The following listing of collaborative exhibitions, programs and
initiatives has been prepared to accompany "Cooperation or Competing
Visions? Museums and Community Collaborations" a session at the 1997 Annual
Meeting of the American Association of Museums. Because of the length, it
will not be distributed at the session. We hope the information is useful
and invite everyone to attend: Tuesday, April 29, 2:00-3:15 p.m. at the
World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. If you have any questions,
please contact: Catherine M. Lewis, American Studies Program, University of
Iowa, [log in to unmask]
Collaborative Exhibitions, Public Programs, and Initiatives
Part I
* The Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project (1977).
This is one of the earliest collaborative neighborhood history projects.
It began in 1977 when a group of local community activists, academics with
interest in local history, and city agency personnel decided to seek
funding for a community history project that would focus on Baltimore's
working class ethnic neighborhoods.
See Linda Shopes, "The Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project," Radical
History Review 25 (1981): 27-44.
* The Eyes of Chief Seattle. Suquamish Tribal Cultural Center, Fort Madison
Indian Reservation, Suquamish Washington (opened July 1983).
This collaborative exhibition relied on photographs, artifacts, and oral
histories gathered from members of the local Suquamish community. The
trial community was closely involved in the interpretation of the exhibit
and the preparation of the educational materials. The exhibition "portrays
the tribe's history and is tangible evidence for tribal members of their
role in the region."
See American Association of Museums, Museums for a New Century (AAM:
Washington, 1984).
* California: A Place, A People, A Dream. Oakland Museum (permanent
installation, opened September 1984).
This permanent, municipal exhibition was organized with the support of the
local community. Over 25,000 objects and artifacts were collected through
an intensive and creative series of brochures, video programs and public
service announcements. While not clear if the lenders and community
members were involved in the interpretive process, this is an early attempt
by the museum to make the transition from interpreting objects to people's
lives.
See L. Thomas Frye, "Museum Collecting for the Twenty-First Century," in A
Common Agenda for History Museums, ed., Lonn W. Taylor (Nashville, AASLH,
1987), 32-38.
Contact: Thomas Frye
* Eight Pound Livelihood: A History of Chinese Laundry Workers in America.
New York Public Library (1984).
After two years of interviews, research and community workshops with
Chinese New Yorkers, the Chinatown History Museum collaborated with the New
York State Museum to produce a bilingual exhibition about the place laundry
occupied in Chinese American work and culture. The Chinatown History
Museum staff used reunions and workshops as a place to begin historical
research and programming.
See "Creating a Dialogic Museum: The Chinatown History Museum Experiment,"
in Museum and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture, eds. Ivan Karp,
Christine Mullen Kraemer, and Steven D. Lavine (Washington: Smithsonian,
1992), 285-326.
Contact: John Kuo Wei Tchen
* Let This Be Your Home: The African American Migration to Philadelphia,
1900-1940. Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum in
Philadelphia (1987).
This exhibition was the result of a collaboration between a scholar and
community worker. The community liaison was responsible for identifying
informants, organizing meetings, and participating in every stage of the
exhibition development process. The scholar formed the central thesis and
conducted research that was augmented through a regular series of community
meetings.
See Amina J. Dickerson, "Modes to What End? Scholarship, Museums and
Community Transformation" (paper prepared for Venues of Inquiry Into the
American City: The Place of Museums, Libraries and Archives, Session Three,
Chicago Historical Society, (October 29 and 30, 1990).
Contact: Rowena Stewart
* A Time of Gathering: Native Heritage in Washington State and Pacific
Voices. Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum (1989-present).
A Time of Gathering, organized for the 1989 Washington State Centennial,
presents the history of traditional and contemporary Native American
peoples. The museum formed an advisory board for this exhibition.
See James D. Nason and Robin K. Wright, "Sharing Heritage: Native American
Exhibits," Museum News (May/June 1994): 43, 57-58, 60.
Contact: Robin Wright ([log in to unmask])
* Pacific Voices deals with the issues of ethnic communities in the Pacific
Northwest. These communities are not restricted to Native Americans, but
include ethnic communities from the Pacific Rim who have emigrated to the
Pacific Northwest. All of these communities share similar issues of
cultural survival, and that is what this exhibit is about. The Burke
Museum formed a Community Advisory Board to work on this exhibition. The
Board met separately and came up with themes that were common to all of
their groups (language, oral traditions, elders/teachers, and ceremonies).
The museum has been working with each community to devise an exhibition
around one or more of these themes.
Contact: Miriam Kahn ([log in to unmask])
* Who We Are Neighborhood Program. The Montgomery County Historical
Society. Dayton, Ohio (199?)
Who We Are is a community based exhibition program that focuses on specific
neighborhoods in Dayton's history. To date, the staff has worked with
residents in Riverdale and Edgemont/Carillon. The accompanying brochures
contain text and pictures used in the exhibit.
Contact: Katie Blatt, Montgomery County Historical Society, 7 North Main
Street, Dayton, Ohio 45402-0461; (513) 228-6271 or (513)331-7160 (fax).
Sara Sessions is the MCHS Curator and Brian Hackett is the Executive
Director
* A Meeting Ground of Cultures. Gallery 33, Birmingham Museum and Art
Gallery, Great Britain (199?).
This exhibition was a collaborative venture between multiple communities in
Great Britain to reinstall the museum's ethnography collection.
See Jane Pierson Jones, "The Colonial Legacy and the Community: The Gallery
Project," in Museum and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture, eds.
Ivan Karp, Christine Mullen Kraemer, and Steven D. Lavine (Washington:
Smithsonian, 1992), 221-241.
* Minnesota Communities. Minnesota Historical Society (1990-).
In 1992, the MHS used the opening of the new facility as an opportunity to
"reexamine its relationship to the public and to refocus its efforts toward
greater communication with that public." The construction of a 427,000
square foot Minnesota History Center in St. Paul "increased the museum
space from 7,000 to 45, 000 square feet." In 1990, out of a planning
symposium involving staff, academic historians, museum professionals,
designers and staff members came the idea for a new series of exhibitions
on Minnesota History. Instead of a linear narrative that was driven by
great events, the new facility offered a "menu of diverse encounters with
history that include personal stories and particular subjects." With the
assistance of various advisory groups and after extensive surveying of the
potential audience, the MHS staff presented Manoominekewin: Stories of Wild
Ricing, Minnesota Almanac, and On Common Ground: Minnesota Communities .
See Barbara Franco, "The Communication Conundrum: What is the Message? Who
is Listening," Journal of American History (June 1994): 151-163.
Contact: Barbara Franco (Historical Society of Washington, D.C.), Celeste
Brosenne, or Mary Weiland, Minnesota Historical Society, 354 Kellogg
Boulevard West, St. Paul, MN 55102-1906, (612) 297-8285
* National AIDS Exhibit Consortium. California Museum of Science and
Industry (Los Angeles), Museum of Science and Industry
(Chicago), American Medical Association, New York Hall of Science,
Exploratorium (San Francisco), Franklin Institute of Science Museum
(Philadelphia), Maryland Science Center (Baltimore), National Museum of
Health and Medicine (Washington, DC), Museum of Science in Boston
(1990-present).
In 1990, the above organizations and museums formed the National AIDS
Exhibit Consortium (NAEC). This group was driven by the desire to create
and share exhibitions on the history of AIDS and current efforts at
prevention. The NAEC is funded by congressional support and the Centers
for Disease Control. A major outcome of the NAEC collaboration was a 2,500
square foot traveling exhibition called What is AIDS? The exhibition was
designed by the Franklin Institute Science Museum and the New York Hall of
Science took primary responsibility for the exhibition's scientific
content. Participating institutions also prepared educational materials.
See David J. Combs and Ann M. Muscat, "Exhibits on AIDS: A Joint Effort,"
Museum News (May/June 1994): 60-64.
Contact: David J. Combs and Ann M. Muscat, California Museum of Science and
Industry, Los Angeles
Catherine M. Lewis
|
