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Reviews of Books
Kevin R. C. Gutzman, Western Connecticut State University
| New-York Historical Society exhibition, "Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America."
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The New-York Historical Society's exhibition, "Alexander Hamilton: The Man Who Made Modern America," debuted on September 10, 2004, and was open through February 28, 2005. Though it sparked debate among historians, as an introduction to the life of one of the most significant of New York's Founding Fathers, it was largely successful.1 |
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The Hamilton exhibition had several elements, including an audiovisual component, numerous priceless artifacts, a one-act play, and associated lectures by prominent scholars. The audiovisual presentation was displayed at the front of a moderate, classroom-size portrait gallery titled "His Life." Short and well arranged, the show featured quotations from Hamilton and other revolutionaries on subjects such as the economy, the Constitution, and slavery. As actors read relevant quotations from Hamilton, John Jay, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and others, noted portraits of those figures appeared on two large projection screens at the front of the room. |
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The exhibition's arrangement was probably determined in large part by the rather stolid interior architecture of the New-York Historical Society's Manhattan headquarters. Thus, the force of the audiovisual presentation was reduced by the presence of large numbers of portraits of Hamilton's contemporaries jammed onto the right and rear walls, along with that of a bust on the room's left. The society's collection of portraits is truly spectacular, including some of the most often reproduced images of Hamilton, George Washington, Jay, James Madison, and a host of others. It is a pity that the society did not have room for a more comfortable arrangement of images or for more elaborate text labels about each. If it had, perhaps more detail might have been offered than that, for example, Jefferson was a man with whom Hamilton alternately cooperated and struggled. Here, obviously, is the main issue facing public historians: exactly to whom to pitch exhibitions. Some might have wanted more information; however, it seemed that "Alexander Hamilton" offered enough information to be informative and interesting without bogging down in unrelated detail. The subject, after all, was Hamilton, not everything one might want to know about everyone who ever met Hamilton. |
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The next gallery, called "His Vision," held an unparalleled collection of things Hamiltonian, including Hamilton's oldest surviving letter, first-edition copies of his revolutionary pamphlets, portions of drafts of his state papers as Secretary of the Treasury, and correspondence with Washington about the first president's Farewell Address. A tour guide made the rounds with a group of visitors; his contemporary references ("Hamilton is the new patron saint of the Republicans; don't get me started on the politics") seemed appropriate as a way to spur people to inquire further into Hamilton and his times. |
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As in much biographical work, whether in books or in museums, this exhibition featured a bit of overstatement and exaggeration of its subject's accomplishments and foresight. Though Hamilton's illustrious career could have stood on its own, the temptation to embellish was apparently difficult to resist. For example, the label for a first edition of The Federalist stated that historians agree that this work played a key role in bringing about ratification, which certainly is not true; rather, the last of Publius's eighty-five essays appeared in print only when the ratification struggle had already been decided. |
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