Lucy Salmon is a pioneer in American education. Her exploration of her life helped answer fundamental questions about the nature of education. She pushed boundaries for women’s rights and even minorities. Her influence on public history has shifted the focus on how she goes about her work. Salmon has studied under many highly regarded historians, and one of her notable works that I loved reading was “History in a Backyard.” Lucy starts the article by expressing deep frustration because she and her family couldn’t visit Europe that summer. She wanted to see all of Europe’s museums and artifacts, but as the story continued, she had a significant shift of perspective. As Lucy steps into her backyard, she questions and observes how she can study history in her backyard. Salmon describes her backyard as a treasure with architectural opportunities in the story.¹ Examining and breaking down her fence, trees, flowers, and hedges, and correlating all the symbolic meanings to them. On page 80, one of the symbolic meanings she breaks down is the cherry tree, which means lacking the motion connection the author might feel.² And that brings me to public history and how it is used. I believe public history fosters a deep understanding of how historians shape or present the future, making the past relevant in everyday life. I think that’s what Lucy is trying to show us through the stories. No matter where you go or what you see, it all could be a part of the historical background.

1. Lucy Maynard Salmon, History in a Backyard (1912), 76.

2. Ibid., 80.