Comings and Goings at Raintree House

Lee W. Formwalt

They tell me that summers used to be slow at Raintree House, but that was before my time. It seems like each year I have been here, the months between May and September have grown more hectic. This year, however, takes the cake. At the end of May, we held our second community college regional workshop at nearby Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington. In June, the auditor made his annual preliminary visit. Last month, the History Cooperative had their annual meeting here in Bloomington, followed by a visit of the new OAH Strategic Planning Committee, and the auditor’s regular visit.

This month, OAH’s three new executive board members—William Cronon, Theda Perdue, James Grossman—OAH Treasurer Robert Griffith, and Vice President David Hollinger, will visit us for their orientation. The night before the orientation, we are going to have a seminar sponsored jointly by OAH and the local ACLU chapter on David Hollinger’s Postethnic America. David, the new OAH vice president, will lead the discussion.

No doubt, the most unusual visitors to Raintree House this summer were Robert Hunter and the Bloomington chapter of Indiana Ghost Trackers. You may recall that our headquarters building is a two-story brick home built in the 1840s with a long and interesting history, including ghostly legends (see “Changes at Raintree House,” OAH Newsletter, Nov. 2004, <http://www.oah.org/pubs/nl/2004nov/formwalt.html>). Every once in awhile we will have local visitors inquiring about the house, its history, and its alleged ghosts. In May, however, Rob Hunter showed up with an unusual request. The Bloomington chapter of Indiana Ghost Hunters wanted to explore any paranormal activity at Raintree House. They would bring their “own and/or chapter-owned equipment (EMF meters, photo and video equipment, thermometers, digital recorders, etc.)” and divide the dozen or so chapter members “into teams, each led by an experienced team leader. . . . An EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) session is conducted in each room, and the recordings are later reviewed for sounds and voices that cannot be accounted for in a ‘this world’ context.” Amused as I imagined the famous Ghostbusters movie team in Raintree House, I decided to let the local paranormal explorers give it a shot. They made their foray into the house on Saturday night, May 31. They promised a complete written report that we are still waiting on. I would love to see the expression on the future historian who discovers that document in the OAH archives!

OAH has been headquartered in Raintree House since 1970. Newton and Anna Stallknecht were the last private owners of the house before they sold it to Indiana University that year. When the Stallknechts bought the house in 1949 they built a cinder block garage off the northwest corner of the house. Over the years it turned into an eyesore on the property used only for its bicycle rack by the several staff members who biked to work. Indiana University had promised us several years ago they would tear down the building and repave the parking area around the house. Finally, last month, the wrecking crew arrived and within a couple of days the unsightly structure was gone.

In addition to visits by OAH leadership and the local ghost hunters, and the demolition of the garage, we have experienced other changes at OAH this summer. We bid fond farewell to two of our graduate assistants—Siobhan Carter-David and Chad Parker—each of whom completed two-year terms here. Siobhan is an OAH-IU Diversity fellow and served as the OAH education coordinator. OAH-IU Diversity fellows pursue the Ph.D. in history at Indiana University. They spend their third and fourth years in the program as OAH education coordinator and their second and fifth years as assistant instructors in the Indiana University history department. Siobhan is now teaching and writing her dissertation in African American history. Chad was assistant editor for the OAH Newsletter and completed his Ph.D. in American history in May, specializing in twentieth-century foreign affairs. He landed a tenure-track position in history at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, and moves to the Pelican State this month.

As we say good-bye to some staff we welcome their replacements. Tanisha Ford joins us this month as our new education coordinator. Like Siobhan, Tanisha is an OAH-IU Diversity fellow starting her third year in the doctoral program where she is specializing in African American history. Our new OAH Newsletter assistant editor is Benjamin Aloe, an Indiana University Ph.D. student who is beginning his dissertation work in early modern Italian history. Finally, we welcome our new editor of the OAH Magazine of History Carl R. Weinberg. Carl received his Ph.D. at Yale working in twentieth-century labor history under former OAH President David Montgomery.

Standing (left to right): Ben Aloe, Chad Parker, Phillip Guerty and Carl Weinberg. Siobhan Carter-David is seated, holding her son, Gyasi.

This month, we also say farewell to Deputy Director Phillip M. Guerty. Phil joined the OAH staff in 2001 and served as the assistant editor of the OAH Newsletter for five years. In 2006 he became OAH Magazine of History editor and served in that capacity and as assistant executive director until this year when he became deputy director. Phil did an excellent job as editor and I came to rely on him for advice and support these last two years. I will miss his wise counsel.

I, too, will be saying good-bye to OAH this coming year. In May, I informed the executive board that I would not be seeking a third five-year contract. My nine years at OAH have been an incredible experience. I have written about what we have accomplished this past decade in my annual report (see page 12). Here I would like to say how grateful I am for having the privilege of serving as your executive director. When I moved to Bloomington from Albany, Georgia, in the fall of 1999, we had a big agenda laid before us based on the new mission statement adopted the previous spring. Within three months, however, the U.S. Justice Department brought a racial discrimination suit against the Adam’s Mark Hotel, where our March 2000 annual meeting was scheduled to be held. The Adam’s Mark affair occupied us for the next year or so, but we got back on track. The executive board, meeting on retreat in 2002, created a strategic plan which has guided our operations since. We have accomplished some important parts of that plan that have helped us move toward our goals of reaching a broader audience and affecting history education at all levels. It is now time for the executive board to reexamine and revise or replace the current plan. I think I have accomplished all I am able in the current situation and I am happy to turn over the executive leadership of our organization to a new director. I will continue to serve for much of this coming year as the executive board creates its new plan and hires its new director. As I step down from leadership, however, I will remain a loyal member. As it is for most of you, the OAH is my professional home and I plan to support and promote it as long as I practice American history.