I know what you all think this is going to be about - but it's not. Last week, I finally got the chance to go to Ottawa's War Museum with my boyfriend. There certainly was a controversy brewing, but it had little to do with strategic bombing campaigns. This disagreement simply centered around the limited amount of time we were able to spend in the Museum and the very different interests held by my companion and I.
There were a number of exhibits at the Museum that I could have spent hours looking at. War Brides: Portraits of an Era - showcasing paintings, photos, and the stories of a number of the 44,000 women who came to Canada at the end of the Second World War as brides - was a beautifully moving exhibit. Stitches in Time - which consisted of 15 quilted artworks interpreting the Second World War experiences of women workers - was not only fascinating due to its medium but was also done by Johnnene Maddison, a London, Ontario artist. My personal favourite, the rebuilt 1950s pre-fab kitchen complete with linoleum flooring, was the closest I'll ever get to my dream doll-house. My boyfriend's tastes were certainly concentrated in different areas. The guns/swords, machinery, and medals - centering around an obsession with finding all the Victoria Crosses in the Museum - were much more to his taste. Besides Hitler's car, it seemed that we didn't share any interests. However, there was one area where we came together.
One of the War Museum's greatest strengths is the interactive elements present in a number of its exhibits. Despite the varying content of the material, the inclusion of buttons, switches, telephones, and touch-screens, are all almost impossible to resist for any visitor. From the chin-up bar (where the voice of a very angry french drill Sargent nearly gave me a heart attack) to the Cold War command centre (where it was up to me to predict the outcome of a nuclear war) various interactive elements forced both my companion and I to explore realms of history that we would otherwise have avoided. The potential for interactive technology to draw visitors to unfamiliar or previously ignored historical genres should be of significant interest to practitioners of Public History. Now if they'd just take down that "please don't climb" sign on Hitler's car...Images From:
1 - War Museum. "Canadian War Museum." http://www.warmuseum.ca/
1 - War Museum. "Canadian War Museum." http://www.warmuseum.ca/
2 - War Museum. "War Brides: Portraits of an Era." http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/exhibitions/epouses/warbrides01e.html
3 - War Museum. "Gallery 4 A Violent Peace." http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/gallery4_e.html
