Hi Marilyn
Boy are you in luck! I'll be doing a workshop on signage and labels in
April, so here's your chance to sit in! Mind you, it'll be in south Wales.
More seriously, I have done some consulting recently to Backus Heritage
Village at Port Rowan, and one of the issues was signage, especially
orientation signage.
The problem with signage and labels at historic sites is that people get
carried away and too much signage destroys the atmosphere (and the historic
integrity) of the site.
I suggest strongly that visitor orientation take place no closer to the main
house at Ruthven than the parking lot and that relatively new building next
to it. That's where you should give people a capsule history of the house
and the family that built it. You can use a limited amount of further
signage outside in, say, the garden between the parking lot and the house,
or outside the stable or Militia wings or even by the back door. But please
be very, very careful. Ruthven is such a very special and fragile place that
you could easily ruin it by too much signage.
The great historic sites, such as Colonial Williamsburg, Fortress of
Louisbourg, Old Sturbridge Village, King's Landing, Sovereign Hill Ballarat,
etc., ALL avoid putting much (or any!) signage inside the historic area. The
best of these include a good orientation facility the visitors go through
BEFORE entering the site. Sadly, at the sites I have mentioned, the only one
that has orientation used by the majority of villagers is Louisbourg.
For historic sites that consist of a single or few buildings (e.g.,
Battlefield House at Stoney Creek), it is perhaps better to introduce the
site by means of a handout. Your site is one of the difficult "in-between"
ones, where maybe limited orientation signage, well away from the house, AND
a brochure would be the best solution.
Orientation is a problem at museums, as well. The Canadian Museum of
Civilization is a wonderful place, but there are so many facets to it and
the flow through the building is so bizarre that it leaves visitors bemused.
By far the best orientation I have seen to date is that provided at the
North Carolina History Museum in Raleigh, and it is located down the hall
instead of front and centre, where it would be better placed.
If you'd like to discuss it further, please contact me offline.
Best,
Harry
Harry Needham Consulting Services Inc.
Solutions for Heritage Institutions - and others!
74 Abbeyhill Drive
Kanata ON Canada K2L 1H1
+1.613.831-1068
FAX: +1.613.831-9412
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