I think the message is rather different from the issue of
visitor expectations; I think it has something to do with what happens
when museums -- or anyone -- wants to have it both ways.  I can't
imagine anything more disingenuous than staging a hanging and then
reprieving the criminals.  You're either going to interpret 18th-century
realities or you're not -- and if you wimp out because of 20th-century
sensibilities, the audience has a right to call you on it.
 
On Sun, 24 Jul 1994 12:00:04 -0500, Dave Harvey wrote:
 
>I have a couple of annecdotes to offer on the topic of Goulish subjects!
>
>A couple of years ago here at Colonial Williamsburg we had a special
>program in which an 18th century gallows was reconstructed and a hanging
>"event" was staged for public consumption. At the last minute, of course,
>the prisoners were reprieved. Some members of our public audience were
>very disappointed that a hanging did not occur and they were vocal about
>it! I think that this is a good lesson that when we engage our visitors
>in museum interpretations we shouldn't set up expectations that we can't
>carry out! :)
>
>I also had the pleasure of talking to a museum director in New Jersey
>whom related to me that the original owner of their historic house & site
>had served as a judge on a notorious murder trial. The accused was found
>guilty, he was hung, and then flayed - and his skin was tanned and made
>into "souviners". The director related to me that some of these
>"souviners" are still extant in the form of little purses, which some
>families in the town still proudly possess! It reminds me of the old
>saying about "making silk purses..." ;)
>
>One of my favorite museum experiences when I was a child was going
>through the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Musuem in St. Augustine FLA - it
>is the closest thing to a cabinet of curiousities which I've seen.
>
>Dave Harvey
>daveh@everest
>
>Conservator of Metals & Arms
>Colonial Williamsburg
>P.O. Box 1776
>Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776
>804-220-7039
>
>=:|\Pinnacle Online                    - Open and dynamic Internet services:=
>=:|o\.    |  |      |  ______                                              :=
>=:|_/||\ ||\ |   |\.| __  |       Voice: 804/498.3889  email: [log in to unmask]:=
>=:|  || \|| \| o | \| \_ .|        Data: 804/498.9762  login: guest or new :=