New London Day a Week Later

New London Day was an incredible experience in more ways than one. First off, it exceeded all my expectations. I am not sure what the official visitor count was, but it was easily over 150 people. I am something of a pessimist, so I was expecting fifty or so people at best. Another thing I was surprised by was how interested people were in what we had to say to them. There were even several people who clearly loved our presentation. I am used to going to museums where the majority of the people walking through are barely interested in the material, if at all. Almost every group that came by the display asked one of us a question, and all of them genuinely listened to what we had to say. It was rather eye-opening for me to see that there are people out there besides us who are actually interested in things like New London.

Another aspect of New London Day that made it such an incredible experience is the value of what we learned. Our group picked out a topic, devised an interpretation plan, carried out the plan and presented the results. Granted, this was on a much smaller scale than most historical sites would do, but the experience was invaluable. Even for those of us who do not pursue a career in public history, the skills we honed and developed such as collaboration, research, presentation, and others are incredible assets in any career. Possibly the most important lesson learned on New London Day, for me at least, was the value of preparation.

Our finished display before the crowds came.

I did not know what to expect on New London Day, so I was not sure how to prepare for it. There are probably several things I could have done to be better prepared, but the one thing that stands out is practicing. I knew the material I was presenting, but I did not practice my delivery nearly as much as I should have. In the end, it worked out. After the first few groups that went by our table, I was not nervous anymore, but a little extra practice beforehand would have been a great help.

           With all the different groups involved in New London Day, it is a little difficult to see what 

our contribution was to the event as a whole. Perhaps our presentation was the first stop some people 

made, and just maybe it is what convinced them to walk the rest of the town. It is hard to say, 

however one thing that is a little more certain is that some of the people who stopped at our table will 

be back next year. There were many people who loved our display, and at least one little boy who was

fascinated by it. The chances that they will be back next year are definitely high. Another way I 

believe our group contributed is by rounding out our classes efforts. Meaning that our class had 

something to present that would interesting to everyone. Our group probably interested the people 

who may not have found Mead’s Tavern all that exciting and vice versa. All in all, I think it is hard to 

determine how much our group contributed to the event’s success, however I do believe we made a 

valuable contribution. We educated and entertained a lot of people on New London Day, and I call 

that a success.

Professor Donald's coming, look busy !!