I contacted David Grabitske, who was listed as the author of the "Glossary".
It turns out that he works for the Minnesota State Historical Society, and
is, in fact, the State Historic Preservation Officer for Minnesota (but, he
says, this was done as a side project and not in his official capacity). He
responded quite cordially to my email right away, and he is re-thinking the
way the Glossary is written. The Glossary is meant to be a neutral
compendium of terms actually used in the field by historic interpreters and
re-enactors, done as a kind of anthropological study of a sub-culture's
jargon. It's not quite clear if this particular term is a modern coinage or
a resurrection of a historical term of disparagement  (and I think that
makes a difference in how it's reinterpreted). However, he is now aware of
the offensive nature of this entry (and possibly others too), and says that
he is withdrawing the current version for re-examination (though once
something escapes into the wild on the Internet, there's no "withdrawing!").
I will post any further developments if warranted....

Carol Ely
Museum Consultant, Louisville

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).