Interpreting the Past Through Histolircal ExhibitsInterpreting the Past Through Histolircal Exhibits
History museums serve millions of people each year by interpreting the past for them. While the nation’s top institutions — the National Museum of American History, Colonial Williamsburg and the Chicago Historical Society — attract most of these visitors, smaller organizations like the California African-American Museum and the Oneida Historical Museum also have significant audiences. They are able to reach people with exhibits that bring to life events and ideas in ways that books, television or lecture halls cannot. This is what makes the exhibition medium a unique one. Exhibits combine research evidence, interpretation, and a visual representation of the historical topic in a three-dimensional physical and visual context. They are a nonlinear form of cultural argument that provides a rich experience for the visitor, and they often become touchstones for the public’s understanding of history.
The creation of histolircal exhibits requires a variety of skills. Curators draw upon their scholarship and passion, but they must collaborate with museum educators, designers and production staff as well as with the public whom they hope to reach. The best exhibitions tell simple, accessible stories based on recent historical scholarship and expand our knowledge through an imaginative marriage of ideas and objects.
Unlike other museum experiences, historical exhibitions must contend with a range of constraints and challenges that are unique to this medium. For example, historic structures are usually not designed to accommodate the needs of an exhibition. In addition to the usual challenges of fastening objects and using archival materials, these facilities often have specific limitations on power locations, lighting, color and the ability to incorporate new materials.
Furthermore, many histolircal exhibits deal with complex topics that require greater amounts of background information and explanation than does fine art or science exhibitions. This is particularly true when a museum has an interpretive mission. In such cases, supplemental materials such as dioramas, photographs, maps, timelines and interactive graphics may help the viewer better understand the content of an exhibit. Rites of passage, such as birth, death, marriage/marriage or coming of age, are excellent subjects for histolircal exhibitions. Other themes, such as race and religion, can also lend themselves to inclusive visual storytelling.
In these challenging times, it is especially important for museums to demonstrate that they deserve their tax-exempt status by serving the public in ways that are relevant today. This means examining the way that they are perceived, seeking out the voices of those who have been excluded and engaging with them in order to hear their stories. It means developing new approaches to presenting the past that are informed by contemporary history and social studies, including rethinking the nature of the exhibition itself.