Toronto Presentation: Beardmore

University of Toronto - Department of Anthropology (St. George Campus), 19 Russell Street, Toronto, ON
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Join Douglas Hunter for a presentation on his book, Beardmore: The Viking Hoax That Rewrote History, at the Ontario Archaeological Society Toronto Chapter Meeting. The event will be held at the University of Toronto - Department of Anthropology on the St. George Campus.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In 1936, long before the discovery of the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, the Royal Ontario Museum made a sensational acquisition: the contents of a Viking grave that prospector Eddy Dodd said he had found on his mining claim east of Lake Nipigon. The relics remained on display for two decades, challenging understandings of when and where Europeans first reached the Americas. In 1956 the discovery was exposed as an unquestionable hoax, tarnishing the reputation of the museum director, Charles Trick Currelly, who had acquired the relics and insisted on their authenticity. Shedding light on museum practices and the state of the historical and archaeological professions in the mid-twentieth century, Beardmore offers an unparalleled view inside a major museum scandal to show how power can be exercised across professional networks and hamper efforts to arrive at the truth.

"A fascinating story about the alleged discovery of a Viking grave near Beardmore, Ontario, in the 1930s, and the ongoing controversy over its authenticity. Douglas Hunter uses the whole story as an entry point into thinking about disciplinary power, about what stories matter, whose voices count, and to whom." Christopher Dummitt, Trent University and author of Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King's Secret Life