Patch Spends Five Minutes with Kevin Korst

He's history buff Kevin Korst, local history coordinator at the Oak Lawn Public Library since 2008, and the guy you want to talk to find out if there's any truth to that rumor about a prisoner-of-war camp in Oak Lawn. When he's not designing and developing exhibits, conducting research, or updating the department's online database, he's promoting the department through Facebook or answering another question about the big fight between Chicago police and Oak Lawn residents. In his spare time you might find him at the library checking out another stack of history books, running through the forest preserves, or blogging about music (his "other" passion).

Oak Lawn Patch: In terms of your work at the library, of what are you most proud?  

Kevin Korst: The increased visibility of our program. In the last three years we've grown from people saying, "Oh, there's a local history program?" to people saying, "Oh yeah, I know about the local history program."  And we're starting to get some exposure through the Internet and media outlets like WGN radio, which did an interview with us a couple of weeks ago.

Oak Lawn Patch:  What is the most challenging part of your job?

Korst: I love developing and designing exhibits, but it is also extremely challenging because I have to condense years' of history into six lines or take a huge topic and streamline it into something someone can look at in 20 minutes. 

Oak Lawn Patch:  What do you enjoy most about your job?

Korst: Two things: 1) talking to people about their life experiences and 2) doing research for exhibits, because I start out knowing nothing and I finish knowing 10 times more than when I began.

Oak Lawn Patch:  How has the Internet changed the way you do your research?

Korst: It's opened up a whole new world that wasn't there before. There are things I can do now that I couldn't have envisioned doing 10 years ago. It's the greatest thing in the world when you can do a search for something and immediately have access to thousands of documents. Even five years ago you couldn't do anything like that. The other great thing about online data is that anyone can access it, at any time, from anywhere in the world.

Oak Lawn Patch:  What's the most unusual thing anyone has ever asked you to research?

Korst: The most unusual requests evolve out of the urban myths and legends— somebody heard from somebody who heard it from somebody else, until it becomes "fact."  Every once in a while someone will ask about the prisoner of war camp that was rumored to be in Oak Lawn. Recently someone suggested that there had been a Nike nuclear missile site in Oak Lawn during the Cold War. I researched both "legends" and so far I've found nothing to prove either rumor to be true.

Oak Lawn Patch:  Based on your research what is the biggest change in Oak Lawn these past 100 years?

Korst: There is a photograph in our display that was taken in 1912 of the area on 95th Street right outside the library, and it is a snapshot of a completely different world. If someone today were to go back to that time and place they wouldn't know where they were or where to go— and vice-versa. We did an exhibit a couple of years ago called "Then and Now," and it was amazing to see how the downtown looks vastly different today than it did just 25 years ago.

Oak Lawn Patch:  In your opinion, has the change been for the good or the bad?

Korst: Obviously change is good, but at the same time Oak Lawn has lost a lot of its historic buildings— Cook School, Schultz's Tavern, the old A & P building which used to be across the street from the library. You can't save everything, but it would have been nice to save some of those buildings.

Oak Lawn Patch:  What period of history do you find most interesting?

Korst:  When I first became interested in history in fifth grade it was American history, particularly the Revolutionary War. Today what interests me most is the history of everyday people and everyday life. In college you learn about all the major figures of history and the impact they had, but as you move through life you understand that it's also the people you don't often hear or read about who made significant contributions.

Oak Lawn Patch:  If you could bring one historical figure back to life and have a conversation with him or her, who would it be?

Korst: Abraham Lincoln. His is an amazing story of someone who came from nothing to become president of the United States. He started his presidency having zero idea of what to do and finished his first term having completely accepted the role he was given; in the process, he totally changed his few on slavery. It would be really interesting to be able to ask him how he got from one point to the other. 

Oak Lawn Patch:  Where would this conversation take place?

Korst: Probably at Starbucks. I don't know if Lincoln was a coffee drinker, but Starbucks is our 21st century version of a place to sit around and have an intellectual conversation. If it was lunchtime maybe Chipotle Mexican Grille (6230 West 95th Street in Oak Lawn).

Oak Lawn Patch:  What would your coworkers be surprised to learn about you?

Probably that I'm very passionate about music. I read about it, write about it and, of course, listen to it whenever I can. 

Oak Lawn Patch:  What's on your iPod?

Korst:  A little bit of everything—the Andrew's Sisters from the 1940s, Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Duran-Duran. But my favorite decade of music is the 1990s because that's what I grew up with. Bands like Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters.

Oak Lawn Patch:  Name an aspect about yourself you wish you could change.

Korst: I wish I wouldn't get so nervous about public speaking. There are some people who can stand in front of a thousand people and wing it with the ease of talking to their best friend, and I just can't do that. It's a part of my job and I can do it, but it's nerve-wracking for me.