Jamestown Settlement

Alright, let's conclude this trip to Jamestown Settlement. I also had been to Yorktown Victory Center with my mother, which had a decent museum and a very disappointing (but others were impressed) living history area. So, my hopes were in the middle for Jamestown. With the anniversary of the 400th year since settling Jamestown, I knew they had upped the ante (the Queen visited after all...) in design and renovations...

As previously mentioned, I had made it as far as the Powhatan Village at the Settlement. After passing the totem circle and learning about Native interpreters at the site (or lack there of) I headed into the heart of the village, where their reed covered homes were dispersed in a similar style seen in White's drawings and in John Smith's journals.

"This watercolor by John White depicts the village of Pomeiooc in the North Carolina coastal plain. It was this image that was used to create the computer-rendered village. The structures in the village are also similar in design to those that are reconstructed at Jamestown as a Powhatan village. It is very likely that the Indians of eastern North Carolina had contact with the Powhatans." (From Disappearing Indians?)

The structures, as mentioned in the caption, were reconstructed at the Village at Jamestown Settlement, not necessarily in a circle. The were beautifully constructed and reflected a theory based on John Smith's writings, Powhatan oral history, and anthro/archeo work done on Southern Woodlands communities.

I was disappointed that grouse weren'tt represented and mainly Anglo style chickens seen on Old MacDonald's Farm were, I'm not sure about chicken ancestry in America though. (How nerdy is that?)

The homes were quite nice, and well put together - I was curious how frequently they replaced the materials, they were in great condition and seemed to lack any type of deterioration. The object to the right of the home in the chicken photo is an infamous corn pounder. It seems to be the children and birds favorite hang out - any chance to violently smash corn into bits appeals to the children and the treat it provides appealed to woodpeckers, blue jays and common little scavenger birds alike.

The interior of the homes featured plenty of birds and furs alike, as well as space for fires.

Sorry for the slightly blurry interior shots. I like the gull that's been pulled in two. The interior descriptions are primarily based on anthro/archeo research and Capt. John Smith's infamous journals about his experiences at Powhatan's village. There were no interpreters inside the buildings and there were more deerskin to choke a horse. The shots above are from the main meetinghouse.

Well, that was that. There was a small area, which featured a non-Native third person interpreter cooking fish and they had stations of tightened deerskin for children to try their hand at "skinning." I meandered through a beautiful wooded area towards where I could see the ship's masts - I'm sure that pirate films and the overall coolness of big glorious ships made this a hot spot, and it sure did (for young boys especially! Seems young girls liked the Indian village and young boys preferred the glamour of ships..)

I learned from some of the signage and from individuals at other museums that the ships were made in Maine and made the trip down the coast to the docks of the Settlement. These ships were also used in the film The New World. I even felt myself getting giddy as I headed towards the dock, the boats were beautiful.

The masts of the larger ship the Susan Constant.

Two were available to explore, Susan Constant and I believe Discovery. There was some nearby signage discussing the journey from England to Jamestown and a costumed interpreter did first person acting discussing his travels on the ships much to the enjoyment of adults while their children went wild on the ships.

Costumed interpreters were on both ships, three total, working in third person. One was from England, which provided "authenticity" to the experience of crawling around on a big meaty ship. I was able to take the ladder below (I don't know ship lingo...even with that trip to the Maritime Museum!) to see storage units, sleeping quarters, and the very fancy captain's quarters (the only private sleeping space on the ship it seemed!). Some areas were blocked off, which featured movable objects to add authenticity to the ship, bust most areas were open to the visitor, allowing one to stick your head out the windows, pose for photo ops, imagine what it'd be like to shoot a cannon and to pull that whole Leonardo DiCaprio stunt from Titanic.

The Discovery from the deck of the Susan Constant.

Giant wooden bust which sat on top of pulleys for the ropes.

Captains quarters.

The interpreters seemed impatient and anxious. It was lunch time in Jamestown Settlement, so staff members were coming and going, relieving one another of his ship duty to go eat. They'd stop working with visitors to declare lunch time and ignore any questions as they scurried off the ship. I wasn't impressed with the information provided and was left rather clueless on how some of the ship's tools and tracking devices worked, the men seemed more interested in the specials in the dining hall. But, the ships were beautiful objects, well put together and well curated. It is quite a lovely experience to overlook the James River from these boats on a beautiful sunny day. I could only imagine the first site of the land when the original settlers arrived..

Conservation work was being done on the boats - lacquering, paint detailing and general duties to help maintain the quality appearance of the ships. The nicest staff members I encountered were the ship conservators (they travel all over the coast).

After exploring the dock, I headed to the fort of Jamestown on the property. This was a space I remembered as a child, where my mother took a photo of me wearing giant pieces of period armor (And I saw other parents doing the same to their children). Interpreters were more active here, discussing in third person the experiences and hardships of the settlers. The buildings were beautifully put together, and despite being in such a small area it was easy to explore and not feel to confined, it was quite crowded though. I visited a storehouse, a kitchen, the guard house, school house/church and some other random generic buildings. There was one female interpreter, cooking, and the rest (two-three) were men discussing the art of warfare. The blacksmith was no where to be found much to the disappointment of the youngins.



As you can see, the buildings were great. The colors, the techniques used to get the textures and the craftsmanship was wonderful. This was the busiest area on the grounds, which did cause problems due to the space constraints and the layout. But, it was well maintained - gritty and worn, and beautiful at the same time.

Costumed interpreter (3rd person) discusses the art of warfare in 17th century Virginia. He had the most impress costuming out of any interpreter on the grounds.

Lunchtime at the Blacksmith shop. It's not a living history museum without a blacksmith.

After spending about 20 minutes in this area I had to start heading back to Colonial Williamsburg to finish my day doing some research on treaties. I decided to head back to the visitor center/museum and check out the gift shop on my way out. It was appalling.

The majority of the objects for sale were cheap, made in China toys of "Indian princesses" and "little braves." You could buy costumes to dress your daughter up like a princess, bows, arrows, cheaply made dream catchers and more t-shirts then you can shake a stick at with tacky one-liners like "The original - Jamestown." I bought a few postcards and watched the children rampage the cheap toy section. Oh, I also scored a sweet Pocahontas crossstitching design which I'm making my stepmother stitch for me.

They had two gift shops, both were filled with crap made of stereotypical truck stop Indian wetdreams.

Smaller gift shop, I've seen my fair share of "Indian" themed dream catcher's at truck stops across the US, as seen here.

The main gift shops plethora of cheap "Indian" dolls and toys.

After that whirlwind, I headed back to work. Another fascinating museum experience in Virginia. A few things to summarize my experience...

• Visitors were more interested in the living history aspects of the museum.
• The African experience area of the museum was impressive and offensive at the same time and was largely ignored by non-black visitors. There were no African American intepreters on the grounds.
  
• The Native exhibit was also impressive yet offensive. I really wish we could move beyond tacky mannequins.
  
• A really impressive building and center with more information than an average museum goer can handle.
  
• The cafe wasn't bad and the prices and taste wasn't too shabby.
  
• Beautiful surroundings.
  
• Fun experience for kids, as long as parental units are willing to educate their children about the difference between a white person dressed up like an Indian and a real Native person and how life wasn't all ships and blacksmiths.
  
• Worth visiting the National Park site about a mile away especially if you're in a party of only adults.
  

Alright, time to go enjoy the last Saturday I have in DC, and perhaps another entry tonight!

Yes, I am alive + Jamestown Settlement

Yes, I am, I promise. Quite strange how I went from having minimal internet access in Williamsburg, to total full out hardcore internet access in D.C. and I stopped updating my blog. Ok, I have been busy, and staring at a computer for 8 hours a day doing research (and other such things) can make me want to avoid doing much writing or productive things aside from aimless "surfing the web" type activities when I get home..

...so yes, I am in Washington, D.C. Next Friday I pack up and ship out back to the Midwest, to enjoy the last few weeks of summer, then finish my final semester of my undergrad at IUPUI.

I have been working in the curatorial department of the National Museum of the American Indian for two months. I'm working under Maria Galban, who is the research assistant for the Infinity of Nations show. IoN (hip inter-museum shorthand) features over 500 objects that explore cultures ranging from Tierra Del Fuego (Patagonia) to Greenland. The show launches at the New York City museum in 2010, and there is still a lot to do.

My main projects involve breaking down consultations with anthros, historians, and community members and taking the information from these meetings and citing specific information pertaining to objects chosen for the show. This information will be verified and then eventually placed in the museum database (eMU) for future use, and will be used for label information as well. I've been reading fascinating interviews with remarkable people, and learning a lot about cultures I have not been as familiar with (specifically South America/Latin America). I also am assisting in culture verification - researching specific objects and providing a culture based on their provenance (i.e. it's not Eskimo, it's actually Inupaiq). I've learned a lot about the collectors themselves, good and bad things.

Today I spent the majority of my day in the photography archives, researching photographs to show people using/wearing objects that will be on display, which will be apart of a computerized photo book allowing visitors to put "two and two together" so to say - how the object is used or worn.

It's been an up and down experience. Lately I've been doing more research work, which is what I came here to do, and that's great. I've met some great people, some not so great people, and learned a lot about where I see myself fitting into the museum world.

I also have had a chance to live in the Nation's Capital during an exciting time - Obama is in office, and the hype and energy is powerful. Summer here is hot, but events like Smithsonian's Folklife festival took place and I've had a chance to travel to New York City and Philadelphia, and had amazing weekends in both places. I've also gained a couple of lasting friendships with some people in the program here.

So perhaps I can start at the beginning. I figure since I've slacked so bad on my blogging, I can share some things with you that I've been experiencing as I have been.

Oh, an my internship in CW? It was great. A little slow in the end, due to business and schedules, but, it was a remarkably fulfilling and education experience. I still have to send out my thank you gifts to Buck and Willie down there. If you're an intern - get an internship at CW, even if you have to write for grant money to do it. Their programming is amazing, the people are so nice, and even though it's a sleepy town, you'll have a fulfilling and educational experience.

So let's go back a few months...

Back in May I was living in Williamsburg, Virginia (if you haven't read back blogs) and I took an afternoon to go to Jamestown Settlement. The "Settlement" is actually a purchased plot of land right next to the original Jamestowne fort (National Park Service as seen in previous blogs) and features a gigantic museum and living history museum devoted to the early Euro, African and Native experience North America.

I remember as a teenager visiting here with my mother, there was a small museum, interpreters dressed up in period costume (I remember the soldiers...), and some huts based on the Jamestown archeology/drawings and some "longhouses" representing the Powhatan village. Well, my my my, how it has changed. Ever since the big 400th Anniversary of Jamestown rolled around, Jamestown Settlement had quite a face lift.

I started out in the museum, which is housed in a stunning building. No photographs were allowed, not even without flash, and the guards on duty did a *very* good job at alerting any visitor to put their camera away. The museum was quite amazing in size, design and craft. I did have some issues with representation there, as I will discuss...like...they had tacky mannequins of "early Native Peoples" and the docents liked to quiz the children about gender roles in Eastern Woodland society ("see, the women tend to the garden, the men hunt," overheard by a docent).

They discussed pre-history Native cultures in the area, Powhatan life just before contact, the "truth behind the term Indian Summer," and the break down of political and social life in the Virginia Indian world. Next, they discussed Anglo-European life - what it was like to live in London during the 16th and 17th centuries, featuring a cobble stone mock up (but no mannequins!) of olde London towne.

After experiencing the class system of old London there were detailed exhibits discussing the formation of the Virginia Company and failures at Roanoke. This is where my mind started to fade, there was so much, and my "hardcore museum nerd gotta read everything" mindset was starting to fall apart. I started becoming more of a typical museum goer (look, glance at label, look, walk) due to time constraints (I was heading to CW that day for work), but, if I had all day, I could have spent all day (probably 6-8 hours) there.

Anyway, after the story of England, the contact period between Native and English people, a big statue featuring Powhatan, and of course a display and "life size" statue of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, they then discussed the African experience. Gigantic dioramas devoted to African life - just like they treated the Native American dioramas with mannquins. It was bizarre, strange, and even with quality attempts to be "Realistic" and "authentic" I felt like I was back in a Natural History Museum from the 1950s. Art and culture of Africa was discussed in a beautiful multimedia show, however, the majority of the large exhibit was given little attention by non-black visitors, based on my observations for the 10-20 minutes I spent in the area. (And I was spending a long time there compared to 95% of the museum goers.)

After a discussion about slavery in Africa, contact with Europeans, and the transportation of slaves to the Americas, we are shown how contact with all three cultures collides, and then they feature an exhibit showing how European living influenced Native living (Anglo housing, etc) and what the "typical" home for English-folk was like in Jamestown.

I was overwhelmed, and was, I admit, glad to get out of the exhibits and grab a bite at the very nice cafe they had (okay food, nice staff, decent price, good options). After that, I was heading outside to the interpretation grounds!

There, I was allowed to take pictures, if I could have taken them in the museum - you would really get the jist of what I am talking about in regards to representation of cultures, communities, and "races" (note the quotations).

(Oh, and they also had a really fascinating exhibit about Jamestown and Bermuda - I bet if I would have not went to that before the main exhibit I would have given the main exhibit more attention, but the special exhibit was fascinating..)

Powhatan " ceremonial circle of carved wooden posts."

Detail of totem.

The first thing you experience when you walk out into the living history area is a circle of posts based on John White's drawing of the Powhatan dancing. While googling an image to reference I learned that the posts at the Village were created by Rose Powhatan (Pamunkey/Tauxenent) and Michael Auld (Taino). This was not mentioned at the posts, or not in an obviously place (and I consider myself rather observant). (Powhatan and Auld are amazing artists, check out Rose's posters!)

Now, these posts were really great - beautiful at that - but I can barely remember any signage, and it seems they weren't used for much discussion aside from a quick stop by a docent tour.

John White's drawing - visit Powhatan Museum to learn more (scroll down).

While checking out the posts, I spotted my first interpreter. A middle-aged woman dressed in a buckskin fringe outfit. She was working on basketry of some type. I wandered over to her, and that faithful question popped in my head (thanks to Playing Ourselves) - are Native peoples actually doing the "Indian" interpretation? I scooted over to her, told her I was a student (less threatening) and asked her politely if any Native people are involved with interpretation, she shook her head and said no but "sometimes people from around here come by and do things." I smiled, nodded, and stepped away not surprised by her answer.

I was curious as to why Virginia communities weren't currently active in the museum....perhaps sometime I'll find out.

The lady who answered my question.

Non-Native interpreter smoking fish. The family in the shot were overheard with the father asking his daughter if he saw what type of shoes the "Indian" was wearing and the girl howled "moccasins!!" and the interpreter said "yes, so I don't burn my feet when I cook."

So, we had another case of non-Native people playing Indian - I even saw a hippie chick with dreadlocks in her buckskin "maiden" dress walking barefoot with other costumed staff. Quite fascinating for a museum attempting "authenticity." I wasn't really surprised - I wonder what type of training they get when someone innocently asks "are you an Indian?"

Ok, sorry to disappoint, but, I'm quite sleepy. I think I've babbled enough for the night, and I will write more tomorrow! I'm looking forward to reviewing my summer with you. If you made it this far, you rock!