The Ghosts of History

I’m not usually one for war history, but I heard a great story recently that I wanted to share with everyone.  Ghosts of History is a project by former historical consultant Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse and is based in History Pin technology.  Using photographs from World War II they superimpose the people and the equipment from that period over modern pictures of Dutch streets creating chilling images that combine the past and the present.  Arguably this kind of tool does not require it to be war history that is portrayed, but that is what Teeuwisse is working with for now.  There are of course limitations on this tool, as the history of photography is significantly shorter than the history of history, but the future posibilities, especially as the digital era expands, and more and more pictures are being taken every day, are immense.  This kind of technology amplifies our historical sense of place by actually being able to look at a current place, as it may have been in historical times.

History Pin and other apps or programs make this kind of technology available to all of us, and I have to say, I find it amazing.

The story from The World

Ghosts of History

Park Ranger Historian

This was a blog I wanted to do back when we visited the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.  I have a friend from high school, who edits many of my papers for me; we met in marching band and she now works for the National Parks Service.  I wanted to do a bio piece on her as a thank you to her and to share this story that shows how much pull history and cultural heritage really does have on most of us.  Susie Sernaker never really wanted to be involved in cultural heritage, but her story is quite similar to those among us who have known since childhood that they would end up in the field.

Susie never dreamt of becoming a public historian, but she did want to become a park ranger, after a childhood experience at Shenandoah National Park.  At age 14 she got her first chance to volunteer at Biscayne National Park working there and on Elliot key in a variety of roles, some volunteer and some paid, for the next ten years.  Finally Susie had her chance to become a Ranger, hoping to become an Environmental Education Specialist, she took a job at Ozark National Scenic Riverways, where she became infatuated by living history, beginning a long love affair with historic tools of warfare and cooking.  Her first permanent cultural history job was at Richmond National Battlefield Park, where she was intimidated on a daily basis by genealogical and intellectual connections presented to her by patrons.  This intimidation did not deter Susie though as by the end of her time at Richmond she easily hold her own with the most knowledgeable Civil War aficionados that visited the park.

Susie is back in Florida at the “remote” Tumucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, where she is lead ranger and lead interpreter.  Located on Fort George Island near Jacksonville the park consists of the plantation of Zephaniah Kingsley.  The island has archeological evidence of almost 6000 years of human experience.  The plantation is in great condition, even the slave quarters, providing an excellent historical experience.  Susie’s duties range from mentoring guides, tending gardens, weaving with the cotton and dying with the indigo from the garden, and performing in, and providing weapons training for, a variety of living history exhibits.

What I like the best about Susie’s story is how it shows the connection to history that we all have, and how, if properly nurtured, it can foment a life full of the desire to learn, to this day Susie edits my history papers as much for her edification and education as to help me.

Art Museums Revert to In-House Collections

In the article, “Money Tight, Museums Mine Their Own Collections” by Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times, many museums in the United States have reverted to only exhibiting in-house collections. Specifically, the article focuses on how the economy of the United States has shaped museum exhibitions and collections. In the article, Pogrebin contends that the economy in the U.S. has caused museums to look inward at existing collections rather than going out acquiring new ones, or even loaning other museums collections. The curators of various museums across the United States have put more effort into making in-house museum collections the focal point of exhibitions, supplemented by very few pieces of loaned collections. This has allowed many museums to increase their audiences and increase revenue flow, which is an effective means of saving precious endowment funds.

In the article, Pogrebin examines various museums across the United States such as the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Both of these museums have reverted to using in-house collections to attract revenue and save endowment funds. Specifically, the Cincinnati Art Museum received a 10 million dollar cut in endowment during the 2010-2011 fiscal year. As a result, the Cincinnati Art Museum, who was spending 2.5 million dollars a year on special exhibitions decided to exploit in-house collections like circus posters and Dutch contemporary design collections to supplement. The use of in-house collections gave the Cincinnati Art Museum a 30% increase in attendance. In comparison, the Metropolitan Museum of Art did a popular exhibit on various Picasso pieces, which drew in over 700,000 people in 2010.

Although these museums have been particularly effective in cutting costs and doing it without hurting revenue, some critics have complained that these museums are duplicating collection pieces in other exhibits. The article for example, mentions that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was criticized for using Picasso paintings that were “stodgy and bizarrely lopsided”. Another Museums, the Guggenheim Museum in New York overlapped works of art in two shows which caused a negative review of some exhibits. The director of the Guggenheim basically stated that the people who complained about the overlap were extreme insiders and that he believed it was okay to show exceptional works of art twice.

Too Strange To Not Talk About

I found this article today talking about a recent controversy at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West, Florida. There was recently a decision made that the special cats that live on the grounds had to have special care. Why are cats involved? Because Hemingway was apparently a big cat lover, and the cats roaming the grounds are actually descendants of a special cat given to Hemingway by a ship captain- all of them have six toes. The whole problem arose when a visitor complained that they didn't think the museum was taking proper care of the cats. In 2003, the USDA said the museum was subject to the Animal Welfare Act, and as such would have to cage and tag the cats at night, and provide additional facilities for them. In 2009, the museum appealed to a federal court to appeal the decision, but the judge rule against them.

I am not generally a cat person, but I thought that this was such a peculiar incident it was worth mentioning. I can see how the museum would be upset about the decision- in a way, the cats are very much a part of the Hemingway story. I don't think I've heard of other history museums having large numbers of animals on the grounds (or any animals at all really), so I don't know if there have been similar situations in which a museum has to contend with regulations regarding a completely different subject (such as keeping animals). Either way, it is an interesting story.

The full article can be read here:
http://todaytravel.today.com/_news/2012/12/11/15842617-cat-fight-pits-government-against-hemingway-museum?lite

Exhibiting our Dreams: Surrealism and the Museum Exhibition

In my current Master's Program (Humanities), Art history has become my central focus, and because of this I have been studying early 20th century art including my favorite style Surrealism. For those of you who may not be familiar with that style, Salvador Dali (melting clocks) was one of the prominent artist of it. Now the idea I want to discuss involves the integration of the style into gallery and museum exhibitions of their time but also in modern day museums. The Surrealist wanted their gallery and museum space to reflect the art that was being shown, they wanted the dreamlike essence that their work had and also the random objects and textures integrated into the gallery and museum space. An example of this would be the use of mannequins, trees and ready-made art into the open space. They transformed their space to reflect the art they were exhibiting as if the experience itself transgressed beyond the art itself. They invited their audience to explore the elements of surrealism by incorporating a sensual experience that stimulating all senses either at the same time or throughout the exhibit (devices making random noise, unstable floor, spider webs or rope used to brush against the visitors. These artists wanted the experience to be a reflection of their art and to allow the audience to experience it to the point where they will never forget it.

one of the most famous exhibitions was in London on June 14- July 4 1936.

 http://www.luxonline.org.uk/history/1900-1949/the_surrealist_exhibition.html

The link takes you to a history and overview of the exhibit and the highlight from it, (Salvador Dali doing a lecture in a full on deep sea diver suit). The photos from the exhibit show how they fully embraced and integrated their ideas into the exhibit.

The Surrealist were innovative in their ideas in exhibiting work and elevating their open space into a working piece of art that connects to their paintings and sculptures. They also wanted to bring the viewers into their experience and allow them to experience their style of work first hand.

Surrealism is a recognized style today and is still widely celebrated and exhibited in museums across the globe. Just like back in the days when Surrealism was at its height, current exhibitions try to integrate their themes into their museum or gallery space as for example the "Surrealism: Poetry of Dreams' exhibit in Queensland

http://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibitions/past/2011/surrealism_the_poetry_of_dreams

Museum Preservation

In the article, “Even in a Museum, Elements Eat at a Sunken Ship” written by Sindya N. Bhanoo of the New York Times, the preservation of a Swedish warship known as Vasa is discussed. The main problem with the Vasa is that the nails and rivets which were used to build the ship, have caused Iron Oxide to seep into the ships wood. This chemical reaction of Oxygen and Iron, also known as Iron Oxide, allows rust to corrode the metal alloy in the Iron. This can also be true in terms of wood, which can also corrode due to over-exposure of rust. Similarly, another preservation problem could be Iron Stains. These are stains in the wood due to contamination from Iron. Basically, oak wood contains many types of tannin. The various types of tannin react with the Iron to produce a blue and black stain on the wood.

The second preservation problem which plagues the Vasa is the fact that ships wooden hull is warping and shifting a few millimeters a year. When warping of wood occurs, the shape of the wood changes primarily as a result of a moisture change within the wood. Considering the Vasa was pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean, the waterlogged wood is exposed to oxygen. This moisture change causes the wood to shrink and the piece tends to wrap. The shift of the wood is a result of the warp, in which the hull of the Vasa is warping at a bowed angle.  With these two major preservation problems, the staff has decided to come up with a plan to make sure the Vasa gets better support.

Being a student and studying various kinds of preservation methods, this article greatly shocked me. Even although the Vasa was well taken care of and housed in a museum, it still began to deteriorate and falter. This is typically true of items which are not taken care of, but the Vasa was preserved according to preservation standards and sheltered from all the dangers of the world. It almost seemed to me that the Vasa would be better preserved in its natural environment, which prior to 1956, was at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

After reading this article, I began researching various ways which the Vasa could be better taken care of. First, the biggest problem facing Dr. Bjurhager is that the Vasa are primarily made of oak wood. This type of wood is considered one of the most problematic types of wood because of the vapors which are produced. To block these vapors, the team at The Vasa Museum may consider apply a coat of paint to prevent the harmful vapors of the wood from escaping.

After researching the museum site, the staff has created an innovative way in dealing with the Iron Oxide problem. Basically, the staff extracts the Iron from the wood and nails using chemical agents known as chelators. These chemical agents remove 80% of the Iron from the Vasa wood along with the conservation chemical PEG. This causes the re-conservation of the wood because the conservation staff must place the PEG back into the wood to further conserve it.

Video Games

Public History and Video Games?

I don’t normally know anything about video games but my boyfriend Josh bought Assassin’s Creed 3, and I’ve been learning a lot.  The game is set during the Revolutionary War and the main character is half Mohawk half and half European. A newspaper article in Montreal explains how the game designers chose to work with a man named Thomas Deer who is a “cultural liaison officer at the Kahnawake Language and Cultural Center” and he helped to ensure that the Mohawk were accurately depicted.  The game designers really wanted the game to be respectful and authentic to Native Americans.  I think this closely relates to my paper on interpreting Native American objects. Josh has recently done a lot of research on Iroquois archaeology in his grad program, and he’s really appreciated how historically accurate the housing structures appear in the video game, which is very cool.  

“By all accounts, the game’s reception among First Nations, and especially in Kahnawake, was overwhelmingly positive. “It was the talk of the town — at least among younger people,” writes Deer. “For the first time, they actually got to play a mainstream video game that was honest about our culture, featuring a Mohawk hero they could be proud of, and gameplay in the Mohawk language. That’s a phenomenal achievement.”

I haven’t actually played the game, but it’s still very cool that the game reached out for input from Native Americans. Hopefully, videogames like these can serve as a stepping stones to more video games representing historical events. It’s something that could definitely catch the public’s attention and cause them to find out more on their own.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Assassin+Creed+Mohawk+character+shaped+Kahnawake+Thomas+Deer/7649966/story.html#ixzz2EQYEzXsx