In the museum world, objects are generally described with reference to their designers, or purchasers, or donors...But the whole history of an objects intersects with many other people, who employ many other skills and attach many other meanings.1 The above quotation from Richard Rabinowitz's article highlights the traditional way that museums tend to display and … Continue reading Artifact Meanings and Contextualization
Books and Built Heritage: Trinity College Dublin
Long Room at Trinity College DublinI recently spent two weeks in Ireland. This trip included a number of visits to museums, historical sites, and natural heritage places. This post is the first of many recounting my experiences at these heritage spaces. One of the things I had been looking forward to prior to my trip to … Continue reading Books and Built Heritage: Trinity College Dublin
Exhibition and Design Skills
I wrote earlier about project management and administration skills that have can be invaluable in a number of public history roles. Since moving into the Researcher/Curator role in February I've also had an opportunity to continue to expand a range of exhibition, design, and outreach practices.Visualizing space and display design have always been something I … Continue reading Exhibition and Design Skills
Forgotten Sites: POW Camps in Ontario
Bill Waiser's recent "Parks Prisoners" article in Canada's History examined the role POW camps had in the parks system, with a particular emphasis on the impact of POW labour on the western expansion of Canadian parks. Waiser's article got me thinking about the existence of POW camps in Ontario during World War II. Many of … Continue reading Forgotten Sites: POW Camps in Ontario
Art Exhibit Labels
Exhibit labels take way more thought than most visitors realize. Decisions about design, layout, wording and content all take time and effort. My most recent challenge has been moving from the creation of museum exhibit labels to the creation of art exhibit labels. Though both types of labels serve similar purposes -- to inform patrons about … Continue reading Art Exhibit Labels
Virtual Tourism and Audience Engagement
A recent issue of The Public Historian contained an interesting article, "#VirtualTourist: Embracing Our Audience through Public History Web Experience" by Anne Lindsay. The article highlighted the ongoing challenges that cultural heritage sites in engage new and diverse audiences. Lindsay focused on the potential of institutional web presence in the development of audience and donor … Continue reading Virtual Tourism and Audience Engagement
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Following my trip to Ottawa for the NCPH conference, I was in Montreal for the Quebec National Truth and Reconciliation Commission event. While in Montreal I had an opportunity to check out some of the local built heritage and heritage organizations. Part of a day was spent exploring the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Having just … Continue reading Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Active, Digital, Public History
Friday morning at NCPH I presented as part of the "Reaching the Public through the Web: The Practice of Digital Active History" panel with Ian Milligan, Devon Elliott, Tom Peace, and Nathan Smith as the facilitator. I won't rehash our panel as a lot has already been written to summarize our presentations. Prior to the … Continue reading Active, Digital, Public History
Cultural Landscapes at NCPH 2013
Tongariro National Park, NZ Thursday afternoon I attended the "Whose Public? Who speaks for Cultural Landscapes" session at NCPH featuring Susan Gray, Elizabeth Pishief and Aurelie Gfeller. This session was a more traditional format with the presenters each reading a formal paper. The common theme in the session was the preservation of cultural landscapes and … Continue reading Cultural Landscapes at NCPH 2013
NCPH2013 Thursday WordPress Thoughts
My time at NCPH 2013 actually started on Wednesday. The majority of my Wednesday activities revolved around networking and talking with new and old colleagues from Western University. Interesting discussions but not really blog post fodder. As such I'm skipping to Thursday in my run down of this year's NCPH experience.WordPress as a Public History … Continue reading NCPH2013 Thursday WordPress Thoughts