Levi Jordan
Plantation Historical Society

Statement of Beliefs

These were written by the members of the Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society, at the same time that they were writing their Mission Statement.

Board of Directors and Officers, LJPHS

That there are many different, but complementary, ways of learning about the past --- archaeology, history, genealogy, oral history, literature, and others --- and that each offers a different kind of "lens" through which we can "see" the past.
That what we call "history" was not inevitable: that along the way individuals and groups made choices, and all of those choices affected what we are today.
That it is important to respect the idea that some objects from the past may have different kinds of spiritual and emotional importance to different people.
That historical truth may be defined in a variety of ways --- what one person or family perceives as important about "what really happened" may be different from what another person or family perceives, and that it is possible that these different perceptions may all be, in some ways, equally true.
That people in the past were, in some ways, different from people now --- that their decisions, conversations, social interactions, etc., were different than ours would be today.
That people in the past were, in some ways, the same as they are now --- that they too had work lives, family lives, spiritual lives, creative lives, intellectual lives, just as we do now.
That the decisions we make now about how we present history will influence what we know about the past, and that all of our local communities should have a voice in the process of making those decisions.