Yesterday we visited the Betsey Ross House located on Arch St. The Betsy Ross house serves as a house museum where people can some and visit the home of Betsy Ross, the woman believed to have sown the first American flag.
The museum itself is a house they claim was occupied by Betsey Ross for 12 years. Out of this home Ross was believed to run her and her first husbands fabric shop. In addition you also told by the museum in your guided audio tour that this the home where the American Flag was sown. This paints a very patriotic picture of Betsy Ross and the time period itself.
At best the museums message is questionable. There are many disputes about whether or not Betsy Ross ever lived in this home for any time at all. In addition there is evidence that Betsy Ross was not in fact the person to sow the American Flag. These questions lead to the dis truth of museums. As we learned museums are the number 1 trusted resource for Americans to find knowledge but if the museum is choosing to uphold a legacy that may be untrue, one must question the reliance of that museum along with many others. If museums are supposed to be places people can go in order to find the truth, it just seems weird to have a museum in business almost selling history and recreating it. History is typically communicated in the way that the museum sees fit, it's there interpretation and their interpretation may or may not be the truth.
Overall my museum visit was uneventful. It didn't seem as though the people at the museum were interested in answering any questions, they kind of just wanted you to rely on the pre recorded audio tour, which was the only version they wanted to provide you with, there was really no room for interpretation.I was a perfect little story of Betsy Ross.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI am a student at the University of East Anglia in the UK and am studying American & English Literature.
In our seminar we considered whether this inaccurate representation of Betsy Ross is doing a disservice to history and the American people who, as you have said, rely on museums, as many people do, for historical information. We considered whether it matters that this piece of history may be inaccurate, and in fact the legacy of Betsy Ross and the ideal behind her is more important than fact. So many Americans may have come to believe in this legacy, and as you have said it portrays an incredibly patriotic image. If Betsy Ross has become such a patriotic icon, especially promoting a woman's position in American history, would it be more damaging to American culture now to admit that the whole story is untrue. How damaging is it in actual fact to continue with this story which unites American society and provides such a patriotic image?
Camilla.