Each year, museums in this country interpret the nation’s past for millions of visitors. Though well known institutions such as the National Museum of American History and Colonial Williamsburg attract a substantial share of these visitors, smaller entities such as the Oneida Historical Society and the California Afro-American Museum also draw large audiences. These museums, and many others, are the major sources of public knowledge about our common past. While historians have a responsibility to contribute to this understanding through scholarly monographs and public lectures, exhibitions provide an additional and very important means of disseminating the information about history that our public audiences need.
Because an exhibition is a nonlinear form of cultural argument with physical shape and form, it offers a unique way to convey historical information about the past. It is a visual medium in which the history of ideas, research evidence, and interpretation merge together to create a three-dimensional presentation of a complex topic that can appeal to people with a variety of interests, ages, and backgrounds. Successful exhibitions are shaped by the research and scholarship of curators, but they also involve the management and interpersonal skills of the staff responsible for the exhibit’s design and production. They should also be based on an understanding of material culture and a sense of the public’s need to connect, in some way, with an historical concept or event.
Museum exhibitions can address many historical subjects, ranging from the familiar–the story of a nation’s founding or its economic development–to the less well known–the experience of Japanese Americans in World War II. Exhibits can also explore abstract ideas, such as home, freedom, faith, or democracy, that are rooted in the experiences of various communities. Many exhibitions combine all of these elements in a narrative that is both accessible and challenging to the public, while also being firmly grounded in the research and analysis of professional historians.
Unlike a monograph, a museum exhibition is often short-lived, but its impact can last as long as the memory of its content and format. By publishing reviews of exhibitions, Perspectives seeks to broaden the collaboration between the academy and museums by ensuring that the scholarship behind an exhibit continues to live on in a publication that can be widely distributed and accessible. The emphasis on exhibition reviews will be supplemented by articles examining noted accomplishments of individuals and institutions, innovative programs, and important collecting initiatives.