Nick, for a quick search of scholarly literature
you might try http://scholar.google.com
-- there's some interesting results in there when I searched under "museum
interpretation." You might need to try a couple of different search
terms.
And building on what Annmarie wrote below, I
too have done living history interpretation from a number of eras. The
toughest nut to crack for me has been trying to help modern Americans understand
the material and social cultures of late 14th-century English people.
It's extremely hard to stay in a first-person narrative with something that is
so far removed without drawing parallels to things that modern Americans are
familiar with.
We've sometimes done a mix of first- and
third-person narration, welcoming them onto the site and talking in one area as
our first-person selves (especially about basic stuff like food) and then having
a "museum tent" in the third person to address the more complex things (the
ubiquity of the church, the complex strata of society after the Black Death,
etc.). I find it easier to connect modern Americans with something that is
*so far* removed from their experience when we can talk in the third person
about the parallels that do exist. First-person works best, in my
experience, when the differences aren't so great.
In short, perhaps it can be easily said that there
are instances where first-person narrative gets in the way of fulfilling
Tilden's first principle: "Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what
is being displayed or described to something within the personality or
experience of the visitor will be sterile." If that can't be done using
first-person techniques due to distance or complexity as I mentioned or some
other reason, then third-person interpretation might be in order. The
point, I'd say, is to be effective rather than to lock oneself into a single
form of presentation.
Either way, it's a fun challenge, but I'm always
interested to hear "best practices" when it comes to interpretation--whether
based on Tilden's seminal work or on "home grown" solutions.
Peace,
--Eric
Eric D. M. Johnson
Proprietor
The Village Factsmith Historical Research &
Consulting
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2005 2:37
PM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Interpretation or
Not?
I work for a historical museum and we do first person interpretation but
there are still hard facts that are neccessary to get out. I feel we short
change our audience by just let them see, smell, touch, etc the buck skin but
not share the wonderful thought of how this buckskin became soft by brain
tanning and the inginuity of the Natives that created this tool just
because it would be telling people facts and not interpreting. Just my 2
cents