Cultural differences

In the mid-1970s a distinguished group of hunters decided to establish a facility that would combine a museum with a center for the historical, environmental, and cultural contribution of hunting to American society. I was teaching history at Chadron State College at the time. On the basis of some scattered articles on animal rights and hunting I had written as well as teaching a course on hunting's vast social impact in America, particularly in the nation's rural areas, I was invited to Phoenix, Arizona to address the Safari Club International's annual meeting. While there I was briefed on the attempts by SCI to be included in the discussions to establish and finance the museum which would be known as the Hunting Hall of Fame. A few years later I was informed that the museum supporters had been offered by a very wealthy benefactor a tract of land that was near the Ivy League college of Brown University. This was very exciting news to academician hunters at the time who saw the juxtaposition of a Hunting Hall of Fame to an Ivy League college to be simply marvelous. Alas, when the offer was discussed by the location search committee, it was stifled by several members based in the northeast: "You will endure protests and continual problems of security by animal rights advocates!" So adamant were these warnings, the committee capitulated and turned down the extremely attractive and accessible location.

This prologue highlights the significance of the publication of a volume that just appeared in October in the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) PRESS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE SERIES. Entitled HUNTING A CULTURAL HISTORY and co-written by hunters Jan E. Dizard and Mary Zeiss Stange who were solicited by the MIT Press as being two of the most knowledgeable and distinguished scholars of hunting in the United States. Would those who discouraged the location of the Hunting Hall of Fame in Massachusetts's sister state Rhode Island be surprised? I look forward to possibly hearing their comments.

Mary has contributed a copy of the volume to the Ekalaka Public Library. It covers "The history of hunting, from Stone Age hunter-gatherers to today's sport hunters." Enjoy.

Mary Zeiss Stange, Ekalaka