According to the web site, Alex Boese is currently a graduate student at UC San Diego in the Social Studies Program, and he is completing a doctoral dissertation “about the relationship between science and popular culture in antebellum America.” He is also the author of The Museum of Hoaxes, which was published by Dutton Press in November 2002. He reports that the web site began in 1997 and that it grew out of the research for his dissertation.
Alex Boese also states that he was born in 1968, and lived in London and Washington, D.C. before attending Amherst College. He graduated in 1991, has lived in San Diego since 1992, and has taught at UCSD for four years. Amherst’s web site includes a search feature, that includes an “Alumni Classnote” from 1/14/03 that says Alex Boese “began working on his dissertation in the history of science at the Univ. of California, San Diego” and that his web site started five years ago. It also mentions that his book is available for purchase on Amazon.
http://Amazon.com includes two book reviews: Publishers Weekly, which is geared toward promotion rather than critical evaluation, and the American Library Association’s Booklist, which gave it a positive review as a book that would give laughs to readers. A search of several EBSCO databases include reviews in Entertainment Weekly and Kirkus, which notes that the book does not provide academic analysis. Esquire published excerpts and Lancet included a mention of the web site. Alex Boese includes excerpts from other media articles on his web site.
The young Alex Boese seems to have solid academic preparation for authoring a book and web site of information that appeals to a broad audience, rather than serious academics.
Museum of Hoaxes is a commercial site with its own domain name and is obviously intended to help promote sales of the book. Several links on the site help users communicate with the author and suggest serious treatment of a topic that could be treated as sensationalism. These features include: Contact the Curator (author), [About] The Curator, FAQ, and copyright information that says the author will immediately correct or remove any violations of copyright. He gives explicit permission for teachers to reprint the information on his site.
The “Gallery of Hoax Web Sites” section lists and comments on about 80 sites. Although links are included for the major on-line booksellers, there are few other links outside the museumofhoaxes.com. The site belongs to a network of “Unusual Museums of the Internet.org”. E-mail address, phone number, and street address contact information are included for the sponsor, the Wooden Nickel Museum in San Antonio, TX.
One recommended site called the Kooks Museum by Donna Kossy is now a dead link. A Google search did not produce an active link, although there were several mentions of the site. Another link is to the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society’s Urban Legends Reference Page, which goes to www.snopes.com, by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson. This site features several dead links and the authors request visitors to make donations to help them in their work by using PayPal, Amazon, or checks sent to a P.O. Box in California.
IMSA’s Search Wizard identified ten links from commercial sites. They included a teen zeen, weblog, Dog Pile April Fool’s sites, and two in foreign languages. Searching links in Alta Vista resulted in 166 sites. Many of these were lists of people’s favourite web pages. A site on Spirit Photography included a link with the warning that the name museumofhoaxes.com would give a clue to the attitude presented on the site. I was pleased to see that the Librarians’ Index to the Internet included museumofhoaxes. Infomine and Academic Info did not include links to the site.
A number of books cover urban legends and hoaxes and the broader topic of folklore. The best of the books, such as the Encyclopedia of Urban Legends by John Harold Brunvand (ABC –CLIO, 2001), contain references for each hoax. The lesser quality books and many of the items reported at museumofhoaxes.com do not include references.
I was able to compare the accounts of Orson Welles’, War of the Worlds Mercury Theatre broadcast on both the museumofhoaxes site and Great Hoaxes and Famous Impostors by Carlson Wade (Jonathan David Publishers, 1976). Although the book source was much more extensive with actual quotations from the broadcast, both sites provided similar information and no obvious contradictions. The site includes references to 1942 and 1992 book sources—both of which are included in the Illinet catalog.
Newspaper accounts of hoaxes that have been uncovered would be another way to check the accuracy of the site. Of course, it seems somewhat ironic to be checking for accurate information about hoaxes!
The site does not clearly indicated when it was last updated and the copyright statement does not include a date. The Guest Book contains yesterday’s date, although this does not prove that the site has been updated. A page about the author mentions that a book is to be published November 2002, which indicates that at least the one page is stale. However, researches of hoaxes would not necessarily be seeking cutting edge information and, in fact, the quest for the ultimate up-to-minute information can actually account for the rapid spread of hoaxes.
The site is a true reflection of what it says—a place to promote the
book with the same title and share the results of the author’s research.
Its commercial side is blatant and its interactive format does not lead one
to believe it is a strictly academic site. I would also comment that it is free
of typographical errors and that the design is sophisticated. Appropriate links
are included for contacting the author and verifying his credentials.
Hoaxes sometimes have outrageous consequences, but this site does not use emotional language or present information in a sensational way. The metaphor of the museum is excellent for communicating the approach of this site—organized, orderly, factual presentation. And like a good museum, it has a fun side that encourages exploration. What evidence is provided to support opinions and conclusions expressed in the document?
Much of this site documents hoaxes, but there is brief background material which includes a reference to the Oxford English Dictionary. Also, as mentioned earlier, some of the specific hoaxes have individual references that I could verify in library catalogues.
We are asked to accept much of what the author provides without specific documentation. In fact, this is what influenced me to evaluate this particular site. I was using it with students, but I was not completely convinced that its hoax photo test was accurate. While I would not use this site for academic research, the author seems to be making a serious effort to be accurate and the success of his book sales depend upon people believing him.
Can you contact someone with expertise in the area to validate the opinions
or conclusions expressed in the document?
University of Utah professor Jan Harold Brunvand, the author of the Encyclopedia of Urban Legends mentioned above, is described in his book as being the “world’s foremost authority on urban legends.” In addition to ten books, his credentials include being a Fulbright Scholar, Guggenheim Fellow, and IREX Fellow. His web page includes his e-mail address at the University of Utah. Another benefit to contacting him is his academic work in the broader area of folklore.