Each year, museums mount hundreds of major historical exhibits. They are crafted and shaped by the best of current scholarship. They contribute mightily to expanding our knowledge and understanding of the past. However, until recently, exhibition scholarship received little academic recognition. This column seeks to rectify that situation by bringing attention to the research and interpretation that goes into museum exhibitions. By focusing on these exhibits, this column will promote a more complete literature of historical exhibitions and help assure that the work they represent outlives their temporary life.
Unlike monographs, exhibitions are nonlinear forms of cultural argument that combine research and interpretive information with the physicality of objects and visual images. They often use an elegant metaphor to broaden our understanding rather than limiting it. They are also interactive presentations, and the most successful ones involve the visitor in a creative marriage of ideas and objects.
As a result, they have a special responsibility to be inclusive visual stories, not simply histories put up on walls. Museums are unique in this regard, allowing them to reach beyond their local communities and provide access to core historical concepts, such as home, freedom, faith, or social justice, that have universal resonance.
In addition to their role as cultural transmitters, museums are also community organizers. They must work to show that they deserve their tax-exempt status as public institutions by serving their neighbors with meaningful programs and collections. This can be done only by finding new sources of material and reaching out to people whose history has been ignored or underserved.
To fulfill this mission, they must continue to develop innovative approaches to exhibitions and interpretation. In a time of limited resources, this requires a great deal of experimentation. The most innovative work in this field is being produced by smaller museums, many of which are struggling to find their way. Whether by redefining the meaning of exhibitions themselves or by embracing new technologies, they need to demonstrate that their collections and their exhibitions can serve both their neighbors and their visitors.
This exhibition examined the interrelationship of people, places and animals in prehistory in a manner that brought both the natural world and the human past to life. Using an eclectic array of archaeological and ethnographic objects, the exhibition explored a wide range of cultural activities in the prehistoric Arctic: rituals of birth, death and marriage; hunting, fishing, and trade; and the exploitation of animals for food or fur.
This exhibition explored the close connections between humans and whales across a variety of cultures. From the traditions of the Maori and Kwakwaka’wakw to the international whaling industry to the evolution of laws protecting whales, this exhibition illustrated how people have long shared a mutual concern for these majestic marine mammals.