The Genghis Khan exhibit at the Chicago’s Field Museum, open until September 3, 2012, draws visitors by posing the question, “Who was Genghis Khan – a ruthless warrior, or a revered statesman?” It provides fascinating pieces of information on both sides, as well as a glimpse into nomadic Mongolian culture and life.
This exhibit has many real strengths. The Field Museum partnered with the Mongolian Embassy and was thus given access to many rare cultural artifacts, such as bows and arrows from the 13th and 14th century, on loan from the National Museum of Mongolia. Materials on the exhibit claim that it is “the largest single collection of 13th-century Mongolian artifacts ever assembled.” The exhibit uses different forms of media, including video; projected, animated maps; reproductions; and music to engage the patron. This range allows access to the information on different levels. The sophisticated use of media and the excellent flow through the exhibit enhance the overall experience and are no less than what one expects from a museum of Field’s caliber. Continue reading “Interpreting a Legend at the Field Museum”→
While working at the St. Croix National Park Service I have had the opportunity to watch the park administration help a budding friends organization create a National Heritage Area. While you can read more at the NPS website, basically a National Heritage Area is cohesive region that shares common natural, cultural and historic resources that are nationally important. While NHAs originally had some federal funding for administration and promotion when they first came around in the 1980s, that aid has dried up. The driving force behind an NHAs success in generating a heritage tourism economy supported by a community, telling a cohesive story about its past to outsiders.
Predictably there are a lot of ins-and-outs to the process especially in getting the NHA approved by Congress, but before that and by far the most fascinating part of the process is community building. This is the stage where the St. Croix Heritage Initiative is at. The St. Croix Valley Foundation, and the St. Croix River Association, along with several other community partners began initial planning two-years ago and last winter they began a campaign to generate community interest in the concept. Hiring an outside community-building consultation firm (I know, right?) to facilitate the process, the movement became the Heritage Initiative, building a web 2.0 site to allow participation and launching a feasibility study through public “Discovery Workshops.”
Using the St. Croix Watershed as the study area (and a natural starting point for creating a Heritage Area centered on a river), the Heritage Initiative held these workshops in 10 of the 11 counties that make up the watershed. I attended one of these workshops in late May as part of my job with the Park Service.
Greetings from Washington, D.C! I feel fortunate to be spending my summer in the nation’s capitol as a Junior Fellow at the Library of Congress. My internship is in the technical services section of the Prints and Photographs Division, working with a team on an ongoing rehousing and inventory project. The goal of the project is to consolidate thousands of boxes of unprocessed collections from two storage locations into a new storage facility in Maryland. Our job is to rehouse the material, organize it if needed (which is usually the case), create folder-level container lists, and update the catalog and finding aids used by the reference staff so that the collections are more accessible to researchers.
Admittedly, processing archival collections is not the most exhilarating way to spend a day, but I find photographs and printed material much more compelling than textual records, so I very much enjoy my work. One of the best parts is that I have the opportunity to work with a variety of collections and materials, and I get to choose the collections that I process. After processing eight different collections, I have a new appreciation for all that you can learn just by paying attention to visual evidence. Let me tell you a little bit about two of my favorite collections and what I’ve learned from the visual evidence (and a little bit of contextual research).
The American Humane Association
Horse ambulance operated by the Erie County SPCA, c. 1910
The American Humane Association served as “a voice for the voiceless” – advocating for the humane treatment of animals and children beginning in the late nineteenth century. The photograph collection illustrates the activities and interests of the AHA beginning around 1910 through about 1960. One of the most interesting aspects of the collection is that, taken as a whole, it shows how people’s notions of animals evolved over the first half of the twentieth century. Most of the early photographs deal with horses – either working in the city, on ranches, or being used in wartime. Early education campaign posters photographed in the collection urged people: “be kind to dumb animals,” “you can’t starve and beat your horse and have him haul the load,” and “don’t skip his meals.” By the 1930s and 1940s, these basic reminders of how to treat animals were replaced by charming photographs of children with puppies and kittens, and a special series called “Touring with Towser,” that demonstrated the best way to road trip with your dog, including having the proper equipment such as a dog bed, thermos, food, collar and leash, and even raincoat. By looking at the content of the photographs used by the AHA in their publications, one can see how animals changed from being generally utilitarian creatures to members of the family.
Rachel Lewis and Rachel Boyle share the same first name and many courses at Loyola University Chicago. Rarely do they share the same perspective on historical topics. In this installment, the Rachels provide two distinct reviews of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as a work of cinematic public history.
Spoiler Alert: Some plot points are discussed in this review. If you want to be surprised by the movie, read no further.
When I first saw the previews for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter I was, in fact, excited. How could I not be? It has our 16th president, explosions, and vampire blood being splattered about. As a rule, I try to avoid historical movies; they are just too upsetting for me as a historian. For this movie, however, I was willing to ignore my rule about “historical” movies. I really wanted to enjoy this one.
Rachel Lewis and Rachel Boyle share the same first name and many courses at Loyola University Chicago. Rarely do they share the same perspective on historical topics. In this installment, the Rachels provide two distinct reviews of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as a work of cinematic public history.
“History prefers legends to men” – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess that I have very limited knowledge of vampire mythology. I am still unclear about how to kill a vampire. Do you shoot them in the heart with a silver bullet? Cut off their head? Nervously bite your lip until they succumb to your wiles? Judging from the way Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter treats the historical record, I suspect the film plays fast and loose with the rules of vampire hunting as well. Therefore, I will not be evaluating Abraham Lincoln in terms of adherence to the rules of vampirology or historical accuracy. I am most interested in dissecting the internal logic of this film and the implications for the public’s memory of Abraham Lincoln and nineteenth century United States history.
The Lakefront Historian 