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. Certainly perceptions of colonial culture, if may also have reduced public interest in open not folk culture, drove the material accumula- air museums. During the 1920s modern aes- tion, as did recognition of the value of the ma- thetics became de rigeur while pre-industrial terial to solidifying the collective memory. folk culture and history declined in appeal. A fourth critique – I believe that more dis- Increased competition from the proliferation cussion of the role of the folk in creating mu- ANMELDELSER

142 seums should be incorporated. Locals defined which consists totally of recreated structures, the stories of their own communities that they and the Washburn-Norlands Living History wished to tell, and right or wrong, complete Center which consists of in situ and recreated or incomplete, the museums that they created structures because each have pioneered living convey their ideas about the past. The stories history techniques. He includes Colonial Wil- do not necessarily fit into a national narrative, liamsburg which consists of buildings preser- but they have local meaning, and that furthers ved in situ or recreated on-site, because it is the founders’ goals. The Dakota City Heritage widely studied and resulted from major phil- Village, Inc. located at the Dakota County anthropic commitment. He justifies including Fairgrounds in Farmington, Minnesota, pro- these because they influenced the movement vides an example of a small open air museum in North America, and then, in a backward that exists because of local initiative and that migration, institutions throughout Europe. reflects the spirit of folk museum building in Including them begs the question of why not the United States. Dakota City began in 1960 include other museums with historic structu- as a project of the Dakota County Agricultu- res, integrated landscapes and engaging living ral Society. The agricultural society, founded history programming. These, likewise, provi- in 1858, still operates one of the largest coun- de evidence of museum excellence that could ty fairs in Minnesota. The society collected ensure a future for the visionary open air mu- buildings for thirty-four years before incorpo- seum. Historic Deerfield, Inc. comes to mind rating the heritage village as a separate as a site with a remarkable collection of histo- 501(c)(3) organization (a.k.a. private non- ric structures preserved in situ along a small profit corporation) in 1994. It has adopted an town street in the picturesque Connecticut ambitious mission statement with an empha- River Valley of Western Massachusetts. It sits sis on interpreting a way of life nearly oblitera- within a cultural and natural landscape that is ted by change. According to the museum vital to the site interpretation, and it serves as website: “As urban sprawl obliterates America- a model of intellectual engagement in rese- ’s agricultural past, Dakota City connects fa- arch, collecting and interpretation. milies to the agricultural and immigrant past Back to the origins of traditional open air of Dakota County communities where they museums in the United States. Rentzhog now live. Dakota City focuses on how rural identifies Vesterheim as the oldest (p. 123), communities functioned 100 years ago and founded in 1913 by Norwegian Americans to how residents met their need for food, shelter, document Norwegian immigrant history. A clothing and social interaction” [www.dakota- sixth critique – One author must practice dis- city.org]. cipline when exploring a topic as broad as the A fifth critique – Rentzhog is clear that not international history of open air museums. all of the museums he analyzes follow his defi- Yet, moving from the folk product, Vester- nition of open air museums, but does this heim, to Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village, a mean that his definition – “sites mainly com- collection of folk culture by the person who prising translocated buildings” (p. 2) – is too changed that culture, leaves much unstudied. narrow? He incorporates institutions that do Specifically, progressive era museum building not fit the criteria such as Plimoth Plantation, coincided with the era of nation building that ANMELDELSER

occurred in the United States between the focus revolved around a great man and his role 143 Spanish American War of 1898 and entrance in building a mighty union of states. It could into World War I. During the same decade not be called an effort in creating a national that Vesterheim began, local boosters, pro- identity because the federal system of govern- gressives and special interest groups in 1917 ment, with each state government sharing aut- founded Lincoln’s New Salem. It recreated the hority with the national government, defied 1830s village where future President Abraham formation of a nation state in the European Lincoln spent his early adulthood. In this re- model. Yet, Cunningham certainly appealed gard, folk built a museum documenting the to a sense of common identity when she tried interrelationships of ordinary folk with one to raise the funds to preserve the house of the particularly extraordinary person, Lincoln, the first president of the United States. This took president who turned a union of states into a on significance given the sectional tension nation. The first five log buildings were recre- that drove the North and the South apart be- ated during 1918, and the Civil Conservation fore the Civil War erupted in 1861. Docu- Corp, a relief program instituted by the Uni- menting the folk of Mount Vernon, that is, ted States government during the 1930s, built the enslaved African Americans as well as the the rest of the site. Barbara Burlison Mooney, poor whites on the plantation, never inspired in an article in Perspectives of Vernacular Archi- Cunningham or her peers. Technically Mount tecture [11 (2004)] argued that the folk invol- Vernon does not fit Rentzhog’s definition of ved created a “convenient discursive site on an open air museum (p. 2). It is preserved in which to graft theories of Lincoln’s personali- situ, but this history is important for two re- ty, the American character, and historical si- asons: women drove the effort, and the folk mulacra” (Mooney, p. 19). supported it. The ways that women, or speci- A seventh critique – women seem strangely fically, the ways gender affected the open air absent in Rentzhog’s study, but women played museum movement, deserves attention. major roles in historic preservation in the Another open air museum in the United Sta- United States. During the 1850s, Ann Pamela tes conveys the influence of direct transplanta- Cunningham launched a grassroots effort to tion of the open air ideal from Finland to Ari- save Mount Vernon, the home of the United zona as well as the influence of women on States’ first president, George Washington. To museum founding. Leonora Scott Muse Cur- do so, she had to mitigate sectional division, tin, a woman committed to cultural preserva- secure funds from competing special interest tion, and her daughter, Leanora T. Curtin, groups and devise a system where women as purchased the historic El Rancho de las Go- well as men held authority. Granted, Cun- londrinas near Santa Fe in 1932. They realized ningham did not create an open air museum the significance of the location as a stopping of folk culture at Mount Vernon; she helped point on the El Camino Real from Mexico found a historic house museum, one of the City to Old Santa Fe. Leonora T. Curtin mar- first in the nation. And preserving Mount ried Yryo (George) A. Paloheimo, Consul of Vernon did not succeed because of any recog- Finland for Southern California, Arizona and nition of folk culture. Folk across the United New Mexico, after World War II, and they States may have supported the effort, but the preserved existing structures, erected replicas, ANMELDELSER

144 and relocated other appropriate structures in torians, historic architects, historic archaeolo- their efforts to preserve the history and cultu- gists, preservationists and other public histori- re of Spanish New Mexico. Paloheimo had ans have embraced state-of-the-art methods worked with exhibitions before, having orga- and cutting edge technology to reach the gen- nized the Finland Pavilion at the New York eral public. Rentzhog calls for open air mu- World’s Fair in 1939. He also advocated for seums to capitalize on the general public’s cultural preservation given his work with interest in history and to help visitors become Help Finland, a U.S. organization that rallied more informed generally. This can include Finnish emigrants to lend financial aid to multi-sensory stimuli, a hallmark of open air their native land during the 1940s. That effort museums. By engaging the public intellectual- evolved into the Finlandia Foundation, co- ly in researching, collecting, preserving and founded by Paloheimo in 1953. When El interpreting the past using living history met- Rancho de las Golondrinas opened in 1972, it hods, the public learns about new ways of fin- became the first in New Mexico. Today the ding out about the past; of viewing it and of open air museum interprets three centuries of coming to terms with it. I am left wondering, Spanish culture. The Rancho de las Golondri- what would Hazelius do with the Internet? nas Charitable Trust operates the site. Rentzhog’s book is most useful because it Such diversity in open air museums, inclu- humbles readers to realize that our ideas are ding different interpretive goals, different ty- not necessarily new ideas. “Even if museums pes of founders, different types of operating only succeed in giving more and more people and governance structures and different sour- the simple understanding that we are not the ces of support indicate both the broad interest only generation, that there have been genera- in the United States in founding such mu- tions before us, and generations will come af- seums, but also the freedom to do so. Yet, ter, they will be making an invaluable contri- open air museums have been subject to criti- bution” (p. 377). He continued that “if they cism for the “lite” history they convey, for mo- also manage to get people to respect earlier ving buildings out of context and for ignoring generations instead of looking down on them, critical history in favor of living history de- they will be helping to counteract the present monstration of daily chores such as butter ma- day hubris, the arrogance, which is one of the king. Rentzhog addresses these controversies, greatest threats to the future of mankind” (p. particularly the tension between academic ac- 377). My eighth critique – produce a more curacy and public appeal (p. 165). comprehensive index for the English version. The American public (a.k.a. folk) creates For example, the debate about interpreting museums to reflect their communal selves, ethnicity in open air museums does not appe- and through their museums, they present con- ar in the index (that I can find). No entries for sensus history. Yet, controversy reeks from the “ethnicity” or “immigrant” appear, yet, color pores of their creations. Those not represented plates 102 and 106 indicate that the national have no voice, and they have no voice because open air museums in Norway and the Nether- creators excluded them from the process. This lands have incorporated such interpretation. is unconscionable, but a predictable consequ- It is impossible to create a totally comprehen- ence of public history making. Recently, his- sive index, but an expanded English version ANMELDELSER

could be useful. It could be posted on-line for Museum Studies. An Anthology of Contexts. 145 ease of access. Edited by Bettina Messias Carbonell. Black- Obviously Dr. Rentzhog establishes lofty go- well Publishing 2004. ISBN 0-631-22825- als for open air museums, but given his positi- X. 640 sider. ve interpretation of them, he believes the in- stitutions are generally capable of accomplis- hing the goals they pursue. But he under- Med mastodonttværket Museum Studies – an stands the gravity of currents trends in decli- anthology of contexts fra 2004 blev endnu en ud- ning visitation and inadequate operating fi- givelse føjet til rækken af de museologiske anto- nances. Open air museums must stabilize logier, som udkom fra 1980’erne og løbende themselves so they can take full advantage of frem imod årtusindskiftet, blandt disse Lumley their unique resources. They must make the 1988, Karp & Lavine 1991, Karp, Kreamer & most of intellectual engagement with the pu- Lavine 1992, Greenberg, Ferguson & Nairne blic. They must move beyond the role of col- 1996, og senest, i skandinavisk regi, Inge- lective memory maker and embrace the re- mann/Hejlskov Larsens (red.) Ny dansk Museo- sponsibility of history scrutinizer. Recently logi fra 2006, anmeldt i Nordisk Museologi forensics have captivated the television vie- 2006/1. Denne anmelder bekendt er der ikke wing public, and open air museums are alrea- kommet noget andet værk siden Blackwell-ud- dy staging “who done it” events. This affords givelsen, som præsterer en tilsvarende tekst- another opportunity in the world of opportu- mængde og faglig spændvidde, nities that Rentzhog describes, to engage the og der er god grund til at tro, at det vil vare et public in history scene investigation. Open Air stykke tid, inden værket bliver overgået af end- Museums can leave readers exhausted at the nu en museologisk antologi. task before them, but inspired to undertake it. Som udgangspunkt giver strømmen af an- tologier imidlertid grund til at spørge, hvorfor museologisk litteratur så ofte præsenteres i 1. This article is based on comments that I prepared denne genres sammenstykkede form? Ud over on Sten Rentzhog’s book for the 26-28 April de pragmatiske fordele, som byder sig til, hvil- 2007 international conference on “The Future of ke faglige begrundelser kunne ligge bag dette Open-Air Museums” at Skansen in Sweden. genremæssige valg i relation til den museolo- giske disciplin? Betegnelsen ’antologi’ kommer *Debra Reid, Associate Professor, Department of af det græske antholo’gia, som egentlig betyder History, Eastern Illinois University ’blomstersamling’, læren om noget, samling af udvalgte digte eller litteraturprøver.1 Forestil- Address: Department of History, Eastern Illinois lingen om antologien som en samling eller et University museum bliver da også en bærende idé i Car- 600 Lincoln Ave., Charleston, IL 61920 USA bonells fremstilling og et oplagt parameter for Phone: + 1 217-581-7272 at vurdere bogens indhold. Ikke mindst fordi Fax: +1 217-581-7233 der i herværende tilfælde er tale om en sam- E-mail: [email protected] ling af allerede publicerede tekster til forskel fra den type antologier, hvor en række forfat-