Sidium of the International Association of of a Visionary Idea
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ANMELDELSER What can we learn from the history of our travel to several conferences in Canada, and I 139 museums? Comments on Sten Rentzhog’s currently serve as the U.S. delegate to the pre- Open Air Museums: The History and Future sidium of the International Association of of a Visionary Idea. Jämtli and Carlssons Bok- Agricultural Museums (AIMA) which has al- forläg, Kristianstad, 2007. Published in coop- lowed me to visit open air and agricultural eration with The Association for Living His- museums in Poland, Germany and the Czech tory Farms and Agricultural Museums and Republic. The Association of European Open Air Mu- These experiences make me aware of the di- seums. ISBN 978-91-208-4. (English version versity and vibrancy of the international open translated by Skans Victoria Airey). air museum community. It is my pleasure to have this opportunity to comment on the only comprehensive history of this important DEBRA A. REID* museum genre. I thank Sten Rentzhog for all Acknowledgements1 the questions he has asked over the years we I first visited Skansen during 1991 as an invi- have corresponded, for thinking of me as a ted guest at the Association of European commentator on his book, and for the won- Open-Air Museums (AEOM) conference. I derful opportunity to return to Skansen. I am delighted to return sixteen years later to thank the organizers of “The Future of Open- participate in the conference convened to dis- Air Museums – a Scandinavian model for the cuss Dr. Sten Rentzhog’s new book, Open Air 21st Century” for the invitation to participa- Museums: The History and Future of a Visio- te. It is a pleasure to offer these comments. nary Idea. It is wonderful to see things I recog- nize, including warm smiles from colleagues The more I read about the history of open air and happy visitors at Skansen. museums the more I marvel at the vigor of the In 1991 the AEOM began at Frilandsmuseet genre’s founders, and the clarity of purpose in Lyngby, Denmark, and then traveled to they exhibited as they created national institu- Stockholm. In Sweden attendees heard papers tions. They had to be workaholics to generate and visited Skansen, Kulturen in Lund and the financial support, negotiate with bureau- Gamla Linköping among other sites. At the crats, identify buildings and collections, placa- time I managed The Farmers’ Museum, Inc., te donors, appeal to visitors and create full- in Cooperstown, New York. The conference size dioramas of their nations’ pasts. Dr. Sten allowed me direct experiences with Scandina- Rentzhog has gathered dozens of examples vian institutions that I had only read about, from around the world into his massive Open and only dreamed of visiting. In the years after Air Museums: The History of a Visionary Idea. AEOM I traveled back and forth to Denmark This comprehensive history of open air mu- and saw many of that nation’s open air mu- seums should become the indispensable ency- seums and historic sites, I lived for a while in clopedia for understanding the history of the the staff apartments at Brede, near Frilands- museum genre, including the ways that open museet in Lyngby. My commitment to the As- air museums have appealed to visitors, and the sociation for Living History, Farm and Agri- ways that they can continue to be relevant in a cultural Museums (ALHFAM) allowed me to changing world. ANMELDELSER 140 Rentzhog starts the introduction with high methods Hazelius developed at Skansen so in- praise: “Open air museums – or outdoor mu- fluenced later open air museums that the term seums – are marvelous. They are versatile cul- “skansen” became synonymous in some parts tural institutions, educational centres and tou- of the world for open air museum. Yet, others rist attractions, with a potential far greater had ideas to develop open air museums in than most people imagine” (p. 1). His enthu- Scandinavia and Europe without the influen- siasm for his subject never waivers through ce of Hazelius. Some contemporaries conside- 532 pages that explore the genre as developed red Hazelius the founder, others did not. Cer- in Scandinavia, Europe, the United States and tainly Hazelius had vision. He combined na- Canada over more than one hundred years. ture and culture by creating museums in the Seventeen chapters take the reader from the open air complete with structures, landscapes, founding days of the movement, including flora, fauna, folk and festivals. But more ana- Arthur Hazelius’ efforts to create Skansen in lysis of founders and their motives could have Stockholm, but it also considers contempora- yielded a theory of open air museum foun- neous efforts by founders of other museums ding. Perhaps nationalism wielded the most in other European countries. He then crosses influence. Rentzhog indicates that “clearly the Atlantic and explores the origins of open [Hazelius’] aim was to arouse love of his coun- air museums and other museums that may try and increased national consciousness. not meet his strict definition of the genre, but fellowship, pride and self esteem. a com- that influenced North American development mon cultural heritage” (p. 18). Rentzhog con- due to their emphasis on living history. Rentz- siders this goal as benign – “the idea of natio- hog addresses the various goals that founders nalism did not necessarily imply aggression pursued. He explores their reasons for collec- against anyone else” (p. 18) – but Hazelius felt ting buildings, folk trades and crafts, and rural strongly enough about the need to create a na- and shop traditions of people during an era of tional Swedish identity, that he expended his intense nation building. The book moves life’s energy on the project. What happened chronologically and addresses the ways that during the late 1890s that made nationalism war, politics and capitalism affected museum such an all-consuming goal? What happened development. It concludes with several chap- to those who did not fit the national identity ters devoted to current issues affecting open created at Skansen, or at other “skansens” air museums, particularly the ways that insti- around the world? tutions can position themselves to remain re- Visitor numbers indicate that Skansen appe- levant in a changing world. The general public aled to Swedes. Within two years of opening, values authenticity and family and multi-gen- 200,000 visitors came per year; then over erational experiences, and Rentzhog argues 500,000 even before 1900 (p. 6), and though that open air museums are best positioned to visitation dwindled during the 1920s, expan- deliver these experiences. sion in structures and programming during “Skansen in Stockholm – it is there we have the 1930s increased attendance to two million to begin” (p. 4). The first critique I pose – per year (pp. 117–118). A second critique – Why start with Arthur Hazelius and Skansen? Why did visitors come in such great numbers? Rentzhog justifies doing so, arguing that the Was the public motivated by nationalism, or ANMELDELSER did the public flock to Skansen because the of open air museums as well as economic de- 141 museum was about them? Rentzhog explains pression likewise negatively affected visitation. clearly how Hazelius kept public appeal cen- Yet, another director with vigor, Andreas tral to his plan, allowing for a range of literacy Lindblom, revitalized Skansen during the levels when writing labels, creating appealing 1920s and 1930s, and the expansion of the programming and extending open hours to genre in Eastern and Central Europe and the increase opportunities for the public to visit. I United States accelerated during this time. would like more critique, however, of the ways A third critique – the emphasis on larger in- this made Skansen politically useful as a site to stitutions, though important to understand build collective memory. Eugene Weber argu- the trend setters, neglects the masses. Future ed, in Peasants into Frenchmen: The Moderni- students of open air museums could delve zation of Rural France, 1870–1914 (1976), more fully into earlier and smaller models of that standardized education, industrialization open air museums. This particularly relates to and compulsory military service helped create museum development in the United States, Frenchmen. Did Lapplanders and Dalarna but also applies to all other countries. Collec- folk really believe that Skansen helped make ting in the United States involved the quest them into Swedes? The idea warrants further for relics. Locks of George Washington’s hair, study. for example, were in great demand after his Hazelius was not alone in his quest to invol- death. Relic collecting may appear to have litt- ve everyone in the national museum; in fact, le direct relevance to open air museums, but the real vision of the open air museum genre, relics sometimes included buildings, and local as implemented across the globe, centered on initiative drove the efforts. Charles Hosmer the involvement of THE folk in documen- explores this history in Presence of the Past: the ting, collecting, and preserving THEIR histo- History of the Preservation Movement in the ry. But after World War I, Rentzhog indicates United States before Williamsburg (1965) and that open air museums lost “contact with the Preservation Comes of Age: from Williamsburg public” (p. 100). Did this happen because to the National Trust, 1926–1949 (1981). In staff adopted less passionate, more academic the years since Hosmer published his studies, approaches to collecting and exhibiting folk other researchers have documented earlier col- culture as Rentzhog implies, or did nation bu- lecting and preservation efforts. By the early ilders just adopt other means to secure their 1800s residents of Deerfield, Massachusetts, objectives? Did members of the National So- began collecting parts of homes destroyed du- cialist German Workers’ Party influence Ger- ring the series of colonial wars that raged bet- man open air museums during the 1920s and ween the French and their Native allies versus 1930s or did they pursue other means to build the English and their Native and colonial alli- a sense of national identity? Changing tastes es.