Historical accuracy was ( [NR] Memories, apologies, wishes, and a challenge)

[Decker, Terry D.]

I've found over the years that the people who make accusations tend to be
guilty of the evils they find in others.  The targets are most often
stubborn, opinionated people, "who just don't play the game (their way)."
You are responsible for your actions and the temper of your words, but you
should not hold yourself accountable for the incomprehension or intemperance
of others.  Enough about them.  Let's turn our attention to the more
interesting subject of historical accuracy.

My major SCA interests these days are culinary and I am specifically
interested in the historical accuracy of the dishes I prepare to the extent
that when I prepare a feast, I try to work from sources contemporary to a
specific time and place and prepare dishes as close to the instructions as
possible.  My latest foray into historical accurate feasts was last year's
Protectorate.  The food was accurate, but, alas, the service was not
particularly historically correct for the Elizabethan court.

I'm not an "authenticity maven," flapping around croaking "Not period.  Not
period."  But, I'm occasionally mistaken for one, when I discuss historical
context and quality of sources, because there seems to be a pervasive idea
that if something is "period," then it is "historically accurate" for all
times and places, which isn't the case, and many people (including some that
should know better) think that any source is a good source.

It is a certainty that there are more people interested in historical
accuracy than you and I, so I ask you and them;  How do you define
historical accuracy?  What are the qualities of good research for historical
accuracy?  How do we improve our historical accuracy within the SCA?  And
how do we interest others in historical accuracy?

Bear


> I know that for myself, because my "dream" differs from that held
> by most people in the Society, it is very easy for me to become
> very discouraged by that solitude.  For the record, in case
> people
> aren't aware of it, my "Dream" is historical accuracy and
> accurate
> education.  This solitude is made worse because my goals are so
> different, my actions and statements are all too often
> misunderstood
> which, to be blunt, frustrates the crap out of me (there are, in
> fact,
> people who have accused me of being political self-serving and
> power mongering, which baffles me completely).  But clearly that
> is my problem, not that of those people who apparently don't know
> me.
>
> Marc/Diarmaid