Stan Hywett & Hale Farm

-- Cyrus Sethna --

I just stole the idea of the name thing from Ashley, but somehow I don't think that she'll mind.

A historic interpreter and a tour guide both serve the same purpose, but work towards the common goal with different methods. I felt that at Stan Hywet (hereafter referred to as SH) we were shown around by a tour guide (despite his claim that he was an interpreter) and at Hale Farm (henceforth referred to as HF) we encountered Historic Interpreters.

At SH, the guide that we had simply showed us around the place and told us about what we were looking at. Once in the attic, he tried to do some acting, but I saw that as a rather poor attempt to mimick historical figures.

At HF, the majority of the persons that we encountered (save for the saurkraut fellow) were historic interpreters. The best kind were the sort that dressed their part and were able to perform the tasks that they would have historically. There were a few that felt it was necessary to talk in funny voices and speak in a provincial manner, but I found that they had to try too hard to do it and it detracted from the overall experience. However, I felt that these people all meet the requirements to be a "historic interpreter" because they are actually doing some interpreting of history (each interpreter had to properly understand their trade and how what they would have done would contribute to the society of the past).

With a tour guide, one gets a straightforward presentation of the facts as we received at SH. They tell you what it was like, what things were for, and how things were used. You use your brain and store the information, much as I do in class.

When one encounters an interpreter, one can see firsthand exactly what the person is talking about, and it has a much different effect. I feel that it helps some people (like myself) better understand what they are learning, and for others it probably doesn't make much of a difference.

A self-guided tour should have almost the same impact on a visitor as a guided tour, provided that the visitor is not a dolt and the tour guide knows what he or she is doing. If the visitor can read, think for itself, and has a fair pre-existing understanding of what it is looking at, then I think that this visitor would do just fine on a self-guided tour and might, in fact be slightly bored on a guided tour. There are always advantages to going on a tour with a guide however. A visitor cannot know everything and is bound to have some questions that he or she cannot answer on her own. On the other hand, this issue could be resolved with knowledgeable visitor service aids or docents.

I think I would prefer to live in the past provided that I was capital as opposed to labor. I could exploit my workers and profit immensely from the fruits of their labors. I could build a huge house where I could scare my wife without fear of her recourse and have affairs with other women and beat them all liberally.