ABSTRACT
It made me angry that so little was to be learned about the past at Colonial Williamsburg. I originally went to Williamsburg in the late 1970s, first as a tourist and interested archaeologist, and then, with a warm welcome from Cary Carson, Director of Research, to observe how an outdoor history museum worked. I quickly saw that Williamsburg is, like any museum, a set for display. But it is an authentic set. Once I got past the issue of its physical authenticity, there was the question of what I was learning about the past. At this time, Richard Handler (Handler and Gable 1997) had not yet done his thorough work, and Mike Wallace (1981, 1984) was only beginning his ground-breaking studies, which I discovered through Jo Blatti. My best guide was Richard Schechner (1981), who saw outdoor history museums as public performances to and for the present, with historical information subject to the dynamic of performance.
