Road Reports

A Rivalry is Born!

We get a lot of great stories submitted to our Stories from Main Street app. This recent story comes to us from a young man in Cozad, NE. He talks about the thrill of playing in a high school football tournament game and the birth of a new rivalry! Enjoy: A Rivalry is Born

Next in the Line Up: "Hometown Teams"

Even though we’ve just announced the official production of “The Way We Worked,” there’s no off season for the MoMS team.  Once one exhibit takes the field, we’re warming up the next rotation.  And by popular vote from state humanities councils and past host sites across the nation, “Hometown Teams: Sports in American Communities” is the next exhibit on deck.

While professional sports team rally their own crowds, so too do the local ones.  These are the stories MoMS wants to tell, the ones of small town teams and hometown heroes.  From backyard play to pre-professional sports, each athlete knows the pang of defeat and the satisfaction of victory.  It’s this hard work—the sweat of long practices, the battle through injury, the sheer discipline of sport—and a shared goal that unites a team.  It’s a bond that becomes a source of pride and identity for individuals and communities, one that’s strong enough to shatter some of history’s greatest obstacles—even racial and gender discrimination.

We want to hear your stories!  We want to know of the local rivalries, the team traditions, and games that packed the bleachers with the entire community.  Does your town have legendary anecdotes and athletes, and do you know of any local repositories that have photographs we can use?  Send us your stories, and point us to your archives, because we’re recruiting you!

-- Alexandra Charleston, Museum on Main Street, Washington, D.C.