Irish-Americans want to tell their own story
March 18, 1996
Web posted at: 1:00 a.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Mary Ann McRae
NEW YORK (CNN) -- At last, it seemed, Irish-Americans could look forward to an exhibit celebrating their more than 300- year history in New York.
But the Museum of the City of New York's exhibit 'Gaelic Gotham,' had some prominent members of the Irish-American community fighting mad before it even opened.
Images from "Gaelic Gotham"
"The exhibition seems to be like a picture book, a coffee table picture book, with little depth or understanding," said historian Marion Casey. (128K AIFF sound or 128K WAV sound)
Casey and other prominent scholars on Irish-American history, say their input was purposely avoided by the museum as it put together the show. Casey was replaced as guest curator by another Irish-American historian and a controversy within the community quickly erupted over who best could interpret the history.
Some important Irish-American groups withdrew offers to loan artifacts to the museum.
"The central issue is one of control," says Robert Macdonald, director of the Museum of the City of New York. "Who will control what goes on in museums' walls? And our response is that it is the museum's responsibility to say what goes on the museum's walls, and the museum has to live by its decisions." (162K AIFF sound or 162K WAV sound)
But critics say it's more than that. It's about the right and the need for people to tell their own history. And more and more, ethnic groups are demanding a say.
"They're insisting that it be done with a certain kind of care and insight and sensitivity," said historian John Kuo Wei Tchen. "But also in the communities, realizing that these exhibitions are actually quite important in terms of the way people think about that group and that group's history."
The New York exhibit is only the most recent example of what some call a distortion of history. The Enola Gay exhibit at the Smithsonian had museum officials in a quandary over how to display the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
"Gaelic Gotham," says the museum's director, tells a "rich and intricate history" of the New York Irish.
"This show does reflect the wide diversity of the Irish community of New York and the museum has touched that community in developing the exhibition," said Macdonald.
Not true, says Casey, who believes the museum missed a unique opportunity to tell a new story.
"A lot of the objects on display at the museum are outsiders' views of ... what's Irish, and what's missing is kind of the heart and soul of Irish perceptions of themselves," she said.
One thing is for sure, the controversy isn't over. Irish- American scholars are planning seminars to debate whether the true story of the New York Irish has been told.
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