The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is working on a new policy concerning historical reenactments.
A draft of the new policy was released during a Zoom public meeting last week held by the commission. The policy is being modified after guidelines were released in January of this year that prohibited “force-on-force” reenactments. The new guidelines were taken from the National Park Service, who said that the force-on-force reenactments were “disrespectful”. The commission did reverse course and approved a reenactment of the Battle of Bushy Run that will be held later this year if reenactors portraying Native Americans consulted with members of relevant tribes to make sure the reenactors gear, dress and practice were historically accurate.
The new policy would allow force-on-force reenactments, historic weapons demonstrations and tactical exercises be allowed, provided that the event is “mission-appropriate…as determined by PHMC staff” and all parties involved would have to abide by the commission’s protocols.
A final draft based on public comments from the meeting will be posted before its next meeting at the end of the month. A specific date for the meeting has not been announced, but it is expected to be accessible via Zoom.
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