Rachel A. Bernhardt wrote:

>Several years ago I managed an exhibit on children in the Holocaust (an
>earlier version of the one now at the Holocaust Museum). We had a
>comment book toward the end of the exhibition, and groups of children
>actually waited in line for the opportunity to write something! In this
>case, I think the comment book was not so much for us to read for
>evaluation of the exhibit, but as a catharsis for the visitors.

I concur.  We opened a new exhibit a year ago called "Growing Up iand Away:
Youth in Western Canada" and some of the most popular elements are the
Memory Books we included at 7 points in the exhibit.  Each one asks a
particular question related to the particular gallery (e.g. What are you
afraid of?  in the childhood fears section, "The Dark"), and visitors of all
ages can respond.  We, too, find that it is mostly a cathartic or
sentamental experience for people and since what we wanted was for visitors
to talk about their own childhood memories with each other and with us, we
think it works beautifully.
>
>My only problem with this was...what do you do with the books? We filled
>up at LEAST one a month, for at least a year that I was there, and other
>than using a few blurbs for publicity, it was like storing old birthday
>cards (the sentiment may seem important to hold onto, but will you
>really ever read them again?)

We're considering a book of the best, so to speak as a complementary book
for the exhibit.  Otherwise, holding on to them as a record of the show
seems justified to me.

Thanks!

Christina Simpson
Co-ordinator of Evaluation/Results Monitoring
Glenbow Museum
Calgary, Alberta  Canada
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