In November, while visiting the newly opened museum at Jamestown Settlement, I noticed something in the same vein. Near the statue of Powhatan in the exhibit hall is a large wall map depicting the route of the three ships coming to found the colony. Jamestown is placed on that map on the Potomac River in modern King George County -- maybe it has been corrected since I was there -- I couldn't believe it. There wasn't anyone on the staff nearby to show. There were other little things like that scattered around too -- New Sweden is absent from a map of early East-Coast colonies, for example. I don't mean to detract from the wonderful museum that is now in place there, but one would think that these sorts of things would not occur there of all places and certainly not this year. I sure hope they fix that map.
________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history on behalf of John Frederick Fausz
Sent: Sat 2/3/2007 5:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: JAMESTOWN LUGGAGE TAG & A QUIZ
Hello ALL:
Did you see the photo of the "YAMES TOWNE" lead cargo
("luggage") TAG from a circa 1611 shipping crate?
http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070201/480/ny/11102011
NASA is going to take this into space, along with Jamestown
commemorative coins aboard the space shuttle ATLANTIS in
March 2007 to honor earlier explorers/colonists.
NOW a QUIZ: What is wrong with the following posting on
the Colonial Williamsburg "REVOLUTIONARY TIMES" Web
Newsletter for February 2007? Under the Jamestown 400th
anniversary logo and headed "Did You Know?" this was one
of the "Little Known Facts about Jamestown":
"The British king revoked the Virginia Company Charter
in 1622, and Virginia became a British colony."
See the problem?
Such things will make it into my "Hoary Myths and Horrid
Mistakes" presentation at the Virginia Forum on Friday the
13th (April). Why is it SO HARD for historians, the general
public, and EVEN C.W. to get the facts right? As we see
in all of the posturing nonsense about "firsts," History has
become just another COMMODITY in our materialistic
culture, and anniversaries promote new wars between the
states because TOURIST REVENUE--not the dissemination
of accurate knowledge--is the real goal. Mistakes and Myths,
Old and New, now proliferate like computer viruses, and they
are just as insidious, because one factual error on a History
Channel program will take dedicated researchers DECADES
to correct (if ever), given the power of electronic media. I think
that honest, reliable, and informative History is already dead,
in and out of academe, as we have managed to trivialize and
forget our past. So, we may as well promote bumper-sticker
snapshots of History and seek to make a buck on Woodstock-
like commermorations at our once-venerated sites. SEE THE
INACCURATE CRAP IN THE US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT
Special Issue on "THE FIRST AMERICANS" (with John Smith on
the cover!!): "WOW, hon, did you realize that America turns 400
this Spring? Why don't we take the kids to the first permanent
English settlement--you know, the one where the colonists taught
Pocahontas and her raccoon to speak 'our' language?"
Best,
Fred Fausz
St. Louis
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