Interview with the
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)
No comments:
Post a Comment