As a living history interpreter who deals with these questions on a
regular basis, I've never thought about it in those terms because my
context is usually a Rev war encampment, not a museum. Also, it is
often posited that the reason people ask these kinds of, well, let's be
blunt, seemingly stupid questions, is because they are confronted with
something that is totally outside of their sphere of influence. They
see before them people in funny clothes, doing funny things, to which
they can not relate. They are trying to find a way to connect &
understand in SOME fashion. That is why I personally favor what I call a
compare/contrast style of interpretation, where I'm continually
comparing things from the 18th century to the 21st. (Obviously I'm NOT
doing first person interpretaion!) In my unit, we are always encouraged
to go beyond the basic, introductory question to try & find the real,
more meaningful questions our guests have & to help them gain some small
insight into the 18th century.
So...the guestions may seem trivial or stupid...but I guarantee there
are more burning questions they're just waiting to ask!
Best, VivianLea Stevens
(aka Katie Caddell, distaff)
4th Coy, Bde of guards
www.brigadeofguards.org
Marina Daiman wrote:
> On Tue, 7 May 2002 13:07:34 -0500, Lana Newhart <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Is that a real fire? (in reference to a hearth cooking fire)
>>
>>Are those real flies? (in reference to the flies that cooking on open
>>
> hearths in open buildings attract)
>
>
> These seem to have at least 2 noteworthy implications:
>
> 1. visitors believe that nothing that's in a museum is real
>
> 2. visitors think we do a good jobs with our mock-ups
>
>
> Marina Daiman
> <a
> href="http://www.geocities.com/marina_daiman">www.geocities.com/marina_daima
> n</a>
>
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--
VivianLea Stevens
Regional Sales Manager
Re:discovery Software, Inc.
3040 Berkmar Drive, Suite B1
Charlottesville, VA 22901
434-975-3256, x 12
434-975-3935 (FAX)
[log in to unmask]
www.rediscov.com
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