Blackbird Cafe in Valparaiso always has something different going on whether it’s a new menu item, a new face ordering coffee, or a new art display adorning its walls. Let’s smoothly transition into the topic of this article now which concerns a new project being displayed around the interior of the eclectic establishment: The Central Stories Project.
This project was carried out by Emily Royer and Jacob Just, two friends that collected oral history of the buildings throughout Valparaiso. The idea was to reimagine the neighborhood and see how it has changed throughout the years through pictures and words. Royer and Just are AmeriCorps members, which is part of the United Way of Porter County. Part of Royer and Just’s service as AmeriCorps members was to create and implement this project. So the two were sent to work at the Porter County Museum of History in Valparaiso.
“This is the first show for our oral history project,” Royer explained. “It features stories about the downtown central neighborhood. The photos here [at Blackbird Cafe] in particular are of three buildings. It’s sort of a way of ‘getting into the neighborhood. So on display are Central Elementary, Heritage Lutheran Church and the Valparaiso Women’s Club.”
The grand opening of the Central Stories Project is this Saturday March 16, 2013 at 7pm at the Porter County Museum of History. The pictures that bedeck the walls of Blackbird Cafe is meant to be a preview for the showing on Saturday. Royer explained that this was a way for the museum to reach out to the community and the county as a whole.
“This is the first time that the museum has ever had an exhibit outside of the museum’s space,” Just said. “So for it to become a stronger presence in the community, we figured that Blackbird would be a good place to go. We wanted to come to a place where people are coming and talking and hanging out.”
Both Royer and Just are Humanities majors and they recently graduated from Valparaiso University. Royer said that the idea came about from classes that she had taken. She introduced the idea to Just and he thought it would be a good fit. So they had a community meeting to introduce themselves and to get ideas and oral history from the citizens. They collected photos of buildings that are located around town and wrote excerpts that explain the contents of the photos. Mary Koselke, owner of Blackbird Cafe, was very receptive to their idea and gladly let them display their project in the cafe.
“Things sort of fell into place for the project,” Just said. “I’m not from around here and I have no history with these buildings. As I studied them I found that I grew close to them in a way. When we spoke to people in the meeting, many of them said that they had nothing to contribute. But they really did just by talking about the buildings and their history with them.”
“The values that we’re trying to encourage are what the museum wants to instill as well,” Royer said. “We’re trying to encourage conversation and using the museum as the conversation place where neighbors can come together and get to know each other. The Central Stories Project is trying to do that as well. And people were very willing to help.”
Both Royer and Just hope to have this project be a catalyst for other people to create similar works and for it to create camaraderie among the community.
“We hope it will encourage conversation in a different way,” Just said. “This seems like an introduction. It’s like a handshake from these buildings to the community to get people talking.”