The Wages of History: Emotional Labor on Public History's Front Lines

by Amy M. Tyson

Anyone who has encountered costumed workers at a living history museum may well have wondered what their jobs are like, churning butter or firing muskets while dressed in period clothing. In The Wages of History , Amy Tyson enters the world of the public history interpreters at Minnesota's Historic Fort Snelling to investigate how they understand their roles and experience their daily work. Drawing on archival research, personal interviews, and participant observation, she reframes the current discourse on history museums by analyzing interpreters as laborers within the larger service and knowledge economies.

Although many who are drawn to such work initially see it as a privilege―an opportunity to connect with the public in meaningful ways through the medium of history―the realities of the job almost inevitably alter that view. Not only do interpreters make considerable sacrifices, both emotional and financial, in order to pursue their work, but their sense of special status can lead them to avoid confronting troubling conditions on the job, at times fueling tensions in the workplace.

This case study also offers insights―many drawn from the author's seven years of working as an interpreter at Fort Snelling―into the way gendered roles and behaviors from the past play out among the workers, the importance of creative autonomy to historical interpreters, and the ways those on public history's front lines both resist and embrace the site's more difficult and painful histories relating to slavery and American Indian genocide.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

232 pages, Hardcover

First published June 30, 2013

Reviews

[Leah]

I read this for the first time in a grad school interpretation class, and I remember enjoying it then. Reading it again as a current full-time living history interpreter (and having gained some additional perspective), I find Tyson's anecdotes relatable and her arguments especially compelling, namely her discussion of identity alongside position, discussions of "authenticity" in first-person interpretation, and the emotional labor inherent in a job that combines the service economy with what Tyson calls the "knowledge economy." Overall, it's very thought-provoking.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an insider to MNHS and the field of living history but an outsider to Historic Fort Snelling, this was a fascinating read. It offers some insights to the site's history and helps me understand why it is the way it is today. Interesting to see how living history personas bled into interpersonal relationships and how the quest for authentic portrayals sometimes caused staff to forget that the guest was the first priority.

[Billy Marino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the writing and formatting, and for the most a clear and well argued book! There are certainly points that could be more thoroughly elucidated, such as how the required knowledge base for interpreters at living history museums is a/the crucial distinction between this "emotional labor" there and the other service-labor jobs such as servers, who also tend to be required to emotionally invest themselves and put on a show for "guests." Overall though, Tyson does a great job showing the complications of living history for the workers themselves, and how the "culture industry" has plenty of room for improvement. There are certainly better ways to say this, and lots more great, and not so great, about this book, but it's been a long day, and I'm tired, so just know it's worth the read!

[Ry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and thorough look at the labor struggles and uniquely hellish experiences that come with working at these sites, where historical fact and nationalist myth get blended so easily

[Cynthia]

Wish I had time to read this whole book right now!