The curator working on our Civil War exhibition has written labels in which he calls revolvers pistols. My understanding is that a pistol is a handgun with a chamber integral with the barrel. Could pistol be considered common usage at the time of the Civil War and therefore the term is acceptable in the label copy? If it is, we will have to decide whether, as a museum with responsibility to the public, we should hold to a more academic standard.
Bonni-Dara Michaels
Collections Curator
Yeshiva University Museum
tel: 212-294-8330 x 8815
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