Choosing a Local History Topic: Looking at Objects
This article originally appeared
in Exchange,
a newsletter published by the Wisconsin
Historical Society. (Volume 23, Number
6 November/December 1981) It is the
second in
a series of articles titled Exhibiting
Local Heritage. The series features information
about planning, designing and constructing interpretive
museum exhibits. This article was written by Tom
McKay, retired local history coordinator for the
Wisconsin Historical Society.
Good exhibits begin with ideas. In the planning and preparation of exhibits, no step is more important than choosing a topic. Reading, hearing, and researching local history stimulate ideas for exhibit topics. However, knowledge of local history, though absolutely essential, brings a museum only partway to selecting a good exhibit topic. Interpretive exhibits present history by using artifacts: the objects, pictures, and documents of the past. They use these artifacts to illustrate and explain important events, facts, and ideas. An important part of choosing good local history exhibit topics is thinking about the variety of historical meanings an artifact may represent. Both knowledge of local history and the meaningful use of artifacts are vital to the success of exhibits.
Because artifacts or objects are so
important to choosing good topics, analyzing
objects for their potential use in exhibits
is a skill that should be constantly
improving. In most museums, some exhibit
topics have been suggested primarily
by the availability of appropriate objects
in the collection. Exhibits that come
about in this manner commonly concentrate
on explaining what the objects are. They
less often explore the interpretive question:
what do these objects mean?
To illustrate the difference between
explaining what an object is and what
an object means, let's use an example
focusing on a specific type of object.
Antique toys frequently appear in local
history museums. Because they are fun,
many museums devote a case, room, or
area to an exhibit of toys. It might
be entitled "19-Century Toys" or "The
Playroom." The exhibit displays many
toys and identifies them according to
name, date, maker, basically what the
objects are.
What toys mean involves further analysis.
Certainly they mean children. Toys were
one part of a child's life in the 19th
century. But where did they fit in? What
was a child's life like? Those questions
suggest both the idea and title for an
interpretive exhibit, "A Child's Life
in Smithville: The 1890s." The exhibit
would interpret the story of growing
up in Smithville in the last decade of
the 19th century. It would include
not only toys and children's play but
also the other aspects of their lives
such as education, work, and health.
What toys did children have and where
in Smithville were the swimming hole,
ball field, and other special places
of children's play? Was there a brand-new
school in town at that time? What chores
were the responsibility of children?
Toys would be a major part of the exhibit,
but it would involve many other kinds
of objects: a castor oil bottle, school
books, a butter churn, a picture of the
old Smithville drug store soda fountain. "A
Child's Life in Smithville" started with
the question, "What do these toys mean?" but
it culminated in a local history exhibit
exploring many aspects of growing up
in Smithville in the 1890s.
What other exhibit ideas do toys suggest?
Surely there are many. Late 19th-century
toys were mostly mass produced. The development
of mass-produced objects including toys
had a major effect on Smithville. It
no doubt brought about changes in retailing
and stores. Did mass production signal
an end to the businesses of local craftsman,
or did a new mass production factory
in Smithville open up economic opportunities?
Did mass production make goods cheaper
in Smithville? Could more people afford
them than before? Again, the exhibit
would use a variety of objects such as
mass-produced household goods, a retailer's
account books, or a factory worker's
lunch pail. The toys might have only
a minor part in the exhibit as one example
of mass produced goods, even though analyzing
what toys mean as objects suggested the
exhibit idea.
Every object from the past has a variety
of meanings and relationships to the
past and to other objects. The greater
the skill a local history museum develops
at analyzing these meanings, the more
useful its collection becomes. There
will always be a place in museums for
exhibits that identify and explain what
objects are. To successfully interpret local
history we must ensure a place for exhibits
that consider what objects mean. |
