Handler And Gable Summary

Quoted by Handler and Gable, critic Ada Louise Huxtable declares the newly constructed reproduction of Colonial Williamsburg as “too clean,” arguing that it “does not include the filth and stench that would have been commonplace.” (Source E) This sanitation of the truth completely misrepresents history, and the educational value greatly suffers. Conversely, the National Museum of the American Indian hopes to avoid this lack of judgment by dedicating itself to the “preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and Arts of Native Americans.” (Source C) The main goal of the museum is to “span all major cultural areas” (C) and educate the public about and preserve the rich history of such a vast culture. The authenticity and significance of artifacts are important to representing culture and history, and the ability of these artifacts to educate should be a key factor of the selection process.

The museum believes in a pastiche and populist pathway, in which the history of all people is displayed. Its interactive viewpoint allows this museum to convey history in a way that would be more accessible to its audience. For example, patrons are given the opportunity to record their own history. However, academics, such as Keith Windschuttle, assert that the NMA is a “profound intellectual waste”. He argues that although it displays accurate history, it’s purpose of entertaining its audience detracts from its value, thus creating “waste”. Although Windschuttle’s view may be extreme, it demonstrates the considerable extent to which the tension between academic and popular historians exist.

The world’s largest living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg, is an amazing place where anybody can learn something new about life in the eighteenth century. Among other things, it contains recreated buildings that function effectively as they would have in the eighteenth century. Visitors to Colonial Williamsburg learn through historical acting; the acting staff live as if living in the real Colonial Williamsburg. Also, the buildings have much history attached to them. However, there is one building that is the most deserved of a commemorative coin. Although there were other worthy candidates, the building is extremely important, both historically and presently. This structure fits the Colonial Williamsburg motto, “That the future may learn from the past,” perfectly. In my opinion, the Bruton-Parish Church was, and still is,

Bruton Parish is now part of the longest living museum. It is the first and only church in Colonial Williamsburg and was where citizens worshipped. Some people still use the church and donate money to the Bruton Parish. Today humanity studies the past beliefs and culture by artifacts, but being in the Bruton Parish is seeing the history live. Like the motto “That the future may learn from the past,” this generation has and the upcoming one will.

Colonial Williamsburg influences much of our present day culture, “how we learn from the past”. Yet the town’s, so small, but holds many critical buildings such as the Colonial Williamsburg Capital. It deserves a commemorative coin. It is a three in one building like no other main building in Colonial Williamsburg. The uses of the building were to hold court, House of Burgesses, and the upper House of Burgesses.

A historian’s job is to shine a spotlight on the past in a manner that presents a whole and proper picture that includes all facets. The accurate narratives will not appeal to everyone all the time, which is an issue that will not be overcome. History is frequently a messy ordeal, not often a heroic tale of patriotism. It is the responsibility of a historian to tell the tale as it actually happened, be it the ruthlessness of Columbus, the horrors of colonialism, or the atrocities committed during the world wars. One outcome of a historian’s presentation is leaving it up to the audience to draw their own conclusion from the information

Securing an internship with the State Historic Preservation Office, a bureau within the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission, is perhaps one of the finest organizations for a graduate student to spend their summer. With a myriad of learning opportunities available, each student is given the ability to cultivate their knowledge through unanticipated avenues, creating a continually stimulating workplace. My experience at the State Historic Preservation Office is significantly advancing my future career due to the guidance and skills I receive, along with the professional relationships I acquire. Gaining insight into the inner workings of government organization’s relationship with the public, applying my newly acquired skills with the CRGIS and GeoMedia systems, strengthening my networking abilities to benefit my future career, and recognizing how varying bureaus work together, strengthens my aptitude as a professional historian. Likewise, working to meet my goals that I set forth in my internship application allows me to tailor my learning experience in order to gain insight into PHMC’s fundamentals, as well as how they help to inform the public, and where a historian can fit into this government agency.

Wollaston writes in her article “Negotiating the Marketplace: The Role(s) of Holocaust Museums Today” that “Holocaust museums are simultaneously tourist attractions and memorial sites” (66). This is especially true of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe since it is one of Berlin’s biggest tourist attractions. However, the site is also dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and it can become difficult to separate the memorial’s two very different identities. As a result of this, tensions can exist between those visiting as tourists and those visiting as mourners. Wollaston notes that “the presence of tourists may seem out of place, even offensive, to those paying their respects at a shrine or cemetery” (66). This is certainly true, and the Information Center can try to diffuse some of the tension by “drawing attention to the multifaceted character of the site and appealing to visitors to behave appropriately” (Wollaston 66). For example, the Information Center’s exhibits remind visitors of the atrocities for which the monument overhead is memorializing and that the abstract stelae are not just fun things to climb all

The museum sought to strengthen its capacity in order to promote awareness, understanding and appreciation of Shinnecock history and culture through the development of broad-based long term strategic plans encompassing goal setting, budgeting, marketing, development and board engagement. This plan included raising additional funds and sponsorship opportunities; it was aided by the hiring of three development and strategic consultants to assist in the development of a 5-year strategic plan. By following this plan, the Museum Board and staff hoped to better reach the organization’s goals, improve budgeting techniques and to implement a dynamic marketing and fundraising campaign in order to strengthen and diversify the Board of Directors.

If preservation efforts are to serve people, they need to capture the vast diversity of heritage, experience, and communities that makes up the American experience. Ideally, everyone should be able to find their story. However in the past, “[m]inority participation in heritage programs has been limited, and the picture of American history presented by officially designated sites understates the diversity of the nation’s actual history” (Kaufman 1). This occurred for multiple reasons, including intentional exclusion and that history can uncomfortable topics, and injustices.

Part of a project that was carried out by the National Park Service in the nineties of the twentieth century, the Hampton’s archive conducted different interviews with a number of people who were related to someone who worked or lived at a certain point in the Hampton. Moreover, only two of the eleven interviews were with relatives of people who were once enslaved in the Hampton. These two interviewees were for women whom a descendant of freed people; Sarah Henrietta Howard, and Dorothy Norris Corner. When Sarah Henrietta Howard talked about her grandfather, Charles Hall Brown how was a slave of the Ridgely’s she kept mentioning that her grandfather never talked about the time when he was a slave. Moreover, Sarah Howard believes that her grandfather’s silence is mainly due to the shame he felt from the fact that he was an illegitimate child of a slave owner.

In the Fall semester of my sophomore year I accepted the position of Public Programs Intern at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston Massachusetts where I served as a liaison between administrative objectives and public interest. As an employee in the Department of Member and Visitor Services, my colleagues and I worked to identify the demographic of our intended audience in order to attract members of the

Colonial Revival in America from 1985 to Briann G. Greenfield’s Out of the Attic: Antiques in

Historically, museums have excluded too many people. I want to eradicate the pervasive mind-set that “certain people just don’t visit museums.” Today, in an era of public discourse characterized by instantaneous updating and dynamic participation, a savvy public shares knowledge and gains understanding about the experiences of others at the click of a mouse. The Internet, digital media, video games, content sharing, and social networking enhance and create new methods of learning. Regrettably, museums – the giants of knowledge – have fallen behind in regard to inclusiveness, technological innovation, and representation of diverse experiences. Museums hold great power in shaping educational curriculum and public dialogue nationwide.

I aspire to help others experience the childlike joy which I felt when first visiting the Royal BC Museum and I intend to achieve my goal by becoming a museum curator. I have chosen to focus my career path on museums because, as my childhood experience demonstrates, they are the ideal venue to encourage a lifelong love of learning. The process of learning in a museum is not passive, instead visitors are encouraged to seek our information for themselves. Not only is this activity enjoyable for the visitor, it also exemplifies the idea that we should be engaged in our own education and curious about the subject matter. Additionally, museums are a unique educational experience because their objects offer visitors a concrete connection to what they are learning about. Viewing