Museums battling indifference to history
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The breathless horseman who galloped down Duke of Gloucester Street bearing news of the battles of Lexington and Concord seemed to have ridden straight out of the 18th Century.
His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a tricornered hat and knee breeches. His burnt-orange cutaway coat flapped in the breeze. He was an authentic Virginia colonial down to the square buckles on his shoes.
But the wire-thin microphone that wrapped around his chin was purely 21st Century.
The rider is one of 31 actors who are part of "Revolutionary City," a two-hour series of vignettes acted out daily on the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. The street theater is at the heart of a $220 million effort to freshen up the 81-year-old outdoor museum in hopes of reversing a decline in attendance.
With 301 acres and more than 3,200 employees, Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living-history museum in the U.S., but its troubles are shared by many history museums that also have reported skimpier audiences in recent years.
Museum officials blame the lower numbers on several factors, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, higher fuel prices, shorter attention spans, a decreased emphasis on teaching history in schools and increased competition from elaborate amusement parks.
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His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a tricornered hat and knee breeches. His burnt-orange cutaway coat flapped in the breeze. He was an authentic Virginia colonial down to the square buckles on his shoes.
But the wire-thin microphone that wrapped around his chin was purely 21st Century.
The rider is one of 31 actors who are part of "Revolutionary City," a two-hour series of vignettes acted out daily on the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. The street theater is at the heart of a $220 million effort to freshen up the 81-year-old outdoor museum in hopes of reversing a decline in attendance.
With 301 acres and more than 3,200 employees, Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living-history museum in the U.S., but its troubles are shared by many history museums that also have reported skimpier audiences in recent years.
Museum officials blame the lower numbers on several factors, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, higher fuel prices, shorter attention spans, a decreased emphasis on teaching history in schools and increased competition from elaborate amusement parks.