As South Carolina considers building a museum around the recovered Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, state leaders can look to other landmarks for tips on presenting the controversial past without hurting tourism.

The Gettysburg National Military Park, the nation’s most popular Civil War site, follows federal guidelines to present a balanced view of history, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said.

In Huntsville, Ala., the U.S. Space & Rocket Center museum in Huntsville, Ala., dodged controversy two years ago when it put a rebuilt V-2 rocket bomb on display. The exhibit focused on the V-2’s contributions to modern science while acknowledging the deaths and destruction the Nazi weapon caused.

Because historic sites and museums are America’s third-biggest tourist attraction, the Hunley can be a major asset for the state, said Rick Silver, vice chairman of the Columbia marketing firm of Chernoff Newman Silver Gregory.

But the Hunley’s history is “an issue that needs to be treated with sensitivity” to avoid harming the state’s image, said Silver, who was involved in business-community efforts to improve the state’s image by moving the Confederate flag from the State House dome to a less prominent place on state grounds.

The Hunley was the first submarine to destroy an opposing vessel in combat. But its promoters have been accused of not providing enough context for this week’s celebration in Charleston of the submarine and its crew, who are being buried today after a century lost at sea.

Julian Bond, national chairman of the NAACP, expressed support for honoring the Hunley but not its crew or mission.

“I think it’s perfectly reasonable to honor the submarine,” said Bond, an early disciple of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “But why would anyone celebrate an enemy ship sinking an American vessel? ... Why would you celebrate people involved in a treasonous act against the United States?

“If you were thinking of visiting Germany, and Germany was having a celebration of the Nazi war dead, you might think twice. I think some people, black and white, will think twice about visiting South Carolina.”

Charleston pastor Joe Darby, of the Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church, said Hunley celebrations need “some acknowledgment of the residue of slavery that lives on.”

Throughout the week, Hunley promoters have honored the Hunley sailors, calling them courageous.

“It’s hard not to admire their valor,” said Richard Quinn Sr., spokesman for Friends of the Hunley. The state-sponsored, nonprofit group raises money to preserve the sub, which Quinn said has drawn 200,000 visitors since October 2000.

State Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, chairman of the state’s Hunley Commission and co-owner of a Confederate-theme gallery in North Charleston, has expressed favor for honoring both the sub and its crew. He wants the state to build a $40 million museum to house the Hunley and draw tourists.

The 5,990-acre Gettysburg park draws 1.8 million visitors yearly and generated $115 million in tourism revenue for surrounding areas in 1998, the last year for which figures are available, park spokeswoman Lawhon said.

Gettysburg’s guidelines include providing a historic context for park exhibits, which focus on the three-day battle, Lawhon said. Contextual presentations discuss the causes and consequences of the Civil War from the perspectives of both sides, she said.

Whenever possible, the guidelines encourage quoting such perspectives directly from war participants, without editorial comments, Lawhon said. Such quotes come from a variety of people, including President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

“What we do, which we believe any good historian would do, is to tell the story without praise and without censure,” Lawhon said. “You’ve got to do it in a careful way that’s not trying to express any bias.”

Dealing properly with the dark side of a scientific artifact can help keep people focused on its historic significance, said Al Whitaker, spokesman for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center museum in Huntsville, Ala.

Huntsville was the U.S. headquarters of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who developed the V-2 rocket bomb for Nazi Germany before helping put Americans on the moon. In 2002, the Huntsville rocket center faced controversy when it first displayed a rebuilt V-2, Whitaker said.

“The V-2 brings back horrible memories for some people,” Whitaker said.

But he said the rocket center stifled controversy by frankly acknowledging the V-2’s negative history; by focusing the V-2 display on contributions to modern science; and by not displaying anything that could be interpreted as endorsing Nazism.

“We had no formal protests,” Whitaker said.

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center draws 420,000 visitors yearly, said Whitaker, who expressed interest in visiting the Hunley.

State officials need to provide a balanced view of the Hunley’s history, to the extent that the sub’s crew is portrayed positively, Silver said. But ideally the state might focus only on the sub’s place in naval history, he said.

“You begin to get into a gray area when you begin to assign ‘brave’” and similar adjectives to Hunley sailors, Silver said.

“It’s the same as if we honored the Mexican soldiers who attacked the Alamo,” Bond said. “South Carolina has a large population of present and retired military people. I wonder what they think — especially those black soldiers defending their country in Iraq right now — I wonder what they think about honoring people who fought against the United States.”

Reach McWilliams at (803) 771-8308 or jmcwilliams@thestate.com.