Dear Mr. Dillenburg;
A colleague, who also happens to be my wife, passed on your appeal to me
with the thought that I might be able to contribute something to your quest
for information. As the Exhibition Planner at Canada's national military
museum, I have had a little experience in approaching the public to assist
in some of our exhibits. The assistance sought has taken two forms;
a) Request for artifacts.
b) Appeal for family experiences.
The first request is probably one practised by most institutions and can
be most succesful, I find, if the appeal is specific, given plenty of lead
time and has an obvious quantifiable product, ie. an exhibit. People were
absolutely delighted to see " Uncle Frank's tunic " on display and family
word of mouth can quickly increase visitor stats.
The second appeal, for family stories, was tied to a temporary exhibit
we opened a few years ago. Entitled " WE'LL MEET AGAIN, " it covered wartime
romance and separation and consisted of stories surrounding 25 individuals
and their experiences. When we first planned the show we discovered that the
Museum had little material with sufficient background information so we
asked the public. Fearing to solicit too much material and cause
disappointment, we decided to selectively target veterans and their familes
through the vehicle of the Royal Canadian Legion, similar to your own
American Legion of VFW. The result was one of, if not the, most successful
exhibit that I've seen. The public response to these " real " stories was
overwhelming and indicated that such information on artifacts is often only
available directly from the original owner or relatives.
Anyway, I'm a slow typist so please feel free to contact me at (819)
776-8621 if you think that I can be of any assistance. May I wish you the
best of luck with your project.
Sincerely Yours,
Mark Reid.
[log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dillenburg, Eugene [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, January 10, 2000 11:51 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Community involvement in exhibit development
>
> Planning WAYYYY ahead...
>
> I'd like to hear from museum people who've worked with their community in
> developing exhibits -- planning content, creating messages, etc. My aim
> is
> to put together a session for AAM 2001 in St. Louis. (The deadline for
> submitting proposals is coming up quicker than we think.)
>
> I'm especially interested in hearing real-life experiences -- what you
> learned when you actually went out and started talking to people; what
> practical, hands-on advice you gained from your experience -- rather than
> philosophy or justification for the practice.
>
> I'd like to keep this focused on exhibits, as opposed to education,
> outreach, programming, audience development, etc. -- all valid and
> important, to be sure, but a little off-topic for my purposes.
>
> Feel free to respond on-line or off. Thanks in advance.
>
> Eugene Dillenburg
> Lead Developer, Philippine Coral Reef Exhibit
> John G. Shedd Aquarium
> 1200 S. Lake Shore Drive
> Chicago, Ill. 60605
>
> V) 312 / 692-3136
> F) 312 / 939 - 8001
> e) [log in to unmask]
>
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>
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>
> "The dawn of a new era is felt and not measured." Walter Lord
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