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As a history professor, when I found out that Western

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had purchased the historic Vick Building in downtown Salem

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the first thing I did was to go to historic newspapers

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to see if I could find out anything about 

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the building's construction, about the building's dedication

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and I found out that there was a big party, and a big dedication

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and it was a really important event in Salem in December of 1920.

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Here we are in 2020, so what better work for our students 

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to engage in then to help use commemorate that centenary.

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We are providing Western 

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with information about the dedication.

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On a typical workshop for research on this project,

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students would access digital historic newspapers,

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they would find out other information by consulting other sources.

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The great part about this project is that they each have  

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their own ideas, their own experiences, their own questions.

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And so they magnify the work that we could do

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by bringing their own interests to this project.

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My research for the Vick Building was about civic engagement

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and community efforts in the city of Salem.

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I really wanted to focus on what the city was like during 1920

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when the building was being dedicated.

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One thing I learned that I thought was really interesting was

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that the day before the Vick Building dedication during

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this grand celebration, the city of Salem passed a dance bill ordinance

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regulating how, when and who could be dancing in the city. 

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The Vick Brothers were primarily car dealers.

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Pretty much ever location they had sold cars and tractors.

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One interesting I learned during my research was sort of the 

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oddities of the cars that were going on back then. 

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Stuff like straight 6's and V8's were just becoming popular

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and acrylic blue paint was groundbreaking back then.

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My research for the Vick Building was about prohibition

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in the Salem area and how it affected the people living at the time.

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One of the interesting things I found out about prohibition 

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in the Salem area is the effort people took

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to find loopholes in the system. 

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Alcohol itself wasn't illegal so

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finding them drinking this and you know planning

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ahead was just really interesting.

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Because the Vick Brothers build that building so long ago

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we're now in the position we are now.

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Had that chain of events not 

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we wouldn't be doing this project.

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It's important to keep history alive because we learn from the past.

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You learn from what happened in the past and how to move forward.

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And it connects you to your community,

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to your family, to people all around the world.

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