Note that this is not a free exhibit, but suggestions are made for possible sources of funding.
For more information, please contact the gentleman whose name appears at the bottom of the announcement. Thank you. Laurie Laurie Mahaffey, Deputy Director Central Texas Library System, Inc. 1005 West 41st Street Austin, Texas 78756 www.ctls.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] 512-583-0704 x18 800-262-4431 x18 ________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Deborah Littrell Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 5:16 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [syscon-tx] Exhibit available Importance: High Forwarded by request Deborah Littrell TRACES Center for History and Culture (based in St. Paul/MN) is pleased to announce VANISHED: German-American Civilian Internees in Texas, 1941-48 a travelling exhibit touring the state of Texas, starting December 2008. To view the panels, scroll down at http://traces.org/buseum_2_tour/buseum_2.html <http://traces.org/buseum_2_tour/buseum_2.html> [The exhibit will circulate Texas sans BUS. These are only the 10 main didactic panels; the others are not shown.] If you'd like to have thistimely exhibit show in your community, please read further, as TRACES is booking Texas venue hosts now, on a 1st-come/1st-served basis. background and overview: During WWII the U.S. Government interned 15,000 German-American civilians at over 60 camps and detention centers across the country-seven of them in Texas. Utilizing 13 narrative panels, an NBC "Dateline" documentary featuring internment in Texas and a 1945 U.S. Government color film about Camp Crystal City, props from the period and down-loadable teaching materials, TRACES will circulate two copies of this unique exhibit around Texas from December 2008 through 2010, with showings in about 55 communities. Guest speakers and related programs complement this timely story's educational value and impact. Downloadable press releases and other publicity materials facilitate PR efforts. An exhibit guide features biographies and other documentation from the exhibit, with Spanish translations. exhibit's main goals: This project's main goals include presenting an unknown history to a wide audience, stimulating penetrating questions on the part of visitors to the exhibit and, when possible, leading them to subsequent discussions guided by local community leaders. It explores a virtually unknown yet significant historical event-possibly one of the U.S.'s least-known WWII sub-chapters. While especially relevant to communities with high numbers of German-American residents, all kinds of communities across the state of Texas will have an opportunity-in most cases for the first time-to discuss the implications as well as legacy of the U.S. Government's WWII "enemy alien" internment program. exhibit fees/costs: Like other TRACES exhibits, the fee for showing VANISHED reflects the size of the community (read: "tax base") and duration of each showing. Sliding Fee Scale for VANISHED showings/optional scholar guest speaker: --- 1-15,000 inhabitants: $750 for 3 weeks, $1,350 for 7 weeks; Michael Luick-Thrams' speaking fee: $250 plus travel costs --- 15,001-50,000 inhabitants: $950 for 3 weeks, $1,550 for 7 weeks; ML-T's speaking fee: $350 plus travel costs --- 50,001-100,000 inhabitants: $1,150 for 3 weeks, $1,750 for 7 weeks; ML-T's speaking fee: $450 plus travel costs --- 100,001 + inhabitants: $1,350 for 3 weeks, $1,950 for 7 weeks; ML-T's speaking fee: $550 plus travel costs The exhibit will be delivered to your institution by the preceding host; you will need to cover the costs of transferring it to the next showing after yours, estimated in most cases to cost $50-150. A downloadable press release and poster will facilitate publicity efforts, which-along with publicity costs-are the responsibility of each host, although TRACES staff will be available for radio or newspaper interviews. possible funding sources: TRACES has shown its exhibits in a couple thousand communities in all 12 Midwest states plus a couple outside our focus region. Typically, exhibit hosts have had much success in attracting financial support from collaborating sponsors: Friends of public libraries, county or even state historical societies, local colleges or universities and senior/junior high schools, veterans groups and-especially in communities that were home to camps during WWII-chambers of commerce/CVBs eager to highlight local tourist-attraction-worthy historical sites. Humanities Texas (www.humanitiestexas.org <http://www.humanitiestexas.org/> ) has also indicated a willingness to award "mini-grants" to communities wishing to show this exhibit: be sure to apply early! suggested exhibit-related programming: Each host is invited to organize a Community Conversation in conjunction with each showing of VANISHED: in addition to welcoming community members to view the 13 narrative panels and watch the documentary films about this internment, each town can hold a panel-led open discussion about this topic. Through this exhibit and the subsequent discussions, Texans will see WWII history in a new way, and "re-visit" an event and a period too often misunderstood and obscured by facile clichés. The discussion itself is meant to support healthy democratic involvement and processes. Typically, a host asks local community leaders (educators, clergy, journalists, public officials, military officials, students, business people, etc.) to sit on a panel of three, five or seven panelists (one as moderator), to discuss issues like the following Guiding Questions: -Are ethnic background or ideology justifiable grounds for internment (in other words, imprisoning suspects for who they are or what they believe, as opposed to their actions)? -Does a given society "owe" due process only to its citizens, or also to legal non-citizen residents? -During WWII the U.S. Government forcibly removed 4,058 Latin American Germans from South America-some of whom were German or Austrian Jews who'd recently fled Nazi persecution-to camps in Texas, at Ellis Island and elsewhere [just as 2,200 Peruvian Japanese also were interned alongside indigenous Japanese Americans]: what are some of this action's legal and moral implications? Was this action effective? -"Enemy-alien" internment was a multi-million-dollar, seven-year U.S. Government project: was it effective (i.e., did it reach its intended aims) or not? What other actions might have been taken, rather than to intern some 150,000 Japanese, Italian and German Americans? - Both camp staff and many of those interned were sworn to secrecy. In 1988 the U.S. Government acknowledged that it had interned Japanese Americans during WWII, and in 2000 it admitted that it also had imprisoned Italian Americans; as of this writing, however, it has never confessed to having interned German Americans. To what extent, and for how long, is a government accountable for its actions? Does it "owe" reparations to those wrongfully harmed? If so, in what form? TRACES-developed downloadable teaching materials will augment the fullest impact of this exhibit. In some cases TRACES Executive Director Michael Luick-Thrams will be available to speak about German-American internment, as are former internees themselves (mostly former children interned at Camp Crystal City, some of whom were deported during or after the war to Germany with their families). contact: For more information or to book a showing, contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or 651.292.8700; see www.TRACES.org <http://www.traces.org/> for further information, as well. -END- Michael Luick-Thrams Executive Director, TRACES Center for History and Culture L A N D M A R K C E N T E R 75 West Fifth Street, Suite 211 Saint Paul/Minnesota 55102 U.S.A. land 651.292.8700 fax 651.292.8702 Email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web site: www.TRACES.org <http://www.traces.org/>
