While scholarly research is fundamental to any historical endeavor, exhibitions are a unique medium that offers an opportunity to connect to the public in ways that books and other scholarly products cannot. The exhibition process is a collaborative effort that involves the museum educator and staff, the curator’s knowledge of historical research, and the skills to interpret and present the material to an audience. The creative interjection of objects, graphics, and photographs with re-created spaces and interactive devices provides the means to tell an inclusive visual story about history. This creative storytelling is more than just putting history on the wall, it is about using the materials to spark the imagination and bring an experience of the past to the viewer’s eyes and mind.
Museums strive to make their exhibits accessible to visitors with diverse backgrounds and interests. Exhibits that explore abstract ideas, such as home, freedom, faith, or democracy, provide an opportunity for museums to explore core values and issues that are shared by people from many different communities. Exhibits that explore cultural events, such as rites of passage, help to give voice to a diversity of personal experiences.
In a world where people are often bombarded with information and images, history museums must be more than the “cabinet of curiosities” that so many are used to. The challenge for the museum professional is to create a compelling, imaginative story that makes history relevant to people’s lives and expands the parameters of their understanding. To do so requires the use of all of a museum’s resources, including collections, educational and outreach programs, public programming, living history presentations, and ancillary products.
While this column will examine the scholarly underpinnings of an exhibition and its interpretation, it is important to note that an exhibition must stand on its own merits independent of its catalogue, videotapes, or public programs. The goal is to encourage discussion of the important historical content and themes explored in exhibitions, with an eye toward fostering collaboration between scholars and museum professionals.