Denny, a retired school administrator and former mayor of Brentwood, is co-writing a book on the history and culture of Prince George’s County, a fundraising project for the Prince George’s County Historical Society. What’s the Prince George’s County Historical Society?
It’s a group that’s dedicated to preserving the history of Prince George’s County. It does research on historical topics related to Prince George’s County. It provides research opportunities for other folks who are writing books, articles, manuscripts, et cetera. It maintains a historical society library, which has lots and lots of original and nonoriginal historical data — different articles, pictures, lots of pictures. Basically their goal is to make sure that the rich history of Prince George’s County is preserved in as many fashions as possible — not only for the current population of the county but [for] posterity.
Tell me about the book.
It’s called “Historic Prince George’s County: A Confluence of Cultures.” What we’re doing is we’re going back before 1696 — from there to present — talking about the things that people did, cultural things people did for entertainment. … We’re going to be talking about Native Americans, African Americans, the Latino growth in the more recent years and, of course, the European settlers that came here.
The book is a fundraiser. Where does the money go?
The Historic Society uses that money to promote their programs. … The Society has meetings in [renovated historical houses] to promote the fact that there are opportunities to preserve the history of buildings, as opposed to tearing them down and building high rises or whatever on the property.
What’s the best way for people to get involved in historical preservation?
Joining the Prince George’s County Historical Society. You can go to their library, which is in the basement of the Greenbelt library, and you can do research on any type of historical topic there is.
– Alex Pappas
