Another analysis, well said.  The single phrase that strikes me is "Somebody
..... must generate excitement."

And while I think about it, what ever happened to The New World?  I have
been watching for it in the local papers as well as The Washington Post, but
have not seen anything of it.  Somebody told me it was back being cut some
more -- at least a half-hour.

Randy Cabell
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Frederick Fausz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2006 6:32 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Anniversary celebrations in the 21st century


> Well stated, Jon.  Actually, from my perspective, the Lewis and Clark
> Bicentennial was a great success--at least from St. Louis westward.
>
> Scholarship flourished (and some real crap, too); the reenacted Corps
> of Discovery/Rediscovery met huge and enthusiastic crowds as it went
> up the Missouri; and the signature events did well as both historical
> learning opportunities and stimuli for tourism dollars.  More Native
> Americans were involved than in any other national commemoration
> I can recall.
>
> Substantial financial support from the National Park Service, Corps of
> Engineers, and well-heeled, established private organizations certainly
> contributed to that success. But Lewis and Clark have always been more
> NATIONAL in scope, with 12-15 states claiming L & C heritage
> connections, and I don't think that Jamestown has that same appeal
> going for it.  We all know that it should, but the "birthplace of America"
> does not resonate with typical citizens west of Richmond because the
> early 1600s represent such a "foreign country."  When I worked on the
> Susan Constant about 1000 years ago, half the people I talked to
> thought that it was one of Columbus's ships, and even native Virginians
> didn't know what river flowed by Jamestown (even folks from Richmond,
> honestly).
>
> What are we "celebrating," exactly?  The Omohundro Institute of Early
> American History and Culture sponsored a very DEEP scholarly confer-
> ence in 2004, almost ignoring Jamestown itself by placing it in global
> context with West African tribal traditions circa 1607, etc.  The only
> conference on the Jamestown Commemoration website that I saw was
> focused on modern democracy.  Better not go there.
>
> Historians can still reach "lay people" by keying on anniversary buzz,
> but my experience shows that they will be audiences of senior citizens,
> not young adults, and rarely children.  I logged 12,000 miles in my Jeep,
> taking show-and-tell Lewis and Clark programs to small rural communities
> in Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma.  The focus
> was on the Corps, Indians, and their respective artifacts and contacts,
> but
> the content was sufficiently deep and revisionist to bring my audiences up
> to date on recent scholarship.  In some towns, I attracted more than 50%
> of the town's entire population (even beating out Trump's "Apprentice").
>
> But someone has to value scholarly presentations, put together programs
> and conferences, and choose speakers (some who don't live in Virginia)
> who can communicate excitement as well as information to interested
> audiences of all backgrounds.
>
> National Anniversaries give us a rare chance to stimulate and exploit (in
> the best, non-tourism sense of that term) a heightened and broadened
> curiosity among citizens who may be unreachable otherwise. But to miss
> that opportunity by too little effort or by dumbing-down content is to
> give
> up
> on history altogether.  Will there even be an acknowledgment of a 500th
> anniversary?  Do we want Disney and Terence Malick to produce the
> curriculum materials?  Are we satisfied that films are now replacing books
> as our sources of information about the past?
>
> Let's remember what Santayana said and add some substance to the fluff.
>
> Fred Fausz
> St. Louis
>
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