Educational Resources

The resource is being field-tested and is subject to revision.

Is it a fake or a forgery? Did it matter then? Does it matter now?

Overall Expectations

• understand the concepts "fake" and "forgery"
• understand the historical significance of these concepts and their importance to historical thinking
• appreciate the historical value of fake and forged documents
• use criteria and evidence to reach a reasoned judgment

Synopsis

The overarching critical thinking challenge invites students to decide which of various fake or forged documents held in the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) collection have sufficient historical value to be retained in the collection, and which should be purged to make room for new materials. Three supporting critical challenges help students arrive at their decisions:

1. Distinguishing the Forgery from the Fake: Students examine various descriptions of historical deceptions and determine which are forgeries and which are fakes, then apply this knowledge to materials held in LAC's collection.
2. Exploring the Historical Significance: Students decide the historical importance of materials found in the attic of a fictitious family member.
3. Advise the Curator: Students advise LAC's curator about how to deal with the issue of too many documents and not enough space, and recommend which historical deceptions should be kept and which should be purged from the collection.

Critical Challenge 1

Distinguishing the Forgery from the Fake

Synopsis

In this challenge, students are provided with definitions of "forgery" and "fake" and are then presented with descriptions of various historical deceptions such as the Shroud of Turin and Shakespeare's lost play Vortigern and Rowena. Their challenge is to find the forgery among the fakes. Students then apply their understanding of forgeries and fakes by selecting a specific piece of archival material from LAC's collection and determining if it is a forgery or a fake.

Setting the Context

To provide students with a context for the challenge, present the following scenario:

The curator at LAC has a dilemma and needs your help! Held in LAC's collection of archival material are several forgeries, fakes and frauds. New historical documents are arriving on a weekly basis, but there is not enough storage space to keep everything. The curator will have to get rid of some materials, but which? Simply dumping forgeries and fakes is not the solution -- for several reasons: 1) Some forgeries and fakes are so clever or so rare that they have as much historical value as the originals; 2) altered materials sometimes provide valuable insights into the values and morals of the time; and 3) the outstanding quality of the work may make them valuable, or in some cases, more rare than the originals because only a few of the forged items were created. (In these cases the scarcity of the fakes or forgeries relative to the supply of originals makes the fake or forgery more valuable.) Herein lies the the curator's dilemma: What to keep?

Suggested Activities

Step 1: Organize students into pairs and provide each pair with definitions of "forgery" and "fake" (Appendix 1) and descriptions of historical deceptions (Appendix 2).

Step 2: Invite students to search for the forgery among the fakes by reading the descriptions of the historical deceptions. Suggest that one member of each pair read the description and the other respond by indicating whether the deception is an example of a forgery or a fake. Encourage the students to take turns reading the descriptions and offering their responses -- to provide practice in reading aloud and in active listening.

Step 3: Encourage partners to discuss their conclusions by citing evidence from the description to support their decisions. Once students have completed this activity, suggest they select one or more of the historical deceptions from LAC's website Detecting the Truth: Fakes, Forgeries and Trickery provided below. Invite students to work with their partner to determine if the selected historical deception is an example of a forgery or a fake. Remind students to use the definitions and to consult Detecting the Truth for guidance as well as evidence to support their conclusion.

Imaginary portrait of Jacques Cartier, circa 1844
Source

Imaginary scene of the meeting between Laura Secord and Lieutenant Fitzgibbon, circa 1925
Source

Altered photograph of Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King in Banff, 1939-1940
Source

Counterfeit postage stamp from Prince Edward Island, after June 1, 1870
Source

Fake order from Bishop of Québec dated 1759, created after 1810
Source

Counterfeit $1 bill, 1870
Source

Critical Challenge 2

Exploring the Historical Significance

Synopsis

Historians are continually faced with the challenge of deciding what evidence to use and what not to use. In this challenge, students are invited to think like an archivist and a historian by considering the significance of historical evidence found in a fictitious family member's attic. In this mini-challenge, students decide the importance of evidence.

Setting the Context

Present students with the following fictitious scenario:

Your great-aunt has recently passed away and you have just learned she has left her house and its contents to your family. The attic is filled with antiques, papers, letters, official documents, photographs and a few surprises -- your great-aunt was a talented artist who created copies of paintings by the members of the Group of Seven and by Emily Carr, and of stamps. Your task is to sort through the materials in the attic and to decide what to keep and what to throw out. You have sought help from some of the brightest and most insightful people you know. Your 'team' includes a close family member, a museum curator, an economic historian, and a social historian.

Your challenge is to identify the 10 most historically significant items in the attic. To reach a consensus will require both discussion and compromise.

Suggested Activities

Step 1: Provide each group with a list of the items found in the attic (Appendix 4). Several items may require explanation.You may wish to provide background information on some items, or suggest students divide up the items and do some independent inquiry by talking to their parents or using the Internet or the library. They then share what they have found with the group.

Step 2: Invite students to work in groups of four to examine the items in Aunt Bessie's attic. Each student is to have a different perspective, based on the following personas:

• a museum curator interested in understanding daily life in the mid-20th century
• an economic historian researching changes in standard of living during the 20th century
• a social historian researching race, gender and social attitudes of the mid-20th century

Step 3: Suggest the students use the following criteria to determine whether the items are historically significant or insignificant:

*Historical significance is culturally defined. What may be of historical significance for Canadians might not be for Egyptians or the Chinese, for example.

Step 5: Invite each group to post their list of the 10 most significant items. Each group will then compare their conclusions with those of the other groups. If time permits, organize a class discussion that involves an analysis of the decisions made by other groups. Each group may then revise its list, if appropriate.

Step 6: Once students have considered the historical significance of the listed items, invite them to apply the same criteria to the historical documents they have previously selected from Detecting the Truth: Fakes, Forgeries and Trickery.

Critical Challenge 3

Advise the Curator

Synopsis

Invite student pairs to select from and work with one or more of the documents from Detecting the Truth: Fakes, Forgeries and Trickery. Inform them that each pair will decide whether the documents they have selected should be kept, used in the exhibition, or removed from the collection. Students are to share their recommendations with the class and to provide sound reasons to support their decisions.

Suggested Activities

Step 1: Instruct students to learn more about the artefact they are assessing by consulting Detecting the Truth, which contains text about their selected artefact. In some instances, encourage students to broaden the scope of their research to an area (such as coins, stamps or maps). The following Appendixes contain graphic organizers designed to assist students in arriving at a reasoned response:

Appendix 3: Identifying Fakes and Forgeries: provides a quick reference checklist to support the concepts "fake" and "forgery." Students are to list evidence that supports the proper identification of the material.

Appendix 5: Assessing Historical Significance: provides students with a continua for assessing the historical significance of forgeries and fakes. If students are to determine the criteria for determining historical significance, modify the Appendix to match the criteria used.

Appendix 6: Recommendation to the Curator: provides students with a template they can use for making their final recommendation.

Appendix 1

Definitions of "fake" and "forgery"

fake
A faked document is an original document that has been altered to trick people into believing it is rare and valuable. For example, the creator falsely states the age or origin of the document to deceive people into believing it is historically significant and therefore of considerable value. A recently created will or diary attributed to a person who never created such a document would be a fake.

forgery
A forgery is an imitation or a copy that is represented as the original. It is created to trick people into believing it is the real thing. An exact copy of a painting by Tom Thomson, falsely said to have been painted by Thomson, would be a forgery.

Appendix 2

Historical Deceptions

Appendix 3

Artefacts From Great-Aunt Bessie's Attic

Appendix 4

Identifying Fakes and Forgeries

Appendix 5

Assessing Historical Significance

Appendix 6

Recommendation to the Curator