The
American Civil War Center located Historic Tredegar “strives to tell the whole
story of the conflict that still shapes our nation”. The main exhibit, In The
Cause of Liberty, “interweaves Union, Confederate and African American
narratives into one story” according the Center’s promotional materials. While
the American Civil War Center does tell the story of the Civil War, it is far
from the whole story. Instead it is a watered-down, paraphrased and poorly
supported account of one cause of the War Between the States.
When
first walking through the museum the question of who the Center’s target
audience is arises. According the Historic Tredegar Educational Programs
pamphlet the main exhibit is intended for grades 3-12. Given the interactive
displays and videos and the highly simplified materials this age group and the
design of exhibit makes sense. Where concerns arise, however, come not in the
form and presentation of the exhibit, but rather its content.
Entering
the museum, past the gift shop, the visitor can see the only reference and
connection made between the building, the company and the museum: a plaque.
Walking under the brick archway that visitors instinctively believe to be part
of the original building, there is then a miniaturize model of Tredegar Iron
Works. A button under the display lights it up. While engaging, upon reflection
it seems to be placed before the main exhibit as an afterthought- a way to
acknowledge the space without having to integrate it into the narrative of the
exhibit.
The first part of the exhibit
states the curator’s thesis: the legacy of the Civil War continues to shape our
lives today. Walking past this visitors then see a timeline. The timeline: From
Union to Disunion, traces the events from 1775-1860. The themes of liberty, union and freedom begin here by
starting with the Declaration of Independence. While the circular structure of
the timeline smoothly guided visitors into the exhibit, the print was far too small
to read and the timeline far too text heavy for the target audience.
The
bottom floor of the two-story exhibit proved to be confusing because banners
displaying texts and images reached to the ceiling. While the curators and
designers had presumably intended for visitors only to interact with those
within eyesight, their streamline design forced the visitor’s eye up to the ceilin. Thus it was
hard from the bottom floor to determine how much text was
related to the exhbits on the ground floor.
After
rounding the timeline visitors were invited into a circular space. In this
space a film, What Caused the Civil War?,
repeatedly cycled. In the space are chairs with built in clickers that allow
the audience to interact with the video. This tactic actively engage in the learning process.
The
three narrators, a black man, a white woman and white man, ask the audience
which of the following was the cause of the Civil War: arguments over state
versus federal power, competing economies between the North and South, Westward
expansion and slavery. After several seconds of voting, the narrators then walk
the audience through each cause. Unfortunately, in an attempt to reach their
audience, they boiled down each cause ultimately tying it to slavery. This
resulted in visitors believing that slavery was the primary and most
significant cause of the Civil War and all the prior causes were circumstantial.
The
rest of the exhibit was constructed around this central idea: slavery was the
cause of the war, or at least the only one that mattered, and thus instead of
the whole story of the Civil War being discussed, the exhibition was dedicated
to the oppression and ultimate freedom of African Americans from slavery. The
second video, The Emancipating
Proclamation: Words that Transformed a War and a Nation, stated what proved
to be the exhibit’s actual thesis the war was “a white man fight for a black
man’s freedom”. This became the focus and thus the exhibit fell short of
narrating the whole story of the Civil War.
Let
it be noted that there were artifacts throughout the museum, though there were
few, and information that did not directly relate to the freeing of the slaves.
The overwhelming majority of the museum were secondary sources: those that are not
artifacts, but are instead banners, videos, and so forth
There
was an attempt to include other information that helped to show every aspect of
the war. The clearest example of this could be seen in a small circular room on
the second floor, similar to the one showing the video of the first floor,
dedicated to children and women during the war. While commendable to try to
include this often-neglected aspect, the size of this exhibit in comparison to
the rest emphasized the fact that this was not be a main take away of the
museum.
The
exhibit’s final video and section highlight the emphasis on the narrative of
the slave by showing pictures of Martin Luther King Jr., women participating in
marches during the Second Wave of feminism, prominent African American athletes
and musicians. These were an attempt to remind visitors of how far we've come. The three narrators from the first video meet the visitor again
at this point in Legacy and Memory. In
it they re-summarize the exhibit ending with their own sentiments including the
white female telling the audience that she use to see things one way and now
she see them differently. This is presumably in reference to the information that
is revealed through the museum. Visitors then leave upstairs where the video is
playing and walk downstairs to the “Tell Us What You Think About: Union, Home,
Freedom, Heritage, Legacy and Your Experience” feedback section. The walk down
the stairs gives visitors time to reflect on their experience and articulate their reactions.
One
final point of interest resides in the building itself. The location of the
museum sets visitors up for a very different experience than they are given. As
previously stated, the Center is located within Historic Tredegar. The location
was home to Tredegar Iron Works, which was the Confederacy’s only major iron
works. The company played a significant role in the war as one of the company’s
cannons fired the opening shot at Ft. Sumter; the battle that marked the
beginning of war. Additionally, Tredegar Iron Works cast more than 500 for the
South during the War of Northern Aggression. Given the rich history of the
company and its obvious connections to the War, a logical trajectory of the
museum would have been to present the history of the Civil War from
technological and militaristic perspective: what kind of weaponry was used, if
and how did Union and Confederate guns differ, how did these differences privilege either side and so forth. Visitors expected the rich history of the location to
influence and supplement the content of the museum. This was not the case and
thus visitors felt cheated out of what could have been a truly interactive
museum experience. In sum, expectations were not fully realized.
In
conclusion, The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar tells part of
the story of the Civil War, but it is far from the whole story. The museum can
be beneficial for children in grades 3-12, but it is importantly to supplement
their knowledge courtesy museum by talking with them about their experiences and
what they learned in order to help truly construct the whole story of the Civil
War.
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