I should add--
We are using lots of oral histories and have had a scholar team and 
community advisory committee (of over 50 people from around the state 
representing 25 ethnic, religious, and cultural groups) from the 
beginning of our planning.  What I am having most trouble with is that 
we tell a very solid story through the Civil Rights Movement and then it 
seems that the designers weren't sure where to go with the last 40 
years--mainly focusing on industry and politics and forgetting the story 
of the people that we have been telling since the beginning.

Cindy Gardner, Field Services Curator
Museum of Mississippi History
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
P.O. Box 571
Jackson, MS 39205-0571
Telephone: 601/576-6901
Facsimile: 601/576-6981
Email: [log in to unmask]




Tom Woods wrote:
> I would recommend changing your "voice" in the exhibit. Avoid using 
> the usual "omniscient narrator" authoritative museum voice. Use the 
> voices of people who were involved, as Susan Kline suggests. Instead 
> of a single storyline, tell several. Show people that the past is 
> "perspectivistic," and that events, objects, and famous people were 
> viewed differently by different people, depending on their individual 
> experiences and particular position in society. This isn't a problem. 
> It is an opportunity. History can be (is) a multi-storied past, not 
> just a single story. Don't make the Smithsonian's Enola Gay mistake by 
> not engaging a broad segment of the subject community while developing 
> the exhibit. Don't be insular. Involve the community in developing 
> your storylines by using advisory groups. This takes time, but it is 
> worth it to tell a rich, multi-layered story that involves the public. 
> Remember that "public history is history done with the public, for the 
> public, and in public."
>  
> Tom Woods
>  
> Tom Woods, Ph.D.
> President, Making Sense of Place, Inc.
> 1521 Grandview Ave.
> Oconomowoc, WI 53066
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Phone: 262-569-1698
> Fax: same
>  
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