The Pioneer Museum: Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park

SPRING 2009 65 KARIM M. TIRO “ A ll Who Are Not Cowards Can Follow Me!” These words greet the visitor at the entrance to the Pioneer Museum at Blue Licks Battlefield State Park, located near Mt. Olivet, Kentucky. They were allegedly uttered by Kentucky militia Maj. Hugh McGary shortly before that battle, where he paid for his bravado with his life. Thankfully, following McGary now requires no particular courage (or foolishness)—only about four bucks. That said, after my visit, I felt as though I had also walked into a similarly predictable kind of ambush. Not musket balls and bayonets, but the contradictions of the “pioneer museum” in the twenty-first century. The Pioneer Museum is housed in an attractive Depression-Era structure. IMAGE COURTESY OF AUTHOR The Pioneer Museum Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park Karim M. Tiro 66 THE PIONEER MUSEUM OHIO VALLEY HISTORY Twenty years ago, David Lowenthal described North American pioneer museums as “less a special type of museum than a unique set of ideas and values expressed in museum form.”1 As Lowenthal observed, pioneer museums celebrated the sacrifices of a particular bygone generation whose exertions began the transformation of an aboriginal landscape into a modern one. By extolling common folk and their strenuous and sometimes dangerous activities, such museums are distinctly democratic, even anti-elitist. However, the tendency to focus on the pioneers’ daring and endurance offers only a selective illumination of their lives. The pioneers are highly esteemed in such museums, but we actually learn surprisingly little about them as citizens, spouses, or worshippers, among other things. Nor does the celebration of settlers yield a satisfactory account of the people on the ‘other side’ of their enterprise: the Indians. Despite a partial renovation in 2007, the Pioneer Museum at Blue Licks conforms to Lowenthal’s description, raising the question of how a different kind of museum might interpret the same subject matter. With that in mind, I will identify some historical subjects that are excluded by the way the Pioneer Museum frames the past it interprets. Four broad topics overlap in the Pioneer Museum’s three main rooms: the Battle of Blue Licks; Native American history (mostly archaeological and precontact ); life on the Kentucky frontier in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; and the natural history of Blue Licks Springs. Like many historical museums with a local or regional focus, the majority of its interesting objects are comprised of archaeological finds (such as artifacts and fossils), historical tools and An assortment of spinning-related objects. IMAGE COURTESY OF AUTHOR SPRING 2009 67 implements, and military wares and uniforms. They are all displayed effectively and attractively. The labels are clear and easily related to the objects and illustrations . The sections discussing the natural history of the area are the museum’s strongest. The visitor is made to understand that the historical importance of the immediate area derives from its geology. From the mammoths and mastodons of many millennia past to tourists in the nineteenth century, the mineral springs were its signal attraction. The exhibit also describes other bygone characteristics of the Kentucky landscape that attracted large numbers of deer, bison, and elk. By contrast, the quality of the museum’s interpretation of the human history of the area is uneven. The Battle of Blue Licks is, of course, the first matter at hand. The visitor is presented immediately with a diorama of the area, with flags tracking the timing of the action in that brief but important combat engagement. Panels wrapping around the diorama introduce the main characters and explain the action, with a focus on the Kentucky militia and its officers. Here McGary’s words are placed in context. Defying his fellow officers’ caution in pursuit of British and Indian fighters, McGary appealed to the masculinity of Kentucky militiamen and proceeded to lead them into a carefully laid trap. “Trade, settlement and pioneer life” display case. IMAGE COURTESY OF AUTHOR 68 THE PIONEER MUSEUM OHIO VALLEY HISTORY The museum’s location at the site of the battle justifies the detailed description of the action and the casualties suffered by the Kentucky militia and its officers. However, the broader significance of the battle...