On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 2:46 PM, Brian Rayca <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I work in a history museum, and I can tell you the elitist curator who would much rather be researching some detail about 19th century military
> button manufacturing than making sure the public is engaged with what is on display in the museum is not an Art museum problem.  It's is a universal
> problem. It may be a generational issue.

I think your "elitist" curator is awesome. Let him go research his
buttons. Seriously. That is what curators are supposed to do. They are
supposed to be the experts on their collection. That is why curatorial
positions often require a PhD. They are expected to do research and
publish like university professors. (And a lot of it is just nerdy
military historian. I reenact with a lot of armchair historians and
many of them are ALL like that. They'll skim over what an average
soldier did on a daily basis, you know what the public wants to know,
but can go on at length about button manufacture, swords, scabbard
decorations, etc.)

This is in a perfect world where curators can be left to research
their collections and don't have to interact with the public. Quite
frankly, while I love the nerdy guys to death, I wouldn't want some of
them near the public because they can be horribly dry and
well...boring if you aren't interested in their subject area. Some are
very good at talking with the public and can be very engaging. Talking
with the public is not their primary job. It's research.

> The problem I have is the desire to speak exclusively to their curatorial peers in labels.  Lengthy labels with tons of very detailed information that
> turns off the vistor is common, and not just in my museum I've seen it all over.  However, it's become increasingly rare.

That's a very old school style of labeling. Many exhibits were
designed for fellow curators or experts in the field, not for the
public. Items were laid out in dry taxonomies so that if you were a
gem and mineral collector and interested in feldspar, you could easily
find the feldspars and study all the specimines at once. Same with
birds or mammals or trees, or Native Americans, or what have you.
There was the occasional "ooh look, pretty" thing thrown in there for
the general public like a jewelry collection but otherwise, exhibits
were pretty predictable.

This is where good educators and interpreters come in. There is a
balance between showing the right amount of information and too much
info. A good visual interpreter can actually convey a lot of
information through exhibit design instead of labels. With QR codes,
audiotours, and other media devices, you can really layer an exhibit
to suit any type of visitor. If all someone wants is the name of the
thing, there's a simple label. If someone wants more info, there might
be an interpretive panel on the side. For even more info, a QR code or
smartphone tour leads the visitor to any number of websites or audio
descriptions or lectures by the curator going on at length about his
prized button. This new technology is cheap too with smartphone apps
and webspace. You don't need a fancy studio nor equipment to record
for most things, esp. for a temporary exhibit. You can do most of it
on a smartphone/mp3 player and a regular PC.

As Candace mentioned, in small museums, curators have to come out of
hiding and interact with the public on some level, either with helping
design exhibits, writing education programs, or *gasp* doing public
programs. These people should have more than just a straight history
background but need a broader background in education, exhibit design,
marketing, project management, etc. With shrinking budgets and staff,
I've seen more combined positions. As a trained educator, it seems
like education is always thrown in with another position and is the
secondary "knowledge of/nice to have but not required" skill because
everyone can teach, right? /sarcasm

So in summary, I think more curators need to "come out of the
collections closet" and realize that they aren't going to be just
researchers and keepers of the collection like in the "good old days."
All museum positions are going to require knowledge of fund-raising,
interpretation, and outreach if museums are going to survive and stay
relevant.

Deb Fller

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