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October 10, 2010
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS Quiet week, we are trying to clear our work areas of projects that have been neglected with the book project. We are meeting with the building committee and our architect to get started on the new addition to the museum. We are evaluating the grounds for the best placement of the addition to allow entrance through the main building. This will allow the best security for our limited staffing. Stay tuned for further updates. We have received the proof pages of our book and will be busy this week making sure we have included everything and found all our typos and grammar mistakes. It looks good and Georgia did a great job collecting old and new photos of each of our towns to create a great inside cover front and back. I think everyone is going to be pleased with our second volume. We have received a gift of the book written by Harriett Dublin entitled The Cottonseed Kid: childhood memories of a Texas Life. Ms Dublin is no longer with us but she is remembered through her gift of this book. It is a delightful little book that is fun to read and a nice gift for any history lover of the panhandle. It is available in our gift shop. This weekend is Fall Foliage Weekend and we will be open from 10 am to 6pm on Saturday, October 16th. Kenneth Parton will present a program on Kiowa Traditions at 4 pm. I hope you will join us. You can also pick up you Texas Archeology poster and brochure that lists all of the events in Texas during the month of October. The weather looks good so enjoy the fall weather and tour Wolf Creek this weekend. HISTORICAL MUSINGS Monday was Columbus Day and I had to relook at his legacy since attending the session by James Loewen in Oklahoma City. Mr. Loewen talked on the way we teach history and the "lies" we project as truth. Columbus is one of the myths we have taught for a long time. He in truth did not discover America nor did he prove that the earth is round. Columbus landed on an island known at the time as Hispaniola, now known as the Caribbean Islands. He was imprisoned upon his return by Queen Isabella for his inhumane and incompetent administration of the island including the enslaving of 1,500 Arawak Indians. He simply drew attention to the continent's existence again. It is thought that Columbus's rediscovery of the Americas created the exploration of the continent because Europe was ready and able to fund such explorations whereas it had not been able to previously. The continent was named for the Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. In 1792, a ceremony was held in New York honoring Columbus, and a monument was dedicated to him. Soon after that, the city of Washington was officially named the District of Columbia and became the capital of the United States. In 1892, a statue of Columbus was raised at the beginning of Columbus Avenue in New York City. At the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago that year replicas of Columbus's three ships were displayed. Americans might not have a Columbus Day if Christopher Columbus had not been born in Italy. Out of pride for their native son, the Italian population of New York City organized the first celebration of the discovery of America on October 12, 1866. The next year, more Italian Organizations in other cities held banquets, parades and dances on that date. In 1869, when Italians of San Francisco celebrated October 12, they called it Columbus Day. In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. Over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, then-President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 As Columbus Day. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October. The discoveries and explorations of Christopher Columbus continues to be one of many controversies. It may never be fully resolved but he is one of our figures of history to be studied and discussed both good and bad for that’s how we learn from our victories and our mistakes. Enjoy your week and study your past. It is fun and enlightening. |
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