Article: "Docents Gone Wild"

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 7:56 am

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:47 am

Tell me something I don't know. It isn't restricted to Baby Boomers (or War Babies, who are usually appended to them); older docents are just as bad.

jmcnally · Post by **jmcnally** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:47 am

How sad - a lot of this could be spotted with a "secret shopper"-type in the tour.

I have been fortunate. I have never encountered a docent who I would accuse of fabricating or shock value, although I have had my share of docents who just repeat the same mythology. Example: in probably half the Wright tours I have taken, the docent has made it sound like Wright routinely visited all those houses and put the furniture back in "his" location. I have also heard the three-legged chair story at three locations.

Reidy · Post by **Reidy** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 6:50 pm

Peter Shaffer wrote a play about this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettice_and_Lovage

SREcklund · Post by **SREcklund** » Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:28 pm

jmcnally wrote:Example: in probably half the Wright tours I have taken, the docent has made it sound like Wright routinely visited all those houses and put the furniture back in "his" location. I have also heard the three-legged chair story at three locations.

I've heard the dripping roof/call to FLW/"Move your chair" story at multiple sites as well.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:55 pm

I was told Wright killed his second wife while touring Monona Terrace.

m.perrino · Post by **m.perrino** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:55 pm

I have usually had very good experiences with the tour guides/docents, I have encountered at other FLW sites. I don't always divulge my background, so as not to inhibit anyone and to really hear the story of the house I am visiting.

I wish ( it's that hindsight thing Paul (LOL) ) I would have had the presence of mind, 29 years ago, when I started giving tours at TW, to write down all the goofy, misleading, patently wrong, insulting and just plain ignorant things people have TOLD me about FLW. I learned early on to not 'correct', but to offer an alternative version, with lead in's like : "Well, we now know...or Recent research has shown..." and just keep moving on.......

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:35 pm

Right, the information from tourists is rarely correct. The most common one I heard for years at Hollyhock was the claim that FLW designed House On The Rock. Often, no matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me.

But that sort of problem is, in part, why docents exist: to correct misconceptions. The problem I had was with internecine drama within the group itself. Reidy and CEP can attest to that. For many docents, the house is not the major priority; they're more interested in the group as, I don't know, a dating opportunity? For some of the elderly, it may be the only contact with the outside world. But they can become seriously pernicious, as well.

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:40 pm

It also presents a very ripe opportunity - for those who are so inclined to do so in this type setting - to LET THE WORLD KNOW just how much (or how little) they actually do know - in a very public way.

David

SREcklund · Post by **SREcklund** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:37 pm

Roderick Grant wrote:Right, the information from tourists is rarely correct. The most common one I heard for years at Hollyhock was the claim that FLW designed House On The Rock. Often, no matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me.

But that sort of problem is, in part, why docents exist: to correct misconceptions. The problem I had was with internecine drama within the group itself. Reidy and CEP can attest to that. For many docents, the house is not the major priority; they're more interested in the group as, I don't know, a dating opportunity? For some of the elderly, it may be the only contact with the outside world. But they can become seriously pernicious, as well.

I'm not afraid to correct a fellow docent, even when it means (as it has) correcting something I told them earlier that turned out to be incorrect. Some take it better than others, but the truth is what it is - I'm not going to let someone spew fallacies and just stand by.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 5:43 pm

By all means, Steve, correct whenever necessary. Just avoid the pot luck dinners.

SREcklund · Post by **SREcklund** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:48 pm

Roderick Grant wrote:By all means, Steve, correct whenever necessary. Just avoid the pot luck dinners.

The closest I've gotten to anything social was suggesting a docent cleanup crew for the Spring House ...

Unbrook · Post by **Unbrook** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:49 pm

I am afraid that I am a little too vocal about mistatements by docents. Many years ago, I corrected a docent at Fallingwater, when she stated that Wright had died in 1957. And then she insisted that she was correct. This happened at Fallingwater-mind you.

I am an avid attendee of the docent led talks at the Cleveland Museum of Art and sometimes I will just bite my tongue! But sometimes I just can't.

SREcklund · Post by **SREcklund** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 6:56 pm

I think a big part of the problem is that a lot of docents don't know much more about the topic than what they were told in their training. At Hollyhock, for example, we have docents who also serve at LA City Hall, the battleship Iowa, etc. They love being docents, no matter what the subject might be.

I'm a bit different, in that I was a knowledgable Wright aficionado before becoming a docent, so I have a deeper knowledge pool to pull from. I'll take a docent aside and gently correct, and I often have other docents bring their unanswerable questions to me. When I visit other sites, I'll usually mention to the docent early on that I'm a docent at Hollyhock - it usually results in getting a better tour.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 7:59 pm

Paul Ringstrom wrote:I was told Wright killed his second wife while touring Monona Terrace.

We contacted his supervisor to find out if that was in the supplied Training Materials and when we found it wasn't we got him fired as a docent.