Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Krusher on June 16, 2004, 06:07:10 PM
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no this is not a debate about the 2nd amendment. Its just a new museum that sounds interesting.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky.--When visitors walk into the new Frazier Historical Arms Museum, the first thing they see is an 1880s Gatling gun. But if they think this is merely another gun museum, they soon learn otherwise. For after touring the three floors of gallery space, visitors not only have a clear understanding of the evolution of armaments but of the historical events in which they were used. And that's what sets this museum--which opened May 22--apart.
The museum is the brainchild of Owsley Brown Frazier of the Brown-Foreman liquor empire. No mere hobbyist, Mr. Frazier and his guns are held in high regard by serious collectors. That's why Britain's Royal Armouries have made the Frazier Historical Arms Museum their U.S. home.
To take advantage of the great historical context in which these weapons are displayed, visitors should head straight to the third floor and the Royal Armouries exhibits. After a short film about the Tower of London, England's armory before it became a tourist attraction, visitors are taken back to the Middle Ages. Each gallery includes life-size tableaux depicting armed conflict of an era. Featured here are the Battle of Hastings (1066) and the Wars of the Roses (1455-85), among others.
One of the many significant artifacts is a 15th-century mail shirt, suspected to be the oldest still in existence. There's also another short film explaining the artistry and technology that went into making the shirt.
"We have four goals," said Paul Gerrard, vice president of marketing for the museum. "To not just display firearms, but to explain them in terms of technology, exploration, artistry and conflict."
And the museum succeeds very well, with each gallery unfolding along a historical timeline, explaining not just how arms evolved, but what was going on in the world around them. In the Medieval period, for example, visitors learn about the first use of the long bow at Agincourt in 1415. The tableau for the Tudor period (1485-1603) is the gun deck of an English warship.
In addition to bows, arrows, pikes, spears, swords and the first wheel-lock rifle (believed to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci), there is an extensive collection of armor, some of which features the finest artistry and craftsmanship of its time. Indeed, we learn that during the Style Wars (1500-50), fashion was as important as function. It was during this period that the Innsbruck workshop that made armor for Emperor Maximilian was the first to combine Italian curved forms with the angular designs of more traditional German designs.
We also learn that guns became so powerful during the English Civil War (mid-17th century) that armor was largely abandoned and replaced by buff coats made of thick leather. This English history lesson continues up to the eve of World War I. For that alone, the museum warrants a visit.
But it's on the second floor that we get to the really significant pieces of the Frazier collection, along with an equally good tutorial in American history.
The Colonial gallery starts off with a short film about the role of arms in America, both historically and as an industry. It's important to note that the museum is completely neutral on the issue of the Second Amendment. Visitors need not come here fearing an NRA membership pitch.
Since this is Kentucky, there's a display devoted to Daniel Boone, as well as one to Eli Whitney, the father of mass-produced firearms, including one of his 1812 muskets.
From the Civil War there's a Model 1853 Sharp's carbine, one of 100 seized in 1856 by anti-John Brown forces from an armory in Lexington, Mo. There's also one of only two surviving Texas rifles from the Battle of San Jacinto, where they remembered the Alamo. And there's Serial No. 2 (No. 1 was destroyed) of the .40-caliber Colt Paterson, the first rotary repeating rifle ever made.
Moving on to the settlement of the West, there's a great film that dispels many Hollywood myths. For instance, we learn that one-third of cowboys were black. There's also a good display on the buffalo hunters, including a Model 1874 Sharp's buffalo rifle, described as "the workaday gun of the 1870s and 1880s."
In retelling American history, the museum doesn't shy away from the uglier aspects, either. Discussed at length are the long-term impacts of American settlement of the West on both Indians and bison.
There's even a gallery, Lawmen and Outlaws, dedicated to the seamier side of frontier life, including the Colt six-shooter Jesse James had when he died in 1882. Also shown is how quickly the West became the caricature found in Wild West shows. Buffalo Bill Cody's and Annie Oakley's guns are on display, as are Geronimo's bow, arrows and quiver.
The Frazier collection ends with the Gilded Age, noting that it marked the first time firearms were owned primarily for sport rather than survival. To that end, we see "The Big Stick," Teddy Roosevelt's beloved double-barreled (.500/.450) safari rifle. It's a bully conclusion to a riveting journey through time.
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This sounds like a great excuse for a weekend excursion up to Louisville. Many thanks for the info, Krusher!
In the Medieval period, for example, visitors learn about the first use of the long bow at Agincourt in 1415.
Hopefully this bit was a mistake on the part of the columnist and not the museum.
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Yeah, everyone knows that the Elves invented the longbow in the Second Age of Middle-Earth.
;)
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Originally posted by DiabloTX
Yeah, everyone knows that the Elves invented the longbow in the Second Age of Middle-Earth.
;)
No kidding! It's like History 101 and stuff. :p
(The only reason I knew that one was because I've gotten into medieval archery lately. You should see my bow...it's 6 feet tall and can throw an arrow a loooong way!)
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god created man... colnel Colt made em equal.
more artistry and invention have been lavished on firearms than any other object. They have had more impact on the world than any other thing. Imagine the shock of the ruling class with their armor that made them the masters of the peasants the first time a bullet made a nice round hole in their expensive armor covered chest.
lazs