Great thread!!!!!!   I'd like to see some discussion about this from those
of you who have expertise.  On the flip side, I have spent the last 15 years
making a point when traveling of visiting every local winery, brew house,
distillery, etc. which offered tours. (Jack Daniels is great, and they give
samples!)  But as a historian and future curator / exhibit developer, I am
very interested in how you display such items.  There seems to me to be a
definite area of concern not only as to theft, breakage, storage, etc., but
the ever-present sensibilities of a diverse audience.  I grew up in a small,
very evangelical protestant town and I can just hear the firestorm
concerning display of liquor, even if it was part of a larger story being
told by the exhibit.  Have any of you out there used alcohol-related
artifacts in your exhibits, or even done an entire exhibit on alcohol?  How
do you handle such issues?  Alcohol, despite the right-wing's position, is a
big part of American history and to ignore or delete it from the story seems
much like revisionist history to me. Please respond on or off list.

Lori Allen,
Graduate Student, UMSL

PS: Indigo, I drink coffee in just about every form imaginable with the
exception of flavored or with flavored syrups added (too much of a purist).
I am on a first name basis with most of the staff of the three Starbuck's I
visit regularly.  I don't drink diet anything - EEWWWW.  If you are going to
drink whiskey, I highly recommend Gentleman Jack.  Very smooth, but don't
dilute it with anything other than the Lynchburg Lemonade recipe (I will
forward it if you need it - perfect for summer afternoons).  My favorite
drink is probably a good glass of red wine, and second choice is a
Cosmopolitan.  No, I am not an alcoholic, as I don't drink that regularly. I
also don't know anyone in the museum field who doesn't drink save one and
she was AA before joining the field.  As for what started this small-town
girl drinking anything other than an occasional wine cooler....marriage and
children.  My husband taught me to drink.  Motherhood demanded it.


-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of Feltus, Pamela
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2002 9:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A Question for the Alcoholic List


There must be a way, beyond planning a museum-l happy hour at AAM that the
alcoholic tendencies on this list can be put to good.

At my last job, we were working on the Archives and a Museum for Brown
Forman, which seems to either make or market about every type of booze (the
samples that tempted in the Collections!), as well as fine china and crystal
brands. By the time I left, it seemed the museum wasn't going to become a
reality, so don't get too excited planning field trips.

But in the process of processing we ran into an interesting problem:
        The alcohol. And by extension, all food products in collections. Do
you keep them intact or dispose of the contents and just keep the packaging?
There is the issue of alcohol, and some food, evaporating or emitting scary
gasses and hurting your collection. But the food itself might be important
in the future. You might have the only sample of the original Old Foresters
KY Bourbon from 1870. Or a Twinkie. Or hardtack.
        As much as I wanted to be in the front of the disposal line, I also
remembered a wine bottle from ancient Rome being found and the information
that was gleaned from studying the contents. As much as I can remember, the
balance we struck was sealed bottles were kept intact and opened ones
emptied.

So, from a varying degree of purists, anyone have theories on this type of
thing?

And in defense of diet coke as a mixer- if you get used to it, regular coke
will just disgust you. For a diet coke drinker, there's nothing wrong with
jack and diet coke!



Pamela Feltus
Curator
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
1811 R Street NW, Washington DC 20009
202-265-6280 x201

www.nmajmh.org

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