My reply is short. To get back on the Enola Gay debate is like having to
sit and watch Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day.

Len Hambleton - Objects Conservator
North Carolina Museum of History
5 East Edenton Street
Raleigh NC. 27601-1011
[log in to unmask]
919-715-0200 x244
"Information in the spirit of sharing,catch the wave!"

Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my
agency

> -----Original Message-----
> From: STUD Brent Stauffer [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 1998 4:09 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: VANDALISING UNPOPULAR STATUES ETC. - using the
> pieces             inmuseums
>
> I was wondering if the debate over putting a display that included the
> Enola Gay and other objects about the atomic bombimgs would also fit
> into
> this category.  I would also like to hear what other people had to say
> about that exhibit.
>
>
> On Thu, 22 Jan 1998, Nicholson, Claudia wrote:
>
> > Harry Needham has raised an interesting point when he noted that the
> > museum gets accused of "glorifying" Hitler because they show the
> > decapitated head of a Hitler statue in the museum.
> >
> > I ran into the same problem in South Dakota.  An exhibit of a Ku
> Klux
> > Klan robe brought a sharp response from some visitors, including one
> who
> > bothered to write her anger.  She accused us of "glorifying" the
> Klan
> > because we showed the outfit.  We thought that it would be good to
> point
> > out that the Klan was not simply an organization of the American
> > South--that it was active in the northern parts of the country too,
> and
> > in the case of South Dakota, went after foreigners and Catholics.
> >
> > Unfortunately, many visitors still think that what museums do is
> glorify
> > the past.  Anything that we show, therefore, is out for the public
> to
> > see so that they might revel in the ever-upward spiral of
> civilization.
> > Although the context and explanatory labeling of any potentially
> > controversial object in a museum exhibit can very carefully show why
> the
> > object is not there to be glorified, if the visitor does not read
> the
> > label or pay attention to the context, they can make an incorrect
> > assumption.
> >
> > Once again, I will ask the question:  how do museums really educate
> the
> > public to what we are trying to do?  How do we get visitors in a
> > questioning frame of mind when they come through our doors?  How can
> we
> > get them to question--and then seek to find the answer--when they
> see
> > something in our galleries that they think is inappropriate?  How do
> we
> > get them to understand that, at least in history museums, we are
> tying
> > to talk about both the good and the bad of the past?
> >
> > Claudia J. Nicholson
> > Curator
> > Museum Collections Department
> > Minnesota Historical Society
> > 345 Kellogg Blvd. W.
> > St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
> >   Tel.:  612/297-7442
> >   FAX: 612/297-2967
> >   E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> >
> > >
> >