Museum Dynamics, Culture Shock and Tombstone, Arizona

It's great to be working with historical museums again. The other day I lead a tour of the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum and I haven't lead a museum tour in five years. But it's like riding a bicycle as there are some things you never forget how to do.

I got into this whole historical reenacting bit through working with historical museums. It was there I learned that when it comes to reenacting the emphasis is on accuracy and educating the public. That's because many, if not most, historical museums depend on government funding and grants, so there is a mandate which means they have to meet certain criteria in order to obtain that funding. So I learned from the get-go to be as accurate as possible.

The first time I went to a non-museum historic site, the original Rawhide Wild West Town in Scottsdale, Arizona, I experienced some real culture shock as soon as I walked in the gate. This site didn't care that much about historical accuracy. They were a for-profit corporation with no government or endowment funding. They didn't even have an education department. They had an entertainment department instead. That's because they depended solely on visitor's dollars to survive, and since most visitors want a "Hollywood" type of experience that's what they got.

There have been some real interesting discussions about Tombstone going on at one of the social networks where I hang out. And that's a good thing. We're there to exchange ideas and learn from one another. Some of the members of this group are purists. Everything has to be as period correct as humanly possible, and they're upset about the fact that too many people in Tombstone dress "Hollywood" instead of being 99.999% historically accurate. They too are experiencing culture shock and they don't quite know how to handle it.

If took me awhile to accept this fact. The town of Tombstone is NOT, nor will ever it ever be, a historical museum. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, but so are a lot of historical buildings and places that are not museums. Tombstone is a real live town that, so are as I know, receives no grants or government funding for historical education programs. Tombstone depends solely on tourism to survive, and, as someone who spends a lot of time there and has been doing most of the big events, like Helldorado and Wyatt Earp Days, since 2004, I will tell you this -- these events are about celebrating the town's history, but they are not necessarily intended solely to EDUCATE the public. The skits, the costume contests, the chili cook-offs, and all the other events are meant to ENTERTAIN. The goal is to attract more visitors during the summer months, which is the slowest time of year for tourism. The town needs visitors so the local merchants can meet their payrolls and survive another summer.

The average Joe Six-Pack probably doesn't know much about history other than what he learned in school. The average Joe Six-Pack could probably care less that the movie Tombstone is about 10% history and 90% Hollywood. But when the average Joe Six-Pack comes to Tombstone for Hellodordo or Wyatt Earp Days he expects to be ENTERTAINED. That is why the town puts on the entertainment, so Joe can be entertained and spend his money while he's there. With any luck Joe will take an interest and want to learn more about the town's history. But more than likely all we've done is given a break from his everyday headaches so he can walk away having had a good experience. And maybe there's some value in that too. Sometimes we have to just let people relax and enjoy themselves.

GM