Legal Mumbo Jumbo and History

This week we had to create group contracts for our digital history class.  As a private historic preservation and social media consultant, I have some experience developing legal contracts.  In my experience potential clients like consultants to be as specific as possible so they know exactly what they're getting for their money.  It's nice if you can make the contract sound legal and professional, but as long as the contract contains good grammar and the necessary information, you're on the right track. 

Creating contracts for a group project for a graduate class was really different though.  First, we aren't getting paid for what we're doing so there was no section on fees or money owed.  Believe me, when your income depends on consulting work that's the most important part of most contracts! Second, working with three other people to make a contract that basically outlines what each of us "promises" to do for this project took some navigation.  Finally, trying to make sure we had covered every single thing necessary to ensure we all will end up with a good grade on both the contract and our final project required some serious thought and revision.  But I'm really glad we did it.  It helped our group solidify group and individual expectations, and creating this contract really eliminated any confusion that still lingered about who was doing what or why. 

Our group is working on the Plaza-Midwood Project.  We really want to illustrate the economic and cultural diversity of this beautiful neighborhood, while at the same time showing its transformation from a streetcar suburb to the cultural hub it is now.  I'm working on the history and changes of PMW's churches and neighborhood events.  One of my undergrad degrees is in Religious Studies and I have completed 24 credit hours of graduate course work in Religious Studies.  As a result, I am really excited about learning more about the churches located in PMW and finding a way to show the world just how central to their community these churches were.  I hope I will do a good job, and I hope the current ministers and members of these churches will work with me to share their history.