How Education Theory is Used in Museums

May 2, 2019

During my experience in museums, I have taught many school programs and learned a number of methods to educate students. Each experience taught me more about educating students within a museum and classroom management. My first experience in educating school programs began with my internship at Connecticut’s Old State House in which there were about 150 students between kindergarten and fifth grade. Because there was a diverse range of age groups on that day, I was introduced to the idea that there are different approaches for each age. When I worked at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, I was introduced to the idea of pre- and post-visit outreach programs where museum educators go to the schools to introduce and follow up with students before and after their visit to the Noah Webster House. Each of my experiences in history museums and historic house museums introduced me to object-based and inquiry-based teaching methods.

Object and inquiry based methods are used to help students connect with the past with observations and asking questions. These methods helped me understand and utilize the constructivist method, or constructivism, which I learned more about during my experiences at the Long Island Explorium, the children’s science museum. According to the Exploratorium in San Francesco that uses this method, constructivism refers to the idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves as they learn and the outcome is twofold: educators have to focus on the learner in thinking about learning and there is no knowledge independent of the meaning attributed to experience. This can be applied to museums especially during family programs in which learning is seen as a social activity. During my time at the Explorium, I have seen adults and children work together at each exhibit to help their children foster their own problem-solving skills. I also gained knowledge in education methods outside of my museum experiences.

Professional development programs have also helped me learn about the ways to educate students within a museum. Late last year for example I took an online course through American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) on Museum Education and Outreach, and one of the focuses was education program planning, management, and evaluation. To move forward in learning about planning, managing, and evaluating programs, I used the knowledge I gained on audience characteristics, interests, and needs, observed some visitors in real time, and explored the role of interpretation in education and programs to build foundation for this lesson. My classmates and I were given resources to use as part of our lesson including the National Standards & Best Practices for U.S. Museums from the American Association of Museums (now American Alliance of Museums), and standards for audiences, interpretation and programs through AASLH. We also used The Museum Educator’s Manual by Anna Johnson, Kimberly A. Huber, Nancy Cutler, Melissa Bingmann, and Tim Grove for the majority of the course especially this lesson. One of our assignments was to answer questions about developing an education policy, participate in discussions about developing education policies for museums, and if our museums do not have one to begin a draft of an education policy. A response I had for the assignment was relevant to the Three Village Historical Society:

What we hope for an education policy is to address how educators, both staff and volunteers, should interpret the historical narrative of local history. We also hope all educational programming will show how local history fits into the national historical narrative to reach out to out-of-state audiences who come to tour the Historical Society.

By developing an education policy in museums, it will help guide the education department in when drafting programs that will hopefully be accessible to its audiences, fulfill its mission, and appeal to teachers looking for outside the classroom opportunities. With my experience in this course, I hope to not only exercise what I learned within the institutions I work for but I also hope to build on what I learned through more development opportunities.

Earlier tonight, I participated in #MuseumEdChat, a discussion group on Twitter, which was about best practices in education/pedagogy/theory. The discussions include answering a number of questions and each participant provides their input. One of the questions posed was:  What formal classroom practices do you currently use to help connect with students who visit for school trips? Based on my past experiences, I responded with: At the end of the session or end of the program, I would ask the group questions to see how much they picked up on what was taught during the program. I usually have bring home materials for them to take. I have read other participants’ responses and each one bring up valid points. For instance, one has pointed out that they try to make sure that the programs are structured similarly to what their district does. It is important because to attract schools to coming to the museums for school programs not only do the costs effect their decisions but knowing if the program will supplement what they are learning in the classroom would be appealing to the teachers considering booking field trips. It is also important that school programs should put emphasis on skills they will use throughout their lives such as communication and creative thinking skills.

Another question that was asked during the #MuseumEdChat was Classroom management can be hard in a museum because of excitement, different enviro, new teacher, etc. What tricks or tips do you use? I agree that classroom management can be hard because museum educators are most likely going to work with a particular group once and are not always going to have an opportunity to keep their knowledge developing unless if the museum education program has post visit in-school programs. When I deal with managing school groups, I think about how I witnessed the teachers manage their classes and I would take those skills with me to each experience. For instance, my response to the question was: I sometimes depend on chaperones and teachers to help with classroom management but I find that in the past they consider the trip as a vacation for them so I use tricks that I’ve learned from teachers when I do in-school trips such as “1, 2, 3 eyes on me”. While as a field we have been pushing towards getting teachers and chaperones more involved, we understand it is a challenge since the past approach to chaperoning is still engrained in the field trip mindset. Creating activities that encourage adult and student participation is a good start in the right direction for chaperone and teacher involvement.

The next example of the questions asked during the discussion was: When developing activities for school groups, do you find that you use more formal education theory/pedagogy? Why? What do you use? Do you feel you have to? I believe it depends on what type of groups and programs; for school programs, I use both museum association & formal education theories as guidelines, and for family/summer programs I am more lenient since they come to mostly enjoy themselves while learn something. When I plan programs, I use a combination of standards from museum associations and formal education theory. I do this when planning education programs because I think that it is helpful to use them to show schools that we keep their students’ education goals in mind when providing and it helps draw more attention to the programs if shown we are meeting standards. Using education standards from the district, state, and nation are important considerations teachers take into when deciding on whether or not they can take their students on field trips. Through experiences and professional development, I continue to learn how to educate in school programs and develop my knowledge to help move museum education forward.

Do you find some methods have worked with you better than others in field trips you participated in? As an educator, what education method has worked for you?

Resource:

https://www.exploratorium.edu/education/ifi/constructivist-learning

Museum Memories: Connecticut Landmarks Historic Houses in Hartford

April 25, 2019

In previous blog posts, I started a series of posts sharing memories of museums I have worked at. This week I am continuing this series to share my memories at Connecticut Landmarks where I started to work from towards the end of graduate school to when I moved to Long Island. Connecticut Landmarks, originally known as Antiquarian and Landmarks Society, is a state-wide network of eleven significant historic properties that span four centuries of New England history. It’s mission according to their website is to inspire interest and encourage learning about the American past by preserving selected historic properties, collections and stories and presenting programs that meaningfully engage the public and our communities. I worked as an educator and tour guide of two historic houses in Hartford, the Butler-McCook House & Garden and the Isham-Terry House.

The Butler-McCook House & Garden was home to four generations of a family who participated in, witnessed, and recorded the evolution of Main Street between the American Revolution and the mid-twentieth century. At this historic house, I sold admission, gave an introduction to the history of Hartford and the family who lived in the house, and provided a tour of the first and second floor of the house. There are a number of things I have enjoyed sharing about the house; for instance, there is a Bierstadt painting of an Italian village which reminded Reverend McCook and his wife of their honeymoon. Also, I loved sharing and listening to audio recordings of Frances McCook, one of Reverend McCook’s children, who shared memories of living in Hartford, in the house, and her family. Frances was the last living member of the McCook family who lived at the house, and she put in her will that the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society will own the house after her death. In the recordings, for instance, she talked about watching the snow come down with her siblings during the Blizzard of 1888.

In addition to sharing the information about the house with visitors, I also taught school programs, assisted with set up in gallery for monthly Cultural Cocktail Hour, and guided visitors through the garden during the Garden Gala. During my time at the Butler-McCook House, I was a part of the team that worked on revamping the tours by picking a theme of the house and researching the theme for a more engaging visitor experience. Each of us picked one theme to research on our own to present to the rest of the Connecticut Landmarks team, and I chose the Industrial Revolution and its impact on Hartford and the family.

The purpose of the theme I chose for a new tour was to show the Industrial Revolution had an impact on the city of Hartford especially on its residents including the Butlers and the McCooks. I chose five key objects that will support the theme and its purpose including Tall Case Clock which was made approximately 1750 by Benjamin Cheney, and this is an example of a locally made piece that was made before the Industrial Revolution to show the differences between craftsmanship and factory made items. Another example of a key object was the Mill Ledger C, 1818-1826 which was John Butler’s, one of the family’s ancestors’, ledger which recorded payments to men and women who labored in his paper mill; this revealed what the employees were paid for their labor in early industrial work. After selecting key objects, I chose key documents and photographs then created a tour outline highlighting the narrative relevant to the Industrial Revolution theme. While I worked at the Butler-McCook House, I also provided tours and worked programs for the Isham-Terry House.

Isham-Terry House, the lone survivor of a once vibrant Hartford neighborhood, is a time capsule of the genteel lifestyle of turn-of-the century Hartford once owned by the Isham family filled with objects of historical, artistic and family significance including antique furnishings, decorative arts, rare books, and the Terry clocks made famous by their great uncle Eli Terry. Like the Butler-McCook House, there are so many things that I found both interesting and enjoyed sharing with visitors. In this Italianate house, I loved pointing out the high ceilings not found in a lot of modern homes today and each room held numerous treasures that were well-preserved thanks to the two sisters  Julia and Charlotte Isham, who like Frances McCook left the house to the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society after they passed away. One of my favorite rooms was the library with so many books and an impressive fireplace; it once had the Isham’s pet bird that they once kept in their fridge after its death and the sisters decided one day to go to the cemetery to bury the bird with their family and have a picnic. Another room I admired was once a ladies’ sitting room that was converted into the sisters’ brother, Dr. Oliver Isham’s, doctor’s office, and once he died the sisters basically locked the door which meant it was for the most part preserved as it was while Dr. Isham was alive. While I was at Isham-Terry House, I not only gave tours of the house, I also assisted with holiday tours, and a lecture and tour for nursing students.

Both of these historic houses have unique stories to share and I recommend visiting these places if one has the opportunity to do so. These houses also are a part of my journey as a museum educator where I both learned a lot about the significance of local history and practiced what I have learned from graduate school in museum education, history, and historic preservation. Each experience I have had has taught me so much, and I hope to carry on the lessons I’ve learned through current and future endeavors.

Resources:

https://www.ctlandmarks.org/

https://www.ctlandmarks.org/butler-mccook

https://www.ctlandmarks.org/isham-terry

Mon cœur va aux gens de France: Fire in the Notre-Dame Cathedral

Added: April 18, 2019

On April 15, 2019, I saw a Tweet from ABC News that shared a video link to the live coverage of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral that occurred as renovations were worked on. In addition to the many people in France and around the world, I was affected by the news in a number of ways. From a personal perspective, I have always wanted to someday travel to Paris to visit the most known buildings including the Notre Dame Cathedral. As a child, I watched Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame which was my first exposure to Notre Dame, the novel,  and media interpretation of French history.

When I was in middle school, I started to take French classes. In eighth grade, I had the opportunity to join my classmates for a trip to Quebec and Quebec City. My classmates and I went to meet our French Canadian pen pals we were writing to during our classes. We stayed at the Chateau de Frontenac and in addition to meeting our pen pals in person we explored the city and province learning about its history. After this experience, I continued to learn French in high school and took a France and French Culture class in college. I hoped that one day I would be able to have a similar experience when I go to Paris. During the live coverage, the memories from school and the Quebec trip flashed through my mind. At the time, I had the scary thought of what would happen if the fire was not put out in time. I am happy that the fire was put out, and I hope that Notre Dame will continue to awe and inspire many Parisians, French persons, and people around the world.

As a public historian and a museum professional, I understand the significance of what was lost in the fire and the challenges that arise during and after a fire. The cathedral is a 13th century building that was restored a number of times over the centuries, and once we lose a part of history no matter the effort we put in to recreate it we would not be able to get it back. We should not take for granted the history that is left behind, and our work as historians preserving historic places and collections is significant in keeping history around for future generations to understand our past. When I watched the live coverage, I posted on Twitter expressing my sadness for what was lost:

This is heartbreaking! I hope everyone is safe from the fire. I can imagine how much time, money, and dedication it will take to restore this cathedral after this sad event. #publichistory #MuseumEdChat #History #NotreDame

I kept myself up to date on the news of Notre Dame and the efforts that are made to protect its history. I read articles and posts from a number of outlets such as the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and National Public Radio. One of the posts from the Art Newspaper, for example, revealed that there were a number of items from Notre Dame’s collections were retrieved from the cathedral. In the article, Anny Shaw wrote that some of the most valued objects including Holy Crown of Thorns, believed to have been placed on Jesus’s head during his crucifixion, and the 13th-century tunic of Saint Louis were stored at the Hotel de Ville overnight then transferred to the Louvre for safe keeping. These articles and the reactions from people on the internet about this tragedy reveal what connects us all together.

The fire at Notre Dame Cathedral reminds all of us that we have a connection to old places and we should come together to help preserve them. In an article from National Trust for Historic Preservation called “Why the Cathedral of Notre Dame Matters”, Thompson Mayes recounted his own reaction to the fire and reminded readers that the Notre Dame serves as a French national identity as well as a witness to numerous events in history for centuries. Mayes also pointed out that

We feel this loss because we recognize these places do something few other things can. They remind us that we are all part of humanity and the world. They expand our notion of ourselves beyond our treasured individual memories and national identity to give us an expansive sense of shared humanity around the globe. Notre Dame reminds us that we are collectively part of a continuum across the generations, past, present, and future, and across the world.

I have seen a number of examples of museums share their empathy for the French people. For instance, I saw a statement from the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut post on their Facebook page written in both English and French to reach out to the French people to express their empathy especially since they are going through their own path of disaster recovery and the importance of historic places. I have listed relevant links about Notre Dame in the resources section I have been reading to keep myself informed. I hope that someday we will look back at this moment and see it as a part of its long history it has survived. In the meantime, I will watch for news coverage and articles on the restoration and preservation efforts of Notre Dame.

What was your reaction to the fire at Notre Dame?

Resources:

Chateau de Frontenac: https://www.fairmont.com/frontenac-quebec/?cmpid=msn_lcf_search-frontenac_quebec-brand-us-revsh&utm_source=msn&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=lcf&utm_campaign=search-frontenac_quebec-brand-us-e-revsh

https://savingplaces.org/stories/why-the-cathedral-of-notre-dame-matters?

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/louvre-plans-to-take-precious-works-rescued-from-notre-dame

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/04/many-historic-icons-face-same-threats-notre-dame-cathedral/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/04/15/fire-was-scourge-medieval-cathedrals-they-rebuilt-ashes/?utm_term=.ba3e367999b8

https://www.wired.com/story/the-notre-dame-fire-and-the-future-of-history/?mbid=social_twitter_onsiteshare

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/150622-andrew-tallon-notre-dame-cathedral-laser-scan-art-history-medieval-gothic/

https://dailyhive.com/montreal/notre-dame-basilica-cathedral-fire-paris-montreal-bells-ring

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloedemrovsky/2019/04/15/notre-dame-in-flames-protecting-our-cultural-treasures/#3208d1235f10

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2019/04/15/paris-notre-dame-cathedral-flames/xxj3cTUPh1XtTMfTte2VNL/story.html?fbclid=IwAR01befd9thoh__2ABZHK7jmICRvdA9nVeBa-7MpznwAJCBMt3CLecxDvxY

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/notre-dame-fire/h_de6c51d2088b7bdefceb008a51b20c2c?utm_medium=social&utm_source=fbCNN&utm_content=2019-04-15T18:31:47&fbclid=IwAR2uOXYzLbzkL4fPTpXou29tZnpjgt-zrg0j_StS7-CLc43Rq1BJ1G1_Osc

https://abcnews.go.com/International/fire-breaks-paris-notre-dame-cathedral/story?id=62411000&cid=clicksource_4380645_null_twopack_hedhttps://www.npr.org/2019/04/15/713525879/paris-notre-dame-cathedral-in-flames

Museum Impressions: Fraunces Tavern Museum

Added April 11, 2019

            During my honeymoon, my husband and I visited a number of places in New York City. On the first day, we visited the Fraunces Tavern Museum which is both a museum and a still functioning tavern. The museum’s mission is to preserve and interpret the history of the American Revolutionary era through public education. To fulfill the mission, the Fraunces Tavern Museum uses public programs and the staff interprets and preserves the collections as well as landmark buildings. Ever since I heard about the museum while working at the Three Village Historical Society, I thought it would be a good idea if my husband and I to take advantage of the opportunity while we were in New York City. Overall, we both enjoyed the experience and there was so much to see we easily spent a few hours at each exhibit. Since there was so much to see, I decided to share only a few highlights from the visit.

When we walked into the museum, I immediately noticed that there is a room that was recreated to look like the time period. After deciding that we were going to eat at the tavern after our visit to the museum, we went upstairs where the museum is located and were greeted on the second floor. We watched a fifteen minute introduction video about the history of Fraunces Tavern and had a self-guided tour throughout the exhibits. We decided to go up to the next floor first before we saw the other exhibits on the second floor where we checked in.

One of the items in the collection that caught my eye was a letter from Nathan Hale written to his brother Enoch Hale on August 20, 1776. For those not familiar with him, Nathan Hale was a soldier in the Connecticut militia, and after the Battle of Long Island when the colonists lost control of New York City and Long Island to the British Hale volunteered to spy for George Washington before he was caught and hung for being a spy. The experience Hale had as a spy inspired Washington to create a better spy system to better protect spies while carrying out missions to find out about the British’s actions during the Revolutionary War; it became known as the Culper Spy Ring which was based in Setauket.

After visiting the first exhibit where I saw the Nathan Hale letter, we moved on to the next exhibit in the next room. The room was mainly dedicated to the history of the Sons of the American Revolution in New York City. I also noticed there was some displays dedicated to the descendant of Benjamin Tallmadge who was responsible for giving messages to Washington from and was in charge of the Culper Spy Ring. Then I saw in a display case Benjamin Tallmadge’s memoir and he was the only witness at Washington’s Fraunces Tavern farewell address to write down an account of the event inside.

I was surprised to also see a room filled with various flags called A Flash of Color: Early American Flags and Standards that traces the steps of the American flag to what it is today, and has military standards from Early American history. There was also one of the examples of how visitors can interact with the exhibits called a Colonial Costume Photo Booth where kids can dress up in costume and pose with a flag. It is a fun and unique idea, and of course I had to play around with it too.  I did not dress in the costume but I did take a picture holding a flag.

Before we left the Museum, I observed one of the rooms that was recreated to represent the Federalist period called the Clinton Room.  It was named for New York State’s first American governor, George Clinton, who hosted a dinner party for General Washington at Fraunces Tavern to celebrate the evacuation of British troops from New York on November 25, 1783.

Once we finished the tour, and got a few souvenirs, we went to the Porterhouse at Fraunces Tavern for a tavern-like experience for lunch.

There was so much to see, and I fully recommend visiting this museum when you have the opportunity. To learn more about the Fraunces Tavern Museum, visit their website in the resource section.

Resource:

http://www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/

Reaction: No Money, No New Ideas Conundrum

April 4, 2019

I’m back! I am officially married and I am back from my honeymoon. Thank you all for your patience and support while I took time off to make final preparations for the wedding. My husband and I went into New York City to spend our honeymoon, and we did a number of things we have not done before in the City such as going to see The Phantom of the Opera and Hamilton, visited the Fraunces Tavern Museum (stay tuned for a blog post about this museum), and visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Museum. After we came back from the honeymoon, I came across another post on the Leadership Matters website about an important conundrum that is facing museums and non-profit organizations: no money, no new ideas.

Joan Baldwin wrote about how money and new ideas are important for museums. As museum professionals, we should understand that we could not have one or the other. If we focus too much on bringing in money then we would potentially lose out on new ideas that can keep visitors coming back for more of what we offer. If we focus on too many new ideas, we may not have enough money to support all of these ideas. It is a conundrum we are all familiar with, and it is worth discussing especially as we prepare for new museum professionals to emerge in the field.  One of the takeaways that stuck with me when I read the post was how the right balance between money and new ideas can make a difference. She pointed out that money is important and can ease some worries,

But an organization can be really rich and also really boring. Surely you’ve been to some of those. They are beautifully presented, but stiff, still, and flat. There is, to quote Gertrude Stein, “No there there.” But there are other organizations where, without warning and often without huge budgets, you’re challenged, confronted by things you hadn’t thought about before or presented with memorable narratives. They are the places you remember. They are the ones that stick with you.

One of the reasons I have worked in small museums is how unique the narratives are, and the staff that work with a limited budget are faced with the challenge to keep their exhibits and programs both relevant and interesting for visitors to make numerous trips back to them. I have written about museums I previously visited, and the majority of the ones I write about are those that face the challenge everyday to keep people invested in the narratives. For instance, in a post called Museum Memories: Stanley-Whitman House, I wrote about how the narrative of the house not only shares the history of the families that lived in the house but the history of the town of Farmington; the Stanley-Whitman House is one of the places that continues to find ways to bring attention to its narrative and its significance in the community.

Another point that I took away from the post is the significance of having creativity within the museum. Baldwin revealed in her post that

Imagination and ideas are a museums’ biggest tools. Otherwise you’re just a brilliantly-organized storage space. And yet how do you get out of the scarcity mindset? Practice. Truly. And start small.

It is true that the biggest tools that we can use as museum professionals are our imaginations and ideas. This is also why it is important all of us should take self-care seriously when it comes to using our imaginations, ideas, and creativity. If we continue to work while we burnout, we will not be able to come up with fresh ideas we need to help our museums keep running. Also, it is important that we participate in professional development and networking programs to get inspiration for our own ideas. As the saying goes “Practice makes perfect”, and it definitely applies to us as museum professionals attempting to use our imaginations and ideas for our museums.

I also read the advice Baldwin left for leaders and board members, and I try to follow each advice in my own practice as a museum professional. For instance, I try to model respect and treat everyone’s ideas as doable especially when I work with volunteers who are passionate about the work we do and they bring up ideas that may be helpful for the museum. I think this is what all museum professionals should do no matter what title they hold because if we keep shutting down each other’s ideas we may not be able to have the leaders we need for the future of the museum field. Also, I pay attention to and try to read as much reading material I can get my hands on to expand my knowledge in the museum field and beyond to get inspiration.

I read the advice Baldwin gave for board members, and this advice is important for all board members to follow. Baldwin provided a list of advice she had for board members who may be reading the post:

If you’re a board member:

Model respect and treat everyone’s ideas as doable even if they’re not actionable in the moment.

Know what matters. Understand your organization.

Invite a different staff member to your board meeting every month. Ask them what they would do if you gave them a million dollars. Listen. (And ban the eye-roll.)

Devote some time as a group to talking about ideas as opposed to what’s just happened, what’s currently happening or what will happen. How can you raise money for an organization if you’re not excited about what it’s doing?

Think about ideas as cash catalysts.

All of these points are wonderful and should be followed to not only help the museum but also develop a better relationship between the staff and board. For instance, I think it is a wonderful idea for board members to invite a different staff member to board meetings each month. Staff and board will be able to learn from one another about each other’s perspectives, and help one another come up with ideas that could be practical to execute for the museum. Another quote I would like to leave here is what I hope everyone will consider:

If you’re a leader or a board member, you’re role isn’t to maintain the status quo. You want more than mediocrity, don’t you? You’re a change agent, and change doesn’t have to come in a multi-million-dollar addition. Sometimes it comes in a volunteer program that models great teaching, a friendly attitude and deep knowledge.

It does not take much to create change in a museum, and we have a responsibility as museum professionals to figure out ideas we can use to help our museums move forward.

Resource:

https://leadershipmatters1213.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/the-no-money-no-new-ideas-conundrum/

Reaction: Considering Relevance

February 28, 2019     

Announcement: Since my wedding is this upcoming month and will be busy putting the final details together, I will not be writing new posts for March. I will try to share previously written posts during the month. Thank you so much for your understanding. Stay tuned for new posts in April!

I came across a post yesterday on the National Council on Public History’s History @ Work written by Tim Grove on considering relevance. Relevance is an important topic in the museum field and we should be applying it more in our history museums, sites, historic house museums, and historical societies. In previous blog posts, I have talked about relevance and how relevance will help our history organizations create connections between the visitors and the historical narratives we present.

One of the points Grove made I took away from his post was when he stated “If something is not perceived as relevant, it usually does not have high value.” Our purpose as museum professionals and public historians is to help bridge together human emotion and knowledge together to keep adding value to what we can learn from the past. If we cannot translate our work’s value to the visitors, we would not be able to effectively argue history’s relevance.

I believe we have been working towards keeping history relevant in our society but we also need to remember that society does change and adapt. Therefore, as society continues to change we should be finding ways to make sure relevance is present within our exhibitions and educational programs. In my Museums vs. The Couch post I wrote last September, I pointed out that relevance

continues to be an important topic as new media, technology, events, et cetera, develop and change how people interact with the world around them. I have previously stated in my blog post “Does ‘Hamilton’ use Relevance to Teach Our Nation’s History?”: Relevance is significant especially in museums to understand who our community is and to help individuals feel they can connect to our past in a way that they can relate to.

I feel this statement is still true today and historic sites, museums, and historical societies should keep this in mind when working towards relevance. There is at least one example out there of how historic places and historical societies use their exhibits and education programs to maintain relevance.

In the same Museums vs. The Couch post, I wrote about the Three Village Historical Society in East Setauket, New York and their consideration of relevance in the tours and programs. According to my blog post and what I have experienced,

Founded in 1964, Three Village Historical Society continues to meet its goals to educate the community about local history through events, walking tours, and educational programs. Inside there is an exhibit dedicated to General Washington’s Culper Spy Ring which was an American spy network, mainly made up of members who lived or grew up in East Setauket, that operated during the Revolutionary War. The spies were able to provide Washington information on what the British troops’ plans were to help win the War. A television series was produced by AMC in 2014 called Turn, which is based on the Culper Spy Ring and the Revolutionary War, for four seasons. Turn brought a number of fans to the Three Village Historical Society who wanted to learn more about the Culper Spy Ring. Even after the show ended, fans still come to the site thanks to the show’s accessibility on DVDs and on Netflix.

Three Village Historical Society uses modern media to help visitors create connections to local history and to understanding the human side of becoming a spy. Also, I liked that Grove addressed Nina Simon’s work on The Art of Relevance to convey the significance of relevance in historic places.

Grove pointed out Simon’s overall message of her book which is: relevance is necessary for any public-facing institution, or even movement, to consider. I also read and wrote a book review on Simon’s book to express why relevance should be considered. In my post, I pointed out that

The Art of Relevance is also an important book in the museum education field since our museums can practice this art of relevance through the educational programs offered including public programming, school programs, and summer programs. After reading the book, I felt that I could adapt these advices to my own practices as a museum educator.

Museum educators, of course, are not the only ones who can benefit from developing relevance between visitors and programs. Public historians in the sites, historic house museums, historical societies, and history museums can benefit from helping visitors make emotional connections with the past.

History organizations can absolutely be relevant not only within their communities but to everyone. We need to dig a little deeper to inspire visitors to make their own connections to the exhibits and programs we develop.

I like to pose the same questions Grove did in his post on relevance: Can an organization be relevant to everyone? Should it even try?

Resources:

https://ncph.org/history-at-work/considering-relevance/

Check out his website: https://timgrove.net/about/

https://lookingbackmovingforwardinmuseumeducation.com/2018/09/27/museums-vs-the-couch-how-museums-can-retain-relevance-and-visitation/ https://lookingbackmovingforwardinmuseumeducation.com/2017/06/16/book-review-the-art-of-relevance-by-nina-simon/

Museum Memories: Stanley-Whitman House

February 21, 2019

A couple of weeks of ago I wrote about my memories of an internship I did with Connecticut’s Old State House. To continue the series of museum memories of my career, I started a museum educator position at the historic house museum, Stanley-Whitman House, in Farmington Connecticut while I was earning my Master’s degree in Public History at Central Connecticut State University. Stanley-Whitman House, according to their website, is a living history center and museum that,

teaches through the collection, preservation, research, and dynamic interpretation of the history and culture of early Farmington. Programs, events, classes, and exhibits encourage visitors of all ages to immerse themselves in history by doing, acting, questioning, and engaging in Colonial life and the ideas that formed the foundation of that culture.

It is located in the historic center of Farmington, and centered on the ca. 1720 National Historic Landmark house which is furnished with period antiques to reflect the everyday activities of Colonial life in Connecticut. Outside the house, there are period raised bed gardens, an apple orchard, and heritage stone walls. In 2004, the museum added a building that houses public service areas including a modern classroom, a period tavern room, post-and-beam Welcome Center, research library, exhibit gallery, and collection storage area.

While I was working as a museum educator at the House, I got to wear a costume in which I taught education programs for school groups between kindergarten and fifth grade. The programs I taught focused on educating students about life in the Colonial era and about the Native American life in Colonial Farmington. Each program had different stations the students spent time learning various aspects of colonial life, and rotated throughout the house and history center. For older students, I taught them how to cook recipes and I demonstrated how the food was cooked over the hearth.

During these programs, I learned early on about the importance of flexibility. School buses do not always arrive on time so when school groups arrive late myself and other educators have to modify our lessons to make sure the students get as much out of the program as possible. I also learned about how to handle the unexpected. When a group of fifth graders were acting up during a cooking lesson and after a number of times we told them to behave, one of the students got hurt as a result so I quickly raised my voice so the entire group can hear me tell everyone to stop what they were doing. As I continued my career, I understood there will be times unexpected things will happen and I would need to be able to be quick on my feet to handle the situation.

In addition to educating school groups, I also worked on a couple of projects that not only contributed to the Stanley-Whitman House but also fulfilled my requirements in the Master’s program. For instance, I took a Curatorship course and one of the requirements was to create an exhibit for a museum or gallery with classmates. A couple of classmates and I decided to work on an exhibit for the Stanley-Whitman to go along with their symposium In Plain Sight which focused on the history of slavery in Connecticut before the 1790 census. We used the resources available in the Stanley-Whitman House’s collections in the lower levels of the history center to research the slaves who lived in Farmington. According to the summary I wrote about the project, once we completed the research

The next steps for the exhibit were discussed during one of our group meetings after we shared what we found in our research. For instance, we discussed editing the biographical information found before creating the text panels. Then we discussed the possibility of adding some photographs related to slaves in Farmington and where they lived in the town. Once the exhibit is set up, we will be able to fulfill the Stanley-Whitman’s house mission for the symposium and our experiences in curatorship.

Another example of a project I worked on for the Stanley-Whitman House and as a requirement for my Master’s program was a capstone project as a final requirement for earning my degree.

I created a lesson plan according to the requirements of Teaching with Historic Places which uses historic places in National Parks and in the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places to enliven history, social studies, geography, civics, and other subjects to help teachers bring historic places into the classroom. According to the abstract I created for my capstone project

It focuses on eighteenth century New England women and it takes a specific look at the lives of two women who lived in the Farmington, Connecticut, Mary Steele Smith and Susannah Cole Whitman. Both were economically comfortable, two white New England women who were members of the First Congregationalist Church, but the lesson includes background information about the history of Farmington and about women of different social and economic status to inform students that not every individual who lived during the eighteenth century lived the same way Mary and Susannah lived. This lesson plan will aid school-age children in becoming more aware of the study of Early American women’s history and its significance to the overall local and American eighteenth-century history.

After I completed the project, I submitted it to the committee for approval and I gave a copy for my academic advisor to keep for her records and for the director of the Stanley-Whitman House at the time.

My experiences at the Stanley-Whitman House were important to me because they were a part of the beginning of my career as a museum educator and the lessons I learned here I carry throughout my career. All of my memories at the museums I work with guide me through my career and help me become a better museum professional.

Announcement: After next week, I will not be posting new material for the blog because I am going to focus more on my wedding planning since my wedding is a month away. I will try to share previous posts when I can.

Check out:

http://www.stanleywhitman.org/

In Plain Sight: http://stanleywhitman.org/Calendar.Details.asp?ID=484&Cat=Visit https://www.nps.gov/subjects/teachingwithhistoricplaces/index.htm

Valentine’s Day Celebrations in Museums

Added to Medium, February 14, 2019

A lot of us had been celebrating Valentine’s Day today in varying ways, and museums have been as well! We as museum professionals recognize that there is potential for visitors to celebrate within our museums so we open our doors and have programs, activities, and many more planned relevant to the holiday. By offering programs and other initiatives, museums have the opportunity to attract more and frequent visitors to come inside its doors to explore what we offer to the community.

The Museum of the City of New York, for instance, had a variety of programs between February 11th and February 14th. There was a love-themed museum wide scavenger hunt that allowed visitors to search through the museum while interacting with the museum and other participants on social media. When they use the hashtag #MCNYVDay on their posts, visitors can be entered in to win a family-level membership. Another example is the Love Yourself Project 10,000 Campaign; according to the Museum’s website:

The Love Yourself Project uses a simple yet beautiful medium, the origami heart, to invite people to participate in the thought provoking experience of asking: “What do you love about yourself?” The campaign encourages people to inwardly explore and discover what they love about themselves. Through this awareness, the Love Yourself Project seeks to plant a small seed and spread the consciousness of self-love.

It is a wonderful reminder that we need to express self-love as well as love for other individuals. As museum professionals continue to remind themselves about the importance of self-care, it is a wonderful reminder for museum professionals as well to be able to love themselves and get the love and care needed.

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan also offered a number of programs for families visiting the Museum. It offered a Stuffed Animal Repair Workshop in which kids can learn how to stitch, stuff, and repair their stuffed animals; they can also sew Valentine hearts onto them if the kids chose to do so. Children could also learn how to make 3D Valentine’s Day Cards using children’s pop-up book techniques.

At the Long Island Explorium, where I work with visitors of all ages, children had the opportunity during the weekend before Valentine’s Day to create messages in a bottle. They used recyclable water bottles and varying materials such as crayons, markers, yarn, ribbon, and stickers to design their bottle. Once they were done with their bottles, they wrote messages on pieces of paper and placed them into their bottles.

Museum Hack, which offers unconventional tours of museums in cities such as New York City, also offered a number of ways couples can celebrate Valentine’s Day. For instance, they offered a private Valentine’s tour for couples to explore a museum and in the city of their choice. The tours can be customized to a variety of interests including Game of Thrones and 19th century French Impressionism. Also, tours are designed to provide a “behind the scenes” look into museums and they include hidden stories about the art and artists, games and activities in the galleries and fun group photos.

Of course I did not list every museum out there that offered Valentine’s Day themed programming since there are so many out there.

Have you visited a museum during the Valentine’s season? Did you visit a museum on Valentine’s Day (this year or in the past)? What did you do in those museums for Valentine’s Day?

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Check these Out:

https://museumhack.com/valentines-day-ideas-museums/

https://www.mcny.org/valentinesday

https://westmuse.org/articles/sharing-love-museums-celebrate-valentines-day

https://cmom.org/tag/valentines-day/

Museum Memories: Connecticut’s Old State House

Added to Medium, February 7, 2019 

I recently have thought about the reasons why I started writing this blog, and one of those reasons was to remember my experiences in the museum field. Each museum I have worked for or done projects with has opened up doors for many opportunities to learn and grow in my career, and I thought that if I share some of my memories of these experiences another museum professional would be able to benefit from them. For this week, I decided to write about some of them at Connecticut’s Old State House in Hartford, Connecticut.

Me at Connecticut’s Old State House

The Old State House’s mission is to reawaken citizen engagement and awareness by offering an authentic, educational and inspiring visitor experience by putting ideas on display in historic rooms that celebrate democracy and citizenship from the past and present. While I was in graduate school earning my Master’s degree in Public History, I got the opportunity to complete an internship with Connecticut’s Old State House.

For one of my assignments, my classmates and I interviewed suggested professionals in the public history field and learn what we could about their experiences in the careers relevant to the interviewees’ career path. Then after we had the interviews we were to write about them and what we learned from their experiences. Since I expressed interest in the museum field as I started the graduate program, I decided to interview Rebecca Taber-Conover who is currently Head of Public Programs & History Day. I met her at the Old State House and asked her about her experiences in the museum field as well as any advice she could give me. At the end of the interview, she told me that there was an opening for an internship and I decided to join them for a summer internship for museum education.

On the first day of the internship, I joined the education team as they taught one of the last school programs of the school year. The school brought over a hundred students of varying grade levels between kindergarten and fifth grade and they were split into groups to explore the Old State House. The group I assisted the educator with was with kindergarten children. We helped the kids create spyglasses using paper towel tubes to use as part of the “I Spy” program where the kids can walk around the Old State House and point out what they “spy” in each room they visited.

During the rest of the internship, I sat in on staff meetings to find out what common questions were asked during tours we did not already have answers for and I used those questions to do research to answer them. I regularly visited the Connecticut State Library to do research, and recorded answers into the Google Doc so we would be able to answer them in the future. Also, in the meetings I also learned about the Farmer’s Market and what goes into planning it. According to the website, the goal of Connecticut’s Old State House Farmer’s Market is

to offer a variety of products from as many farmers and artisan vendors as possible within the available space. We are committed to offering a vibrant marketplace in downtown Hartford where local farmers and artisans can enjoy coming together with the community to share the “best” of what Connecticut has to offer!

At the Farmer’s Market, I handed out flyers for upcoming programs for Connecticut’s Old State House dressed in an eighteenth century style dress. One of the programs that I also sat in on and assisted with is called Conversations at Noon.

Conversations at Noon is a series that provides opportunities to hear about relevant topics about Connecticut history and current events during lunch time at the Old State House. For instance, a couple of the topics covered in previous conversations include “Did Hartford’s Constitution Plaza Hurt or Help the City?” and “Exploring Connecticut and the Slave Trade”. It is also aired on Connecticut Network (CT-N) and on their website. At the Conversations at Noon, I distributed the surveys on how to improve the quality of the series and collected them for review. I also provided tours for visitors during its open hours.

Each tour started with an introductory video that gives an overview of the history of the Old State House. Then once the video has ended I guided groups through unique exhibits including the Museum of Curiosities, and the historic rooms. The Museum of Curiosities started as a portrait studio by Reverend Joseph Steward inside the Old State House in 1796, and a year later a “Curiosity Room” was established which featured wonders and treasures around the world. Another favorite part of the tour was the statue of Lady Justice which was on top of the Old State House in 1827. Also during my internship, I developed a scavenger hunt for children to search for animals painted on the walls of the Education Center.

This internship was an important experience because it was at Connecticut’s Old State House where my passion for museum education developed and my career in museum education began. I am especially grateful for the experiences I had, the memories I developed, and the opportunities that led to where I am today.

What was your experiences like in your internships?

Resources:

Connecticut’s Old State House: https://www.cga.ct.gov/osh/default.asp

Connecticut Network: https://www.ct-n.com/

Reaction: Recognizing the Best in Public History Blog

Added to Medium, January 31, 2019

Since I earned my Master’s degree in Public History, I continue to review sources and read about current developments in Public History. According to my graduate program at Central Connecticut State University, public historians are front-line interpreters bringing historical knowledge to a broad public audience beyond the traditional academic classroom. Public historians expand research skills and content knowledge of traditionally trained historians to incorporate new sources of historical evidence such as oral history and material culture in varied institutions such as museums, government agencies, and heritage destination sites. I recently came across the Backstory website which posted a blog post written by Diana Williams about recognizing various mediums public history is shared.

Backstory, according to their website, is a weekly podcast that uses current events in America to take a deep dive into the past, and each episode provides listeners with different perspectives on a specific theme or subject by giving listeners all sides to the story and then more. For the first time, Backstory is acknowledging the works of public history with a prize. There are numerous public history projects that deserve to be acknowledged and it is wonderful several of them are being nominated for the prize. I did not know that other than museum associations there are recognition of excellence in public history projects, and it makes me happy to learn there is a way our work in public history that is recognized outside of academia.

I am also impressed that there was so much work that went into researching public history project. In the Williams’ blog post, she pointed out that

BackStory lead researcher Monica Blair created the list, thinking broadly about historical mediums, both physical and digital. In addition to online reviews, she looked up reviews in academic journals like “The Public Historian” and general newspapers like “The Washington Post.” For books, she turned to “The New York Times” Non-Fiction Bestsellers List and for podcasts, she used Apple Podcasts charts. Each nominee fell under a broadly conceived definition of American history.

I can imagine that there are so many projects that are out there but have not been acknowledged or noticed. After reading through the blog, there is a lengthy list for each category for the Backstory prize.

A list of categories and nominees is given to show which ones were nominated for this prize. The categories were films, documentaries, podcasts, plays, books, and exhibits and monuments both physical and digital. In the films category, there were 16 nominations which include The Post, Darkest Hour, First Man, Battle of the Sexes, and American Animals. In the documentaries category, there were 21 nominations and they include Rachel Carson: The Woman Who Launched the Modern Environmental Movement, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, and Birth of a Movement. In the podcasts category, there were 23 nominations including Ben Franklin’s World, Omohundro Institute, The New York City Public Library Podcasts, American History Tellers, Wondery, Stuff You Missed in History Class, and Witness, BBC. In the play category, there were seven nominations including American Revolutions: The United States History Cycle, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Come From Away, and Days of Rage.

In the book category, there were nine nominations which include The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea by Jack E. Davis, Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England by Douglas L. Winiarski, Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America by Steven J. Ross, and These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. In the exhibits and monuments both physical and digital category, there were 31 nominations including The National Memorial for Peace and Justice — Equal Justice Initiative, Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow — New York Historical Society Museum and Library, Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I — Library of Congress, Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II — National Museum of American History, and City of Hope: Resurrection City & the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign — National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Each of these categories, except for the book category, have links to each of the nominations listed to show and describe the projects. The blog post also gave a brief description of the decision process for selecting a project for the BackStory prize.

The hosts of BackStory, Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, Nathan Connolly and Joanne Freeman, as well as the Senior Producer David Stenhouse were joined by guest judges Chris Jackson (“Hamilton” on Broadway) and Margot Lee Shetterly (“Hidden Figures”) to review the nominees to determine the best project. There was a rigorous debate and ultimately decided and announced The National Memorial for Peace and Justice — Equal Justice Initiative was the winner. The National Memorial, which opened on April 26, 2018 in Montgomery, Alabama, according to the website:

is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.

With so many nominated for the prize, I can imagine that it was a long and challenging process to select one project. Especially in this day in age, The National Memorial is important for all to visit and pay respect, so we will never forget this sad period in our history. I recommend taking the time to review each nomination to learn about what public history projects are out there.

Resources:

https://www.backstoryradio.org/blog/recognizing-the-best-in-public-history/

https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial

https://www.backstoryradio.org/ http://www.ccsu.edu/history/graduate/MA_publicHistory.html