Online Exhibits
Over the last few years, Montgomery History has developed these online exhibitions to highlight our collections as well as explore different facets of Montgomery County’s unique history in a more detailed and nuanced way. Scroll to browse through the various exhibits linked below or click on a topic of concentration to see related content.
Community Life
Montgomery County, Then and Now: Photography of Lewis Reed and Barry Gartner
In the early 1900s, photographer Lewis Reed captured hundreds of images throughout Montgomery County, featuring iconic structures, streetscapes, homes, and towns. Over one hundred years later, Reed’s grandson Barry Gartner has recreated dozens of his grandfather’s pictures, working in the county’s modern-day landscape. Regions represented include Rockville, Gaithersburg, Darnestown, Germantown, and more. The exhibit presents the pairs of photos side by side, with historical context and Google maps location pins for reference, illustrating in some cases timeless constancy and in many cases radical change.
Opened December 6, 2023
Curated by Jeanne Gartner and Sarah Hedlund
The Immigrant Experience in Montgomery County
In 1850 less than 2% of Montgomery County’s population was foreign born and by 1960 it was almost 5%. Today, more than 35% of the county’s residents are foreign born and even more speak at least one language besides English. Montgomery County has become one of the most diverse counties in the United States. This exhibit, created in partnership with Montgomery College’s Department of Anthropology, explores more than 200 years of immigration history and presents dozens of immigrant stories. The common themes behind these experiences include stories of love, war, political upheaval, and the pursuit of higher education and career opportunities, as told by immigrants from Ukraine, Latvia, El Salvador, India, Palestine, China, Congo, Mexico, and many more.
Opened February 9, 2023
Curated by Maria Sprehn and Sarah Hedlund
LGBTQ+ Heritage in Montgomery County
The story of Montgomery County’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community is one of both struggle and celebration. The topics in this exhibit are primarily drawn from the late twentieth century (1970s-1990s), and focus on three themes: Law and Activism, addressing the struggle for equal rights through a lens of three past events; Health, discussing the county’s response to the AIDS epidemic; and Community Life, exploring how LGBTQ+ people have built community in Montgomery County through festivals, organizations, and businesses.
Opened October 13, 2022
Curated by Emma Satterfield, assisted by Sarah Hedlund
Montgomery County, 1900-1930: Through the Lens of Lewis Reed
At the turn of the last century, photographer and Montgomery County native Lewis Reed took excursions all over the state of Maryland on his motorcycle with his camera, photographing landscapes, monuments, historical places, people, and anything else that caught his attention. This themed exhibit of some of Lewis Reed’s most compelling photographs presents a remarkable slice of history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, capturing scenes from all facets of rural Montgomery County life.
Opened January 7, 2020
Curated by Jeanne Gartner and Sarah Hedlund
Scotland Photo Gallery, 1966-1970
This photo gallery is comprised of images from the community of Scotland in the late 1960s. At that time an all-African-American community of people underwent a years-long process of reclaiming their land and rebuilding their infrastructure. The images were digitized from a collection of negatives donated by Joyce Siegel, who had worked with the Scotland community during this time period. Joyce’s husband Alan was an avid amateur photographer, and took hundreds of photos of the events happening in Scotland between 1966 and 1970 with a focus on the community members and their neighborhood.
Opened October 15, 2019
Curated by Sarah Hedlund
Segregated Education
“The Decree Had Been Handed Down” The Experience of Public School Desegregation in Montgomery County
To tell the story of the desegregation ruling, and the subsequent efforts to integrate the public schools in Montgomery County, we turn to six women who lived that experience directly. Using sound clips from their oral history interviews, along with photographs, and other historical documentation from Montgomery History’s archives and special collections, this exhibit relates the experience of the desegregation process in Montgomery County–before, during, and after–in their words.
Originally opened October 17, 2017; expanded April, 2020.
Curated by Sarah Hedlund
The Effects of Brown v. Board of Education in Montgomery County
For nearly a century, schools for black students in Montgomery County and throughout the South were denied the benefits provided to their entirely separate, but supposedly “equal,” white counterparts. In 1954, the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka changed the face of public schools forever. For the most part, integration in Montgomery County happened smoothly, if slowly, and its school system was declared fully integrated by 1961.
Montgomery County’s population continued to grow and change, however, and issues of integration and diversity have remained central to our school system ever since. This exhibit explores ways in which the effects of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling are still being felt today, fifty years later.
A version of this exhibit was displayed at the Beall-Dawson House between Aug. 17, 2004 and Mar. 6, 2005.
Originally curated by Joanna Church
Suburbanization during the 1950s
How Montgomery County Grew in the 1950s
The Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies of Montgomery History presents this online exhibition outlining the key factors unique to Montgomery County, as well as unique to the Washington, D.C. area and the nation in general, that led to the unprecedented suburban growth in our county during this ten-year period. This exhibit was originally launched in conjunction with “BOOM: the 1950s in Montgomery County,” a 2018 program of exhibits and events organized by Montgomery History.
Opened April 27, 2018; updated May 5, 2021
Curated by Bob Bachman, Chair, Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies
Shopping in Montgomery County in the 1950s
The Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies of Montgomery History presents this online exhibition describing the unique shopping culture that grew in Montgomery County during this ten-year period, including the development of suburban department stores and neighborhood shopping centers which eventually lead to the birth of the suburban shopping mall. This exhibit was originally launched in conjunction with “BOOM: the 1950s in Montgomery County,” a 2018 program of exhibits and events organized by Montgomery History.
Opened April 27, 2018
Developed and written by Sarah Hedlund; Curated by Bob Bachman, Chair, Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies
The 1950s Housing Boom in Montgomery County
The Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies of Montgomery History presents this online exhibition exploring the housing boom that altered the face of the county, as well as the nation, during this pivotal decade. The exhibit provides a comprehensive overview of the 1950s architecture, neighborhoods, and builders accompanied by dozens of images and photographs. Whether you are motivated by nostalgia or are just curious about the county’s built environment, you will enjoy perusing this exhibit at your leisure.
Opened May 11, 2020; updated May, 2021
Curated by Bob Bachman, Chair, Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies
Women’s History
The Path to Leadership, Part I
In the first of a two-part online exhibition about the paths Montgomery County women forged to become active participants and leaders in county politics, this exhibit explores women’s suffrage in the county and its relationship to the growing network of women’s clubs from the late nineteenth century through the early 1930s. It also highlights the lives of three local women — Lavinia Margaret Engle, Lucy Wright Trundle, and Jessie Ross Thomson — who worked for women’s rights in various ways.
Opened March 3, 2020
Curated by Claire McDonald; assisted by Sarah Hedlund
The Path to Leadership, Part II
Part two of “The Path to Leadership,” our online exhibit delving into the history of Montgomery County women in politics, explores how the passage of the 19th Amendment changed the political landscape, both nationally and locally, and introduces some of the female civic and political leaders in the county who worked to enact change. This exhibit was originally launched in honor of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which granted American women the right to vote.
Opened August 18, 2020
Curated by Claire McDonald
“The Decree Had Been Handed Down” The Experience of Public School Desegregation in Montgomery County
To tell the story of the desegregation ruling, and the subsequent efforts to integrate the public schools in Montgomery County, we turn to six women who lived that experience directly. Using sound clips from their oral history interviews, along with photographs, and other historical documentation from Montgomery History’s archives and special collections, this exhibit relates the experience of the desegregation process in Montgomery County–before, during, and after–in their words.
Originally opened October 17, 2017; expanded April, 2020.
Curated by Sarah Hedlund
History in Our Collections
75 Objects + 75 Stories
In celebration of its 75th anniversary in 2019, Montgomery History brought long overdue attention to its extraordinary collection of artifacts to help tell the story of Montgomery County’s past. The resulting online exhibition, 75 Objects + 75 Stories, highlights some of the most iconic, treasured, and idiosyncratic objects from the collection.
Opened June 29, 2019
Curated by Elizabeth Lay, William Allman, and Lee Morgan
History Between the Pages: The Family Bible in Genealogical Research
Explore the story of the family Bible in America, and how families used their beloved Bibles to share their own stories through the generations. This exhibit includes six chapters, each featuring photographs and excerpts from Montgomery History’s unique Family Bibles collection.
Opened November 5, 2018
Curated by Claire McDonald