History Preservation Newsletter
April 2014

The last few days of balmy spring weather brought DC’s cherry blossoms bursting Cherry_Blossomsforth in all their frothy pink splendor to highlight the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  This painting captured that spring ritual in the c. 1975 National 4-H calendar art.  So, for this issue, what is more fitting than 4-H helping Mrs. Obama plant a cherry tree?  Or a “Hands on History” challenge to create healthy cherry-based snacks?

There’s a new self-guided history tour at the National 4-H Youth Conference Center.  Using QR Codes, we’ve put up six sites in and around the J. C. Penney lobby for visitors to scan and learn a bit about that piece of 4-H history.  The tour covers a broad span of time from a portrait of the “Mother of 4-H” to artifacts from the most recent 10 years of the program.  Scan the QR Code in this issue and see where it leads.

We continue the “Voices of 4-H History” program of recording audio and visual memories as we come closer to the Centennial date of signing the Smith-Lever Act (May 8) which gave federal funding to the Cooperative Extension Service.  Progress updates from several states, some suggestions, and a list of available resources make up this month’s coverage.

“Voices” participants are scripting, filming, editing, re-filming, and re-editing their potential entries in the national 4-H film festival, “2014 FilmFest 4-H.”  This year’s festival will be in St. Louis and “Voices of 4-H History” is an official category in the August competition.

And now it’s time for that healthy snack: a juicy slab of freshly-baked cherry pie while you enjoy this issue!