Hi Gene!

"Chicago School" of label writing? I'd say it's more of a "Write Labels
that Visitors Actually Read" school. Contractions, second person, starting
sentences with a contraction, fun verbs like "chomp" and "scurry" ... all
of these, used judiciously, add spark to exhibit labels and draw visitors
into the material.

Over in the Superstition thread, David Haberstich asked what rule says
visitors need to read labels aloud. Well, they don't *need* to read them at
all. But lively, crisp, conversational writing all but demands to be read
aloud. When visitors read aloud to each other, it becomes a very effective
form of social learning. This is a good thing.

Gene rightly recommends Beverly Serrell's book on exhibit labels and Judy
Rand's "Fish Stories" article. I would add the work on family learning done
by Minda Borun and others in Philadelphia. But of course the very best
information sources are the visitors themselves. I've seen visitors as
young as 6 reading my labels to one another (and I never ever write
specifically for children). One summative evaluation of an exhibit I worked
on attributed its unusually strong holding power in large part to the high
quality of the exhibit text. In another summative evaluation of a different
exhibit, several interviewees claimed not to read labels at all. Yet when
asked what they found most interesting, they quoted label copy almost
verbatim in describing their favorite displays. When my writing is so
painless people don't even realize they're reading it, I know I've earned
my keep!

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