What Makes Historical Representation Worth Checking Out?
Fascination!
Photo by: Cherise Elliott - History Anew
There are several reasons why historical representation is an excellent choice for educational and entertainment purposes:
It is made-to-order: Shows are tailor made to suit the needs of each venue.
It is non-age specific: Presentations and demonstrations have content that appeals to the young and old alike. Even toddlers can be engaged!
It is personable: The audience always has the opportunity to interact with the historical representatives for more detailed information. As well, all replicated artifacts are accessible to the audience.
It is time and cost efficient: Education, entertainment, and hands-on learning are expertly mixed to create a fun and lasting impact bundled into a small amount of time.
It is mobile: Bring visitors to your venue or create historical "place" in their own space! Historical representation brings the passion of the museum to the community via important events, school outreach, and more.
Case in Point: Historical Representation Really Works
While federal funding for small community museums
and heritage institutions across Canada continues to be nearly non-existent,
historical representation is steadily gaining recognition as a valuable resource for the Canadian historical community as a whole. The following commentary is a case in point.
Canada’s National History
Society published an article in the December 2006/January 2007 issue of The Beaver entitled
The Real Crisis for Museums in Canada.
One point of discussion concerned the numerous hurdles that were encountered by
"five of the six recipients honoured at the 2006 Governor General's Awards
for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History” when trying to "integrate
museum visits, archival research, or some other community component into their
teaching plans". The main cause of the hurdles faced? The recipients and their associated educational institutions could not afford the field trips necessary to further immerse students into the richness of Canadian history.
Veteran
teacher, Jay Bailey , posted a comment on the message board of the 2007 National
Forum on Canadian History that provides insight into why historical representation is the best choice to successfully overcome these challenges.
“In my 28 years of teaching
French, the most memorable part of each year, according to students some 15
years later, has been my teaching about "les voyageurs " and the fur
trade, still the most historically influential and longest-running commercial
venture in North America. We dressed as
voyageurs, sang voyageur songs, ate voyageur food and played voyageur games, as
well as discussing and illustrating in graphic and theatre their life of
amazing feats and perils. Now retired, I still do presentations in schools as a
voyageur, and was baptised as such this summer on Pointe au Baptême in the Ottawa River as part of a 61 day, 1500 km expedition as
authentic voyageurs of 1800. This type of reality belongs in the school. The educational
system and the historical community at large need to tap into the world of
re-enactors to help bring history alive, as much as the community of
re-enactors need the historians to help them to be as authentic as possible.”
It
is this symbiosis that History Anew promotes and cherishes. Let History Anew take all of the work that we have done for you, or all of your own work, and create a dynamic, interactive presentation/demonstration that will WOW your visitors. We can be at your next event or you can have us be your outreach program!
Want more information? Interested in seeing us in action?
See our Events page for events we will be attending.
OR
If you would like information on how to book us for your next function -
Phone us within the Edmonton Area @ 780.989.ANEW (2639)
Toll Free @ 1.866.802.ANEW (2639)
E-mail: info@historyanew.com
