This week we read three articles about public humanities
projects and a call for diversification in the museum field. We also had a
round-table discussion with some public historians to talk about
their experiences in the field and how they came to the position they are in now. I
will discuss the articles first, then move on to today's round-table
discussion. What Artist Martha McDonaldMight Teach Us About a Nation Divided, by David C. Ward, was an article
written for Smithsonian.com about Philadelphia-based performance artist Martha
McDonald. Ward's article focused on McDonald's latest project Secret Garden.
Secret Garden is a performance art project which highlights the mourning and
burial process following the extreme loss of life after the American Civil War.
McDonald uses a variety of mediums to exude emotion and connection from the
audience to the past. She sings, uses felt flowers, graves, and hospital beds
as visual art pieces, and dresses in nineteenth century costume. Some of her art
was performed at The Woodlands in West Philadelphia, which was amazing. I love
art, and I especially love when art engages with history in a meaningful way.
It was obvious through her almost lyrical answers to Ward's interview questions
that McDonald is passionate about both art and history, and that she put a lot
of time into researching the social history behind the Civil War period.
The above video gives a brief history of The Woodlands' relationship with public use and features the artist Martha McDonald
Courtesy of Youtube
The Hart Island Project is a digital history and art project which aims to tell the story
of the 64,746 people who were buried in mass graves on Hart Island. The project
showcases an interactive map and profile area on an impressive website. It
claims to be a "digital museum" called The Traveling Cloud Museum. The project gives the names, death
dates and burial dates of unclaimed and unidentified New Yorkers, who are
buried in mass grave sites that are inaccessible to the public on the island.
The actual mission of the project is to "advocate for increased transparency
of NYC burial procedures and assists individuals in gaining access to actual
graves and information". This sounds like a boundary-breaking,
hard-hitting public project! A major problem is that there is no visible
citation on the website, and the stories are merely entered by authors who
claim to have a connection to the deceased person. I also could not find any
information about the people behind the project - who are these digital
curators? At its best the project is giving a voice to those who lost their own
(pictures and videos too!), but at its worst, the project is a jumble of
uncited stories with no validation and no face behind the movement.
The last article was Like Trying to Shift an Aircraft Carrier:Museum Association Board President Calls for Greater Diversity, by Seph Rodney. This article was a call for greater diversity
within the museum field. This was centered around a discussion held during the Mid-Atlantic Association
of Museums (MAAM) annual conference in Philadelphia. Professionals from all
across the city participated in a panel
discussion about adding diversity to museum staff and boards. Diversity among
staff members would add perspective to existing exhibits, and would also create
and maintain important community relationships. Although I totally agree that
museum boards and staff would benefit from the varied worldviews that would
come into play with more diversity, it is easier said than done. To combat this
problem, Gretchen Sorin (president of MAAM) spoke about reaching out to
students of color early on in their education to encourage them to work in the
museum field, as well as giving scholarships to encourage greater diversity. This is a large and sensitive task, definitely
like trying to shift an aircraft carrier.
Back at Temple...
In today's discussion
we were able to sit down with:
- Devin Manzullo-Thomas: Director, The Sider Institute for Anabaptist, Pietist, and Wesleyan Studies, Archives Coordinator, The Ernest L. Boyer Center, Messiah College
- Heather Thakar: Director of Temple’s Anthropology Lab (and Museum)
- and Clare Sauro: Curator of the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University (via Skype)
Each of the speakers
gave us a quick run-through of their job, their goals, and how they got to
where they are today. We had a great discussion about navigating the
relationships between curators/archivists/directors with museum/sit boards and
donors, how to start strategic planning, best practices, and how to create
meaningful relationships with the community you work in. Throughout the
conversation the guest speakers were very candid about their experiences in the
field - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Having real conversations like this reminds
me of why I wanted to pursue public history in the first place - to forge
meaningful relationships with others and to make history accessible to others
so that it might touch their lives and their hearts in the ways it touches my
own. It's easy to feel nervous or out of place in graduate school, and it's
nice to see that professionals are still figuring it all out too. Maneuvering through sensitive and difficult histories is something that will inevitably come up in
any public history profession, and through the discussion it is obvious to me now
that there is a network of people in the field who are dealing with the same
issues.. and that some are even willing to help.
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