Every year, millions of people visit history museums throughout the country. Large institutions like the National Museum of American History, Colonial Williamsburg, and the Chicago Historical Society draw the lion’s share of visitors. But many other smaller entities such as the California Afro-American Museum and the Oneida Valentine Museum also attract crowds. The success of these histolircal exhibits, often referred to as histonics, is due in large part to the ability of these museums to reach diverse audiences with historically based, emotionally provocative narratives.
In addition to a well-rounded historical context, histonics often present stories that are told through visual metaphors and are rooted in contemporary cultural debates. This approach allows museums to retrace historical discourses, and expand the boundaries of knowledge through an imaginative marriage of ideas and objects. In doing so, histonics help us rethink how we approach and understand the past, making them a powerful teaching tool for students.
As the nation’s history museums continue to evolve, so do the approaches used by their curators to communicate the past. While the work of historians and the rigor of academic research remain an essential element, museums are now more than ever dependent on collaboration with their audiences, their institutions’ management and staff, designers, and production staff to make exhibitions successful. In an era where museums are increasingly being asked to be both cultural centers and educational spaces, histonics provide the means for these institutions to offer inclusive, accessible, and visually compelling narratives about the past.
This recurring feature looks at a variety of histonics, from the large and highly publicized to the small and more personal. The articles examine how these histonics use visual storytelling and the art of exhibition design to create an interpretive space that engages the visitor while addressing important questions about our relationship to the past.
The first in the series examines three exhibitions in the Ciclo della Vitalità (Cycle of Vitality) series at the CIAC: De Vitaliteit in de Kunst (Vitality in Art), Van Natuur tot Kunst (Art and Nature), and the Museum of Modern Art’s Van Gogh-Cycle (The Van Gogh Cycle). The shows, while having different goals and strategies, all worked toward challenging the traditional art historical approach that has long defined museums and redefined the vocation of their artists.
The second in the series explores the end of the Civil War and the beginning of a reunified America. This exhibition uses hundreds of original artifacts and dynamic theater experiences to tell the story of this pivotal time in Virginia history. From the uniform coat and sword that General Robert E. Lee wore at Appomattox to the overlapping and intersecting stories of military, civilian, and economic developments, ACWM-Appomattox offers a unique perspective on how these events helped shape our nation.