This 2:20 video by Nick Papps provides a contemplative introduction to the 1637 Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts, believed to be the oldest surviving timber frame house in North America and now an historic house museum. The video blends contemporary and historic images accompanied by the reading of a 1937 poem by Elizabeth Fairbank Rock.
Category Archives: Historical interpretation
September Symposium on Interpreting the Victorian House
The Glessner House Museum and the Victorian Society in America host a day-long symposium on the interpretation of the Victorian house on Saturday, September 27, 2014 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Glessner House Museum in Chicago. Speakers include:
- Richard Guy Wilson, keynote speaker and Commonwealth Professor’s Chair in Architectural History, University of Virginia on “Creating the Victorian House”
- Laura Gundrum, Chief of Interpretation, Lincoln Home on “Interpreting Abraham Lincoln as a Family Man at Lincoln Home”
- Lise Dube-Scherr, Executive Director, Richard H. Driehaus Museum on “Contemporary Perspectives on Historic Houses: Building Community through Diversified Programming”
- Marta Wojcik, Executive Director and Curator, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House and Westcott Center for Architecture + Design on “A Frank Lloyd Wright House as a Community Anchor”
Video: National Museum of American Illustration
This 10:00 video introduces the collection, artists, and setting for the National Museum of American Illustration in Newport, Rhode Island. It’s narrated by Judy and Lawrence Cutler, the husband and wife team that own and operate the museum; Whoopi Goldberg (yes, the comedian and actor); and Joanna Maxfield Parrish, granddaughter of Maxfield Parrish. This appears to be a 2009 production by Daybreak Productions.
Brown University and National Trust Provide Recommendations for Historic House Museums
The financial sustainability and social relevance of historic house museums continue to intrigue scholars, preservationists, organizations, and even pundits on National Public Radio (I was recently interviewed by them about this topic) and adding to the conversation are two recent publications by the John Nicholas Brown Center at Brown University and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Bedroom at Liberty Hall Museum, Kean University, New Jersey.
If historic house museums are historic sites that primarily educational (not commercial) in purpose, how would they be different if they were managed by educational institutions? “University-Affiliated Historic House Museums,” a report by the John Nicholas Brown Center at Brown University may provide some answers. Prepared for the 1772 Foundation by Hillary Brady, Steven Lubar, and Rebecca Soules, the report examines the issues facing historic house museums that are owned or operated by colleges and universities based on a survey of existing practices at ten sites. Offering recommendations for “new ways to make these museums more useful to the university community,” it concludes with a half dozen alternatives for the Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University, which might be applicable to sites that are not affiliated with universities (swap “campus” and “students” with “community” and “residents”). By the way, the Center is hosting an intriguing colloquium in May 2015 on “lost museums“.
In 1949, Congress created the National Trust for Historic Preservation to Continue reading
Video: Bens, the Legendary Deli
Cedric Conti produced this 2:00 video about “Bens, the Legendary Deli,” an exhibit currently on view at the McCord Museum in Montreal, Canada. Includes French subtitles! Bens Delicatessen, founded in 1908 by Benjamin Kravitz (1883-1956), closed in 2006 after nearly a century in business. The exhibition brings together some 100 objects, including posters, architectural plans, photos, counter stools, dishes, utensils, menus, recipes and testimonials that recount the history of this landmark, the very first of Montreal’s famous smoked meat restaurants.
Changing Attitudes About History one Grizzly at a Time
Politics and Prose, the famous independent bookstore in Washington DC, hosted a booksigning for Tim Grove, chief of museum learning at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, that attracted seventy-five listeners this past Saturday. It’s not often that museum folks share a stage that recently included Patrick Buchanan, Timothy Geithner, Lynn Sherr, and Michelle Obama. His talk will be aired on C-Span.
A self-professed history geek, Tim shares his love for history in A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History (University of Nebraska Press, 2014), a collection of stories from his years working at Colonial Williamsburg, Missouri Historical Society, National Portrait Gallery, and the National Museum of American History. Tim wants to improve the public image of history by demonstrating the fun of history and “help history haters change their minds.” To do this requires provoking a deeper thinking about historical programs and activities to better link past and present As he states in his book,
The staff at [Colonial] Williamsburg and other history sites wants visitors to “experience” history. What does this mean? One can visit Yosemite National Park and experience the beauty and grandeur of nature. One can go whitewater rafting and experience the rush of the river and the cold wetness of the water as it splashes the face. But experiencing history? Do you experience history when you walk the hallowed ground of a battlefield or visit a historical house? Experience in verb form implies action. What action is actually taking place?
Tim demonstrates that “action” through a wide assortment of stories, from conquering a high wheel bicycle and questioning the significance of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin to navigating the legacy of Lewis and Clark, and yes, unpacking a grizzly bear Continue reading
Video: We Are Museums 2014 (Warsaw, Poland)
This 3:45 video gives a quick overview of We Are Museums, a two-day international conference on innovation and creativity within museums. Hosted by the National Gallery of Art and the State Ethnographic Museum, it combines workshops, exhibitions, and presentations. Presenters included Seb Chan of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Sarah Hromack of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Recent Articles on Historic Sites You May Have Missed
Knowing that most people working at historic sites don’t have access to an academic library, I thought I’d share a few articles around some major topics that caught my eye. This is not a thorough review of the last 18 months, just a casual glance backward to highlight some studies that relate to the preservation, management, and interpretation of historic sites and house museums.
More Professors are Combining Local History and Service Learning to Engage Students
Henthorn, Thomas C. “Experiencing the City: Experiential Learning in Urban Environments.” Journal of Urban History 40, no. 3 (2014): 450-461.
Henthorn describes various student experiences to engage them in history, including a course on American urban history that combines an historical study of Flint, Michigan with an off-campus service learning project and a collections internship in automotive heritage at the Sloan Museum.
He concludes by finding that, “experience and place combine to prepare students for active citizenship. This is arguably the most difficult to instill among students and in the same way one class will not change students understanding of a subject, one experience will not awaken in students a sense of civic responsibility. At the very least, by linking the classroom with the community, students learn to respond creatively to critical issues confronting them. But active citizenship requires Continue reading
Online Learning Opportunities for Historic Site Interpreters
The opportunities for sharpening your skills as an historic site interpreter continue to grow online, sometimes even for free. Here are a sampling of a few non-degree granting organizations where you’ll find workshops and classes on the Internet to keep your thinking fresh and improve your technique. All times are Eastern unless noted.
- Embracing 360 Engagement, Widening the Circle. September 2, 2014 at 2:00 pm Eastern.
- Building Trust through High Performance, Becoming Essential. December 3 at 2:00 pm.
American Association for State and Local History
- Historic House Calls: Using Futures Thinking to Navigate Ongoing Change. August 20, 2014 at 2:00 pm. Free for AASLH members.
- Writing the Grant: What’s the Process Like? August 27 at 3:00 pm. $115; $40 members.
Coursera
- Art and Inquiry: Museum Teaching Strategies for Your Classroom. Ended April 6 but so closely related, I had to mention it.
- Emerging Trends and Technologies in the Virtual K-12 Classroom. Starts August 18, 2014 for 5 weeks. Free.
- Making Better Group Decisions: Voting, Judgment Aggregation, and Fair Division. Starts August 25 for 7 weeks. Free.
- Foundations for Teaching for Learning 1: Introduction. Starts September 1 for 6 weeks. Free.
Video: The Ragtrade: The Story of Flinders Lane
Melissa Rymer wrote, directed and produced this 14:50 video which was made in conjunction with an exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Australia. It is a small snapshot of some of the Jewish run businesses that operated out of Flinders Lane, the fashion district of Melbourne in the late 1940s through to the late 1980s. It includes historic images intercut with oral histories of former employees and employers.
Engaging Places 