INTERPRETING HISTORIC SITE NARRATIVES: DUKE HOMESTEAD ON TOUR Rachel Crockett Kirby A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Program of Folklore in the Department of American Studies. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Bernard L. Herman Marcie Cohen Ferris Gabrielle A. Berlinger © 2016 Rachel Crockett Kirby ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Rachel C. Kirby: Interpreting Historic Site Narratives: Duke Homestead on Tour (Under the direction of Bernard L. Herman) This thesis uses Duke Homestead State Historic Site and Tobacco Museum as an ethnographic case study to explore a new vocabulary for understanding the power, politics, and production of historical narratives as communicated on guided walking tours. By examining narratives as they fluctuate along an arc from the scripted, the spoken, and the received, I discuss moments of sense-making, discomfort, and disconnect as they occur on the historic site. I focus on the tours’ inclusion, exclusion, and negotiation of Caroline, a young girl who was owned and enslaved by Washington Duke, through which societal expectations of history can be examined in relation to the desires and goals of those who wrote the tour script. Her story offers an example of narrative discomfort, negotiated through hesitation, elision, and derision within the spoken presentation. Many voices contribute to the construction and perpetuation of historical narratives, and this thesis uses the voices of site employees, interns, volunteers, and visitors to understand the dynamism of place-based history. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As both an undergraduate and graduate student at UNC, I have been supported, guided, and encouraged by countless faculty and graduate students, so I begin my thanks there. Thank you Tim Prizer for first noticing my interests and introducing me to Folklore. Thank you Joy and John Kasson for introducing me to American Studies while in London. My semester abroad taught me to think creatively, engage my surroundings, and embrace interdisciplinarity. Thank you, Bernie Herman, for going out of your way to get to know me as a student in a lecture class. You invested in me early on, and your interest in my work is largely what brought me back to UNC for the Folklore MA. This work would have been impossible without the support of Duke Homestead State Historic Site and Tobacco Museum, particularly Julia Rogers, Jessica Shillingsford, and Mia Berg. Thank you, Julia Rogers, for taking a risk and hiring me for a summer internship in 2013, and for answering my call in the spring of 2015 when I asked if I could do ethnographic research with the site. I am grateful for everyone at Duke Homestead, even those of you whose names do not appear in this thesis. Thank you for continually welcoming my research, answering my questions, reading my transcripts, dressing me up in 1940s clothing, letting me follow a historic reenactor as he walked across the state, and giving me an up-close and personal view of life at a state historic site. I only hope that this process has in some way been beneficial to you. To my committee, thank you for your direction, patience, and for continually asking me challenging questions. Early on in this project, Marcie Cohen Ferris asked me “why does Duke Homestead matter in a time with the Ferguson riots?” I do not have a clear answer for this iv question, but it has guided the entirety of this process, and has constantly helped me remember why I find this work important. Gabrielle Berlinger, you have helped me see that it is possible to combine folklore, public history, museum studies, and historic preservation. I continually appreciate your ability to push me in multiple directions at once, while still keeping my work grounded. I am so glad that you are at UNC and that I was able to work with you on this project. There are countless other individuals, both in and out of the classroom, who have invested in this project and in my work throughout this process. Thank you Glenn Hinson, Patricia Sawin, and Elizabeth Engelhardt, among others, for your time, attention, and guidance. Thank you to the review committees of the Archie Green Fellowship in Occupational Folklife, and the Daniel W. Patterson Fellowship for Folklore Fieldwork for reviewing my grant applications and funding my research. Thank you to my fellow graduate students in both the Folklore Program and the American Studies Department for expanding the ways I think, and for offering me friendships that will exist long after we have completed our various degrees. To my roommates, Emily and Hannah, I could not have done this without you. Thank you for your unconditional kindness, patience, and, at times, for offering much needed distractions. Finally, I want to thank my family. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for filling our house with quilts, and cross-stitches, and musical instruments. You fostered my love and interest in the South and in material culture before I could even speak. To my sister Hannah, thank you for sitting beside me on our countless family vacations to historic sites, national parks, and museums, and for encouraging me as my childhood curiosities grew into academic inquiries. My family raised me to ask questions, appreciate the past, and know the importance of physical objects, all of which continue to inform who I am personally, academically, and professionally. Thank you for giving me my roots, and for teaching me how to use my wings. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………..viii LIST OF KEY PEOPLE………………………………………………………………………….ix INTRODUCTION: SPEAKING FOR DUKE HOMESTEAD……………………………………1 CHAPTER ONE: COMMUNAL LANDSCAPES OF MEMEORY…………………………….14 CHAPTER TWO: DUKE HOMESTEAD AS A HISTORIC SPACE…………………………...18 DUKE HOMESTEAD AS SELF-GUIDED MUSEUM…………………………………18 DUKE HOMESTEAD AS HISTORIC SITE ON TOUR………………………………...22 CHAPTER THREE: PRODUCING AND PERFORMING NARRATIVE……………………...27 CHAPTER FOUR: DUKE HOMESTEAD ON TOUR………………………………………….33 CAROLINE: SCRIPTED………………………………………………………………...33 CAROLINE: SPOKEN…………………………………………………………………..42 CAROLINE: RECEIVED………………………………………………………………..50 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………..57 APPENDICES: APPENDIX A: AFTERWARDS: DUKE HOMESTEAD CONTINUES……………….60 APPENDIX B: EXPLANATION OF FIELDWORK METHODS………………………63 APPENDIX C: OBSERVATIONS and TAKEAWAYS FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION…………………………………………………………………69 APPENDIX D: DUKE HOMESTEAD TOUR GUIDE MANUAL……………………...70 TRANSCRIPTS: APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW, JULIA ROGERS, FEBRUARY 6, 2015………………...81 APPENDIX F: GUIDED TOUR, JULIA ROGERS, FEBRUARY 6, 2015…………….100 APPENDIX G: INTERVIEW, EMMA SMITH, MARCH 25, 2015……………………121 APPENDIX H: GUIDED TOUR, OMAR HAMAD, MAY 28, 2015…………………..123 vi APPENDIX I: INTERVIEW, JULIA ROGERS and OMAR HAMAD, JUNE 18, 2015.....................................................................................................133 APPENDIX J: GUIDED TOUR, OMAR HAMAD, JUNE 26, 2015…………………...145 APPENDIX K: GUIDED TOUR, SARAH PATRICK, JUNE 26, 2015………………..158 APPENDIX L: INTERVIEW, MARY AN and CHRISTINA RODOSKI, JUNE 26, 2015.....................................................................................................169 APPENDIX M: GUIDED TOUR, OMAR HAMAD, JULY 10, 2015………………….174 APPENDIX N: GUIDED TOUR, OMAR HAMAD, JULY 23, 2015…………………..177 APPENDIX O: INTERVIEW, JULIA ROGERS, JULY 23, 2015……………………...189 APPENDIX P: INTERVIEW, JESSICA SHILLINGSFORD, JULY 24, 2015………...199 APPENDIX Q: INTERVIEW, ANNA KILLIAN, JULY 30, 2015……………………..216 APPENDIX R: INTERVIEW, SARAH PATRICK, JULY 31, 2015…………………...221 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………………...233 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Duke Homestead Employment, Jan 2015 – March 2016……………………………ix FIGURE 2: Map of Duke Homestead, self-guided tour handout…………………………………xi FIGURE 3: Sarah Patrick in period dress, in front of the farmhouse and corncrib, July 2015….....xi FIGURE 4: “The Dukes of Durham,” Museum Exhibit…………………………………………21 FIGURE 5: Duke Homestead’s Animatronic Farmer……………………………………………21 FIGURE 6: The Curing Barn, July 2015………………………………………………………...25 FIGURE 7: The Pack House, April 2015………………………………………………………..25 FIGURE 8: Visitors walking towards the third factory, July 2015………………………………26 FIGURE 9: Costumed interpreter in the third factory, July 2015……………………………......26 FIGURE 10: Washington Duke’s farmhouse…………………………………………………....27 viii KEY PEOPLE DUKE HOMESTEAD EMPLOYMENT JAN 2015 - MARCH 2016 Mia Berg Winslow Carter Omar Hamad Anna Killian Kayla Leonard Andrew Long Sarah Patrick Julia Rogers Jessica Shillingsford Emma Smith Site Manager Assistant Site Manager Historic Interpreter 2 – Full Time Maintenance Mechanic Historic Interpter 1 - Part Time Intern Volunteer Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 *Dashed line notes interim position _____ Not all volunteers are represented on this chart. There were additional volunteers for special events. There are new part-time staff and interns that began after August 2015. They are not noted since my research did not interact with them and, consequently, I did not get consent for inclusion. Figure 1: Duke Homestead Employment, Jan 2015 – March 2016 Mia Berg: Berg was Assistant Site Manager through the majority of my research, and she has a long history with North Carolina State Sites. She worked part time for Bennett Place and Duke Homestead, starting in 1996. She worked full time at Bennett Place from 1999 to 2007, at which time