Your Responsibility to Interpret Accurately

[CSchneider]

If you're speaking to the public, or doing an event with spectators, you're presenting yourself as a public historian. If you're doing something publicly, you've opened yourself up to discussion. If you're doing something wrong, you've opened yourself up to criticism. Teaching incorrect history, be it through a poor talk, showing the public an incorrect camp, showing the public incorrect material culture, showing the public a hokey battle, or showing the public poor drill, should rightfully be criticized whether the person doing it asks for such criticism or not.

Anybody who has heard me give a talk at a living history, especially at a battlefield, knows that I always tell the public that they need to forget whatever they might have seen at a reenactment. I tell them that most reenactors are not historians, most have no idea what they're talking about, that what they saw was a theme camp, and that it bore virtually no resemblance to the Civil War. Part of what the authentic living history community is forced to do today is try to correct what people have learned from what the mainstream has been doing wrong for years. Letting people know that reenactors are doing it wrong is just part of proper public interp now.

I do History for a living. Get paid to do it. Your tax dollars have, at times, gone to pay me to try to correct what the public has been taught by mainstream reenactors. If a reenactor looks like an idiot, puts on a hokey battle, or tells some fantasy story about the Civil War, somebody should say something about it. Hopefully, in doing so, it either shames people into improving or pushes them out of the hobby.

-Craig Schneider

[Dbackfed]

Re: Your Responsibility to Interpret Accurately

If you're speaking to the public, or doing an event with spectators, you're presenting yourself as a public historian. If you're doing something publicly, you've opened yourself up to discussion. If you're doing something wrong, you've opened yourself up to criticism.

This. ++++++++1

[Kanawha Riflemen]

Re: Your Responsibility to Interpret Accurately

I got some negative comments several years ago when the Frederick Post did a story on my work at South Mountain State Battlefield, debunking several of the myths that came from reenactors and reenactments. The reporter was very receptive and open and learned a lot from me. But some of the comments from the reenacting community was far out in the left field once the story was in print. I still get those people today up at Monterey Pass Battlefield when they ask me a question and I offer up a totally different answer because they heard it from a reenactor. Interpreting history can be very rewarding when you have the information to back everything up. But also be very challenging with dealing with difficult people. Keep on keeping on.

John A. Miller

[LibertyHallVols]

Re: Your Responsibility to Interpret Accurately

Great statement, Craig!

I think one thing that can be a trap for us is having a false impression that we "must" have an answer for every question. We don't.
Having the guts to say "I don't know" to a question from the public actually helps your credibility.
...but if you say it too much, you need to do more homework.

For some folks, interacting with the public is not their thing. That's fine, too. Your presence helps give an interpretive event scale, and that is a big deal. However, even if you shy away from interaction with the public, you still need to be sure your actions help create a welcoming environment that draws the public in. Closed circular conversations, for example, work against us.

Great topic!

[Mark Choate]

Re: Your Responsibility to Interpret Accurately

Thank you for this statement and reminder, Craig.
Great comments and so very, very true!!

[ky4union]

Re: Your Responsibility to Interpret Accurately

I think one thing that can be a trap for us is having a false impression that we "must" have an answer for every question. We don't.
Having the guts to say "I don't know" to a question from the public actually helps your credibility.
...but if you say it too much, you need to do more homework.

One of the great things about doing living histories in group settings with quality people is that there's a good chance that if you don't know the answer to a question, someone else there probably does. It's not a mark of shame to direct a spectator to another historian when you're out of your expertise.

It's sad that conversations have to start with "forget whatever you've seen at a reenactment."