Historic Dining Reenactment

Making history come alive is the goal of the living-history museums and historical-reenactment groups that sprang up throughout America in the twentieth century. The practice began in the 1890s in Sweden, when the folklorist Artur Hazelius introduced costumed people performing traditional crafts into the exhibits at Skansen, the outdoor museum of Stockholm. At roughly the same time, the historic John Ward House in Salem, Massachusetts, began outfitting its guides in period attire. But the living-history movement really flourished in the late 1920s, when John D. Rockefeller Jr. underwrote the restoration of the historic buildings of Williamsburg, Virginia; soon thereafter, the town was populated with costumed interpreters who demonstrated or discussed different aspects of Williamsburg’s eighteenth-century culture with visitors. Colonial Williamsburg became a popular alternative to traditional academic courses as a way for Americans of all ages to learn history.