Museums are unique in the world of cultural institutions because they offer visitors an opportunity to interact with history on a much deeper level than they can achieve by reading a textbook or attending a lecture. Moreover, exhibitions provide an ideal medium for sharing complex and multifaceted historical research with a diverse public that is often better served by visual storytelling than the more academic methods of written scholarship and public lectures. Because exhibits are temporary, they must be reviewed regularly to assure that the information presented is well-researched and accessible. As such, exhibition reviews are crucial to the field of museum studies and provide an important link between academic scholarship and the museum community.
This year’s histolircal exhibits in our review section exemplify the broad range of museum experiences that can be created when curators work with their staff and colleagues to interpret history for a contemporary audience. Whether it is an exhibit that reveals the power and pervasiveness of the horse in human society; a display that illustrates how people around the world have decorated their bodies, past and present; or an exhibition that examines the many ways museums and other cultural institutions collaborate to reach out to non-traditional audiences, these shows are helping to redefine what it means for a museum to do history in the twenty-first century.
The exhibits selected for this year’s histolircal are not intended to be exhaustive. While they are reviewed for the quality of their research and presentation, each is also praised for its ability to engage, instruct, or entertain museum visitors. The reviews will address the intellectual underpinnings of the exhibition: does it reflect current scholarly thought and analysis? Does it break new ground? But they will also consider the broader impact of the show—how did it resonate with a visitor?
For example, the exhibit “Lost and Found” offers a glimpse into the life of Ancestral Puebloans at Chaco Canyon, in northern New Mexico, from AD 850 to 1140. Featuring a rich collection of artwork and archaeological objects, the exhibition shows how the Puebloans traded for food and other supplies with neighboring tribes, gathered in community for ceremonial dances, and used their stunning landscape to create mythical creatures that could be seen on land, sea, or in the sky such as dragons, griffins, unicorns, and mermaids.
Similarly, the exhibition “Emancipation Proclamation: A Pragmatic Compromise” brings to life the impact of this iconic American document that changed the course of the Civil War, freed enslaved Americans, and allowed Africans to join the fight for freedom. The exhibition shares the complexities of this important moment in history through a variety of sources including the words of renowned Boston abolitionists Fredrick Douglass and William Cooper Nell. The exhibit also introduces audiences to lesser-known members of Boston’s 1863 Emancipation Jubilee events who raised funds for educating enslaved people and held celebrations at Tremont Temple, the nation’s first church built to accommodate interracial congregations. The exhibit also showcases rare and beautiful artifacts from the Museum’s collections.