Attached is a query I have received from a colleague at the AWM.

We have always used the names used at the time of the event, but are now
adding, in parentheses, the current names. I think this is important, as
people, over time, become increasingly unaware of the previous names.

I'd be interested in what other museums do. It is an issue hardly confined
to museums of history!

Harry Needham
Special Advisor - Programme Development
Canadian War Museum
330 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1A 0M8
Office: (819) 776-8612;  Fax (819) 776-8623;  [log in to unmask]
Home: (613) 831-1068;  FAX: (613) 831-9412;  [log in to unmask]


> ----------
> From:         [log in to unmask][SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:         Sunday, August 08, 1999 8:48 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Query on Korean war style
>
>
>
> Dear Harry Needham
>
> We haven't met, but I've been asked to consult you on a question of style
> relating to the Korean war gallery at the Australian War Memorial, where
> I'm Principal Historian.
>
> At the moment, our Korean war maps refer to the 'Sea of Japan'.  The South
> Korean embassy is making strenuous representations to change this (for
> understandable post-colonial reasons) to 'East Sea'.
>
> Our style, however, is to use the forms current at the time, using our
> official history as an authority.  So, for example, the maps in the
> Gallipoli gallery talk about Constantinople, not Istanbul, and in Vietnam
> about Saigon, not Ho Chi Minh City.
>
> I've advised our Council on the question, but have also been asked to
> establish what policy our kindred institutions - including the Canadian
> War
> Museum - might adopt in these cases.   Can you advise whether you have
> encountered this question, and if so what you do about it?
>
> I'd be very glad of even a brief reply, hope that I haven't unduly
> trespassed on your time.
>
> Many thanks, in anticipation.
>
> Dr Peter Stanley
>
>
>

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