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Re: History and the Movies (and the Publishers)



And now this word from the Friday soapbox (+ Friday Funnies)

In my past life at California State Railroad Museum, we often got calls and
visits from the media folk, such as "coffee-table book publishers, and folks
from the cable history television industry. "We need lots of pictures of
trains."

After prying a detailed subject-by-subject and "circa" date list out of
them, we'd then have to spend considerable time searching the photo archives
and pull possibly interesting/appropriate images for consideration. These
their agents or researchers or authors would review.

Then comes the final product, with odd layout juxtapositions, odd  or
erroneous captions, etc., etc.

For the Funnies list:  On reference one day I got a call from a woman with a
slight level of edge to her voice.

"I'm having an argument with my 14 year old daughter who is taking American
History. We have a $50 bet and need you to settle it!"

"Gee, ma'am, I'd prefer not to get in the middle..."

"No, you have to answer the question and prove I am right. SHE says I'm
wrong! Here's the question: What train did George Washington use to get to
his inauguration in Washington, D.C.?"

I had to literally put the phone away and stifle a guffaw.

"We have a significant problem, ma'am. How much did you say was the bet?"

"Fifty bucks. So which train was it?"

"Well, ma'am, I hate to say this, but you'd better get out your wallet."

"Why?!"

"There were no trains for George Washington to take to his inauguration."

"What?! Then how did he get to Washington,D.C.?"

"There's the other problem, ma'am. There was no Washington, D.C. He was
inaugurated in New York City."

There was a pause, she repeated it somewhat and distant peals of teenage
laughter across the line. "Told you," I could hear the daughters voice say.

The woman comes back with: "Well what train did he take to New York?"

"Ma'am, there were no railway trains of any kind in the United States until
around 1830."

With a very biting edge now: "Well, then, HOW did he get to New York?"

"I must presume, ma'am he either walked, rode in a stage or on horseback."

More peals of teenage glee came as I heard a sheepish, maternal "Thank you,
I guess..." and a hangup click.

        And this is not an April 1 gag...

        Kevin Bunker
        Student Assistant
        California State Archives
> ----------
> From:         Kurilecz, Peter[SMTP:peter.kurilecz@WOODSIDESUMMITGROUP.COM]
> Reply To:     Archives & Archivists
> Sent:         Friday, June 30, 2000 8:32 AM
> To:   ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU
> Subject:      Re: History and the Movies
>
> The History Channel's program "History or Hollywood" examines movies so
> that
> they can ask the question is it history or is it Hollywood? They usually
> have some subject experts on to discuss various aspects of the film. Last
> nights experts were from the Naval War College and Gettysburg College.
>
> They also interviewed one of the curator's for Historic Brattonsville.
> This
> expert was great as they went through the buildings etc. BUT the best part
> was when he related an incident that occurred during the filming. (they
> showed the relevant scene, too). The scene involved 6 militia men at night
> carrying torches. They were entering one of the historic WOODEN buildings
> with TORCHES. The curator said that before they could enter the building
> one
> of the staff slammed the door in their faces. Eventually filming continued
> but as he related there was a staff member out of camera range with a fire
> extinguisher handy AND a member of the local fire brigade with charged
> hose
> in hand also off-screen. Just in case.
>
> I've worked with local TV people in the past who were very good and
> pleasant. What I found most difficult to work with were local print
> journalists who were reluctant to discuss their research topic. And even
> after providing them with all the information they needed, they would
> still
> screw up the story. The worst is that the public would come in saying "but
> the paper says that's what happened" They couldn't be convinced even if we
> showed them the original.
>
> Anyway here is the url for Historic Brattonsville, SC
> http://yorkcounty.org/brattonsville/
>
> Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
> Manager, Records Management
> Woodside Summit Group, Inc
> Richmond, Virginia
> Tel: 804-744-1247 extension 23
> Fax: 804-744-4947
> mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com
>
> >
>
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>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>