After authenticity at an American heritage site

Abstract

This chapter explores what happens to a heritage site "after authenticity"—where the pursuit of an elusive authenticity remains a goal even as it generates public statements intended to call into question the epistemology of authenticity. It suggests that the vernacular concept of authenticity changes very little, that it shows a remarkable resilience, in a sense, because it is under threat. The chapter examines how Colonial Williamsburg tries to position itself in the tourist marketplace. The museum's patriotic, celebratory story of the American founding has been challenged by a new generation of historians hired at Colonial Williamsburg beginning in the late 1970s. Credibility armor is important because those who work at Colonial Williamsburg assume that the public is concerned with authenticity. People, in sum, are oftentimes predisposed to think of Colonial Williamsburg as a "slick institution" manufacturing facades and cover-ups rather than the authentic truth.

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