--- "David E. Haberstich" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> To bring this exchange back into the museum realm, I'm curious as to what a
> peace museum will show, e.g., what kinds of artifacts?  I'm not familiar with
> the existing peace museums which were mentioned previously.  What do they
> show?

I haven't been to a "peace" museum but there is the "National Liberty Museum"
in Philadelphia. http://www.libertymuseum.org/ According to their website "It
was created to celebrate our nation's heritage of freedom and the wonderful
diverse society it has produced." I visited there in 2000 and except for the
Chilhuly exhibit and some other artworks, I thought it was a really, really,
*really* insipid museum.

Observations in no particular order:

- The gallery title, "Voyage of Liberty Through Faith" suggests exhibits of all
religions but it is entirely Christocentric. In addition, their statement about
William Penn founding Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers is just wrong. He
got the land in payment as a debt to his family from the King and moved there
for business opportunities. One of the conditions of his colony was religious
tolerance and he worked extensively with the local Native American population
but it wasn't the purpose for it.

- Use of the word "hero". It is unclear as to what the museum's criteria for a
"hero" is. (And personally, I think the word is completely overused.) Carl
Sagan was listed on their "Exceptional People" because he died of bone cancer.
But he died relatively quickly from it and most of his work was done before he
was diagnosed.

- Has a section on "violent video games and TV have lead to a more violent
society" which is completely untrue. Granted, I think violent video games and
TV have desensitized children to violence these days, the world has always been
a violent place and needs no help from the mass media. And while violent crime
has gone down in past years, reporting of violent crimes has gone up like 600%
which gives a false impression that the world is a far more violent place than
it is. The worst case of school violence was in the 20s (I think that's the
decade) when an ousted board member drove his truck up to an elementary school
and blew it up, killing around 20 children and adults - long before the video
generation was even born.

It does have some good ideas like the "Jellybean Children" sculpture. The theme
for it is that we are all the same under the skin and I think it represents
this very well. The shreader to destroy hateful or mean words is kind of
interesting too.

On  "peace museums" in general: While I think a "Peace Museum" would be an
excellent idea, I think it would be really hard to dedicate a whole museum to
it. First off, there is the issue of defining "peace". As others pointed out,
is peace not doing anything in times of war, standing up against aggressors
through non-violent means, or using passive resistance? I know many people in
the military who consider themselves "peacemakers" because their purpose is to
defend those who can't defend themselves.

So the initial concept is vague as best and as we all know, if you must have a
well-definited concept to start with in order to build a museum.

And like David Haberstich mentioned, war museums are much easier because you
have "stuff" to work with. "Peacemakers" don't have much "stuff" other than
themselves and their followers. You could display one of Ghandi's saris (do men
in India wear saris?) or MLK's suits, but they really don't have any other
artifacts associated with them as compared to a military unit.

Interesting topic to think about. My Quaker meeting has toyed with the idea of
making "peace" museum because the National Army Museum might move in, quite
literally next door. I'd rather see a contemplative garden, a simple memorial
to those that have died in conflicts, or a nice sculputre rather than a whole
museum.

Deb




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