Historian. Advocate. Curator. Mentor. Writer. Dog Lover.
These are just a few adjectives to describe Dr. Malgorzata J. Rymsza-Pawlowska, who contributed “Envisioning Community: The Struggle to Preserve Cleveland Park, 1978-2018” to the latest issue of Washington History.
Her essay examines how Cleveland Park residents fought in favor of small businesses and to preserve historic streetscapes in the wake of Metro construction. “All of these conversations are still happening,” Rymsza-Pawlowska notes.
The Cleveland Park Metro station opening in 1981 proved a mixed blessing for the neighborhood. Metro offered easy transportation, but also inspired attempts to speed development, as seen in formerly modest communities such as Rosslyn, Virginia, or Bethesda, Maryland.
The opening battle came in 1985 when residents organized to preserve the Park and Shop, an early car-centered shopping center, on Connecticut Avenue. More recently in 2012, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted against a proposed farmers’ market, which would have competed against the neighborhood’s beloved Brookville Supermarket. In both cases, residents succeeded in protecting small businesses.
To understand the history behind the neighborhood activism, Rymsza-Pawlowska mined the Historical Society’s Cleveland Park Historical Society records (MS 0747). “One thing that was really fun,” Rymsza-Pawlowska explains, “was getting to work with just one collection and letting that collection really drive the shape of the analysis.” The records include a wide range of sources from formal meeting minutes to local block party flyers, which allowed Rymsza-Pawlowska to take a deep dive into the history of the neighborhood.
And Rymsza-Pawlowska was already familiar with the neighborhood history and dynamics.
She is a resident of Cleveland Park. However, her connections to the neighborhood also stem from her childhood. Growing up in Brookland and attending elementary and high school in Woodley Park, Rymsza-Pawlowska had many friends from the neighborhood.
So how did she become interested in writing a neighborhood history?
In 2016 Rymsza-Pawlowska attended the D.C. History Conference’s “History Network,” where she perused the Cleveland Park Historical Society’s information table and met some of the organization’s current members. Upon learning that its collection is housed at the Historical Society, she set out to write the organization’s recent history.
As director of the Graduate Public History Program and assistant professor of history at American University, Rymsza-Pawlowska teaches a practicum for first-year graduate students, who collaborate on local history projects. Under her guidance, student groups have contributed to an exhibit and brochures for Dupont Underground, researched for Marya McQuirter’s dc1968 project, and worked with NPR public historians to create interpretive material for early episodes of the station’s long-running All Things Considered.
Last year Rymsza-Pawlowska published her first book, History Comes Alive: Public History and Popular Culture in the 1970s. In it she argues that our relationship with history changed in the 1970s, taking a particularly close look at the United States Bicentennial among other influences. Rymza-Pawlowska concludes that popular culture at the time reflected a need to engage with history on a more emotional level.
History Comes Alive: Public History and Popular Culture in the 1970s.
So what’s next in the world of D.C. history for Rymsza-Pawlowska?
In addition to researching her next project—a book about time capsules in the 20th century—she is working on the DC Humanities Truck Project team at American University. This mobile workshop will contain a recording studio and exhibit space where students will document and share stories of communities in D.C.
Additionally, Rymsza-Pawlowska is part of the planning committee for this year’s D.C. History Conference. In September and October look out for posts on our blog from her students showcasing D.C. History Conference panelists. For more insights on activism in Cleveland Park, mark your calendar for her lecture at the George Washington University Museum on September 17.
Emily Niekrasz
Social Media Coordinator
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.