Exhibit: The Way We Worked

We never heard of the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street until 2014. This program serves small communities with traveling exhibits and educational programs. We happened to visit Cedar Key in October, 2014 and saw fliers for an exhibit called “The Way We Worked”. The compact exhibit, featuring photography from the National Archives and Records Administration of working Americans through 150 years, takes only about 30 – 45 minutes to peruse. Concise wording explains each section, and guides the viewer through the history of working men and women in this country. The local venue also does its own exhibit of the way they worked in their area. In Cedar Key, we saw a wonderful representation and explanation of the clam farming for which they are justly famous. It impressed us so much we advised a number of people we know to check it out if it arrived in their area.

Now, over two years later, we discovered that the exhibit is still touring. Last week we visited the Pioneer Florida Museum and Village, and went through the exhibit again. We enjoyed it just as much as the first time, and noticed things we hadn’t before. This time I was struck by the number of the jobs which over the years which have been automated out of existence, the photograph of a telephone switching board with dozens of operators, for example. I also noticed more closely the sign below:

I liked the recognition of all the unpaid work people do. Surveys conclude that having a job is the number one social value in our American culture. Many years ago while attending meetings in a European country, a colleague from that country commented that Americans always focus on a person’s work when they meet him. “What do you do?” still tends to be one of the initial questions we ask when first meeting someone. As a culture, our work continues to be part of how we define and present ourselves. Whether that job is a vocation, avocation, paid or unpaid, it matters to the person and to those who benefit by the work. I suspect a lot of what we enjoyed when touring the Pioneer Florida Museum was the result of volunteer work.

This time we learned about jobs from the past here in Pasco County, FL. Citrus farming plays a big role in our past, as does fishing in the coastal area.

If you get the opportunity to see this exhibit, I highly recommend it.