THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504070068
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
AN ELECTRONIC SIGN - the kind that hawks camera sales in Times Square - broadcasts line after line in red lights.
But this is no photo shop. It's the expanded Yorktown Victory Center, reopening on Tuesday.
The phrases should ring a bell for most Americans:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that sentence in 1776 as part of a preamble to declaring independence from mother England.
Bold words for his time. But it took modern technology to revive the sense of urgency in TJ's phrase.
``I think it works,'' said Brent Tharp, assistant curator for the state-operated Victory Center.
``People are used to seeing an 18th century document with formal script writing. But this catches them off guard. It lets us focus on the words.
``And words were vitally important in the 18th century, and to the revolution.''
Tharp was among those involved in the overhaul and expansion of the site. What began as a glorified visitor's center built in 1976 during Bicentennial fever is now a comprehensive museum presenting the American Revolution from various perspectives.
The museum is so all-encompassing in its coverage of the war that it has adopted a new subtitle: Museum of the American Revolution.
Former President George Bush will be on hand for the opening festivities on Tuesday. Bush will speak at 11:30 a.m. Other officials expected to attend include Virginia Gov. George Allen and state Sen. Hunter B. Andrews.
Galleries open at about 1:30 p.m.
``We're about the only museum in the country dedicated to interpreting the entire revolution'' from its early rumblings in 1750 to the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791, said director Nancy Perry.
``We don't look at the revolution as a battle.'' Instead, the Victory Center took a broad, humanist stroke. ``We look at it socially, militarily, as well as economically. And we're looking at it from the view of the ordinary citizen, as opposed to the upper class and the George Washingtons of the day.
``The regular, normal people affected by the war.''
Along with chronology and diversity, ``regular folks'' is a concept threading through all sections of the museum. The new ``Witness to the Revolution'' gallery is the grandest expression of this idea.
In the early 1990s, museum staff sent out a request to the nation's universities, libraries, museums and historical societies. They were seeking information about people who lived through the war and left a diary or other written information detailing their experiences.
They learned about some 200 individuals.
The staff chose 10 for the ``Witness'' gallery, which offers lavish displays on each character - from a life-sized sculpted figure to their own words recorded by actors.
There's Jehu Grant, a black slave who served 10 months in the American Army, but was later denied a military pension.
There's Tigoransera, a Mohawk chieftain also known as Little Abraham. For encouraging his fellow Iroquois to remain neutral in the white man's war, the British threw him in jail, where he died.
There's Mary Jemison, who was captured at age 15 by Seneca Indians, married two warriors and bore eight children. After Americans destroyed her village, she opted to continue living as an Indian. At age 80, she told her story to a local doctor, who published it in 1824.
Among the soldiers is Continental Army officer John Chilton, a planter from Fauquier County, Va. Though he died in the Battle of Brandywine, his wartime musings live on in his writings, which include letters home:
``This was a melancholy day, a deep mirey road and so many men to tread it made it very disagreeable marching. The enemy are advancing on and an engagement may happen before tomorrow night. We must fight to a disadvantage - they exceed us in numbers greatly.''
Then, ``Tell the children I have some hopes of seeing them this fall. Take good care of my colt, if I live to get home I shall want a horse to ride.''
Revamping the Victory Center has been a two-phase project. Begun in 1990, it cost $5 million in state funds for construction and exhibit design and fabrication.
In addition, the private Jamestown-Yorktown Educational Trust has raised $900,000 toward its $1.2 million goal. That money is being used to buy exhibit artifacts, and to equip resource rooms and a recreated 1780s farm, a living history site on museum grounds.
The first phase, completed in April 1991, included the construction of a ticket sales and orientation building, an interpretive timeline walkway and exhibit pavilions and a maintenance building.
The second phase increased public space, including galleries, by 50 percent. The interior of the original museum building was rebuilt to house new exhibits on Yorktown and Gloucester, on uniforms and arms, on military life and medicine and on the archeological excavation of the British supply ship Betsy, which sank during the Siege of Yorktown.
A new film tells the story of the American Revolution through various individuals, officers to privates.
At film's end, visitors will be directed outdoors to a Continental Army encampment, where costumed interpreters will discuss life, war and surgery in such times. Then everyone will return to the museum to complete the tour.
The theater is positioned at the center of the museum for a reason, Perry said. ``This is not an orientation film. It is not a typical documentary war film. It's an experience in itself.''
Modern museum-goers expect plenty of opportunity for interaction, Perry said. The Victory Center has provided this.
At each stop, there are children's panels with basic statements, and suggested questions for family discussion. Later, kids can pop inside the new children's discovery room, where they can try on 18th century clothing.
For adults, all exhibits contain layers of information - geared to ``streakers, strollers and studiers,'' Tharp said.
The primary panel is for folks on the fly, or streakers.
Strollers may want to study the graphics, such as maps and paintings, and read more. For true students, or studiers, there's enough written material to keep frustrated family members waiting all day. MEMO: WAYS AND MEANS
Free admission on Tuesday: The new galleries open at about 1:30 p.m.,
following the 11:30 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony and reception. Former
President George Bush will deliver remarks outdoors near the museum's
entrance.
As of Wednesday, hours for the museum will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Admission will be $6.75 for adults, $3.25 for ages 6 to 12. Ages 5 and
younger, free.
Getting there from Norfolk: Take I-64 west toward Williamsburg; take
exit 247 (Yorktown/Lee Hall), heading east on Virginia Route 238. After
3.5 miles, 238 turns right; instead, continue on Old Route 238. In a
mile or so, look for entrance to Yorktown Victory Center at right.
On Tuesday, the public must park at the National Park Service Visitor
Center in Yorktown, where free shuttle service will be provided all day.
From the Victory Center, continue on Old Route 238, driving under
Coleman Bridge onto Water Street; turn right onto Ballard Street. In
about seven blocks, look for park entrance on left.
Call (804) 887-1776 for more information. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
The expanded Yorktown Victory Center includes artifacts from the
Revolutionary era.
Yorktown Victory Center photo
The "Converging on Yorktown" gallery tells how the town became the
setting for the devisive battle of the American Revolution.
by CNB