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 :=