The Denton House Research Project Experience

       When I picked Luther Burbank I had no idea that I would end up researching a McDonald’s, or that the McDonald’s I chose (The Denton House) would result so interesting. Initially, I thought the research would be easier, but as time revealed it was actually quite hard to get information about the Denton House, and even harder to get information about the family. One of the most bizarre things I learned is that the United Nations does not only work towards maintaining peace among nations, but evidently they also choose the foods of the year; in 2008 the Russet Burbank potato was named potato of the year  by the United Nations. Who knew?? This is the first time I chose a place to research, and had so much trouble gathering information about it. I really had to dig up information to have anything. Most importantly, I learned that researching can become an obsession. I would wake up with new ideas on where to get more information, as well as get new leads on places to go for more information from the people I encountered during my journey. I don’t know if I will ever let this research go because I feel like there is so much information yet to uncover. I feel like I have unfinished business, since I was unable to find out exactly when the Denton family sold or lost the house.

       I was very excited when I got to the Denton House because I had already read a lot about it and about the family, and I was hoping to tour the house. I was not at all well received. I introduced myself to the night manager: I showed her my student ID, let her know I was a college student and told her I was doing a research project for my American History class. I asked about looking around the house; I had read that they had a museum in the house, so I asked if they had additional information as well. I was told that I could not look around the second floor, or take pictures or video footage of anything. She even told me that there are so many McDonald’s and asked me why I picked that one. She said there was no museum in the house. She walked me over to like 4 pictures they had behind a glass and told me that what I saw there was what they had about the history of the house. She was pretty short with me and told me to speak to the day manager for more information. I had spoken to the day manager over the phone weeks earlier and he was even meaner. I was surprised to know how little she knew about the property and how little she was willing to help. I must mention that there were no costumers; it was not busy while I was there. I was very disappointed to have been treated that way at the McDonald’s because throughout my research everyone was so nice.

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