DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

 

 

Growing up in the historic town of Lawrence, Kansas in an old house overflowing with the products of my mother's antique obsession it is not surprising that I developed an affection for the aesthetics of history. Beyond the aesthetics, though, old objects fascinate me. Their ability to outlive generations is certainly magical. Objects connect us so directly with the past and make history that is unknowable, tangible.

 

By saying that history is unknowable I mean that it requires constant interpretation and questioning in order to preserve its reliable existance. It thus changes with time. History is also troubled by America's reliance on the master narrative, a narrative of infinite progress that privileges the perspectives and histories of the wealthy, the "white," and the male. As a museums concentrator, I have learned and relearned my passion for interpreting the past and discovering the complexity and the incompleteness of historiographies. My interest in museusms stems from their authority to challenge the existing master narrative and introduce new perspectives and insights into history.

 

I also believe that museums have a unique ability to communicate with a broad audience. Museum audiences extend beyond the confines of the education system and reach people of all ages and backgrounds. Equipping people to take an active interest in history is important in creating an informed citizenry and museums are an excellent venue for such pursuits. In the present age of rampant social media and technologies we are well equipped to reach an ever broadening audience.

 

Through my Museums Concentration I have began to discover ways in which museums can better serve their communities and increase active interest in history. 

Because they work with objects and other primary sources instead of written words, they offer their audiences an understanding of history that is their own because its meaning is not told to them through the written word but is communicated more directly through the senses and is thus more universally accessible.

 

Locating objects for the National History Museum's upcoming exhibition, "Our American Journey: Many Voices, One Nation," I was able to witness the potential power of museums. I was tasked with locating objects and narratives that represented cultural hybridization in America that occurred as a result of migration to and within the United States. For this exhibit I proposed that the museum display a St. Christopher's medallion discovered while excavating Fort Mose in Florida, the first legally sanctioned free African settlement in what would become the United States. This object testifies to the existance of a settlement contradictory to the narrative of the Colonial South. It represents the diversity of lives led by African men and women throughout history and unsimplifies the master narrative's assertion that until the Civil War was won, Africans were enslaved. 

 

Objects illuminate the stories of those underprivileged by the master narrative. Museums, with their collections, preservationists, interpretors, educational programmers, and curators have the power to reshape how history is understood and to inspire an interest in history by making it more reflective of all Americans. The Museums Concentration at Smith College by providing me with practical experiences as well as classroom reflection and theory has equipped me well to pursue these changes.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.