GDG- The New VC

[Margaret D. Blough]

>>These movies had good maps about the battle and how the troops moved and presented the 
information in a way accessible to many different people, but didn't present 
anything earthshattering to learned scholars of the battle.<<

While I don't believe that we've learned everything there is to learn  about the Battle of Gettysburg, or even close, I'm not sure it's possible to present anything that is earthshattering to learned scholars of the battle in the context of a museum that also has to engage and educate visitors of many levels of knowledge including the freshest of fresh fish.  On the other hand, from everything I have heard, I think the research opportunities and facilities for people researching the battle will be a vast improvement over the old facilities.

Regards,

Margaret


-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Sam <historyfreak618 at yahoo.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> While the hype over the museum is waning, I'd thought I would share my thoughts 
> of the new visitor center. 
> 
> I thought that the opening movie with Morgan Freeman, did a good job about 
> discussing the Civil War as a whole, and how Gettysburg fit into the puzzle. But 
> those who would have liked to have learned more about the battle, would have 
> left wanting more. But the battle itself was covered more throughly in the other 
> movies throughout the exhibit. The other movies were good as well, but there was 
> often a backlog of people at the movies that made the areas very crowded. These 
> movies had good maps about the battle and how the troops moved and presented the 
> information in a way accessible to many different people, but didn't present 
> anything earthshattering to learned scholars of the battle. 
> 
> The exhibits had tons of new material concerning the war leading up to the 
> battle, the battle, and after the battle. The exhibit also focused on the 
> stories of individuals, like Lt. Fisher who was featured at a Friends muster a 
> few years back. The exhibit also did a good job focusing on the citizens of 
> Gettysburg and what they experienced. At times the amount of information, 
> pictures, and quotes got a little overwhelming. It was nice to not see entire 
> exhibit space taken up by hundreds of muskets, rifles, swords, and revolvers. 
> There were a few in the lobby, which for me was plenty. But are there plans to 
> get explanation cards for the guns in the lobby by the movie? 
> 
> We were at Gettysburg 19th-20th, and it was the most crowded I've ever seen. 
> We were unable to get a parking spot at Devil's Den, and people were parking all 
> over the place, including next to the signs which read, "no parking." In a way 
> it's great to see so many people visiting the battlefield and vistor center, and 
> taking advantage of LBGs, but it seemed that many of the people were willing to 
> sacrifice the battlefield for their personal enjoyment. 
> 
> Overall, the new VC is a vast improvement over the old VC. Though many may 
> debate about whether the VC focuses too much on slavery as a cause, I found that 
> the VC and the accompanying movies thoughtfully tackled the issue of slavery. 
> 
> One other thing we noted. There are signs by the old VC saying the VC is 
> "closed permanently" with no reference to the new VC. Seems like they could use 
> better signage. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sam Chatto 
> 
> --------------------------------- 
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