In a message dated 96-10-15 08:29:50 EDT, [log in to unmask] (Sarah
Rooker) writes:

>Has anyone designed or been to a social history exhibitthat covers a
>long chunk of time that has been organized thematically rather than
>chronologically?  If so, how has it worked?

Hi Sarah. We wrestled with this when I was at the National Firearms Museum. I
believe, that like a good book, exhibit storylines ultimately write
themselves. let me explain. The original plan was to work thematically, but
then you have (allow me the relevent examples) artistry covering the 8th
century to WWI and collector's models, etc. We had 10 themes to look at, but
found the story discombobulated. So, the solution was to sit down and create
a chronology, and within each significant historical event, identify the
relevant themes. Example: the Battle of the Little Big Horn looked at
American Personae, technology (the Indians had better guns than the cavalry),
economics and commerce (b/c Indians could buy their guns, the cavalry had to
be issued theirs based on gov't contracts [sidebar, nothing has changed
:-)]), and so on. Then, borrowing from an exhibit idea I worked on at NMNH,
we decided to use an icon approach. So even though the story was physically
laid out chronologically, you could look for the icon for say, Recreation and
skim through the history of firearms for those topics which dealt with
recreation only, if you so chose. It ultimately solved both problems. Shame
it was never built. Anyway, that's what worked for us.

I am very interested in this dilemma, I'd like to hear how your process goes.

- Adrienne