Travels Into Our Past America S Living History Museums Historical Sites

ANOTHER VENTURE BOUND BOOK! Whether you are seeking a new travel adventure, enjoy immersing yourself in history with a light touch, or are just looking for a good tale, the Andersons' first volume of Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites will be a satisfying reading experience. When you delve into the pages of this book, you'll find yourself on an investigation of your ancestors' legacy on the different farms at Old World Wisconsin, each originally settled by a Norwegian, Dane, German, Pole, Finn, and a rich Yankee. Discover the Arabia Steamboat Museum near Kansas City and learn the unusual story of the ship which sank in the Missouri River in 1856. Because of one of the many course changes of the "Big Muddy," the Arabia was later found buried deep in a farmer's field and was excavated with its cargo, a virtual "floating Wal-Mart." In Fort Smith, Arkansas, you'll read of a fire that became known as "the night of the lingerie parade." Living history museums are an engaging and interactive way to learn about various facets of our vast country's relatively short history through demonstrations, preserved structures and re-enacted events. The Andersons share over fifty of their memorable experiences at these story-telling historical sites.

Whether you are seeking a new travel adventure, enjoy immersing yourself in history with a light touch, or are just looking for a good tale, the Andersons' fi rst volume of Travels Into Our Past: America's Living History Museums & Historical Sites will be a satisfying reading experience. When you delve into the pages of this book, you'll fi nd yourself on an investigation of your ancestors' legacy on the different farms at Old World Wisconsin, each originally settled by a Norwegian, Dane, German, Pole, Finn, and a rich Yankee. Discover the Arabia Steamboat Museum near Kansas City and learn the unusual story of the ship which sank in the Missouri River in 1856. ANOTHER VENTURE BOUND BOOK! Because of one of the many course changes of the "Big Muddy," the Arabia was later found buried deep in a farmer's fi eld and was excavated with its cargo, a virtual "fl oating Wal-Mart." In Fort Smith, Arkansas, you'll read of a fi re that became known as "the night of the lingerie parade." Living history museums are an engaging and interactive way to learn about various facets of our vast country's relatively short history through demonstrations, preserved structures and re-enacted events. The Andersons share over fi fty of their memorable experiences at these story-telling historical sites.

In the 1960s, Canadians could step through time to eighteenth-century trading posts or nineteenth-century pioneer towns. These living history museums promised authentic reconstructions of the past but, as Time Travel shows, they revealed more about mid-twentieth-century interests and perceptions of history than they reflected historical fact. These museums became important components of post-war government economic growth and employment policies. Shaped by political pressures and the need to balance education and entertainment, they reflected Canadians’ struggle to establish a pan-Canadian identity in the context of multiculturalism, competing nationalisms, First Nations resistance, and the growth of the state.

Every year 100 million visitor's tour historic houses and re-created villages, examine museum artifacts, and walk through battlefields. But what do they learn? What version of the past are history museums offering to the public? And how well do these institutions reflect the latest historical scholarship? Fifteen scholars and museum staff members here provide the first critical assessment of American history museums, a vital arena for shaping popular historical consciousness. They consider the form and content of exhibits, ranging from Gettysburg to Disney World. They also examine the social and political contexts on which museums operate.

This text examines the intriguing and popular phenomenon of living history. Exploring the past through realistic recreation has become more and more familiar to visitors of museums and historical sites. It is also used as an educational approach.

Living History Museums: Undoing History Through Performance examines the performance techniques of Living History Museums, cultural institutions that merge historical exhibits with costumed live performance. Institutions such as Plimoth Plantation and Colonial Williamsburg are analyzed from a theatrical perspective, offering a new genealogy of living museum performance.

Museums and the Past explores the central role of museums as memory keepers and makers. Using case studies from a Canadian context, the contributors to this collection reflect on the challenges in maintaining and developing museums as meaningful places of memory and learning. Discussions of museum practice and historical consciousness – how our understanding of the past shapes our sense of the future – consider the modern museum’s narratives and pedagogical responsibilities and how museums continue to inform our sense of history.

Food is such a friendly topic that it’s often thought of as a “hook” for engaging visitors – a familiar way into other topics, or a sensory element to round out a living history interpretation. But it’s more than just a hook – it’s a topic all its own, with its own history and its own uncertain future, deserving of a central place in historic interpretation. With audiences more interested in food than ever before, and new research in food studies bringing interdisciplinary approaches to this complicated but compelling subject, museums and historic sites have an opportunity to draw new audiences and infuse new meaning into their food presentations. You’ll find: A comprehensive, thematic framework of key concepts that will help you contextualize food history interpretations; A concise, evaluative review of the historiography of food interpretation; Case studies featuring the expression of these themes in the real world of museum interpretation; and Best practices for interpreting food. Interpreting Food offers a framework for understanding the big ideas in food history, suggesting best practices for linking objects, exhibits and demonstrations with the larger story of change in food production and consumption over the past two centuries – a story in which your visitors can see themselves, and explore their own relationships to food. This book can help you develop food interpretation with depth and significance, making relevant connections to contemporary issues and visitor interests.