Smoke and Fire Forgery

The flames cast their shadows upon his face, exaggerating the lines of age.  Age has never dimmed the keenness of his eyes or the strength of his hands.  Those steady eyes watched the interplay of metal and flame waiting for the right play of color.  From the crawling hands of Prometheus's ancient gift, he drew forth the metal to work with hammer and anvil through dexterous skills.  Long had the blacksmith worked his skills.

I am embarking on a Master's Degree thesis exploring the theory and practice of public archaeology using the blacksmith as a case study.   The representation of the blacksmith is a touchstone, connecting us to a distant past while remaining familiar.  The traditional blacksmith is used as a physical representation connecting the past to the present at museums and living history displays throughout North America and Europe.  Public archaeology is, in many ways, applied anthropology leading to new ways of presenting the past in order to make it more engaging and relevant.  This project is designed to investigate these various interactions and connections between the public and history and archaeology.       

My project will look at the connections between history, archaeology, and folklore in developing and portraying the past at museums.  Throughout this project I will be working close with Allaire State Park, NJ and their historic interpretive village. Allaire Village has a long commitment to interpreting their 19th-century industrial site to the public.  Recently, I have begun volunteering their as one of their blacksmith's apprentices.  It is my expectation to conduct a bloom to produce iron at their facility in the fall of 2012.  It will be open to the public, so if anyone out in internet land happens to be around, think about coming out. This is their website if you are interested in their work: http://www.allairevillage.org/ 

I plan to the blog updated with each stage of research when I can.  (During the month of July, I will be in an Iron Age settlement in Denmark and cannot guarantee internet access.)  So let us begin Smoke and Fire: An Examination of Public Archaeological Theory and Practice. 

What is Living History?

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When someone mentions living history, many images can come to mind from Civil War reenactments to Renaissance Faires. The historic display is a set depicting a particular time and place which does not fit into the modern world.  The past is brought into the present; history becomes a play with which the public can interact by walking around in it, hearing the past, and touching objects.  This allows the public to gain a deeper understanding of the past through making personal connections.  For many people such as Tony Horwitz, the author of Confederates in the Attic, the past came alive when he re-enacted, and he gained a new understanding of the past. “I thought about Mathew Brady’s black-and-white photographs, and the false impression they conveyed. The War’s actual landscape was lush with color and beauty” (1998:15).  This process of recreating the past at living history museums provides a setting for the expectations of the museum and the public to directly engage.  As a result, the public gains a more complex understanding of the past based on layered information. 

 

The image from a postcard purchased in Denmark showing a reenactment of the American Civil War.  

Living history in a museum setting is important because it makes history approachable and open to query. When another person is explaining history, it is much easier for members of the public to express their questions and concerns.  Traditional museums remove historical events from their wider context of social interactions in order to make them accessible for interpretation.  

Mark Leone, an anthropologist at the University of Maryland, has demonstrated that “each era actively creates the past through the perspectives of the present” (1984:2).  In each museum, the public selects an aspect of the past that has been presented to them and brings their own perspective to it.  This will happen whether the museum desires it or not. Some museums such as Yorktown Victory Center, Virginia, develop one interpretation that runs the course of the entire museum.  If a member of the public comes to a different conclusion than the museum, then the display will be viewed as inaccurate.  Living history can be a tool for the museum to encourage the formation of its own interpretation of the past and in the process it develops a complex multivocal presentation of the past.

According to Jay Anderson, a researcher in living history, there are four characteristics that distinguish living history as a valuable research and interpretive tool for presenting the past (1982:305). The first trait is that the focus of such museums is on folklife, depicting the everyday experiences of ordinary men, women, and children (Anderson 1982:293).  The public is able to imagine themselves engaging in the roles they see the interpreters portray and thus form personal connections across time. Between participants and the public it may also “provide comradeship, travel, a channel for intellectual curiosity, family fun, camping out, an opportunity to play-act, and finally, money” (Anderson 1982:305).  By presenting a social history at museums it allows certain themes to be explored such as gender roles, ecology and family structures that are commonly lost at traditional museums (Anderson 1984:52). These themes allow visitors to mentally remove themselves from the modern world and when they return to it, they will have gained a deeper understanding of themselves and the past.   

 The second trait Anderson emphasizes is that living history museums tend to rely on regional interpretations (1982:306).  Many museums are dedicated to different occupational practices such as maritime and agricultural pursuits.  Others focus on ethnic traditions or time periods such as the Musée Alsacien, France (the history and culture of Alsace) or Sagnlandet Lejre, Denmark (the prehistory of Denmark).  Living history allows people to identify culturally meaningful sites that can become heritage sites.  A culture does not attempt to preserve and recreate an element of the past that they do not find meaningful or useful. These types of museums offer visitors a deeper understanding of life in a specific time and place that a culture holds as a powerful moment in their foundation narrative.  Kirshenblatt (2004) would elaborate on this point by saying that by displaying cultural heritage it allows the past a second life (313). One of the founders of the living history museum movement, Axel Heikel, explained the “phenomena as a memory machine that transports visitors mentally and emotionally into the past, where important lessons can be learned” (Anderson 1984:17). 

The third trait of living history is the potential for a variety of people from diverse backgrounds to gather around an historical topic or event (Anderson 1982:306).  Anderson emphasizes the intersection of various disciplines at the academic level to achieve a shared goal.  Historical archaeologists, cultural geographers, social historians, folklorists, and art historians work together toward a common goal (Anderson 1982: 306).  These academic disciplines are able to combine and create a layered interpretation of history.  In addition to Anderson’s academic stance, it is important to emphasize that living history museums attract diverse groups of individuals both as participants and observers.  This is particular true of larger sites such as Colonial Williamsburg that attract people from different social classes, racial and ethnic backgrounds.  These various groups might have had little interaction beyond the museum setting.  Tony Horwitz recounts in his book that the reenactors with whom he engaged came from a wide range of backgrounds such as doctors and waiters and through living history engaged on a socially equal plane (1998).  At the Historic Village of Allaire in Farmingdale, New Jersey interpreters have an assorted collection of careers: carpenters, high school and college students, mechanics, engineers, businessmen, housewives, and chefs.  

The fourth point is a response to what feels like a period of extremely rapid cultural change during which living history demonstrations may offer a respite (Anderson 1982:306).  It is the ability to subvert our modern selves in a narrative of the past that attracts many of the reenactors to historic sites.  Living history, like all fantastic artworks, is a diversion “to take our minds off reality, to enjoy a moment of calm estrangement or titillation, to appreciate the extraordinary in the ordinary, to reassess our values and alternatives to determining social forces” (Zipes 2009:79).  Many blacksmith interpreters state that part of the appeal of interpreting the trade is that they are able to take part in a trade that was once prevalent and has now largely disappeared from the landscape.  These places and events can evoke nostalgia.  In the public’s mind these places can illustrate the gap between historic occurrences and the past being viewed as simpler and/or better than the present.  This can be seen in numerous living history parks such as Colonial Williamsburg, The Historic Village of Allaire, and Sagnlandet Lejre.  These places are constructed because the public felt a connection to a specific time embodied by each site.  Historic sites allow for people to explore past lives.  

    

 The Historic Village at Allaire

Allaire State Park in Howell, New Jersey, contains a reconstructed industrial village which was once dedicated to the production of pig iron and now serves as a living history museum.  The original forge, possibly actually a blast furnace, and a saw mill were built some time prior to 1750 and operated under the name Monmouth Furnace or the Williamsburg Forge (Brown 1958:10).  It was advertised for sale on March 3, 1817, in the Trenton Federalist, and was bought by William Griffith (Historic Allaire Village:8).  The property was retained by him until the property was seized for bankruptcy and sold to William Newbold for $23,000 (Historic Allaire Village:8).  Newbold leased the Monmouth Furnace to Benjamin B. Howell of Philadelphia in 1822 (Historic Village:8).  James Peter Allaire bought iron from Howell and thus learned about the property.  Intrigued by the description of the furnace, Allaire bought the property on April 27, 1822 for $19,000 (Historic Allaire Village:9). 

The property included the forge, a sawmill, 15 or so buildings including workers’ homes, farmland, and tracks of timber (Brown 1958:24). Allaire bought the property to supply iron for is brass foundry and steam engine works in New York City.  Allaire changed the name from Monmouth Furnace to Howell Works, perhaps to differential it from the New York complex, known as the James P. Allaire Works (Brown 1958: 24).  From 1822 to 1836, Allaire’s works in New York City produced over 50% of all steam engines and boilers in America (The Historic Village of Allaire 2013).  

Howell works is considered a company town.  A company town is a town where the buildings are owned by a company or the company owner.  The workers operate the buildings, and in the case of housing rent it, but do not own them (Porteous 1970:127).  As a company town, Howell Works employed between 400 and 500 people drawn from the Works and the local community (The Historic Village of Allaire, 2013).  The company provides the entire infrastructure of the town from homes to stores. Allaire operated and expanded the Howell Works to become a self-sufficient community including a carpentry shop, stage coach stop, post office, blacksmith, bakery, gristmill, a school, church, general store, and various finishing buildings for iron.  For a more detailed discussion of company towns please see:  Dinius’s and Veragara’s Company Towns in the Americas: Landscape, Power, and Working Class Communities (2011), Green’s The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills that Shaped the American Economy (2010) and Porteaus’s The Nature of the Company Town (1970).  

The height of operation was during the 1830s.  However, often plagued by economic troubles, the Panic 1837 proved disastrous.  In the spring of 1837, America suffered a great economic down turn that affected industrial centers through lost markets and dwindled investments (Rousseau 2002:457).  The blast furnace was kept in blast for 21 months straight, so when it went out of blast in September 1837 the productivity of the site dropped for an extended period of time (Historic Allaire Village:30).  Allaire sought financial help from his brother-in-law, John Haggerty (Brown 1958:30).  Together they were able to keep the Howell Works and James P. Allaire Works in operation.  By 1839, the blast furnace was repaired and returned to blast but operated on a limited basis before blowing out the last time in 1846 (Historic Allaire Village:20).  By 1849, Howell Works was bankrupt and no longer an industrial center (Brown 1958:77).  The town and works fell into disrepair and was owned by Hal Allaire, James Allaire’s youngest son by his second wife (Brown 1958: 84).  In 1901, Hal Allaire sold the property to W.J. Harrison who then sold it to Arthur Brisbane (Brown 1958:84). Beginning in 1923, 200 acres of the property including the village were leased to the Boy Scouts of America for a camp (Brown 1958:85).  During the Depression, it was used by the Civilian Conservation Corps and during World War II it was used for the military train the Army Signal Corps (Brown 1958:85).  In 1941, 1,200 acres of the property were donated by the owner at the time, Mrs. Brisbane, in memory of her late husband, to the State of New Jersey “to be used as an Historic Center and Forest Park reservation…and for no other purpose” (Brown 1958:85).  This property included the Howell Works.  Most of the building restoration took place during the mid to late 1960s when the property was turned into an educational center and living history museum (Brown 1958:86).     

Artistic rendition of the Historic Village of Allaire.  The buildings that are pictured are the ones interpreted.

The living history museum known as the Historic Village at Allaire (referred to hereupon simply as Allaire) interprets life in an industrial town during 1836 at the peak of site’s occupation under the operation of James Allaire (The Historic Village of Allaire 2013).  Many living history museums interpret longer time periods.  Allaire Village, Inc., the organization that oversees the museum, selected a narrow time frame because it allows them to present multiple events that offer insight into historical narratives and that took place during Allaire’s life, such as the wedding of his daughter, the funeral of his first wife, the presidential election of 1836, the temperance movement, and historic holiday celebrations.   

Today, there are fourteen buildings that have been restored or rebuilt that are interpreted for museum visitors: the manager’s house, the foreman’s cottage, the church, the row house (now the interpretive center), the blacksmith shop, the bakery, the general store, the building containing the carpentry, tinsmith and wheelwright shops, the enameling building (the continuing education building), the coal depot (not reconstructed but interpreted), the carriage house, the big house (Allaire’s residence), the stable, and the blast furnace (only the chimney is extant) (Figure 5-1 on following page).  These buildings are interpreted throughout the year from March to December on weekends many of which are themed around specific holidays or events in Allaire’s life that represent lifeways during the 1830s.  During the height of the season, Memorial Day to Labor Day, the buildings are open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday. 

  

Interpretive Styles in Living History  

Living history can take many forms.  One of the most common forms involves the first-person character interpretations during which the interpreter speaks in the first-person present tense. It is considered one of the most celebrated forms of historic performance (Maglessen 2006:292).  This is likely true because it is the hardest to achieve and maintain throughout the public’s questions over an extended period of time.  When an interpreter does not break character and does not provide answers to questions out of their interpretive time period, then the public may find this disconcerting and frustrating because it is unexpected.  To avoid the challenges of first-person presentation, many museums employ third-person interpretation. 

 Third-person interpretation involves a guide speaking in the past tense about the things he or she is presenting.  The Historic Village of Allaire employs first-person “ghost interpretation”.  The “ghost state” allows interpreters to answer questions out of the time period they represent without breaking character.  It assumes that the interpreter lived during the set time period and for some reason has remained there since.  At times there are still issues when a member of the public inquires about a time period prior to the interpreter’s character.  This is when an interpreter can answer in third person.  Most museums’ interpretations fall somewhere in between, and many interpreters switch between interpretive types.  Living history displays allow the public to directly engage the past.    

Interpretive Styles Among Blacksmiths at Allaire 

Allaire Village blacksmiths: Liam, Drew, and Jonathan.

Like many other living history museums, Allaire relies heavily on a dedicated group of volunteers, in addition to a small staff of office workers and costumed interpreters.  Each trade is represented by a staff member, known as a Guild Master (perhaps a reference to the guild system of the Middle Ages), who is responsible for day-to-day operations of his craft and building.  The Guild Master takes part in planning meetings with museum directors.  The rest of the interpreters are volunteers.  In the case of the blacksmith, the shop is manned by local men and women, who outside the museum, are employed as swordsmiths, mechanics/machinists, woodworker, and jewelers - people who bring a number of valuable and related skills to the presentation of the craft.  The shop has three volunteers who serve on a near weekly basis who have between 10 and 45 years of blacksmithing experience; these men would be considered masters and journeymen in the traditional craft-skill sense. There are also a number of younger individuals who are learning and would be considered apprentices.        

Among the blacksmithing community at Allaire there are two types of interpretive styles.  The first are craftsman who come to the site to work and present the craft.  Mark Morrow, who is a swordsmith and Jonathan Herbst, a mechanic and technician, are two such craft interpreters.  They are attracted to present crafts at historic sites for personal reasons.  Morrow chose to interpret at Allaire to work away from his home forge (pers. comm.. 21 February 2013).  Herbst selected this historic site as a place to primarily practice the craft and secondarily to demonstrate to the public (pers. comm.. 22 February 2013).  Their interpretation at Allaire is grounded in the craft, the history of blacksmithing and the item they are demonstrating how to make. Their interpretations are not concerned with historical presentation such as a preoccupation with authenticity.  They do not engage in role playing or first person characterization because, as they explain, this draws away from their integrity as a craftsman.  By not participating in first person role playing, the craft interpreters define themselves as a different type of interpreter who is committed to the presentation and preservation the craft.  Craft interpreters bring valuable experience and insight into their interpretations.  However, the public can respond negatively to this style of interpretation.  One person who responded to the survey stated that they “were disappointed…[because they] did not feel welcome or that it was [not] very child friendly”.  Interpretations that rely heavily on technical information not always well received by the general public who prefer an interpretation as presented by other historical interpreters.           

Author working at Allaire.

The second group of individuals is interpreters blacksmithing are individuals who are interested in history and have selected blacksmithing as a way to learn about the past.  Many of the volunteers in this category tend to be students or educators such as Bryan Maldonado, a college student.  The potential of learning to blacksmithing attracted them to the site.  Historical interpreters begin their accounts with a broad history of the site and often work back to what they are making.  These interpreters are confined to a set history that they repeat and explain to each group of visitors. 

These two groups of interpretation styles appeal to different groups of the public.  Often members of the public who have experience in metal working trades visit the blacksmith shop with technical questions.  They are often curious about the origins of their trade and request if the blacksmiths can present a particular technique such as welding.  Some of the public are attracted to blacksmithing because they have family members in the past who were in the trade.  At the same time the public expects to be entertained and informed about the past.  This suggests that it is necessary to have a third type of interpreters who can bridge the gap between the historical and technical interpretations by code switching.