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People Were Close is an oral and photographic history of the African American neighborhood in Newark, Delaware that is adjacent to the University of Delaware’s main campus. This community dates back at least to the 1870s, as documented through census records, local history archives, and family stories and photographs. In the summer and early fall of 2004, Professor Bernard Herman (Art History) interviewed many of the most elderly members of this community. Students in his senior capstone course for American Material Culture Studies then collaborated in Fall 2004 on the design and production of a book that was to "remember, honor, and respect" the history of this community by using only this community’s own words and images. Guided and assisted in this project by faculty and students in the Visual Communications area of the Department of Fine Arts and Visual Communications, each student developed an eight-page layout. 600 copies of the 108-page book were produced. The introduction features transcripts of family names from the 1870, 1900, and 1930 censuses and a constellation of quotations from the oral histories that provide a sense of what defined the community over time. The ensuing chapters focus on particular kinds of community spaces and institutions—churches, streets, schools, and service organizations—and major historical watersheds for the community, e.g. migrations into the community from the South, Civil Rights and desegregation initiatives). The final chapter focuses on neighbors. Students and faculty at the University of Delaware raised the money necessary to print the completed book, and have worked with residents to distribute it free of charge to community households. The success of People Were Close derives from the ways in which the University participants always strove to be responsive to the desires of the community. From the outset, community members stated they wanted a book that "remembered, honored, and respected" their history—and they wanted it to do so in a way that emphasized people and the web of relationships that bound, and still bind, them together. Students committed their energies to this project because they felt that their efforts could build bridges between the community and the University. The success of this project has generated interest in a follow-up project: a book of the community’s recipes and stories about food. Students in the Fall 2005 American Material Culture Studies senior capstone are beginning this work currently.
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