...]

Carolyn Walker, born 1954, worked as a counselor at Camp Mueller in the late 1970′s. She compares her GirlScout camp experience with co-ed Camp Mueller. Walker describes some camp activities and talks about the positive learning experiences children have at camp.

Listen to the Interview

Dyeatra Williams grew up in Cleveland and attended Camp Mueller during the early 1950s. Dyeatra also attended Camp Hiram House. Her two younger brothers also attended camp with her after her first year. Dyeatra discusses the positive impact camp had on her life and the how she feels every child should have the same opportunity [...]

Bernice Thompson Lavendar attended camp when it first opened in 1938. Bernice’s experience with camp left a lasting impression on her growing up. As an adult she attended Bible School and after graduating worked as the youth coordinator for a church where she worked to ensure the children she was working with had the opportunity [...]

Brenda Matthews and Leslie Witbeck met at camp when they were kids. Both ladies remember Camp Mueller fondly and especially swimming in the pool at the camp. Brenda and Leslie talk about how the camp counselors had “Indian” names. The two ladies also recount the various activities campers did at the camp, including riding on [...]

Ronald F. Dotson attended Camp Mueller in 1957 and 1958, at age nine and ten. Dotson lived in the Rawlings neighborhood and credits his Camp Meuller experience with promoting his lifelong love of the outdoors. Dotson discusses his memories of camp, the rain that spoiled his second year, and the excitement of getting ready to [...]

Sandra Blakely was born in Cleveland, Ohio. While she was attending Dillard University in New Orleans she came across a flyer asking for camp counselors to work at Camp Mueller over the summer. After she was hired, Sandra worked at Camp Mueller from the ages of 18-21. She discusses working with the children and keeping [...]

Two separate oral histories by three participants discuss their experiences at Camp Mueller as a way for the interviewers to practice their questions and tweak lines of discussion. Having attended or having had descendants who attend the camp throughout the decades, each of the interviewees recalls why they went to camp, their experiences while there, [...]

Dr. Mark Tebeau, Co-Director of the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities, was interviewed by the U.S. Embassy in Prague during his research trip across Europe this summer. Watch the video below.

Reposted from csudigitalhumanities.org

After three years of successful instruction and collaboration, the Sounds of American History program is coming to an end. Even though programming continues this summer, the official closing of Sounds was marked with a Gala Event at Cleveland State University on May 6th, 2010. Our partners at the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County have put together [...]

After three years of successful instruction and collaboration, the Sounds of American History program is coming to an end. Even though programming continues this summer, the official closing of Sounds was marked with a Gala Event at Cleveland State University on May 6th, 2010. Our partners at the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County have put together [...]

This week marks the beginning of our Summer Institutes for two ongoing TAH grants. Constructing, Consuming, and Conserving America, managed by Dr. Mark Tebeau and Nadine Grimm runs from Monday, June 14th 2010 until Wednesday, June 23rd 2010, with final presentations on July 29th and August 5th. Sounds of American History, managed by Dr. Mark [...]