Simply stated, the living history concept is the process by which a specific historic event is brought to life when an individual or group of individuals don period clothing and accoutrements, use the mannerisms of the era and speak the language of the times -- usually for the expressed purpose of educating the public.

The very concept of living history started back in 1909 when the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts started dressing guides in costumes for a period room in the John Ward House then scheduled for restoration. By 1935, the noted historian Arthur C. Parker suggested that history exhibits should tell a story and in 1945 Clifford Lord, then Director of the Farmer's Museum (Cooperstown, NY) contended that the focus of the museum was:

"... Useful in a democracy in order to produce a truer appreciation and a healthier respect for the dignity and accomplishments of those who practiced agriculture or a trade."

It was for this reason that Lord devoted much of the Museum and its resources to the preservation of the tools and implements of the common worker. Others that followed Lord in the directorship at the Farmer's Museum continued to expand on his original idea, and eventually this concept of idolizing the common man thru "living history" spread to the National Park Service via contacts with Frederick L. Rath and Arthur M. Schlessinger, Sr. Another point of interest is that it was Lord and his predecessors who banished the "Do Not Touch" signs and introduced interpreters to demonstrate how various tools functioned.

But why reenact history, particularly violent history? Such as the American Revolution or the American Civil War or World War II or a host of other violent events. Why indeed? There are a variety of valid reasons:

• Nearly all of the world's most important events were precipitated by some cataclysmic clash -- either one society attacking another or by a violent act of nature! Thus marking important events important to many cultures.
• Learning from History is to learn from past mistakes. (And to remind the rest of the public of these mistakes).
• Portraying violent history is to drive home the point that it was indeed a horrible experience for the original participants.
• You can instill the fact that history was reality affecting real people, sometimes for generations to come! Thus, bringing history to life for the potential visitor is to introduce the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feel, the realism that history should not be taken lightly.
• You will find in the process of reenacting specific historic events, that educating your visitor is relatively easy because you are actively encouraging that person to vicariously participate in the inherent drama of the event as it unfolds in front of him. 

The ultimate goal of interpreting any living history program is to recreate a setting exactly the same as the real event. But reality also tells us that this ultimate goal is completely unattainable. This is especially true for much of history, as a great proportion of it deals with the death and dying of people -- often many thousands of people in a single event. Therefore the best we can hope for is to approximate the event, and its surroundings, closely enough so that all but the most jaded of visitors would swear the setting is real.

This process of transforming a historic event, or a series thereof, and the attendant documentation from its raw form, namely paper, artifacts or sketchs, to a finished product, that of a morality play, is thus labeled interpretation.

The term interpretation is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as:

This definition begins to unravel the mystery of what interpretation really is -- it is first, a personal representation of the material (the documentation) and second, a dramatization (reenactment) of the historic event. Furthermore, you will notice that a derivative word, that of reenactor has as part of its root, the word actor. This coincidence is not altogether unwarranted because any person who recreates a historic event in the first person is in part acting! Acting, yes, but the script is taken from history rather than some playwright or fictional setting. Another aspect of the definition of the word "actor" is the root act, as to physically perform a motion -- similar to the act of a diver jumping off the end of a diving board.

Another vital key to understanding this concept is that of Person -- in particular, that of "Who is speaking," "Who is listening" and "Who is being spoken about." For purposes of reenacting history this concept is readily understood in the following terms:

• The person doing the talking is said to be acting in the role of first person -- "I."
• The person doing the listening (the visitor) is the second person -- "You."
• And finally, the person being spoken about (the historic figure) is deemed the third person -- "They."

Since second person is passive in all cases, it has the primary effect of removing second person as viable interpretive method. And because there are only two possibilities left, one must place all interpretive processes into either one of the remaining two methods:

• First Person or reenacting history as though you are an actual participant.
• Third Person or acting as though you are observing the proceedings from a detached view.

Fort Stanwix, New York

Fort Stanwix is perhaps a completely unique phenomenon, it is situated in the Southeastern edge of downtown Rome, New York. The site is original to 1778, and even though those fortifications were destroyed by fire and later having a city built on top of the ruins, we have what is effect a completely functional reconstruction of the original fort that was used by the Third New York Regiment during the American Revolution. This radical change in the shape of the heart of Rome, New York occurred long about 1970 when the United States Government began to acquire the necessary land to reconstruct the fort in time for the Bicentennial celebration in 1976.

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Culture Shock

Imagine the shock each of us received the first time we used the facilities at Fort Stanwix. We arrived and had set up by midmorning, had lunch (all with traditional 18th Century tools, speech, mannerisms and scenery). In due time, Nature calls and we ask directions to the washroom. At this we were politely told it was called "The Necessary" and where to find it. Well, "It" is situated in one of the smaller buildings at the south end of the parade ground (which looks like all of the other buildings in the complex). Open the door and --- wait a minute, this can't be right, gleaming tile and chrome -- the ultimate in late 20th Century facilities! Confusion reigns -- What century is this anyway?

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The Pushbutton Stove

The incident of the "Pushbutton Stove" occurred in one of the noncommissioned officer's barracks just after opening time at Fort Stanwix. The initial scene includes three soldiers huddling near the fireplace (for both heat and nourishment -- breakfast). In walk two late-middle aged female tourists. Upon smelling the odor of bacon, the first tourist commented to the soldier bending over a large frying pan, "Is that bacon real?". The soldier, not wanting to offend anyone, returned, "Why yes ma'am, I expect to be eating it very shortly". At this, the other tourist suggested that it must be horribly inconvenient to be cooking over an open fire, and that she uses a "stove" for all of her cooking". This comment caused one of the other soldiers to state, "A stove? William, you've traveled a good bit, do you know what she means by 'stove'?". William, the third soldier, thought for a long moment and replied, "Why yes, I have heard that the good Dr. Franklin of Philadelphia has just invented something he calls a 'stove'. Perhaps that is what she means". "No, No!", replied the tourist, "My stove is 'Electric' and has 'push buttons' on it for control". "Electric?", stammered William, "I have heard that Dr. Franklin is also experimenting with electricity, but I did not realize he succeeded in putting it inside of his stove!" ---- LONG PAUSE ---- All three soldiers (with a very wry look) "PUSH BUTTON?", and then looking for a button on their clothes (and gently pushing it with a finger), "Why Ma'am, That is a very strange custom you have -- pushing buttons -- Very strange indeed!"

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On The March To Quebec

The march to Quebec City by Benedict Arnold (original time frame: the autumn and early winter of 1775), one of the opening salvos in the United States' War of Independence from Britain and the tyrannical reign of King George III, was reenacted in the fall of 1975. This reenactment amounted to a full scale invasion force of some 1200 troops and camp followers. It was split into three divisions for the first part of the journey and later combined into one massive invasion force before crossing the border into Canada. Each of these divisions contained approximately 20 Army deuce-and-a-half trucks, several radio command jeeps, three mobile kitchens, a mobile Post Office, a portable emergency center, and fifty to seventy-five or more civilian vehicles. Once these three divisions were combined, the convoy stretched for more than six miles!

All personnel who joined the AEQ invasion force in 1975 paid $10 for the privilege of being a member. For that $10, each person got free meals (a church supper each night, and breakfast and lunch at the mobile kitchens), a free place to sleep at night, free transportation (if they so chose to use it), free medical care, a medical evacuation helicopter on call 24-hours a day, and free liability insurance ($1,000 death benefit) for the duration of the event!

On top of all this, a number of corporations chipped in with free products. The most prominent of these companies was Carling Black Label Beer Company who underwrote a significant amount of the cost of the event. They also provided two beers per person per night (again, free) for all members of the expedition and in Quebec City, they provided free access to their private tasting room so that all AEQ members could sample a wide variety of imported beers from all over the world.

In any case, this two week long event was replete with numerous side stories, including, but not exclusively, the followig exploits.

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The Turkey Dinner

After spending a hectic thirteen hours traveling from Central New York (State) to central Maine, without much benefit from food or water and arriving at the jumping off point (for the AEQ Expedition) well after midnight, the main contingent of riflemen were more than ready for the first meal supplied by the Expedition Committee the following evening.

To begin with, the menu was a complete Thanksgiving Turkey dinner with all the trimmings: dressing, squash, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, pickles, olives, other condiments; various drinks were also available: milk, juices, water, etc; and desserts -- O Lord, the desserts! Three full-length cafeteria tables full and piled three and four layers deep. The instructions were to not leave the dessert table with anything less than three (yes, three) samples! All of it home made! And all of it just like "mother's" home cooking! More than one veteran of the dinner table could not move from the chair he picked to sit down in for the better part of a half-hour after taking the last bite!

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The Mobile Post Office

It is not often one has to contend with a mobile Post Office (even when you are a veteran of many reenactments), as by nature they are transient in addition to being rare. Nonetheless, the Arnold Expedition had one assigned for each of three divisions!

One intrepid rifleman later indicated that he had forgotten to pack a vital customs document in the last minute rush to get all of his gear together and did not discover this fact until arrival at the Colburn House (Pittston, Maine). With only a dime in his pocket, he called home (collect), relayed the unfortunate situation, told the person on the far end of the line to send the document to the mobile Post Office. And within eighteen hours of discovering the lack of this missing document, it arrived at this mobile office and into the hands of its owner! (Not bad for an oft maligned semi governmental agency).

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The Integrated Sandwich

This sandwich turns out to be the flugle hound of sandwiches. It consists of one slice of white bread (the white), one slice of dark wheat or oat bread (the black), baloney or sandwich loaf for meat (the red), and if you were lucky, mayonnaise and mustard (the yellow). This gastronomic atrocity thus rapidly earned the term "The Integrated Sandwich". Needless to say, it was always the last sandwich on the plate!

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The "Poulet au Kentucky Frite" raid

This raid happened approximately halfway between Lac Megantic, Quebec and Quebec City, Quebec. The first division of the combined invasion convoy (approximately 400 people) stopped for lunch at a French Quebec version of Colonel Sander's Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet. Within five minutes, the entire stock had been depleted and the store owner started making calls to other Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets from as far away as fifty miles! The early customers were the lucky ones -- they got food, others had to wait for more than an hour! Meantime the entire convoy was stalled and tied up traffic for the entire six miles.

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Sacketts "Soggy" Harbor Battlefield, New York

The actual name of the reenactment site is Sackett`s Harbor. But because of a geologic quirk of Nature and an entire weekend of rain, this event quickly earned the reputation of "Soggy Harbor!" It turns out that bedrock is about six inches below grade level at the Sackett`s Harbor Battlefield. To make matters worse, the battlefield is slightly dish shaped with virtually no natural drainage.

Naturally, many Brigade Soldiers came prepared to camp on the battlefield. And as per usual, there was one American and one British camp. The Americans were only slightly better off than the British this time. Nearly everyone sustained damage as a powerful rain squall came off Lake Ontario in the wee hours of Saturday Morning with wind gusts over forty miles an hour! Unfortunately, an entire row of Britishers, their tents were sited on the lowest point of the field, and several of these soldiers had the misfortune to use these tents! One particularly unfortunate fellow set up his bedding on an air mattress and laid all of his gear including the musket flat on the ground (inside his wedge tent) before going to sleep Friday night. He awoke to a rather appalling sight: an indoor swimming pool nearly a foot deep with his gear at the bottom and he and his air mattress floating out the door!

This was also the weekend a group of American soldiers decided to "stick it out" come that may and cook over an open fire in the middle of a driving rain. Yes, it can be done! To begin with, it helps to have dry wood. Secondly, it helps to have the intelligence to make a rain cap over the base of the fire. It also helps immensely to have sense of humor about it -- "I know I needed a bath, but this is ridiculous!"

The battle on Sunday was a scream. The field was so damp and muddy, that nobody, but nobody would "die" intentionally. However, one fellow portraying an Indian was so intent on taking an American scalp that as he made the approach to his victim (at a dead run) his feet slipped and he slid into one of the deeper puddles on the field face first sending water flying in all directions. The crowd roared with approval as this was the most spectacular "die" of the event!