How Attic Discovery Became Junior's Year-End Project

Alison Tretter has always been fascinated with history, but she never expected her interest in the subject to hit so close to home…or be discovered in her home.

Last year, during renovations, a contractor discovered a whole collection of artifacts that dated back to the 1930s under the attic's floorboard. Alison decided to use this rare occurrence as part of her junior year final project for her American History class.

"Construction workers came in with some letters and documents that were very interesting. In the beginning I couldn't relate to them, so I had to piece them together like a puzzle and do the research to figure out what it all meant," said Alison.

At the end of junior year, most of the students in Ms. Krahl's U.S. History class did research papers and essays, but Alison and her teacher had the idea to curate and put together an exhibit.

"I came up with my own requirements... it was like an independent project. Mr. Rothschild from the Scarsdale Historical Society helped me, and Ms. Favretti [SHS Social Studies teacher] had set up exhibits in the past, so she was able to help and give me advice." she added.

To preserve the documents found, Alison made sure to use gloves and extreme care when handling.

The documents found – which range from letters, to a Western Union telegram, to even a Christmas card – were all very well preserved for being in an attic for 70-plus years.

Alison wrote an introduction that goes along with all the displayed pieces, the introduction explains in detail the findings. 

"In the spring of 2009, an old letter was discovered under the attic floorboards of a Heathcote home. Further searches brought stacks of documents to the surface: immigration visas, Christmas cards, friendly correspondences, war bonds. Dated from 1929 to 1945, these documents pieced together the story of the Rabe family."

Alison named the exhibit, which sits at the front of the Scarsdale High School library, "Dear Dora: A Collection of Personal Letters and Artifacts Illustrating the Domestic Experience in Depression and World War II Westchester."

Students and teachers alike are all impressed and inspired by the work she has done.

"I think it inspires other students and other teachers. A lot of students showed interest and were very curious about the artifacts found. They asked a lot of questions and I think it gives good project ideas to teachers as well," said Phyllis DiBianco, the Scarsdale High School librarian. 

The idea to create a museum exhibit in the library arose because there was such a wide selection of authentic primary sources.

Alison's interest in making the connections between the letters and the time period is evident and she even used websites such as Ancestry.com and Facebook to help make the necessary links.

"Coincidentally, we just subscribed to Ancestry.com for the district," said Ms. DiBianco. "It has genealogy and historical records. Ali was able to find the Census page from 1930 that gave her the name of all the family members and then she started hunting for other documents."

Alison then went to the Scarsdale Historical Society, where Eric Rothschild, Scarsdale's own historian, gave her old newspaper articles to help her see what life was like back then.

By using Facebook, Alison was able to track down distant relatives, the Rabe family's grandchildren, who she says "showed interest in the artifacts that involved their grandparents' lives."

The Scarsdale High School library also decided to showcase this particular project to show other students that the whole idea of a display is so that others can learn from the research their peers are capable of doing. Alison's exhibit also shows what kidn of research possible in 2010.

Alison's strong interest in history stems from the classes she took in middle school. "I've always had great history teachers," she said. "History creates patterns, you can see things in the past that you can reflect on."

The exhibit is now on display at the front of the library and is worth a visit. Seeing the artifacts in person is powerful, and you can really grasp the deep history that these letters and documents hold.

For more information on the Scarsdale High School library, or the different databases used to help students conduct research, you can visit http://web.scarsdaleschools.org/hslib/.

And for more information on the Scarsdale Historical Society, you can visit http://www.scarsdalehistory.org/