Amen.

At 04:27 PM 1/22/98 -0500, you wrote:
>My reply is short. To get back on the Enola Gay debate is like having to
>sit and watch Bill Murray in Ground Hog Day.
>
>Len Hambleton - Objects Conservator
>North Carolina Museum of History
>5 East Edenton Street
>Raleigh NC. 27601-1011
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>919-715-0200 x244
>"Information in the spirit of sharing,catch the wave!"
>
>Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my
>agency
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: STUD Brent Stauffer [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 1998 4:09 PM
>> To:   [log in to unmask]
>> Subject:      Re: VANDALISING UNPOPULAR STATUES ETC. - using the
>> pieces             inmuseums
>>
>> I was wondering if the debate over putting a display that included the
>> Enola Gay and other objects about the atomic bombimgs would also fit
>> into
>> this category.  I would also like to hear what other people had to say
>> about that exhibit.
>>
>>
>> On Thu, 22 Jan 1998, Nicholson, Claudia wrote:
>>
>> > Harry Needham has raised an interesting point when he noted that the
>> > museum gets accused of "glorifying" Hitler because they show the
>> > decapitated head of a Hitler statue in the museum.
>> >
>> > I ran into the same problem in South Dakota.  An exhibit of a Ku
>> Klux
>> > Klan robe brought a sharp response from some visitors, including one
>> who
>> > bothered to write her anger.  She accused us of "glorifying" the
>> Klan
>> > because we showed the outfit.  We thought that it would be good to
>> point
>> > out that the Klan was not simply an organization of the American
>> > South--that it was active in the northern parts of the country too,
>> and
>> > in the case of South Dakota, went after foreigners and Catholics.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately, many visitors still think that what museums do is
>> glorify
>> > the past.  Anything that we show, therefore, is out for the public
>> to
>> > see so that they might revel in the ever-upward spiral of
>> civilization.
>> > Although the context and explanatory labeling of any potentially
>> > controversial object in a museum exhibit can very carefully show why
>> the
>> > object is not there to be glorified, if the visitor does not read
>> the
>> > label or pay attention to the context, they can make an incorrect
>> > assumption.
>> >
>> > Once again, I will ask the question:  how do museums really educate
>> the
>> > public to what we are trying to do?  How do we get visitors in a
>> > questioning frame of mind when they come through our doors?  How can
>> we
>> > get them to question--and then seek to find the answer--when they
>> see
>> > something in our galleries that they think is inappropriate?  How do
>> we
>> > get them to understand that, at least in history museums, we are
>> tying
>> > to talk about both the good and the bad of the past?
>> >
>> > Claudia J. Nicholson
>> > Curator
>> > Museum Collections Department
>> > Minnesota Historical Society
>> > 345 Kellogg Blvd. W.
>> > St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
>> >   Tel.:  612/297-7442
>> >   FAX: 612/297-2967
>> >   E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>> >
>> > >
>> >
>
Deanna J. Kerrigan
AASLH
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