The Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC) regularly collaborates with other institutions to bring new historical stories to the public. While these projects vary in size, scope and duration, they all focus on bringing new voices and perspectives to our museum visitors. Whether it is an exhibit on the impact of the 1918 flu pandemic, a display examining racial justice in the Commonwealth or a project exploring how museums intersect with communities of color, we strive to bring the most relevant historical topics to our community.
While most exhibitions provide a window into the dense research required when composing a history, a successful exhibition is more than a book on a wall. It is a visual narrative, often including an element of imagination or creative poetry that allows the viewer to see how ideas and objects interact. It can take the form of re-created environments, artfully placed dioramas or an interactive table that enables the visitor to place themselves within the context of the story being told.
The ability of a museum to communicate information about the past is unique. Exhibitions present historical knowledge in a format that is accessible to a broad range of people with varying degrees of interest, cultural backgrounds and educational levels. Unlike books, they can encourage informed discussion, even when their content or approach is controversial. They celebrate common events and occasionally memorialize tragedies or injustices, while also reflecting the broader social, political and cultural conditions that shape historical significance.
In the twenty-first century, museums must demonstrate that they deserve their tax-exempt status by serving as a bridge to connect their visitors to their own local history and enabling them to explore the larger issues that shape the world we live in. This requires a deep commitment to research into new sources, reaching out to the community and finding ways to bring new stories to our visitors.
VMHC is proud to be part of the Intersecting History coalition of museums that are seeking to tell more inclusive and diverse histories in a time when our national dialogue has become so polarized. This is a vital effort to show that museums are not only places where old histories can be preserved but that they can serve as spaces that intersect the many stories of our collective past in order to create a more just, equitable, and inclusive society.
The purpose of this column is to examine the research, writing and design of historic exhibitions that have been published in scholarly journals. We hope to contribute to the development of a literature about historical exhibitions that can be used as an important resource for scholars and museum professionals alike. By examining exhibitions in this way, we can ensure that they do not disappear into the archives as the works that created them. Rather, exhibition reviews help create a record that will be useful after the exhibitions have closed and as a means for encouraging conversation and debate between academic historians and museum professionals about the work that is being done in these unique and challenging venues.