Jennifer;

I sympathize with your problem; it is VERY difficult to convey what you want
to do through static displays. One option would be to add film, wherein
reenactors do the things you want to show, and, in the course of so doing,
make the difficult points you want to make in their dialogue with each
other. You might want to talk to Steve Bowman in Melbourne, who has a
well-established A/V company and would be interested in your project.

Food and its preparation have unique and universal appeal to visitors. As
the faithful Boswell's chum was wont to say,

"I mind my belly most studiously, Sir, and I hold that he who will not mind
his, will scarce mind anything else!"

Go to any re-enactment or heritage fair and you will find the people
clustering around two trades - the cooks and the blacksmiths. People are
truly fascinated with all aspects of food preparation and preservation. What
did they eat and why? How did they prepare it?, etc., etc. My partner, Sue
and I do re-enactments. She does "period" cooking, roughly 1750 through
1850, depending on the event and she receives so much attention, whatever
the reenactment site, that she is now going into business for herself,
putting on one-day one-person demonstrations for small museums and sites in
Ontario, to bring their artifacts and sites to life.

It would be a pity if you did not use live interpretation of this kind to
augment other means in your VERY interesting site.

Good luck!

Harry

Harry Needham
Special Advisor - Programme Development
Canadian War Museum
330 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0M8
Voice: (819) 776-8612  Fax (819) 776-8623
Email: [log in to unmask]

> ----------
> From:         Jennifer Nuske[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To:     Museum discussion list
> Sent:         Thursday, January 21, 1999 9:39 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      c1885 kitchen activities
>
> I am revisiting the interpretation of a c1885 period kitchen and am
> tired of the usual "look at this unusual gadget", "didn't they have
> some strange food on their menu" approach.
>
> I would like to emphasize the time, energy and processes involved in the
> preservation of food stuffs. To help achieve this end I want to show
> processes like pickling and salting in progress. (This has to be static
> rather
> than an actual activity). Most information
> I have found is recipe based. There are some descriptions of process but
> very few graphics showing the equipment and process which I desperately
> need.
>
> I hoped someone on the list who has tried this before could provide
> info/advice. Maybe others
> might have suggestions about getting the message across in a static
> display. (I note
> the perpetual museum quandary of trying to show activity through
> interpretation
> methods that are 'inactive').
>
> Thanks
>
> Jennifer Nuske
> CURATOR
> Port Arthur Historic Site
> Port Arthur TAS 7182
> AUSTRALIA
>
> E-Mail [log in to unmask]
>