Our Process
One of the primary goals of this project is to center the voices of Lakelanders and members of the Dory family. Maintaining an ethic of care to cultivate trust during each step of this process was of great importance to this team while working with community members, from presenting research findings to consulting about exhibit content. This group recognizes that UMD, implicitly and explicitly, has caused disruption and harm to Lakeland, Lakelanders, and the Dory family during its history. For this reason, the approval of Lakelanders and the Dory family in this project was crucial.
Together, the group set the scope of the project, determined themes, conducted research from a variety of sources and repositories, and selected exhibit objects with invaluable guidance and input from Maxine Gross, founding chairperson of the Lakeland Community Heritage Project. This included partnering with University Archives to access the records that have proven vital to understanding the history of Lakelanders’ employment at UMD, including the Dory family.
Finally, all research products and sources consulted were made available to the Lakeland Community Heritage Project to contribute to the Lakeland Digital Archive repository for further research use.
Collaborators and Partners
The Heart of the Table was created by the collaborative efforts, experiences, and insights of community partners and students under the direction and enthusiasm of Professor Quint Gregory, without whom this exhibit would not be possible. Graduate student curators include Caitlin Christian-Lamb, Malcolm Ferguson, Erin Gage, Mal Haselberger, Shavonne Hedgepeth, Grace Kwon, Christiana McClain, Lindsay Oliver, Alice Santana, James Santos, Alan Wierdak, Stewart Williams, and Hays Worland.
Lakeland community curators include Maxine Gross, Violetta Sharps Jones, and other Lakelanders, whose perspectives were instrumental in creating this exhibit. Members of the Dory Family, including Ethel Dory Lockerman, Edward Dory, Harrison Dory, and Keonna Lockerman, have profoundly shaped the direction and final product of The Heart of the Table by contributing their ideas and opinions.
A special thanks is extended to the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, Special Collections and University Archives at UMD, The 1856 Project, and the Museum Scholarship and Material Culture Certificate Program at UMD for their partnership and support of this work.
Lindsay Oliver