History Project Goes Nationwide

As we look forward to a new century, it is fitting that we acknowledge the triumphs of our ancestors who brought us to today, says Colleen O’Connor, Mesa College history professor and creative force behind local family history photography projects that spawned the national Faces of America 2000.

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Mesa College a $280,367 grant to facilitate Faces of America 2000, a network of family photo history projects in 30 American communities. A community college and a cultural institution (such as an historical society or museum) from each city will team up to develop local family photo history contests and exhibits.

The individual projects will receive guidance from Mesa College faculty and administrators, who have become experts at putting together photo history exhibits for families, first at Mesa College in 1998 and 1999, and then for San Diego Superior Court branches and millennium celebrations throughout the San Diego region.

Faces of San Diego 2000, a joint endeavor of Mesa, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the San Diego Historical Society, goes on display Nov. 2 at the society’s Balboa Park museum.

At Superior Court in East County, yet another project is taking place and will be on exhibit beginning Sept. 29. The courthouse halls will display vintage photos submitted from various local Native American tribes.

The national Faces of America is the crowning achievement, the culmination of three years of detailed, exhaustive work that resulted in several highly successful contests and exhibits. At all levels, participation has been overwhelming, and the quality of photographs has been stellar, according to exhibitors and contest judges.

Moreover, a huge number of participants report that the personal family history journeys they experienced have been extremely gratifying and have brought families closer together.

William Ferris, chairman of the NEH, commended project creator O’Connor and Constance Carroll, Mesa College president, for their vision and leadership. “I am especially pleased that the nation’s community colleges and the Community College Humanities Association are playing such a major role in the effort to develop family history as America’s history.”

Carroll, who chairs the national advisory board for Faces of America, stated, “the concept behind the project is a profound one. It promotes a sense of history through the personal chronicles of families…These photographs are as valid as any history book could ever be in showing the origins of the American people.”

The Community College Humanities Association, represented by its executive director, David Berry, played a key role in obtaining the grant. Mesa College professors Mary Lou Locke, Pat Olafson and Dennis Ancinec are assisting O’Connor with the national project.