I see that this discussion has been continuing for a few days, so perhaps
you have heard all you want to hear. I just wanted to get my two cents in,
in favor of community interpretation where it adds a human dimension to
descriptive labeling.

I have often used quotations from extensive oral histories and other
first-person archival materials to aid in interpretations of community
history. They add a freshness and a very approachable feeling to the exhibit
labels.  The grammar may not be what you'd like, and the interpretation
somewhat folksy, and the dates a bit loose, but it is always real, not
contrived, and certainly not unapproachably academic.

Just last week a community member gave me a wonderful description of the
oddest looking bus I had ever seen. He said the folks who rode them called
them "alligator busses", with their great long "snouts" housing the engine
way out in front of the coach. They had their own set of wheels, one set for
the engine housing and the other for the coach. This long-retired fellow
settled back and told me of hopping on board in his outlying community and
riding the alligator bus into Seattle. As I looked over his cherished old
photo brought in to be accessioned, he was off in a wonderful memory land
describing how he and his best friend would sit way up in front with the
driver, hanging out over the engine.  When I asked how long they ran, he
responded "Oh, only a few years, in the early '30's.  The engine enclosure
tended to separate from the coach on a turn and run off by itself. We
thought it was pretty exciting and always hoped it would happen when we were
sitting up there."  Now where are you going to get that kind of a kid's eye
perspective on what must have been a hugely embarrassing and expensive
public transportation move-- (something Seattle now seems to be famous for).
You can bet I will include his description along with any other "tombstone"
stats, as one lister called them, when this is checked out.

Micki Ryan
Curator
Highline Historical Society
Burien WA

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