Week 3: The History of Public History

Mike Wallace’s essay on “Boat People: Immigration History at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island” discusses the controversy surrounding the renovation and the construction of museum exhibits at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Wallace discusses how there has been much controversy between the Park Service and the American Museum of Immigration (AMI) over what the main focus of the museums should be.  The AMI wanted the main focus to be about immigration and show how immigrants are able to come to America and improve their lives through self-sacrifice and hard work.  He felt the Park Service wanted the main focus to be about the history of the statue itself and set the exhibit up so that “the objects, left to speak for themselves, tell an ambiguous story” (62).  Wallace then goes on to discuss how the Ellis Island museum is very detail oriented when discussing the various different rooms that are set up to allow the viewer to see and experience what the people who came through Ellis Island felt. 

Courtesy of Holiday Force. Statue of Liberty

Courtesy of Liberty Harbor RV. Ellis Island

           Wallace’s essay, “Progress Talk: Museums of Science, Technology, and Industry” discusses the history behind engineering and how and why industrial museums became popular in the 1920’s.  He points out that many of these museums were centered around technology and industry, but left out topics like “labor relations, pollution, foreign competition… labor and radical movements,” ect. 

In Wallace’s essay, “ Industrial Museums and the History of Deindustrialization,” he suggests some paths that public historians might consider exploring.  They “need to strive for a better connection of past, present, and future in our exhibitry,” that “exhibits should be analogous not to snapshots, but to frames from an ongoing movies;” they should be “set in a larger spatial as well as temporal context” (89).  He also argues that museums that focus on industrialization need to also put some focus on deindustrialization. 

Wallace’s essay “The Virtual Past: Media and History Museums” is about how technology has advanced so much that museums need to become a part of the technological world through electronic galleries, virtual museums, and other medias that allow a person to view a part of history or an exhibit of a museum from a computer or other device.  With the advancement of technology, museums need to adapt to be able to keep up with the changing times. 

Wallace’s essay on “Museums and Controversy” assesses how museums have dealt with controversial topics and why certain exhibits are shown while others are not.  This is not only seen in museums but other facets of everyday life, topic that are considered taboo see much objection if one suggests to make it known to the public.  Wallace argues that instead of trying to keep taboo topics hidden away, they need to be shown and become public knowledge. 

Wallace’s essay “Mickey Mouse History: Portraying the Past at Disney World” gives insight as to why Walt Disney decided to create a theme park with the main goal of throwing the patrons back into an Improved version of the past.  Disney’s park has been compared to Rockefeller’s Williamsburg and Ford’s Greenfield Village as all three “eliminate from “history” what their sponsors found inconvenient and unwelcome” (141).  Wallace discusses what kind of impact Walt Disney’s park has on its visitors and thinks, “the country at large needs to reflect upon the consequences of the corporate commodification of history” (154).

Courtesy of Blue Light Lady. Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse

Wallace’s essay “Disney’s America” looks at how the Walt Disney Company had to “reinvent the Disney theme park experience” as well as other aspects of the company to get people interested in all things Disney once again.  In 1993, Disney announced its new theme park, Disney’s America, was developed in order to solve the company’s financial problems.  The core theme of the park would be to evoke the history of the United States and was meant to be “a “serious fun” celebration of U.S. history” (164).  Shortly after Disney released the plan for Disney’s America they came under fire by historians and other groups on how Disney planned to present the past, without any of the horrors of history.

Wallace gets a bit bogged down with his descriptions and facts in many of his essays.  It seems that he sometimes loses himself in certain topics like how the museum at Ellis Island is set up.  His essays about Walt Disney were interesting because very few in today’s world would think that Disney World was designed to transport people back into the past.  Wallace makes a point to show how Americans tend to ignore parts of history that they don’t feel comfortable with.  Walt Disney and many museums only show the good parts of history while ignoring the worst parts.  Wallace also has a tendency to input editorial into his essays.

            Michael J. Devine’s “Administrators: Students of History and Practitioners of the Art of Management” examines what is takes to become a successful administrator.  Based off of Devine’s own experiences and observations, he believes there are three essential elements for successful administration.  “First, directors must know the nuts and bolts of their agencies, and possess basic skills in interpersonal communication, management, and budgeting.  Second, directors must have a sense of vision… essential that administrators of history programs know history and know it well.  Third, directors must serve as tireless, resourceful, effective principal spokespersons or advocates for that vision” (47).  Funding and governance is just a couple of the problems historians in administrator positions face.  He also discusses what types of training and qualifications are necessary for historians who seek a career as an administrator of a historical program or agency.  Devine’s essay is very straightforward but is very informative.  His experience as an administrator lends some credibility to his essay and gives some insight into the career that others who just did research may not have. 

            In Roy H. Tryon’s essay “Archivists and Records Managers,” he explains what archivists and record managers do and how they are different from one another.  According to Tryon, “archivists are concerned with noncurrent records and record managers with current ones” (57).  He goes on to describe how these two jobs are different from each other, how they work together, and the different education required for each position.  Tryon’s essay give the reader insight into and archivist and record managers job and it helps that Tryon is an archivist and record manager so he has first hand experience with both jobs. 

            Jannelle Warren-Findley’s essay on “Contract Historians and Consultants” explains how one would become a historian in private practice and how to determine what professional skills that you’ve attained to aid in you work as a contract historian or consultant.  Having once had a private practice as a historian, Warren-Findley knows first hand what it takes to be successful in this career and gives the reader information that will be useful for someone who chose this career path.
            Candace Falk’s “Documentary Editors: Not as Boring as it Sounds” explains what a documentary editor does, they preserve “history by presenting the full texts, allowing the reader to experience the immediacy of the authentic voice” (88).  Falk was a documentary editor herself and discusses her own work in the field, creating the Emma Goldman collection.

            Daniel Greer’s essay “Editors and Publishers: Making Books for Readers” illustrates what an editors job entails.  Since Greer works as an editor, he has first hand knowledge on how a manuscript is chosen to be published and the long process it goes through before it goes to print.  Greer gives examples of how an editor determines whether a manuscript has the potential to become a great novel and lays out the process a book and editor go through before the final product is produced.

            Disney’s America theme park was the dream project of Michael Eisner back in 1993.  Eisner wanted it to be a park that was centered on the history of the United States.  The different themed areas would allow guests to go back in time to the Civil War, visit an American Indian village, travel through Ellis Island, visit an old-time farm, or even walk through an American factory town.  In many of these areas rides would have been constructed to add to the experience.  This project never left the drawing board but many aspects can be seen in Disneyland, CA.  Maybe in another era Disney’s America theme park could become a reality, if one was willing to change the aspects that people took issue with. 

Courtesy of Disney Drawing Board. Disney's America Concept Art