The Canadian War Museum's 1812: A Question of Perspective

This thesis focuses on the "Four Wars of 1812," or simply 1812, exhibit produced by the Canadian War Museum (CWM) in Ottawa, open to the general public from 13 June 2012 to 6 January 2013.  An investigation of museum documents, academic literature and news media, viewer feedback, and interviews with museum staff involved with the project has been conducted. Examined here are exhibit development, approach, and content, as well as public responses to the exhibit, government policy, museum practice, and a national conversation about war and peace in the context of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. The thesis concludes that the CWM successfully walked a tightrope, aware of but avoiding politics and controversy while appealing to a wide audience and fulfilling the museum's responsibilities to stakeholders and scholarship.