Defending a columnist's subject choices

A friend of mine, who is a regular reader of this column, told me the other day that he hadn't seen me in the paper the previous week. I replied that my column was in the paper and that the subject was the museum's Civil War Days event. "Oh," he said. "That's not a real column. You were just shilling."

For one thing, his use of the word "shill" wasn't correct. A shill is a "plant;" someone who pretends no association with a person promoting something, yet feigns enthusiasm about whatever the person is promoting. The idea is to get an audience excited - to work up a crowd. The down side is that the whole thing is a set up; done under false pretenses.

True, from time to time I write about -- and therefore promote -- what's going on at the museum. But I'm not a shill, because when I write about the museum I present myself as affiliated with the museum. But here's the rub. The brief interaction with my friend made me think about Civil War Days and about the museum's larger role in the community.

Civil War Days is my personal favorite event of the museum's year. It offers the public a rich, compelling view of one of the most important periods in American history. As I have wandered in the Civil War Days encampment these past 16 years (for I have been on the museum staff more years than that!) I have wondered from time to time how Abraham Lincoln would have viewed the proceedings. And I have come to the conclusion that, put in a modern context, he would approve.

In 1832, early in his career, Lincoln wrote "Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in." Civil War reenactments are education at its very best -- engaging, dynamic, living history. For Lincoln also said, "The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite."

Museums serve their communities by providing dynamic experiences. Experiences through which the past can inform the present. Civil War Days is a perfect example of what the Discovery Museum brings to the people of Lake County. The event offers an opportunity for people of all ages to interact, to learn and to feel the past resonate.

So Tom (that's my friend's name), I'm not shilling when I write about museum events, I'm promoting. Promoting one of the most important contributors to the fine quality of life in Lake County, Illinois.

For information about current exhibitions, and to download $1-off admission coupons, visit the museum's Web site at www.lakecountydiscoverymuseum.org.

̢ۢ Katherine Hamilton-Smith is the director of cultural resources for the Lake County Forest Preserve District. The Lake County Discovery Museum, a department of the forest preserve district, is an award-winning regional history museum on Route 176, west of Fairfield Road near Wauconda. The museum is open from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Call (847) 968-3400 for information.