Can someone provide a link to an image of the mural. Would like to see what we are talking about.

Maria Pascualy, Curator of Exhibits
WA State History Museum
1911 Pacific Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98402
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Julia Moore <[log in to unmask]>
> As usual, Jay and I agree.
> 
>  
> 
> It is important to retain the mural somehow as a historic document and
> to explain the cultural context that enabled it.  Obliterating our past
> because we don't like the way it makes us look absolutely ensures that
> the same mistakes will be made again.  The key is to present it and
> reinterpret it as we develop as a society.
> 
>  
> 
> I am not aware of the full details of the mural, not having studied it,
> but at first glance it seems to me to be a 1930s interpretation of what
> early mail service was like, and an attempt to convey how heroic mail
> carriers of the time were for braving such dangers as well as the
> commitment of the US to the idea of the mails as an essential function
> of government.  (it also seems like a nifty way to get nude bodies into
> a public mural!)  As such it has a definite propaganda purpose, as all
> WPA murals had, and the unfortunate stereotyping of American Indians as
> cruel and bloodthirsty is an artifact of the age in which the mural was
> created.  A concisely-worded interpretive text explaining this that also
> places it into the context of publicly-funded post office murals would
> go a long way towards ameliorating the controversy without resulting in
> the artwork's being removed entirely.
> 
>  
> 
> Education, not denial.
> 
>  
> 
> Jay, let's communicate re a similar show I did using work from the US
> Army Art Collection.
> 
>  
> 
> Julia Muney Moore
> 
> Public Art Administrator
> 
> Blackburn Architects, Indianapolis, IN
> 
> (317) 875-5500 x230
> 
>  
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Jay Heuman
> Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 3:57 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Dangers of the Mail Mural
> 
>  
> 
> Greetings Richard et al.:
> 
>  
> 
> As an art educator/historian (and with my own discrimination "double
> whammy"):
> 
>  
> 
> I'll assume most on Museum-L agree that offensive and stereotypical
> representations are deplorable.  Yet, after their manufacture, don't we
> feel those objects - though maligned - are of historic and educational
> value?  Preserving such objects is a means of teaching the present and
> future about the past?  Don't historical museums/societies, ethnic
> museums/collections, museums of tolerance, etc. have objects in their
> collections for the very purpose of demonstrating how backward, how
> unenlightened, how savage some groups of people have been to others?  Is
> there significance in discussing the accuracy - or lack thereof - of
> such depictions?
> 
>  
> 
> Also, there a significant difference in how we treat different
> classes/levels of offense . . . from nudes to political propaganda to
> racial/ethnic stereotypes.  While there may be salacious tittering about
> the first and outright laughter about the second, the third inspires
> calls for destruction.  While academic nudes were always admired during
> the 1880s, by the 1980s, Mapplethorpe's 'nudes' caused furor - albeit
> not because of nudity alone, but for the activities depicted.  But in
> our day, "Bill O'Reilly vs. Stephen Colbert" results in comedic extremes
> in political commentary . . . but, in 1932, there were passionate
> opponents about the removal of Diego Rivera's RCA Building murals - gone
> in one fell swoop because of the artist's inclusion of communist
> ideology?  (Long before McCarthy!)
> 
>  
> 
> Thinking out loud here, and would appreciate multiple perspectives.
> [I'm working on an exhibition which will undoubtedly inspire some
> comments about its "offensive" and "propagandistic" qualities.  (For
> those curious, its post-Vietnam era artworks from the U.S. Navy Art
> Collection.)  As a result, I'm trying to figure out what "common sense"
> says about how society - in the US and beyond - handles controversial
> issues.]
> 
>  
> 
> Best wishes, sincerely,
> 
>  
> 
> Jay Heuman
> 
>  
> 
> Curator of Education
> 
> Salt Lake Art Center
> 
> 20 South West Temple
> 
> Salt Lake City, UT  84101
> 
> Phone: 801.328.4201 x 121
> 
> Fax: 801.322.4323
> 
> URL: www.slartcenter.org <http://www.slartcenter.org> 
> 
>  
> 
> Salt Lake Art Center:
> 
> Celebrating 75 Years!
> 
> 1931-2006
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> 
> On Behalf Of Richard Fields
> Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 12:57 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Dangers of the Mail Mural
> 
>  
> 
> I was reading the Boing, Boing blog today, and it mentions the EPA's
> possibly removing the Dangers of the Mail mural in the headquarters
> building (1937, Frank Albert Menchau, Jr.). The mural was a Works
> Projects Administration effort during the Great Depression. The removal
> centers on the racist nature of the mural in its depiction of Native
> Americans. They are shown scalping and attacking White women and
> stabbing White males in the back. 
> 
>  
> 
> Most Native Americans (including me) would find such imagery offensive
> and degrading, but it brings an educational opportunity for showing the
> racism and hatred Native Americans have endured. That said, I really
> understand why some folks want it gone.
> 
>  
> 
> According to Boing, Boing, the GSA is looking at six murals, and is
> recieving public input under the National Historic Preservation Act. For
> those interested in reading the article, and its embedded links, the url
> is http://www.boingboing.net/ <http://www.boingboing.net/>  and the
> article is about a third of the way down the page. 
> 
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