Authenticity at Public History Sites in Florida and Georgia Elizabeth Dean Worley

Florida State University Libraries 2016 A Certain Kind of Southern: Authenticity at Public History Sites in Florida and Georgia Elizabeth Dean Worley Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES A CERTAIN KIND OF SOUTHERN: AUTHENTICITY AT PUBLIC HISTORY SITES IN FLORIDA AND GEORGIA By ELIZABETH DEAN WORLEY A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Elizabeth Dean Worley defended this dissertation on July 8, 2016. The members of the supervisory committee were: Suzanne Sinke Professor Directing Dissertation Denise Von Glahn University Representative Andrew Frank Committee Member Jennifer Koslow Committee Member Maxine D. Jones Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii To Brandon for continued love and support. To my parents for their dedication and hope. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Firstly, I want to thank my dissertation committee and express how grateful I am for their continued guidance. Dr. Jennifer Koslow, Dr. Andrew Frank, Dr. Maxine Jones, and Dr. Denise Von Glahn all provided valuable contributions that helped me finish this project. I especially want to thank my major professor, Dr. Suzanne Sinke. No one could have asked for a more supportive, protective, kind, generous, and knowledgeable adviser. She not only encouraged my research and all of the various veins it took, but she also helped me sieve through my ideas to find the most valuable components that would lead to the best work. Dr. Sinke is perhaps the most “pro-student” major professor in the department. She regularly advocated for me and all of her students to ensure employment and tuition waivers. She connected us with other scholars for their assistance. She pointed us towards new scholarship and ideas. She was instrumental in me finishing my degree so that I could move on to my dream job. I will be forever thankful for that. I also want to thank the rigorous, inquisitive, and generous graduate student culture at Florida State University, particularly in the history department. Together, we all matured into each other’s colleagues and peers. They will be valuable friends in and out of the profession for years to come. I especially want to thank Logan Edwards. During a conversation in my office in spring 2013, she pointed me to a college in Southwest Georgia. Through that connection, I found an internship, dissertation research, professional experience, and now a career. She forever changed my life’s professional path. I cannot thank her enough for that even though she may not even remember that one moment in my office in Bellamy. Finally, I wish to thank my family and husband. My parents always encouraged my education. They supported me, by every possible definition, throughout my graduate career. They are equally proud of the next phase of my career. Without them, I could not have pursued iv this degree. I also wish to thank my husband, Brandon. Without him, I could not have finished this degree. His unfailing faith in me carried me when I doubted all of my own capabilities. His commitment to my own dreams served as a testament to his kind and generous nature. My darling, I love you. Everyday, yes. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... vii 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. THE STEPHEN FOSTER MEMORIAL: PLANTATION LONGINGS IN WHITE SPRINGS .......................................................................................................................................14 3. THE FLORIDA FOLK FESTIVAL: THELMA BOLTIN, FOLK, AND AUTHENTICITY .36 4. THE AGRIRAMA IN TIFTON, GEORGIA: BRINGING THE HISTORY OF RURAL LIVING TO LIFE ..........................................................................................................................62 5. AGRIRAMA STUDENT WORKSHOPS: MAKING 19TH CENTURY FARMING FUN ....93 6. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................112 References ....................................................................................................................................123 Biographical Sketch .....................................................................................................................141 vi ABSTRACT Steven Conn recently argued that as museums change from warehouses of artifacts focused on public instruction to a different model of education by engagement, their emphasis on objects will become less necessary. This dissertation directly engages with that idea and argues that for many local museums objects mean as much as they ever did, maybe even more. My idea, the “currency of authenticity,” builds on two strands of scholarship. One that traces the increasing commodification of history. The other that local museums are just as worthy of study as national institutions. Specifically, I analyze how smaller museums use material culture to convince their audience that their textual narrative and/or oral interpretation is just as truthful as its objects. Using institutional records, newspapers, and oral histories, this dissertation examines how the Stephen Foster Museum and Florida Folk Festival, both in White Springs, Florida, and the Georgia Museum of Agriculture and Historic Village portray aspects of Southern culture. Each of these places emphasizes different qualities, objects, or ideas as they construct their own brand of authenticity. Simultaneously, these places also all emphasize their own kind of Southern identity, unique to their regions and the people they want to represent. Their exhibits demonstrate that Southern heritage is vast, complex, and more diverse than some people understand. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION According to a 2014 article in The Washington Post, there are 11,000 different Starbucks locations across the United States. The same article listed more than 14,000 McDonald’s Restaurants across the country. However, even when adding up those two chains together, they still do not come close to the number of museums in the United States: 35,000.1 That is a staggering and conservative estimate. Staggering because according to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a government agency that counts the number of museums in the United States, that is double the number from the 1980s; conservative because those numbers do not reflect what may be the total number of museums in the United States. 2 Those are only the museums that applied to membership of the IMLS, meaning there are potentially hundreds or thousands of museums the IMLS is not aware of yet.3 The majority of these are very small and highly local museums; 15,000 reported less than $10,000 in income each year.3 The United States is in a second “golden age” of museums.4 Americans love museums and Americans really love history museums. Of the American Association of Museum’s (AAM) members, 55.5% are public history sites and/or societies.5 These institutions play a vital part of the American educational and cultural landscape. Director 1 Christopher Ingraham, “There Are More Museums in the US than There Are Starbucks and McDonalds- Combined,” The Washington Post, June 13, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/06/13/there-are-more-museums-in-the-us-than-there-are- starbucks-and-mcdonalds-combined/. 2 American Association of Museums, Data Report from the 1989 National Museum Survey (Washington D.C.: American Association of Museums, 1992), exhibit 9, no. 29. The data from this survey estimated that by 1989 there were 13,800 museums in the United States, 9,200 of those were history museums. 3 Ingraham, “There Are More Museums in the US than There Are Starbucks and McDonalds- Combined.” 4 Steven Conn, Do Museums Still Need Objects? (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010), 1. 5 Institute of Museum and Library Services, “Government Doubles Official Estimate: There Are 35,000 Active Museums in the US,” Institute of Museum and Library Services, May 19, 2014, https://www.imls.gov/news- events/news-releases/government-doubles-official-estimate-there-are-35000-active-museums-us. 1 of the IMLS, Susan H. Hildreth, argues that museums keep the nation’s cultural heritage and “they provide the rich, authentic content for a nation of learners.”6 Museums and public history sites thrive on their use of material culture. Guests find the ability to interact with the physical object richly satisfying and Americans consistently rank museums as being the most trustworthy places to learn history.7 Roy Rosenzweig and David Thelens’s groundbreaking study in 1998, showed that the general public rated museums as an 8.4 on a scale of 10, above and more trustworthy than family, schools, films, and books.8 Rosenzweig and Thelen deduced that a visitor’s ability to make a personal connection with a primary source was a large part of why she/he trusted museums. The participants in the study reported that they viewed objects as neutral, without narrative or agenda.9 Additionally, many people trusted sources, including museums, more if the sources

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