On         Wed, 25 Jan 1995 Eric Siegel <[log in to unmask]> said:
 
 
>Anyway, this is all within the complex thread of "who owns
>history" which has flared up in this list from time to time,
>and, to me, is one of the museum community's most
>interesting and vexing questions.
 
I'll make this short.  You know the expression: "Freedom of the press
belongs to those who own one?"  Well, I must tell you that History belongs
to those who write it.  If you think about it a little, you'll soon realize
that the writing of history is always an interpretative, even a moral
activity.  Events are arranged and selected in order to present a point of
view; it is never (even when so advertised) presented without bias.  In a
curious way the transmission and writing of history evolves toward fiction
as each successive interpretative generation fashions its own face on
events.  Anyone who studies ancient literature, Homer, or the Bible, for
instance, quickly realizes that remnants of old stories are cast together,
fused, retold and reinterpreted so that they reflect not the events of
their creation, but the passions and politics of their present narrator.
 
 
______________________________________
Robert A. Baron
Museum Computer Consultant
P.O. Box 93, Larchmont, NY 10538
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