“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

Interview with the Canadian War Museum, featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation

 

 

 

 

 

 

VOLUNTEERS repeat HISTORY…. A Key to Success!

Volunteers play a key role in our society today. I myself volunteer at a local Pioneer Village and Museum. My role is Volunteer Appreciation Liaison. Here, I can clearly see the critical role Volunteers/Interpreters take in continuing to educate the public’s understanding of our great Canadian History. Volunteers are a vital part of our society in maintaining the ongoing pursuits to provide continued education and awareness. I wondered if the Canadian War Museum – War of 1812 Exhibition had a system to help keep the volunteers organized and could they share some of their “techniques” with us! I also asked if they could share with us some systems on managing so many volunteers! The reply…“Volunteer support is very important for the Canadian War Museum and we are very fortunate to have many veterans and civilian volunteers involved in many areas of the Museum. Canadian history and more specifically in our own case, Canadian military history, is a subject of great significance to many who come to us hoping to share their insights with visitors and Museum colleagues.” 

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“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

Interview with the Canadian War Museum, featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation

FUNDING & SPONSORSHIP … A Key to Success …

With the economic challenges today, it would seem it critical to obtain/maintain Sponsor Funding and Other Sources of funding. I asked the Canadian War Museum how they obtained funding, particularly for the War of 1812 Exhibition. During our interview Dr. Peter MacLeod spoke of the unique relationship with their sponsors in that they hold a similar raison d’être. …“We are very pleased to have TD as a National Presenting Sponsor and Ancestry.ca as the National Supporting Sponsor for 1812. TD is an active corporate community member interested in supporting culture, history and education. Ancestry.ca’s mission involves connecting Canadians to their unique family stories. Sponsoring 1812 allows each organization to further support their mandate and community engagement.

A question I believe our readers might be interested in knowing is how does the Canadian War Museum keep their sponsors interested in supporting their efforts and how do they establish and maintain a successful relationship. The response …“The key to all successful relationships is sharing a common goal. Engaging Canadians through history and education is key to the mandate of the War Museum and a shared goal with TD and Ancestry.ca.”

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…
Interview with the Canadian War Museum
Featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation

 “Capturing the Essence”… for all!

We captured an extraordinary experience during our walk through the War of 1812 Exhibition! … We asked Avra Gibbs Lamey, Communications and Media Relations Officer during our walk about if there was going to be any “on-line” access for people who just can not attend either the CWM or the travelling exhibition.  I for one, would be excited to attend all the activities, but will not be able to get to them all.

“Later on this year, we will be launching a virtual exhibition that will include an overview of each perspective as well as interactive elements to allow visitors to share their own perspectives. This virtual exhibition will remain online after the exhibition at the Canadian War Museum closes on January 6, 2013”

We also have a publication entitled Four Wars of 1812 which looks at the conflict using the same approach as the exhibition and includes photographs of many of the key artifacts in the exhibition for each perspective. It is available at the Museum and through our online boutique (http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/cyberboutique/the-1894/Four-Wars-of-1812/Detail?tsetlock=English_Version)

We also asked Avra Gibbs Lamey if the CWM War of 1812 Exhibition and all activities be accessible to all or will there be some accessibility restrictions.

“All exhibitions designed to be shown at the War Museum are wheelchair accessible. We also follow accessibility guidelines that guide font sizes and graphic design.

For those who cannot visit the museum in person, we also have travelling exhibitions, a virtual exhibition (to be launched in late 2012) and a publication.

The schedule for the traveling exhibition can be found here: http://www.warmuseum.ca/event/1812-1?calendar_date=2012-10-25. Versions of the exhibition will travel across Canada and internationally until 2015.

 

The virtual exhibition will include an overview of each perspective as well as interactive elements to allow visitors to share their own perspectives. This virtual exhibition will remain online after the exhibition at the Canadian War Museum closes on January 6, 2013.

Our publication entitled Four Wars of 1812 looks at the conflict using the same approach as the exhibition and includes photographs of many of the key artifacts in the exhibition for each perspective. It is available at the Museum and through our online boutique (http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/cyberboutique/the-1894/Four-Wars-of-1812/Detail?tsetlock=English_Version)”.

(To Be Continued)

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…
Interview with the Canadian War Museum
Featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation

“History is Objective”…“The effect of the war on each of the four participant’s futures”

During our interview with Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation at the Canadian War Museum, he continued with the War of 1812 Exhibition’s core message … “As the national museum for military history, the Canadian War Museum deals with the past, not the present. We cover the impact of the war on each group, but do not attempt to project these impacts into the future.” The exhibition tries to tie in individuals’ personal experiences.

The CWM mentions that “1812 also includes two interactive stations. In the Canadian section, the visitor is invited to try out three games that ask them to: match key figures to historical 1812 battles, or to “dress” a soldier and to put the steps for a soldier’s morning routine in the proper order. At the end of the exhibition, visitors are invited to answer a 6-question poll about their perspective on the War of 1812. The answers from this poll are tabulated and reflected real-time on a screen at the beginning of the exhibition.”

Gary and I took the time to complete the computer generated survey at the end of the Exhibition. It was fast, easy and fun! When we spoke to Dr. MacLeod, we said “We failed the survey”. He asked what we meant by that. We said our “conclusions” did not meet those of the other polled people. We wondered if it had anything to do with our current awareness and education into historical issues; particularly the War of 1812 and all the variety of conclusion. He told us “There is no right or wrong”. There is a montage of images; nothing is “clear cut”. Dr. Peter MacLeod said“1812 is designed to allow visitors to experience the four perspectives and draw their own conclusions. We fully expect that visitors will find some perspectives more evocative than others, and ask a question to this effect in a polling station in the programming area.”

(To Be Continued)

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…
Interview with the Canadian War Museum
Featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation

 “What Shaped You ... Who are You …”

I was able to ask representatives from the Canadian War Museum if they felt Canadian history, the War of 1812 and “living history” is so important and, why is it important to Canadian’s for personal, national, and international dimensions? They respond …“Canada’s military history forms part of Canada’s history and by understanding our military history it all its dimensions, Canadians gain a better understanding of who they are and where they came from.”

In my research about the War of 1812, it is stated that "we learn from our past", but, it doesn’t seem that many of these lessons have been applied in our society today. I asked Dr. MacLeod if he had any thoughts about this. His reply …“Understanding our past helps Canadians to understand their country today.” Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation with the Canadian War Museum talked with us about how Canadian Military influenced Canada’s past. Dr. MacLeod goes on to say … “if you don’t know your history, you don’t really know who you are”. “Wars shaped Canada…. from our national anthem, O Canada; our official languages, development both economically and socially. They shaped us fundamentally; otherwise, Canada would just exist. Pre-Confederation wars created our boundaries and languages.”

I went on to talk with Peter MacLeod about the number of "controversial" articles written about the War of 1812. Since, on our website, we like to present all sides of an issue and since everyone seems to have a different strong "opinion", what would he suggest we do to “not offend” our readers and historians? I did talk about my article that I wrote entitled “The Ten Foot Rule … if it look authentic from 10 feet away it must be”. It seems that this Historian does not agree with my theory...

 Dr. MacLeod stated …“One of the key lessons we hope that visitors draw from coming to our exhibition is the importance of perspective, and allowing that one event may be experienced from multiple perspectives. We introduce this concept at the beginning of our exhibition. By allowing visitors to experience the exhibition from the four perspectives, we leave it to visitors to form their own opinions about what matters to them.” Dr. Peter MacLeod tells us that their goal was to give each visitor from one of the four perspectives the experience to feel at home; to explore and discover their own history and come to their own conclusions.  It is not all about the Invasions of Canada or the origins of the War, but that of all of us, inclusively worked together to defend Canada.

(To Be Continued)

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…

“History is Objective” …. “It Does Matter”…
Interview with the Canadian War Museum
Featuring Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation

Historians - Museums versus Living History & Reenactor/Reenactments

We were able to ask Dr. Peter MacLeod, Historian, Pre-Confederation with the Canadian War Museum what he felt were the differences between Museums (static) verses Living History Museums (Pioneer Villages)? His reply …“Living history sites attempt to recreate the past for visitors; museums bring visitors in touch with the past primarily (but not exclusively) through the display of artifacts. The Canadian War Museum goes to great lengths to develop appealing visitor experiences that enhance our educational role, including interactive kiosks and in-gallery activities that tie in historical elements.”

Dr. Peter MacLeod goes on to say … “A museum showcases real artifacts. Actual artifacts that you just can’t duplicate”. An example we saw while visiting the War of 1812 Exhibition was Sir Isaac Brock’s coat; Gary kept pointing to the “actual bullet hole”. Dr. MacLeod spoke of an actual piece of the White House they have on exhibit. You can’t “exactly” repeat authenticity. He went on to talk about how the coat had been examined under ultraviolet light, which provided additional information about Brock’s last day on the battlefield. For example, they can see where the grease from his hair resonated on the neck of the coat; they could see hints of blood around the area the bullet penetrated. I am not a historian, so I apologize now for the inadequate terminology here. Hopefully, my point has been articulated here though.

MacLeod goes on to say that what is important to a reenactor is, in part, dictated by our current society, in the way they commemorate things. In our culture today, often commemorative items are spearheaded through trinket items such as grave markets, coins, etc. While visiting the War of 1812 Exhibition, I noticed a commemorative coin celebrating 100 years of peace, labeled as the 10^th issue. Dr. Peter MacLeod told us that the Canadian Mint continues to commemorate with coins as society relates to these tokens. Royal Mint Canada has produced a brilliant fine silver dollar “British sergeant, Voltigeur Canadien and Iroquois warrior approach the invader; united in their determination to defend the colonies. Encircling the design are 200 finely struck beads symbolizing the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.” And a Tecumseh fine silver dollar coin; “coin features Tecumseh against an intricately engraved background comprised of the words “The War of 1812” in both English and French. Featured in the design is the engraved and painted Government of Canada War of 1812 logo: composed of stylistic 1812 typography encompassed by a stylized maple leaf with ecru swords crossing behind it.”

Dr. Peter MacLeod explains that Pioneer Villages re-create the past, while Museums present historical artifacts. While Pioneer Villages re-enact a merchant store, the Museum will focus on artifacts such as the sales records of the merchants for that period, to learn about all the intricacies of that period.

(To Be Continued)