Reading for January 22, 2013

Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory by Mike Wallace

            This week’s reading in Mickey Mouse History dealt with the historian’s role in the various aspects of museum work.  One of the first interpretations that museums took in displaying the different aspects of history was by presenting it in terms of a “white ethnic reading.” (pg. 57)  Only the aspects of the country’s history that dealt with white Americans achieving something was displayed and explained to the viewer.  This attitude that museums employed had to change as the visitor’s attitude changed.

            Wallace discussed how one of the highest priorities of a museum was to promote particular views, not all of the views available. (pg. 76)  This priority had to change along with the attitude regarding the white ethnic reading. 

            The historians in museums now have to adjust for the “cyberculture” that Wallace discussed. (pg. 102)  The new culture of having a great deal of information online, or on electronic devices has changed how historians gather their data.  Artifacts are still collected, but many of the new entries for museums to consider are digital.  These records require a new way of storing and preserving them, which is an aspect that historians are adjusting to.

Public History Essays from the Field by James Gardner and Peter LaPaglia

            This week’s reading in Public History discussed the role of historians as museum administrators. (pg. 47)  The discussion centered on what makes a good administrator, which had more to do with personality and a person’s ability to work well with other people.  A historian might or might not fit that mold.     

  

Web Reading – Disney’s America

            This week we read an entry for a website that discussed Walt Disney’s proposed new theme park, which was never built.  The park would have allowed the visitor to walk around America’s history, including walking around a civil war era town and rafting down a river with the Lewis and Clark expedition.  This park was never built because the people who lived near the proposed site, Haymarket Virginia, would not allow the park to be built.  They felt that the park could never present the history of the country in a fair way.  Walt Disney was forced to cancel his plan for the park, and the attractions were dispersed to other theme parks, mostly Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park and Disney’s California Adventure Theme Park. 

                                      a rendition of Disney's America, courtesy of Google Images

Website – Ellis Island

            One of the websites that we visited for this week’s reading was a site dedicated to Ellis Island, the island that so many immigrants traveled through on their way to America.  The website allows the viewer to search for a specific immigrant, or to help track their genealogy.  The website provides a lot of pictures that allows the visitor to visually travel though Ellis Island.  The site is very helpful for those visitors who wish to find one of their ancestors who may have arrived in the United States through Ellis Island. 

Video – Black Interpreters at Colonial Williamsburg

            I was unable to view this video.  I tried switching browser, but the video still would not allow me to press the play button.  I am unsure if I am the only member of the class who had this problem.

Class Readings for January 15, 2013

            This week’s readings focused on trying to define what public history is, as well as discussing the role of museums in the field of public history. 

            Mike Wallace wrote Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory.  He gives the reader an introduction that explores the value of history in a modern society, and how a society cannot extract itself from its past.  “And what of our era?  How stands the balance between memory and forgetting?  …. We have constructed vast numbers of museums (and halls of fame) that explore an astonishing range of subjects and localities.” (page X)  He goes on to talk about how Civil War reenactments are popular, and how the reenactors pick a specific person from that battle to personify for the benefit of the audience. 

            The author continues by discussing some of the uses of history, and why is it considered important to preserve it.  He talked about how museums are viewed as a place for the audience to view history; however that history is “irrelevant to present-day concerns.” (page 25)  The museum structure presents history in a way that allows the audience to “imagine alternative social orders – past or future.” (page 25)

            James Gardner and Peter LaPaglia wrote Public History: Essays from the Field.  The authors begin their book by discussing the establishment of the field of public history in the 1970s.  “Before the 1970s, graduate of traditional academic history programs working in public historical agencies sometimes experienced a sense of alienation from or found little welcome in the academically oriented professional historical associations.” (page 29)  The historians who felt alienated would sometimes join the American Association for State and Local History, or AASLH, where they felt more welcome given the type of history that they wanted to pursue.

            We also had some online readings, including reading the Wikipedia page on public history.  The website defined public history as “public history proves resistant to being precisely defined. Three key elements often emerge from the discourse of those who identify themselves as public historians.”  The website continues to define the three elements of public history as the  use of the methods of the historical discipline, with an emphasis on the usefulness of historical knowledge in some way that goes beyond purely academic or antiquarian purposes, as well as an emphasis on professional training and practice.

            The website also includes a list of universities that provide a master degree in public history, as well as links for the reader to continue their research into the field of public history.

            Our readings concluded with a speech given by Carl Becker, the president of the American Historical Association in 1931.  His speech was titled Everyman His Own Historian, and the speech talked about how every person lived in a time of history, which made every person a historian.  They may not realize that they were living history, but it was the job of the association to acknowledge that there were different types of history.  The academic type that everyone was taught might not be the only type of history that should be studied.   

                                                       Carl Becker, courtesy of Google Images

test

This is my first post, which is simply a test.

will this link work?

will this picture work? (way to much work)

my right hand, image courtesy of the webcam on my laptop computer