HIST 300 – Historical Methods
Assignment – Museum exhibit/Power Point presentation
HISTORY IS NO LONGER PRESERVED only in text. Museums have preserved millions
of items that contain no text whatsoever; and history has become more and more of a
“material culture” discipline that stands on equal footing with formal studies published as
articles and books.
In order to have some experience with the material culture aspects of history, this
assignment requires you to create an exhibit that can also be used as a Power Point
presentation in a classroom. It could also be used as the materials for a web site, even as
‘note cards’ for a written study.
1. Background Reading – Carefully read (in the text Defining Memory), “Local
History: Old Things to Look At,” by Elizabeth Vallance. In this paper, Vallance
reviews two models for the evaluation of museums and exhibits:
 Schwab’s “commonplaces of schooling” model, in which the value of an exhibit is
judged according to its milieu, subject matter, designer and audience.
 Huebner’s “five rationales for learning” model, in which an exhibit is judged
according to technical, scientific, political, aesthetic and ethical values.
2. Select a topic for your exhibit/presentation. This can be the same topic as your
major paper or something else – be certain that the instructor APPROVES it.
3. NOW -
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Select at least 20 “items” that you would exhibit – these can be photos,
documents, objects, maps, etc (you can use photos of everything rather than
real items).
Write a description for each item – what it is, why it is important, what
someone can learn from studying it (it is best to give context to this by
giving background on each item, who wrote it, how it is significant, etc.)
Seeing exhibits in actual museums can help you apply their examples to
this process. Also look at the “Planning and Development” text attached to
this assignment.
Write an introduction to the exhibit and a conclusion -- these should be at
least 250 words EACH and may take more than 1 ‘slide’ in Power Point –
Or you can attach a word file to the slides.
As you work on the introduction and conclusion, think about whether you
are applying the models of Schwab and Huebner to your exhibit (which is
easier than creating your own model). Think also about:
Who is the audience for your exhibit?,
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Why is the topic important? (do NOT just make an argument that “it’s
neat!”
What should people learn from it? Why is that important?
How do these materials reflect the time (era) and the events that they
represent? How do they relate to a particular era, a particular culture or a
particular group of people? In other words, how are they relevant to larger
historical concerns, how are they significant?
How will this add something to our understanding of the past?
This assignment is due IN CLASS November 21.
Here are some web exhibits that may help you get ideas about design, content and
descriptions –
http://www.mnstate.edu/neumaier/
http://radiographics.rsna.org/content/20/3/819.full
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/stavka/
http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/d-day/exdday/exdday.htm
http://www.mnstate.edu/archives/Exhibit/FloodExhibitEbbTide.htm
http://americanhistory.si.edu/sweatshops/
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/momo/hd_momo.htm
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/auschwitz/
http://www.moadsf.org/
http://www.whalingmuseum.org/online_exhibits/polarbear/