Smithsonian NMAAHC Programming Study Vol. 2

An association of Davis Brody Bond and The Freelon Group Architects

Lord Cultural Resources and Amaze Design

Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African American

History and Culture

VOLUME II

Visitation Estimate

Audience Research

Public Engagement

Collections Storage Plan

General Museum Requirements

Exhibition Master Plan

SUBMITTED BY: FREELON BOND

January 30, 2009

Pre-Design: Master Facilities Programming

Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of African American History and Culture

VOLUME I

A Preamble

B Introduction and Executive Summary

C Pre-design and Programming

VOLUME II

A Visitation Estimate

B Audience Research

C Public Engagement

D Collections Storage Plan

E General Museum Requirements

F Exhibition Master Plan

VOLUME III

A Existing Site Conditions

B Geotechnical Analysis

C Vehicular and Pedestrian Traffic

D Site Analysis

VOLUME IV

A Facility Program

B Engineering Systems

C Sustainable Design

D Accessibility

E Security

F Cost Estimates

VOLUME V

Room Data Sheets

A Visitation Estimate

of

E General Museum Requirements

Introduction

Curatorial Objectives and Collections

Public Activities and Program Plan

Organizational Structure and Staffing Framework 06 Meeting the NMAAHC’s Cultural and Design Philosophy: General Requirements

Design Day Planning 08 Summary of Key Calculations

Master Plan

Guiding Principles

Implications of Guiding Principals for the Experience

Goals

Thematic Framework

Interpretive Strategies

Exhibition Walkthrough

Design Considerations

A Visitation Estimate

Summary

The mission of the National Museum of African American History and Culture is:

To share the culture of African Americans, their ongoing struggles for freedom and equality, and the ways their economic role in building the country have shaped America’s history, identity, and democratic ideals.

The visitation goals for this new national museum includes the following:

Engaging everyone, especially African Americans, an under represented visitors to the Smithsonian

Institution, locally, regionally, and nationally;1

Sustaining an outstanding museum that attracts many of the visitors to other Smithsonian

museums and monuments, many of which can be seen from the museum site;

Being one of the most visited museums in the United States;

Striving to be the most effective museum by educating its audience about African American history

and culture.

Freelon Bond, a team of museum planners, architects, and designers, will provide architecture and engineering planning services for the NMAAHC, including an estimate of the number of visitors. Visitation estimates predict the number of people likely to attend the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This report will address:

The “Design Day”;

Seasonality of attendance; and

Other attendance patterns related to the time of day and day of week that may affect the

museum’s facility/space programs and the operating plan.

The “Design Day” is an average busy day for a museum. It is the attendance level for which the museum program is prepared. It is not affordable to build museums for “Peak Days”—a smaller number of days associated with public holidays or peak vacation periods. Determining the Design Day is a key step in the visitation-estimate process. Understanding when Peak Days occur is also important, however, because on these days, visitors need to be managed by museum staff so that—despite the crowds—they still have a great experience. The facility program needs to take Peak Days into account so that the museum’s facilities are flexible enough for staff to successfully manage unusually large crowds.

To date, the team has completed extensive research and consultation, which inform our calculations and judgment, including:

Partnering and visioning workshops with the NMAAHC staff and Smithsonian Institution officials;

Interviews and workshops with museum staff and other stakeholders;

1 The Analysis of Existing Visitation Report demonstrates the under-representation of African Americans in attendance at Smithsonian museums.

• study:

Site visits, data collection, and interviews with comparable museums for the following areas of

o Physical structure—National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Newseum, Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC), and the Canadian War Museum. Please see table 24 for a complete list of museum abbreviations and acronyms used in this chapter.

o Visitation Estimate—NMAI, USHMM, CMC, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (RFL Museum), and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM).

o Collections—NMAI, National Museum of American History Archives Center, the RFL Museum, the Library of Congress, and JANM.

Over 400 Audience Research Interviews on the grounds of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG);

• the National Zoological Park; the National Museum of American History (NMAH); the National Air and Space Museum (NASM); the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA); the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH); the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum; and the RFL Museum.

Consultation with over 200 individuals in public meetings, which were held in conjunction with

• the National Association of Counties, the Organization of American Historians, and the American Association of Museums in Washington, DC; New York; and Denver.

• region, and the cultural field. Documents consulted were:

A review of background information on the Smithsonian museums, the National Mall, the northeast

o National Park Service, Public Scoping Comments Report: Background Report for the National Mall Plan, 2007

o US Census Bureau, Survey, 2000.

o US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006.

o District of Columbia Public Schools, Master Education Plan, 2006.

o Market research from DK Shifflet Directions.

o Smithsonian Institution, Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts 2004–2007.

o United States National Holocaust Memorial Museum Fact Sheet.

o American Association of Museums, Financial Data, 2006.

o American Association of Museums, Official Directory, 2008.

o Smithsonian-wide Survey of Museum Visitors, 2004.

o Government Accountability Office, US National Mall Survey, 2005.

As a result of these extensive research and planning activities, the team has produced a number of documents for discussion with and evaluation by the NMAAHC staff and Smithsonian officials. These documents include the:

Freelon Bond, • Audience Research for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Portrait Gallery, and National Zoological Park (Sub-Study 1), Memo of Preliminary Results, April 2008.

Freelon Bond, • Phase Two Visitation Audience Research: Market Analysis, May 2008.

Freelon Bond, • Public Engagement Brief for Stakeholder Meetings #1-3, June 2008.

Freelon Bond, • Analysis of Existing Visitation prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, March 2008.

Freelon Bond, • Summary of Smithsonian Visitor Research, February 2008.

Each report and summary document builds on the findings and conclusions of the previously completed work. The end result is this comprehensive Visitation Estimate.

The Visitation Estimate provides an estimate of the number of people likely to visit the NMAAHC once it is operational. There is no simple formula that leads to credible visitation estimates. For the museum’s purposes we, Freelon Bond, have used a variety of methods, including appraisals and comparisons to other relevant institutions and markets, ratios, and penetration analyses. We also take into consideration other factors, such as proximity to national monuments, location on the National Mall, and the growing diversity of the American population. The impact of key assumptions is also important, especially the following three factors:

1. Delivery of a dynamic, engaging, and interdisciplinary program that attracts the full range of audiences;

2. Inviting building and exhibit designs that maximize public space and are free of bottlenecks; and

3. An operational approach that manages crowds and engages with the public to encourage entrance.

The preparation attendance projections first requires a reasonable definition of a museum visitor. For the purposes of this analysis, a visitor is someone who attends an exhibition or program within the museum, or who otherwise makes use of the public space. This excludes staff, volunteers, and service and delivery people. While outreach and access through the Web site will be important visitation drivers, this visitation projection does not include outreach programs or Web site hits/visits. The projections are thus for on-site visits to the NMAAHC only.

Building the Visitation Estimate

The key assumptions that affect attendance projections are those related to the size of the exhibition spaces and the nature and quality of the visitor experience planned for the NMAAHC. Since space planning has not been finalized, these projections will focus on the experience of the model institutions, other relevant Smithsonian museums, the market analyses set out in Phases One and Two, and the data provided by the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI).

The Visitation Estimate for the NMAAHC is aimed at calculating “steady state” attendance: the number of expected visitors (including those who are there to use the amenities) after the initial rush of first-time visitors has died down. This estimate will be built upon four layers of data and involves both statistical analysis and the judgment of the consulting team. These layers are:

1. Appraisal of the NMAAHC relative to other museums;

2. Ratios for the NMAAHC;

3. Penetration analysis of key visitor segments; and

4. Other key factors

APPRAISAL OF THE NMAAHC RELATIVE TO OTHER MUSEUMS

The NMAAHC will be a museum with national and international appeal and will reside in a host city, the nation’s capital, which enjoys high rates of tourism. Additionally, the NMAAHC will be a Smithsonian Institution. The tables below focus on one or more of these individual characteristics in an effort to understand the effects of the NMAAHC’s particular characteristics more fully. Together, they will help to arrive at an overall visitation estimate for the NMAAHC.

Museums Worldwide with More than 1 Million Annual Visitors

Considering its appeal, scale, and high-profile location on the National Mall, the NMAAHC is examined in the context of museums worldwide that attract over 1 million visitors per year. These museums are studied both as a whole and as members of two categories—Art and History—in order to reflect the nature of the NMAAHC’s exhibition focus. Overall, these museums averaged a total annual attendance of 3.5 million. History and natural history museums ranked above art museums in average annual attendance, at 3.86 million and 3.14 million, respectively.

Among those museums in areas with Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population (see explanation of MSA in the following table) similar to that of Washington, DC, the average attendance is 2.96 million. The range of visitors to these museums is between 995,000 and 4,000,000. We believe that the NMAAHC’s attendance will rank solidly in the middle of these figures because of the appeal of the museum’s content as well as its location both on the National Mall and in a large and much-visited city.

Table 1: Top Museums Worldwide with More than 1 Million Annual Visitors

Source: The Art Newspaper #189, March 2008; AAM Official Museum Directory, 2008.

* MSA Population indicates Metropolitan Statistical Area, a designation provided by the US Census to define the geographical area surrounding a city’s borders that encompasses businesses, employees, and revenue interlinked with the city proper.

Top Museums in U.S. Cities with Highest Levels of Tourism

A host city’s popularity has an impact on the visitation of institutions that market to out-of-town visitors. The Forbes Traveler rankings assess all major U.S. cities according to the following factors: hotel occupancy, airport and cruise traffic, a consistent method of estimating day travelers, and information provided by convention and tourist bureaus in each metropolitan area.2 This ranking estimates the total number of visitors in Washington, DC for 2007 at 36.9 million.

Taking a city’s resident population into consideration, it is clear that some cities attract more visitors relative to their sizes than others. Washington, DC, is among those cities exceeding the average number of visitors relative to its area’s population.3 Interestingly, museums in the city attract a smaller proportion of visitors than the average among all the museums listed (local museums attract an average of 13 visitors/visitors to the city vs. the average of 21 visitors to a museum/visitors to host city). This discrepancy suggests that greater competition among entertainment attractions exists for Washington, DC, visitors than for the average city analyzed. This analysis highlights how important it is for the NMAAHC to consider the competitive landscape of its host city.

2 Rob Baedeker, “America’s 30 Most Visited Cities,” Forbes Traveler 2007, 3 Based on MSA data.

The overall average annual attendance for the museums listed is 2.5 million. For those with tourism activity similar to that of the nation’s capital, average annual attendance is 3.4 million. Based on tourism activity, we believe that the NMAAHC will attract an average of 2.5 million per year, with a likelihood of attracting as many as 3.4 million tourists annually.

Table 2: Museum Attendance and Tourism

Source: AAM Official Museum Directory, 2008

* Forbes Traveler, 2007, “America’s 30 Most Visited U.S. Cities.”

** D.K. Shifflet, 2005.

Ellis Island Museum attendance number is combined with the Statue of Liberty visitation.

Attendance at Smithsonian Institutions

An analysis of Smithsonian Institutions was conducted in the Analysis of Existing Visitation prepared for NMAAHC. Average attendance among all Smithsonian Institutions is 1.4 million. Among the “Big Three” (NMNH, NASM, and NMAH) average attendance is 4.7 million. Among mid-sized museums, average attendance is 1.3 million. The NMAAHC is likely to rank high in the mid-sized museums range, at over 1.3 million.4

4 Freelon Bond, Analysis of Existing Visitation, prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, March 2008.

Table 3: Attendance at Smithsonian Museums

Source: Smithsonian Institution Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts, 2007. Excludes National Zoo.

Model and Neighboring Institutions

Attendance for the five model institutions (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Japanese American National Museum, National Museum of the American Indian, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, and the Canadian Museum of Civilization) breaks down into two

groups: smaller museums, with attendance averaging 112,000, and larger museums with attendance over 1.3 million. For the museums in this latter category attendance ranges between 1.4 million and 1.7 million. We believe that the NMAAHC is more likely to rank among the top of these larger categories because of its national appeal and location on the National Mall.

The Audience Research Report indicated that geographical proximity is a factor for visitors when deciding which museums to attend while on the National Mall. In other words, visitors to a monument or museum are more likely to visit one that is nearby than one that is located further away on the National Mall. This geographic proximity correlation is explored below with respect to visitor estimates among those “wandering in” from the National Mall. The findings are used in the present analysis to arrive at a penetration level for the NMAAHC more accurately than if the NMAAHC were compared with the entirety of Smithsonian museums.5 The average attendance among these “neighbors” is 2.6 million, a reasonable range that the NMAAHC may share.

Table 4: Attendance at Model and Neighboring Institutions

Neighboring Institutions

Because NMAH is closed, the attendance figure is from 2005, the most recent available. All other figures are for 2007. USHMM, a model institution, is also a neighboring institution. It appears only once on this chart, under “Neighboring Institutions.”

Attendance at African American Museums in the U.S.

The highest annual attendance among the 20 top-ranking African American museums examined in the Phase 2 Study is 600,000, as reported by the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, MI.6 Because we believe that this figure ranks far below the scale that the NMAAHC will likely reach, we have not included a more detailed analysis of these museums.

NMAAHC RATIOS

There are several ratios of varying value that may be applied to evaluate future demand for the NMAAHC. These emerge from the selected comparable institutions, the research conducted in Phase One and Phase Two, and the experience of other museums on the National Mall. Taken together, the information from these

5 Freelon Bond, Front-End Audience Research for the National Museum of African American History and Culture: National Mall and African American Museums, Preliminary Report, May 2008.

6 Freelon Bond, Phase Two Visitation Audience Research: Market Analysis May 2008.

tables can best estimate the degree to which the NMAAHC’s unique qualities will help shape its rate of attendance.

Visitors per Thousand Tourists and per Thousand MSA Population

Table 5 lists museums’ popularity among their host city’s populations and with tourists. It also compares the NMAAHC with museums competing in comparable markets, both according to regional density and to tourist activity. To most accurately reflect the challenges of the NMAAHC in its competitive environment, two ratios were calculated: (1) a museum’s attendance relative to the MSA population of its host city; and (2) a museum’s attendance relative to the number of visitors descending on its host city. Only those museums in cities with comparable MSA populations and tourist activity were used to determine visitation estimates.

Compared with museums in cities with similar populations, the NMAAHC’s visitation would total 3.0 million. Based on the level of tourist activity, the NMAAHC’s total attendance would be 2.6 million.

Table 5: Ratios for Tourism and MSA Population

Ratios for Tourist Activity and MSA Population

Estimate Based on MSA Population:

Estimate Based on Tourist Activity:

Smithsonian Visitors Per Thousand MSA Population

While it will undoubtedly take a unique position among its cohorts on the National Mall, the NMAAHC will benefit from the same Mall visitors, tourist activity, and national appeal as other Smithsonian Institution museums.

Table 6 examines the attendance of museums on the National Mall, which share similar scale characteristics we think are appropriate for the NMAAHC. The ratio sets museum attendance against the Washington, DC area population in an effort to understand its impact on local and regional communities.

Table 6: Smithsonian Visitors per Thousand Population

Ratios for Tourist Activity and MSA Population

Mid-Sized Museums

Note that neither the Big Three nor the smaller museums were used in these ratios. The Big Three’s average was 873 visitors per 1,000 MSA residents. Smaller museums attracted 61 visitors per 1,000 MSA residents. Mid-sized museums include the National Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Castle, and the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Model Institutions used were USHMM and NMAI. The others were not relevant for the DC MSA population.7

Neighboring institutions include the USHMM, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (HMSG), the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA), the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), and NMAH, using the last recorded attendance counts since it closed its doors for renovations. The ratio for this group was higher than the others because two of the Big Three museums were included—NMAH and NMNH. This increases the overall ratio for this analysis. Given the attendance at these sets of museums, the NMAAHC’s annual visitation would be 1.8 million. A complete list of abbreviations and acronyms for the museums discussed in this volume can be found in table 24.

Relevant Institutions per Thousand Mall Visitors

Multiple entry and exit points make National Mall visitation difficult to calculate; consequently, double counting is common. For the purposes of this study, National Mall visitation is calculated based on Monument and Smithsonian museum visitation. This total is 42,146,480.

Table 7: Relevant Institutions per Thousand Mall Visitors

Mall

Source: NPS Survey, 2004

The same institutional sets have been used, and the same caveats apply due to the strength of NMNH, which skews numbers upwards. Based on these calculations, annual attendance at the NMAAHC is estimated to be 1.9 million.

PENETRATION ANALYSIS OF KEY VISITOR SEGMENTS

This section examines the extent to which different visitor market segments—the tourist market, the resident market, and the school group market—will be attracted to the NMAAHC. The tourist market includes both leisure and business travelers, who might visit the museum as part of a day trip or an overnight visit. The resident market comprises visitors who live in the DC MSA, within 50 miles of the institution. Finally, the school group market includes local, national, and sometimes international groups whose trip is folded into a planned curriculum.

The motivations and needs of these audience segments are quite different, as are the strategies used to market to them. While all museums are likely to attract these audience segments, different types of museums attract varying proportions from each segment.

7 Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture is in Baltimore, MD, sharing the same DC-CMSA, but nonetheless located in a different MSA.

The Tourist Market

According to Forbes Traveler, 36.9 million people visited the DC MSA in 2007.8 In the same year, about 85% of the visitors to the Smithsonian museums were from out of town.

Table 8 shows the penetration levels of the nearest museums to the site where the NMAAHC will be located. These include USHMM, HMSG, NMAfA, NMNH, and NMAH.

Table 8: Tourist Market

Out-of-Town Visitors

Because NMAH is closed, the attendance figure is from 2005, the most recent available. All other figures are from 2007.

* Source: Forbes Traveler, 2007, “America’s 30 Most Visited U.S. Cities.” Personal interviews.

Penetration levels for the USHMM, HMSG, and NMAfA range between 0.7% and 2.0%— statistically similar proportions. The NMAH and NMNH—among the Smithsonian’s Big Three, along with the NASM—have higher penetration levels, at 17.2% and 7.5%, respectively. The disparity is consistent with variation in scale and national appeal between the Big Three and the mid-sized and smaller museums on the National Mall.

The attendance at the NMAAHC is expected to closely resemble that of the USHMM, which has a penetration level of 2%. The reasons for this are twofold: first, the NMAAHC has specialized content—like the USHMM—which past Freelon Bond research has shown does not appeal to everyone;9 second, the NMAAHC is expected to have strong visitation from the DC MSA, as is the case with the USHMM (55% local). Overall, it is expected that the NMAAHC will realize a market penetration of 2% to 3%, or 738,000 to 1,107,000 visitors.

The Resident Market

The Washington, DC MSA region reported a population of 5.3 million in 2005. To estimate the degree to which the NMAAHC may attract members of this population, table 9 looks at resident-market visitor numbers at the NMAAHC’s model institutions, as well as relevant Smithsonian museums.

8 Forbes Traveler, 2007, “America’s 30 Most Visited Cities.”

9 33% of visitors to the Mall said that they do not intend to visit the NMAAHC. Freelon Bond, Front-End Audience Research, May 2008.

Table 9: Resident Market

Because NMAH is closed, the attendance figure is from 2005, the most recent available. All other figures are from 2007.

* Baltimore population is for the city proper, not MSA.

** Quebec population indicates the “Quebec Metropolitan Community.”

*** Source: Personal interviews, US Community Survey, US Census Bureau, 2006. Smithsonian Institution Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts 2007.

The museums examined demonstrate the full range of penetration levels for the resident market, with a cluster of 11%, 15%, and 17%. Longevity and outreach may help to explain why the USHMM’s penetration is, for example, more than 10% greater than that of the NMAI. The USHMM targets local and regional educators and managers, including teachers and law enforcement officials, with specially designed educational programs and group trips. This concerted effort undoubtedly accounts for the level of penetration into the local and regional market.

An important factor to consider is that 26.5% of the Washington, DC MSA population is African American. As well, African Americans in the area share the socioeconomic characteristics that overlap with average museum-going visitors to a greater degree than African Americans in the nation as a whole. It is therefore likely that penetration levels for the NMAAHC will benefit from a core constituency based within a 30 minute drive of the museum.

It is expected that the NMAAHC will realize a strong penetration of the resident market, between 15% and 20%, or 795,000 to 1,060,000 visitors.

The School Group Market

The Washington, DC CMSA is a broader region than the Washington, DC MSA. It comprises both the DC MSA and Baltimore, Hagerstown, and Frederick, MD. The population of school children aged 5–17 in this region is 1.4 million.10 USHMM, which compares favorably with the NMAAHC, reported that school visits made up 12% of its 2006 attendance, amounting to 199,000 children visiting in groups or a penetration rate of 14%. The RFL Museum, on the other hand, welcomed 27,200 school visitors, or a 2% penetration rate.

With over 40,000 African American children in DC public schools alone, it is expected that the NMAAHC will have a healthy penetration of the school market.11 This rate is expected to be between 10% and 15%, or 140,000 to 210,000 children visiting in school groups.

10 US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006.

11 For the purposes of this study, it is assumed that visiting school groups are only from the DC CMSA.

OTHER KEY FACTORS INFLUENCING VISITATION ESTIMATE

In addition to the ratios and rankings developed above, there are a variety of indicators that need to be considered when evaluating likely potential attendance for the NMAAHC. Some of these estimates suggest higher attendance levels than we indicated in the various analyses, while others suggest more modest levels. These points are more qualitative than quantitative and will be taken into consideration as part of Freelon Bond’s judgment in the final analysis.

Positive Impacts

Museum Content

The NMAAHC’s broad scope and universal message will increase demand for museum attendance. The content is expected to attract not just people who are interested in American history but also those who are interested in the broader aspects of American life, both past and present. This broad reach is a unique departure from museums that focus exclusively on history, particularly those whose specialty is American history.

The NMAAHC will be a forerunner in the vision to present a thorough understanding of American history through the lens of African American perspectives and experiences. People already familiar with the American historical narrative will seek out the NMAAHC for a more nuanced understanding.

NMAAHC’s Location on the National Mall

Its iconic status as a national museum and as a Smithsonian museum identifies the NMAAHC as a gem among American cultural institutions. By virtue of its location on the National Mall, the NMAAHC will benefit from a steady stream of visitors who descend on the landmark district as part of a patriotic pilgrimage.

Proximity to the Washington Monument

The NMAAHC’s particular position on the National Mall links it with the Washington Monument. The Monument is a limited-capacity ticketed site that turns away many more visitors than wish to visit it. Those who have been turned away are likely to search for an alternative attraction once they have made the trek to the Monument. The NMAAHC presents an attractive alternative for these visitors, and, as we know from Freelon Bond research, visitors are most likely to cluster their activities by location or proximity.

Effect of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

The NMAAHC will benefit from the opening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, which is expected to attract millions of visitors per year. In addition to becoming a point of pilgrimage for the African American community, the Memorial is expected to inspire many visitors to learn more about the African American experience. Although the NMAAHC is not in close proximity to the Memorial, it will still be within walking distance, and the two sites are expected to see major cross-visitation activity.

A Diverse and Educated Population

The local population that the NMAAHC will draw upon is diverse and highly educated, and therefore likely to visit repeatedly. Nationwide, persons identifying as white will decline over the next 20 years (although the Hispanic and Asian populations will grow, the African American population will not). The US Census Bureau projects that by 2025, the national population will be increasingly diverse.12

Education is the single most important indicator for museum participation; in the DC MSA, 29% percent of African Americans hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. This percentage is higher than the national average (17%) among African Americans and among all people over the age of 25 in the United States (27%).

Furthermore, Prince George’s County, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC, has one of the most educated African American populations in the country. Thirty-three percent of the county’s African American 12

population has a bachelor’s degree or higher, a proportion exceeding the educational attainment of the county as a whole (30%), regardless of race.13

An added group likely to visit the NMAAHC in greater numbers is the African American population along the Atlantic Coast. This group is more educated and possesses a greater income than its cohorts nationwide.14 Moreover, studies on leisure travel show that tourists are increasingly traveling by automobile, rather than airplane. East Coast travelers are thus likely to make up a greater proportion of visitors to Washington, DC, than in the past.15

Washington, DC, Tourists’ Profile: Tourists are Museum Visitors

According to Forbes Traveler, 36.9 million16 people visited the Washington, DC, metropolitan area in 2007. The city is above average in visitor attraction relative to its MSA. Most visitors to Washington, DC, possess the average museum-goer’s socioeconomic characteristics. According to D.K. Shifflet, 84% of visitors to the city have attended at least some college and almost a quarter hold graduate degrees. Additionally, over 50% of travelers to Washington, DC, report per capita incomes of over $75,000. These traits overlap with the highly educated and wealthy constituents that attend museums.17

A Focus on Amenities

The NMAAHC is intent on overcoming the barriers for those who are not accustomed to visiting museums or, perhaps, a museum with an African American focus. One of the methods it hopes to use is to welcome National Mall visitors with much-needed amenities. A survey of visitors to the National Mall found that over one-third of them were looking for such amenities as washrooms, places to rest, and places to buy food.18 As a result, the NMAAHC is expected to draw in visitors who may not have planned to attend the museum ahead of time.

Signature Architecture

The selection of an innovative design is expected to draw both critical acclaim and visitors who are interested in seeing the new building regardless of its exhibition or collections.

Heightened Interest in African American Culture

Recent shifts in national attitudes suggest a stronger interest in African American heritage. A Pew Study showed that people expressed greater acceptance of mixed-race dating in 2004 than they did as recently as 1994.19 This finding, along with the recent overwhelming support for the first African American presumptive presidential nominee, suggests a greater enthusiasm for African American history and culture than ever before.

More People are “Black-Invested” “Black-invested” individuals are those who possess a strong personal tie to the African American community, whether by living in an interracial household or having close black friends. Regardless of their race, these people are likely to possess an important investment in Black culture and identity, perhaps possessing an intimacy that is likely to last beyond a passing intellectual curiosity. Researchers have found that the number of cross-race friendships in the US is increasing for both children and adults.20

13 US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006.

14 Ibid.

15 D.K. Shifflet & Associates in partnership with Travel Industry Association of America, Washington DC’s 2006 Visitor Statistics, August 2007.

16 Forbes Traveler reports a significantly higher visitation rate for Washington, DC, than DK Shifflet in its tourist and leisure estimates. The former estimates travel into the MSA region; the latter, reporting a total of 15.1 million visitors, strictly studies the city proper. While this study prefers to rely on overall numbers from Forbes Traveler, DK Shifflet’s research is nonetheless vital to and understanding of general characteristics of the Washington, DC visitor.

17 Freelon Bond, Analysis of Existing Visitation prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, March 2008.

18 US Government Accountability Office, Report to the Chairman, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, June 2005.

19 Pew Research Center, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, March 2006.

20 Elizabeth Page-Gould & Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton and the Center for Peace and Well-Being, Cross-Race Relationships: An Annotated Bibliography, University of California, Berkeley, 2005.

Mixed or Unclear Impacts

The following factors also need to be considered when assessing the NMAAHC’s visitation estimates. Some may indicate lower attendance levels; the influence of others is as yet undetermined.

Uninitiated Public

While instantly welcomed by many people, the NMAAHC may be an institution whose mission needs to be understood over time by others. Some people may fear that the institution is exclusionary or will try to blame them for racial injustice in the United States. Others simply may not fully comprehend the universal message that the NMAAHC will present, and believe that “This is not for me.”

Stable DC MSA African American Population

It is noteworthy that demographic projections for the DC MSA estimate that the proportion of African Americans will remain constant from 2005 to 2015, holding forth at approximately 25%. While the proportion of White residents is expected to decline, it is the proportion of Hispanic and Asian residents that is growing.21

21 Woods and Poole Economics, The Complete Economic and Demographic Data Source, 2006.

Visitation Estimate

The following calculations incorporate analyses in this chapter. It concludes with an estimate for visitation at the NMAAHC.

CALCULATION OF VISITATION ESTIMATE FOR STEADY STATE

Table 10 summarizes the figures emerging from the various ratios and rankings discussed in Section 2.

Table 10: Evaluation Methods for Visitation Estimate

Two scenarios emerge from this analysis, one conservative, the other aggressive (see table 11). When the NMAAHC is compared with museums that have similar content and estimated scope, such as the USHMM, the mid-sized museums on the National Mall, and neighboring Smithsonian museums, the NMAAHC’s attendance is estimated at about 1.7 million. This estimate is based on past experience and visitation attendance of museums that share some important characteristics with the NMAAHC.

The aggressive scenario, in part, takes into account broader market indicators, such as a metropolitan area’s level of tourist activity and size. The average for this cluster is 2.6 million. Based on these factors, as well as the attendance levels of museums worldwide attracting over 1 million visitors, the NMAAHC’s steady state attendance is estimated to be 2.5 million.

Key factors discussed in the second chapter are critical in reconciling these two scenarios. Given the high degree of content appeal, a core constituency of African Americans in the DC MSA population, its location on the National Mall, and the presence of the Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, we believe that the NMAAHC is likely to realize the attendance rates estimated in the aggressive scenario. Attaining the aggressive attendance estimate is dependent on three factors:

1. Delivery of a dynamic, engaging, and interdisciplinary program that attracts the full range of audiences;

2. Inviting building and exhibit designs that maximize public space and are free of bottlenecks; and

3. An operational approach that manages crowds and engages with the public to encourage entrance.

Table 11: Conservative vs. Aggressive Visitation Estimates

Conservative

Mid-Sized Smithsonians

Model and Neighboring Institutions

SI Attendance/1000 DC MSA

SI Attendance/1000 Mall Visitors

Aggressive Museums with >1m Visitors

Average Attendance of Museums in Tourist Mkts Similar to DC MSA

Museum Attendance/1000 Host City MSA Pop.

ESTIMATED VISITATION FOR YEARS 1, 3, AND 5

Virtually all new or expanded museums and related institutions experience their highest attendance levels in the first year; by Year 3, attendance declines, generally by about 20%. Visitation may increase slightly by Year 5. This is particularly true for institutions that have a strong resident market. Such a pattern has been assumed for the NMAAHC, which will unveil a signature building that is expected to attract a significant number of one-time visitors in the first year.

Our work is also based on the experience of the following model institutions:

Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC)

The CMC is an outlier in achieving a steady state of attendance earlier than most museums. The museum differs from the NMAAHC in critical ways—most importantly, it had been in existence since 1856 and was aware of its audience potential for several years prior to its reopening in 1989. As a result, both audience expectation and marketing strategies were more advanced than those typically devised for a museum opening its doors for the first time.

National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)

The NMAI is still within its five-year period of expected attendance fluctuation following its opening. So far, attendance levels have been following traditional museum trends. By Year 3, attendance had dipped by 21.2%. Though it has not yet reached Year 5, further internal marketing strategies and projections, and steady tourist activity, anticipate a rise of 5% by the end of Year 4.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM)

The oldest museum of the three, the USHMM, experienced a rise in Year 2, contrary to museum trends. This is explained by the museum’s difficulty in meeting capacity demands in Year 1, and evolving operational systems in response to those demands to accommodate more visitors in Year 2.

Table 12: The Experience of the Model Institutions

Percent Difference between Years

Museum Year Opened Year 3 Year 5

Source: Personal Interviews.

We estimate that attendance at the NMAAHC will be in the range of:

3 million in Year 1, approximately 20% higher than steady state attendance;

2.5 million in Year 3, the steady state calculation; and

2.55 million in Year 5, as the program and collection matures, the population grows, and museum

attendance diversifies (+2%).

Visitor Segments

VISITATION BY MAIN MARKET SEGMENT

Estimating attendance by main market segment requires using analysis from several data sources. These include:

Demographic data and projections derived from the US Census Bureau and Woods & Poole • Economics, Inc., an independent firm that specializes in long-term economic and demographic projections;

Tourism data from the Washington, DC, Convention & Tourism Bureau and

Forbes Traveler;

Personal interviews with and data collection from model institutions; and

Analysis conducted by Freelon Bond during the first two phases of this study.

The Resident Market

Estimating the NMAAHC’s resident market takes into account Smithsonian museum attendance in general. In order to provide greater utility this analysis will distinguish between the Big Three and the four mid-sized museums included in this study. Resident markets visiting the model institutions are also examined.

Overall, residents of the Washington, DC, region made up 17.4% of Smithsonian attendance in 2006.22 Although different in scale and scope from these museums and from the NMAAHC, 20% of the National Museum of African Art’s visitors were local. Additionally, residents made up 85% of the Anacostia Community Museum’s overall attendance23

An analysis of model institutions further helps to estimate the resident market proportion of the NMAAHC’s overall visitation. The USHMM welcomed slightly over 900,000 visitors from the Washington, DC, region in 2006, or 55% of its total visitors. In the same period, 22% of the visitors to the NMAI were local.24

The NMAAHC is likely to exceed the proportion of the area market that all Smithsonian museums combined attract. It will benefit from the large African American community in the DC MSA, which is likely to visit museums given its higher-than-average socioeconomic levels relative to the nation as a whole. Indeed, the NMAAHC will edge closer to the USHMM in its overall percentage of local-resident visitors because of the museum’s level of community outreach. However, given its universal message and its larger core constituency of African American visitors, it is reasonable to assume that the NMAAHC’s appeal will reach far beyond the resident market, more so than the USHMM. It is therefore estimated that the resident market will make up 35% of the NMAAHC’s overall attendance.

22 Smithsonian Institution, Office of Policy and Analysis, Results of the 2004 Smithsonian-wide Survey of Museum Visitors, October 2004. 23 Ibid.

24 Smithsonian Institution, Office of Policy and Analysis, A Comparison of Visitors to the National Museum of the American Indian to General Smithsonian Visitors, April 2005.

The School Market

School groups make up an important proportion of a museum’s overall attendance. The average museum attracts 15–40% of its total attendance from the school-group market. Indeed, as discussed in Freelon Bond’s Analysis of Existing Visitation, 27.5% of Smithsonian Institutions’ overall attendance is from school groups.25

By contrast, the average school group proportion among the five model institutions interviewed—the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and the Japanese American National Museum—was just 14.4%. The disparity in school group proportions between Smithsonian museums and model institutions may be explained by the Smithsonian Institution museums’ established destination among local and national school groups, as well as their levels of efficiency in managing school group attendance, and the model institutions’ more limited reach, both because of geographic location (JANM is located in a dense residential neighborhood in Los Angeles, for example) and specific content. Among all the institutions interviewed, the USHMM most closely approximates the high profile and potential for national appeal that the NMAAHC will achieve.

The NMAAHC is likely to approximate other Smithsonian museums (27.5%) as well as the USHMM (12.1%) in its attraction of school groups. Therefore, school group attendance is estimated at 20%.

The Tourist Market

Tourism is a major economic generator in communities across the nation. Tourists can be segmented by both motivation (e.g., business and convention, leisure, recreation, eco-tourism, cultural tourism) and by the activities in which they participate while traveling. For the purposes of this analysis, tourists keen on cultural attractions—“cultural tourists”—are of particular interest. Research shows that the number of cultural tourists is growing. This group stays longer at its host city, and spends more money than other types of tourists.26

Visitors to Washington, DC, possess many of the same characteristics and interests as cultural tourists in general. Among visitors to the city, 84% have attended at least some college. In fact, almost one-quarter earned a graduate degree. Over 50% of Washington, DC, visitors reported per-capita incomes over $75,000. Moreover, 35% of Washington, DC, visitors were between 35 and 49 years old. Finally, 8% of visitors were African American, a proportion that remained steady from 2000 to 2006.27

Out-of-town visitors made up 82.6% of overall attendance for Smithsonian Institution museums in 2004.28 By contrast, the model institutions (NMAI, USHMM, and CMC) are more likely to attract local visitors than the museums on the National Mall. On average, these model institutions welcomed 38% of visitors from out-of-town.29

With active efforts to build a strong local community and a mission that will be nationally and internationally attractive, the NMAAHC is likely to straddle the national appeal of its fellow National Mall residents and the strong local base of its model institutions. A particularly relevant example, surpassing other model institutions, is the USHMM (45% of total attendance comprises tourists). Taking into account the example of the USHMM in light of Smithsonian comparisons, the NMAAHC is expected to realize 45% of its total attendance from the tourist market.

25 Freelon Bond, Analysis of Existing Visitation, Prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, March 2008.

26 Travel Industry Association of America, The Historic/Cultural Traveler, 2003.

27 D.K. Shifflet & Associates in partnership with the Travel Industry Association of America, Washington, DC’s 2006 Visitor Statistics, August 2007.

28 Smithsonian Institution, Office of Policy and Analysis, Results of the 2004 Smithsonian-wide Survey of Museum Visitors, October 2004.

29 Model institutions with available data on geographic breakdowns are the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture.

Steady State NMAAHC Attendance by Market Segment

If the steady state attendance for the NMAAHC is examined along these market segment lines, it breaks down as shown in table 13:

Table 13: Projections for Market

Segments

VISITATION BY VISITOR

CATEGORY

The NMAAHC’s attendance will comprise the following types of visitors: individual adults and groups, school and adult, senior, children, and “wanderers.” This section discusses each type and estimates the respective proportions.

Table 14: NMAAHC Visitation by Visitor Category

Individual Adults

At the same time that the adult age group is expected to shrink in the DC MSA, average per-capita income will rise for both the DC MSA and the nation as a whole, more so nationwide (11.6%) than in the DC MSA (9.3%).30 Based on this trend, the NMAAHC will likely benefit from an increase in average income both locally and nationally.

The NMAAHC’s attendance will likely be 45% adult, despite the slight decrease in the adult age group proportionally in both geographic areas.

School Groups

The proportion of school groups is likely to be 20%.

Adult Groups

Adult groups are likely to approximate the levels experienced at the USHMM. Because of the strong ties that both ethnic and racial groups have to their heritage, African American adult groups, among others, will display an analogous tendency to patronize the NMAAHC. That proportion is expected to be 5%.

30 Woods and Poole Economics, The Complete Economic and Demographic Data Source, 2006.

Seniors

For the purposes of this report, seniors are those aged 59 years and over. Their habits will reflect the spirit of adventure that the baby boomer generation embraces. The DC MSA population will experience a larger percentage increase in this age group than will the nation as a whole, with the proportion increasing by more than twice the national percentage. Nationwide, the proportion of seniors will rise from 13% in 2005 to 19% in 2025.31

The NMAAHC will likely realize similar levels of senior attendance as the Smithsonian Institution museums, one that will reflect the large increase in the local senior population and the attraction that a cultural destination will have on an adventurous older age group. Therefore, while not increasing nearly as much as the proportion of seniors in the general population, the NMAAHC is likely to see seniors become 15% of its total attendance.

Children

Considering trends among families to travel during spring breaks and summer vacation as well as the nonschool group interests among residential children coming with their families, it is estimated that non-school group children will mirror the level seen by the Smithsonian Institution museums overall, at 5%.

Wanderers and Amenity Seekers

As discussed in previous reports, the majority of National Mall visitors do not enter a museum when they visit.32 When interviewed about their interest in an upcoming museum on African American history and culture, 27% of visitors to the National Mall said that they would visit that day and 16% said that they would visit during that trip. One-third of those interviewed said they were not likely to visit the NMAAHC at all.33

The NMAAHC is striving to meet the needs and interests of these and other visitors with premier exhibits, relevant themes, and an attractive visitor experience. Among its strategies is to purposely aim its effort at those National Mall visitors who may be prone to wander into the museum.

The wanderer will likely visit the museum for three main reasons:

1. He or she is looking for a particular desired amenity;

2. The museum is close to a planned destination; and

3. The visitor has had an unexpected change of plans. Nearly one-third of people (32%) who answered a National Park Service (NPS) survey on what they wanted on the National Mall cited a desire for a breadth of amenities, many of which could be satisfied by the NMAAHC (including washrooms, food, water, seating, information, and shopping).34 This finding suggests that although a small percentage of National Mall visitors visit a museum, that trend may change if museums can satisfy amenity needs. Because the NMAAHC is anticipating the needs of National Mall visitors in its facilities planning, the museum is likely to realize an attendance boost by accommodating those needs.

The Freelon Bond Audience Research Report presented in 2008 studied the likelihood of visitors who have patronized one museum or monument visiting another attraction on the National Mall.35 Indeed, a strong

31 US Census Bureau, Population Projections.

32 Freelon Bond, Summary of Smithsonian Research, March 2008.

33 Freelon Bond, Front-End Audience Research, May 2008.

34 US Government Accountability Office, Report to the Chairman, Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, June 2005.

35 Freelon Bond, Front-End Audience Research, May 2008.

predictor of choice for additional attraction visits was geographic proximity. Between 10% and 17% of visitors to the Washington Monument said they would visit nearby museums.

The study also found that 70% of people visiting the National Mall changed their original plans at least one day before their visit. Interestingly, 17% indicated that they made a spontaneous decision to visit a site they had not originally planned to see. This finding suggests a certain level of willingness to wander around after arriving at the National Mall.

Taking these factors into account, we believe that the NMAAHC will attract 10% of its total visitors from those wandering on the National Mall.

VISITATION BY RACE/ETHNICITY

The NMAAHC will strive to welcome all individuals with a superb collection, signature architecture, diverse programming, and a mission that has universal appeal. Simultaneously, the museum will aim at attracting a core constituency of individuals of African American descent, persons identifying as mixed race, and people of color. Visitation estimates for these three groups are analyzed in this section.

Looking at African American museums has the advantage of examining institutions whose focus, in part, matches that of the NMAAHC. However, as mentioned earlier, none of the museums currently open is on a scale that matches the estimate for the NMAAHC. The museum with the largest attendance is the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, MI, with annual visitation totaling 600,000. Moreover, for three museums examined in detail, African Americans made up between 60% and 80% of total attendance.36 The NMAAHC is more likely to attract a broad audience that will welcome African American and non-African American visitors in proportions more similar to other Smithsonian museums than African American museums across the nation.

As the Analysis of Existing Visitation Report revealed, African Americans are more likely to attend exhibits and museums when themes of personal relevance are presented.37 As the table below illustrates, whereas 9% of Smithsonian museum visitors are African American, five times that percentage of African Americans make up the total attendance at the National Museum of African Art (NMAfA). African American attendance is nearly ten times greater at the Anacostia Community Museum than at Smithsonian museums overall, although this institution’s strong community-based focus differs from Smithsonian museums in general.

Table 15: Proportion of African American Attendance at Smithsonian Institution Museums

Source: NMAI MVS Study, March 2006.

DC MSA: African Americans 26.5

US: African Americans

Source: US Census Bureau Community Survey, 2005.

36 Three museums were analyzed: The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, MI (African Americans made up 70% of total attendance); the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, in Baltimore, MD (80%); and the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN (60%).

37 Freelon Bond: Analysis of Existing Visitation prepared for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, March 2008.

Correspondingly, a significantly higher proportion of Jewish people and Native Americans visit the USHMM and the NMAI, respectively, approximately ten times the proportion of their population rate in the United States overall for each institution.

Table 16: Museum Attendance of Core Constituency Groups

* Source: American Jewish Committee, 2006.

** Source: A Comparison of Visitors to the National Museum of the American Indian to General Smithsonian Museum Visitors, Office of Policy & Analysis, April 2005.

*** Source: US Census Bureau, 2000, for persons identifying as “American Indian alone.”

The socioeconomic levels of local African Americans are also a factor in estimating African American attendance at the NMAAHC. African Americans living in the DC MSA have a higher socioeconomic level than their counterparts nationwide. These residents are 10% more likely than African Americans nationwide to have earned a college degree or higher. Per capita income is nearly two-thirds higher among DC MSA African Americans than it is among their counterparts nationwide.38 Given that the general museum-going audience is characterized by higher-than-average socioeconomic levels, this local constituency may have a significant impact on African American attendance rates at the NMAAHC.

The NMAAHC’s attendance will comprise a greater African American proportion than Smithsonian museums in general, especially considering the disproportionality of core constituents evident at the USHMM and the NMAI. Because of its broad national appeal, it will more likely approximate the proportion of African Americans attending the NMAfA than the Anacostia Community Museum. Even so, the NMAAHC aims to attract an audience interested in American history and culture through an African American lens—that is, a broader audience than at the NMAfA. Given these factors, as well as the large proportion of highly educated African Americans in the DC MSA, African Americans will likely make up 25–30% of total attendance at the NMAAHC.

38 US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006.

Mixed-Race Groups

Persons identifying as mixed race are of interest to the NMAAHC because at least some will possess African American heritage. Even among those who do not claim African American identity, there may be some who empathize with the cultural experiences of African Americans in the United States who were ostracized or imprisoned for engaging in interracial relationships with individuals subjected to historical taboos regarding interracial families. As mentioned earlier, recent studies have shown that younger people have exhibited an attitudinal shift toward accepting interracial relationships. Therefore, the population of mixed race individuals is likely to increase in the next 5–10 years as these individuals marry and start a family.39

The Smithsonian Institution estimates that 4% of its total attendance is made of individuals identifying as mixed race. By contrast, 2.04% of the general population identifies as mixed race.40 Because of the added relevance that the NMAAHC is likely to have for persons of mixed race, we estimate that mixed-race visitors will make up 4–8% of the museum’s total audience.

The Phase Two Report discussed the likelihood of persons with familial or friendship relationships associated with African Americans as being drawn to the NMAAHC.41 Included here are individuals who are members of interracial households as a result of marriage or adoption as well as persons with strong relationships and bonds outside of the home with members of other races. We believe that the NMAAHC will attract this group of individuals, who will be drawn by personal relevance to the exhibits at the museum. There is no readily available data on these individuals’ level of cultural participation. The only reliable estimate matches that provided for mixed-race individuals (a group that has been studied), who are likely to possess a strong affiliation with the themes and mission of the NMAAHC. The US Census Bureau reports that 1.07% of marriages in the United States are multi-racial.42 This represents almost half of the mixedrace proportion of the population. Therefore, these individuals may make up as much as 4% of the NMAAHC total visitation.

39 Smithsonian Institution, Office of Policy and Analysis, A Comparison of Visitors to the National Museum of the American Indian to General Smithsonian Visitors, April 2005.

40 US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006.

41 Freelon Bond, Phase Two Visitation Audience Research: Market Analysis, May 2008.

42 US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2006.

Visitation Cycles

SEASONALITY

An examination of all Smithsonian Institution museums by season for the years 2004–2007 reveals a consistent divide between the heavy seasons of summer and spring (33.9% and 31.8% of annual attendance, respectively), and the light seasons of winter and fall (14.4% and 19.9%, respectively). Variation is more apparent between summer and winter, with the winter season attracting the smallest proportion of visitors. Variations over the years can be accounted for both by museum-specific factors (e.g., a popular special exhibition, renovation/expansion schedule, etc.) and environmental factors (e.g., extreme weather conditions, consumer index rates, tourist activity, etc.)43

The NMAAHC’s seasonal visitation cycles are likely to adhere to the patterns seen among Smithsonian museums overall, with over 60% of visitors attending during the spring and summer and 34% attending during the winter and fall seasons. Opportunities to increase visitation during low attendance periods could involve special programs connected to themes such as Kwanzaa, Emancipation Day, Veteran’s Day, March on Washington, etc.

Table 17: Seasonal Distribution of Visitors

Source: Smithsonian Institution, Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts 2004-2007.

Monthly rates of attendance can be estimated by looking at specific museums, both on and off the National Mall, and for Smithsonian Institution museums overall for fiscal year 2006. Research shows that within the heavy seasons of summer and spring, the greatest attendance occurs in the months of April and July. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is in April. This is also the month in which most public and private schools schedule spring break and when school groups and families embark on trips to the capital. July, the heart of the summer and a period of low precipitation in Washington, DC, is prime family vacation time.

The least-visited months for Smithsonian museums and Washington, DC, museums are January and February. February is Black History Month, a marketing and programming opportunity for African American museums and a time of heightened interest in African American subject matter generally. Whereas the NMAAHC is likely to mirror the trends of Smithsonian and Washington, DC, museum visitor cycles in general, we believe that it will experience a unique rise in attendance in February. Smithsonian Institution visitor counts research (see table 18) shows that the busiest months are likely to be April and July. The quietest month is likely to be January.

43 Smithsonian Institution, Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts 2004–2007.

Table 18: Monthly Distribution of Visitors in a Steady State

Source: Smithsonian Institution, Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts 2007.

With the exception of the winter months, ticketed visitors to the Washington Monument are relatively constant.44 This is likely due to the fact that the Monument is generally operating at capacity. The most interesting point about this for the NMAAHC is the number of visitors who are outside the Monument, possibly having been turned away due to lack of available tickets. Further study is recommended to understand the impact that ticketed and non-ticketed visitors to the Washington Monument will have on the NMAAHC.

VISITATION BY DAY OF THE WEEK

An examination of the days of the week for all of the Smithsonian museums shows that the majority of visitors—41%—visit during the weekend. Among the weekdays, Tuesday is the least-frequented day and Monday and Thursday compete for the most-frequented day. The NMAAHC is expected to generally adhere to this distribution, with over 40% of its visitors attending during the weekend.

Table 19: Projected Steady State Attendance by Day

HOURLY VISITATION

In general, museums experience heavy attendance by school groups in the mornings, until about 1:00 P.M. An interview with the staff of the USHMM, an institution that issues tickets to its permanent exhibition that indicate the time the tour begins, confirms that the museum’s busiest times are the first two hours after opening.45

On the other hand, an interview with the NMAH confirms that the busiest times were in the afternoon, between 2:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. Table 20 details the distribution of hourly visitation.

Table 20: Hourly Visitation at National Museum of American History

Source: Personal Interviews.

The NMAAHC is expected to experience two waves of visitation on most days: the first will include those who have prioritized the NMAAHC as their first activity choice. School group visitation will also be much higher during the morning hours. The second wave will be in the afternoon and will include higher levels of wanderers and amenity seekers, and those who have chosen to spontaneously change plans.

45 Paul Garver, interview by Manager of Visitor Services, USHMM, June 2008.

Design Day Planning

DESIGN DAY EXPLANATION AND ESTIMATE

As mentioned in the introduction, the Design Day is a typically busy day for a museum. By contrast, a Peak Day represents those days when attendance is unusually high, owing to a public holiday, special museum event, or high tourist season on the National Mall. In planning the space and resource allocation for a museum, it is the Design Day that is considered and not the Peak Days that occur only occasionally during the year. For those Peak Days, special consideration of strategic staff placement and programming is planned for in advance to ensure a great visitor experience. This section estimates the public space needed to preserve a positive visitor experience in the midst of a Design Day, which looks at crowd-management tools, and discusses these strategies in detail.

From Smithsonian Institution data, it is projected that Saturday will be the busiest day of the week for the NMAAHC, with 24% of visitors attending on that day. Therefore, Design Day estimates focus on the Saturdays in typical months that fall between the most- and least-visited months of the year (all months except April, July, and January).

Steady state visitation estimates assume that 2.5 million visitors will attend the NMAAHC every year, with 90% of those visitors being destination-driven (see table 21). The remainder are “wandering visitors” who enter the museum serendipitously. The average number of attendees for each Saturday during this time is estimated at 12,825 visitors.

Based on the experiences of relevant institutions, about 50% of all visitors will come to the NMAAHC during a Design Day over a four-hour period. The potential for bottlenecking and crowds is highest during this time. Preserving a positive visitor experience will be particularly critical. In the busiest time of a Design Day, 6,413 visitors will be visiting the NMAAHC at once.

Taking into account current estimates for public space (both in the galleries and in other areas where visitors converge) informs our understanding of crowds and density during this span of time. Currently, public non-collections space (Zone A) is estimated at 35,775 sf. Public collections space (Zone B) is estimated to be 101,300 sf. Discounting 50% of gallery space that will be occupied with exhibits, the net square footage for all public space is 86,425 sf. Assignable square footage of public space per visitor for the busiest time of a Design Day is 13.54, assuming that visitors are perfectly spaced out across public areas.

When this figure is compared with typically crowded areas, such as the lobby outside of an auditorium at intermission (10 net sf per visitor), it is clear that visitors will feel crowded given present public space allotment. On average, a comfortable space affords visitors 15–20 net sf each.

This indicates a need for over 125,000 sf of public space to achieve a comfortable level of density (15–20 sf/visitor, excluding exhibits). In lieu of added public space, it is, therefore, crucial for the NMAAHC to consider operations solutions that will help to meet the 2.5 million annual visitor demand.

On Peak Days (those Saturdays during the busiest months of the year, in April and July), the NMAAHC would welcome 20,625 visitors, or over 10,000 visitors in the building at once. Clearly, on those days, the museum will be even more crowded.

Using the ratio of 20 net sf per visitor, the number of people who can be accommodated in 86,425 asf at one time is approximately 4,321, assuming that the theater and educational spaces are fully utilized. Using 15 asf per visitor, that number increases to 5,762.

To avoid overcrowding on a Design Day, attendance would need to be reduced by approximately 10–33%. On Peak Days, between 44% and 58% of potential visitors are likely to be turned away. Crowd-management tools will need to be implemented effectively (this is discussed in detail below). More research is needed to understand the qualities of destination vs. wandering visitors.

CROWD-MANAGEMENT TOOLS

As mentioned previously in this report, present visitation estimates depend on crowd-management strategies, including inviting building and exhibit designs that maximize public space and are free of bottlenecks.

Crowd management is an issue that several popular museums have had to consider. In its first year, the USHMM was overwhelmed by the numbers of museum-goers intent on visiting its permanent exhibition. Lines wound around the perimeter of the building. People either waited hours to enter or opted out of visiting altogether. The museum had to consider serious measures to manage the over-capacity crowds. It implemented a timed-ticketing system to manage exhibition density. Many of those tickets were reserved in advance, either online or over the phone. Additionally, the museum began to offer a limited number of sameday passes that were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis every morning.

In considering this and other experiences of relevant institutions, as well as the expected draw of the NMAAHC, different strategies must be considered to accommodate the public in limited space.

The following strategies are recommended:

Design Solutions

•

•

•

Architectural and exhibition designs that prioritize visitor flow to avoid bottlenecks.

Adjusting the grossing factor to allow for more public space.

Moving additional functions off-site to maximize public space in museum building.

• demand for added amenities on the National Mall.

Building additional public space, possibly in coordination with the NPS, in response to public

Operational Solutions

•

Free timed tickets available on the Internet and on-site (at kiosks and in the lobby).

• and times.

•

•

Increased Visitor Services staff to ensure a positive visitor experience despite crowded days

Extended hours to spread crowds out over more time.

Programmed outdoor spaces that encourage gathering and entertain queues.

Summary of Key Calculations

The following estimates are the summary of analyses described throughout this report.

The attendance estimate for a steady state (Year 3) is 2.5 million visitors. This will be 20% higher in the opening year, at 3,000,000. By Year 5, attendance is estimated to total 2.55 million.

Monthly attendance will range between 106,891 and 344,000; the highest attendance will occur during April and July. The average monthly attendance will be 208,333.

The busiest day of the week will be Saturday, with nearly one-quarter (24%) of all visitors coming that day. Indeed, over 40% will likely attend over the weekend.

Table 21: Monthly Attendance Projections for the NMAAHC

Source: Smithsonian Institution, Office of Protective Services, Visitor Counts 2007

Table 22: Daily Attendance Projections for the NMAAHC

All Smithsonian Museums for FY07

17

14

5

10

14

15

24 Weekend 41

Adults and school groups will make up 45% and 20% of total attendance, respectively. Destination visitors will make up 90% of all attendance; wandering visitors will make up the remaining 10%.

Table 23: Attendance Projections for Visitor Categories

Design Day estimates for density currently stand at 13.15 net sf of public space per visitor- with Crowdmanagement strategies will, in all probability, be necessary to preserve a positive visitor experience.

Finally, the NMAAHC’s attendance will be a composite of multiple groups reflecting various characteristics uniquely tied to this institution, including geography, race/ethnicity, and Mall visitation.

Table 24: Museum Acronyms

Index of Museum Acronyms

HMSG Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

JANM Japanese American National Museum

MoMA Museum of Modern Art

NASM National Air and Space Museum

NMAAHC National Museum of African American History and Culture

NMAfA National Museum of African Art

NMAH National Museum of American History

NMAI National Museum of the American Indian

NMNH National Museum of Natural History

NPG National Portrait Gallery

RFL Museum Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture

SI Smithsonian Institutions

USHMM United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Introduction

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As part of audience research in support of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), the Institute for Learning Innovation conducted a comprehensive study that includes three main components:

1. A study of visitors to four museums on the National Mall;

2. A study of visitors to African American-related exhibits and events, including the National Portrait Gallery exhibitions “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” and “RECOGNIZE! Hip-Hop and Contemporary Portraiture,” and African American Family Day at the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC; and

3. A study of visitors to two African American-related museums: including the RFL Museum and the Great Blacks in Wax Museum both in Baltimore.

EVALUATION FOCUS

The purpose of the front-end evaluation is to document the attitudes, perceptions, and interest levels of a broad range of museum-goers, both African American and non-African American, in relation to the NMAAHC. The key questions of the front-end audience research are as follows:

1.

How do visitors make choices on the National Mall about where to visit?

How do audiences perceive African American history and culture, and what is their relationship to 2. it?

What interest and knowledge do audiences have in topics related to African American history and 3. culture?

How interested are audiences in visiting the NMAAHC? 4.

METHODS

All the interviews were conducted in much the same manner. Researchers collected data on both weekends and weekdays, and in the morning and afternoons. Data were entered into a Microsoft® Excel database, coded, and analyzed using the statistical analysis software SPSS 15.0.

NATIONAL MALL

Researchers used random sampling methods to conduct semi-structured, face-to-face exit interviews with visitors at four sites on the National Mall: the NASM; the NMNH; the NMAI; and the NMAfA. Exit interviews combined closed, open, and scaled questions to capture information about choices visitors make on the National Mall, their perceptions and interest related to the NMAAHC, and a variety of demographics and psychographics (see Appendix A for instrument and protocol). All interviews were conducted between March and June 2008.

NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY AND NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK

Researchers conducted semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with visitors as they exited one of two African American-related exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) : 1) “Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” and 2) “RECOGNIZE: Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture.” Visitors were approached using a random sampling method, in order to capture a representative sample of visitors attending the two exhibitions. The interview protocol1 included open, closed, and scaled questions designed to gather information about visitors’ perceptions, interests, and attitudes regarding African American history and culture, their expectations and motivations for visiting a national museum on African American history and culture, and demographic information including age, gender, racial/ethnic identity, residence, and museum-visitation habits. All data were collected in February 2008.

Data from National Zoological Park visitors were collected on African American Family Day, March 24, 2008.2 Researchers conducted semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with visitors using a purposive sampling method in order to specifically document perspectives from the African American community. Visitors who were entering or exiting the African American Family Day festival area and/or appeared to be African American were approached. The interview protocol for the National Zoological Park study was similar to that used at the NPG, except for questions related directly to the museum exhibits. In addition, in order to refine the instrument based on the NPG results, two open-ended questions were added to the protocol to offer a better sense of how visitors might personally connect to African American history and culture and what elements would make them feel most comfortable and provide a sense of belonging at the museum. Also, several more specific topics were added to the interest scales, and a knowledge scale was added for all of the topics, to offer more detailed data than that elicited by the original instrument.3

AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUMS

In this portion of the study, exit interviews were conducted at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture and the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, both located in Baltimore. Researchers used a random sampling method to collect a total of 100 interviews. The interviews focused on respondents’ perceptions, interest, and knowledge related to the NMAAHC, as well as a variety of demographics and psychographics.4 All interviews were collected in April and May 2008. Researchers collected on both weekends and weekdays, and in the morning and afternoons. Data were then entered into a Microsoft® Excel database, coded, and analyzed using SPSS 15.0 software.

1 See Volume VI: Audience Research Appendices.

2 African American Family Day fell on the Monday after Easter.

3 See Volume VI: Audience Research Appendices.

4 See Volume VI: Appendices for instrument and protocol.

Summary of Findings

Findings from this audience research study are based on data analysis from all three sub-studies: National Portrait Gallery/National Zoological Park; National Mall; and African American-related museums.

A broad range of audiences (including African American, White, Latino(a), Asian, Native American,

and Other Minorities, Mixed Races, or Other) demonstrated a moderate to high level of interest in visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). African American audiences, whether sampled in Washington, DC, or Baltimore, MD, were significantly more likely to be interested in visiting the NMAAHC, however, than were other groups. It is likely, as would be expected, that African Americans will serve as the core, most committed audience of the NMAAHC, yet other racial/ethnic groups demonstrated enough interest in the museum and its likely featured topics and themes to build upon.

Audiences report more interest than knowledge in a variety of African American-related topics. This • is ideal for any educational institution, because it suggests that audiences will be highly motivated to come to the museum and learn more about topics they are already interested in.

The most frequently identified associations with African American history and culture included

broad, “mainstream” topics, such as slavery, the slave trade, the Civil Rights Movement, famous individuals (e.g., Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington), and music/entertainment. However, non-African Americans were more likely to make these associations, while African Americans were more likely than other groups to focus on the contributions and successes of African Americans, struggles and injustices, lesser-known individuals and events of history, and positive attributes of African American culture, which indicates a more sophisticated and nuanced interest.

African Americans were also more likely than other groups to want to see and learn about • contributions and achievements of African Americans, the “untold” stories of history, connections to Africa and African culture, and uncomfortable or difficult issues, such as racism, discrimination, and lynching. Together, these results indicate that African Americans, in particular, desire to move beyond the “obvious” aspects and well-known individuals in African American history, and to emphasize the positive while not ignoring the more difficult issues of injustice and discrimination.

Groups were able to find some personal connections to African American history and culture;

however, a relatively high number of non-African Americans felt they could not relate at all or find any connections to African American history and culture. For those who did articulate a connection, the tendency was to focus on the Civil Rights Movement, injustices, and racism—often relaying a personal or family experience connected to these issues. This suggests some strong potential entry points for visitors of all backgrounds, although the connections were certainly stronger among African Americans in the study.

While some visitors found it difficult to articulate what might turn them off to the NMAAHC (or,

alternately, what would make them feel welcome and comfortable), there was some indication that the museum needs to convey a balanced view, including multiple sides and perspectives; to embed African American history within broader American history and make connections to other racial/ethnic groups; to include uncomfortable/controversial issues, but be sensitive that some visitors are not open to addressing those issues; and, particularly for African American visitors, the NMAAHC needs to convey “the whole story”—that is, to present what is perceived as an honest, accurate, truthful portrayal of African American history and culture. Some suggested this could be accomplished by presenting content from an African American perspective (“in their own voice”), and to avoid including too much of a “White” perspective.

Across the board, few differences were found between the attitudes, perceptions, and interest • levels of Whites and non-African American Minority/Mixed Race groups. While the sample size of the latter group was significantly lower than for Whites, there is evidence that these groups are not fundamentally different in regards to the NMAAHC. More data would be needed to further explore this hypothesis. On the other hand, there were many significant differences between the attitudes, perceptions, interest levels, and knowledge of African Americans compared to all other groups.

Combining data on general visitation decisions for the National Mall with specific interest levels • of respondents in visiting the NMAAHC suggests that many African American visitors will include the NMAAHC in their choice; that a smaller number of other ethnic/racial identity groups will do so; and that visitation will likely spill over from the NAHM, nearby memorials, the White House, and the NMAfA. The fact that the National Museum of American History was closed during the implementation of this study was unfortunate: as a neighboring institution with some thematic overlap it would have been important to gauge interest levels of visitors to this museum in visiting the NMAAHC. We recommend that such a study be done specifically with visitors to NMAH once the museum reopens, and that the findings from that subsequent study be used to amend this report.

Results and Discussion

DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLES

A total of 470 visitors were interviewed at eight sites (see table 1). The majority were interviewed at the NMAI, followed by the NPG, the NMNH, the NMAfrA, all in Washington, DC, the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, the RFL Museum, both in Baltimore, MD, and the NASM, and the National Zoological Park both located in Baltimore, MD.

Table 1: Data Collection Sample Sizes by Site

Table 2 summarizes sample characteristics by site. Across all eight sites, 43% of visitors identified themselves as Black or African American, 48% as White or Caucasian, and 13% identified as either Hispanic/Latino(a), Asian or Pacific Islander, or Other.5 The random sampling at the NMAfA yielded 49% African Americans,6 in contrast to 7–8% at the other National Mall sites. The majority of visitors interviewed (60%) were female, which is representative of museum visitorship more broadly. Almost half (45%) of the visitors interviewed were Baby Boomers (between the ages of 43 and 62), followed by 23% in Generation Y (between the ages of 16 and 31), 21% in Generation X (between the ages of 32 and 42), and 11% in the pre-Baby Boomers’ generation (63 years of age or older).

More than half (57%) of visitors were tourists from out-of-state; 19% were local, defined as within the beltway; another 19% were from the greater Washington, DC, area; and 5% were from another country.7 However, there were some differences based on race/ethnicity. The majority of Whites (68%) and Other Minorities8 (60%) were from out-of-state, while only 44% of African Americans were visiting from out-ofstate. Alternately, African Americans had larger representation from the local area (30%) and the greater DC area (26%) when compared with the other ethnic/racial groups.

As is typical for most museums, the level of education was relatively high among survey participants. More than one-third of those interviewed (35%) held a graduate degree; another third (36%) held a bachelor’s degree; 17% had a community college or associate’s degree; and just 13%, held a high school degree or less.

5 For analysis purposes, three groups were created: 1) African Americans, for visitors who selected only the African American ethnicity/race option; 2) Whites, for visitors who selected only the White option; and 3) Other Minorities, which include non-African American minorities, Hispanic or Latino(a), Asian or Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American, as well as visitors who selected more than one ethnic group.

6 Throughout the Audience Research Report, the term “African American” is used for respondents who identified themselves as Black of African American.

7 For the Great Blacks in Wax and Reginald F. Lewis Museum, both located in Baltimore, MD, local was defined as “within the city of Baltimore.” Other categories retained the same meaning.

8 Throughout the Audience Research Report, “Other Minorities” refer to non-African American minorities and those of mixed ethnicity.

Table 2: Sample Characteristics by Site

(nonneighboring; does not include Maryland and Virginia)

Another Country

* For the two Baltimore museums, “local” was defined as being from the Baltimore area; other categories remained the same.

Table 3 shows that interviewees could generally be defined as moderate to frequent museum-goers. The vast majority (80%) had been to a Smithsonian Institution museum before that day. Of that group, about one-third (36%) had been at least 4–5 times in the past five years; 25% had visited 2–3 times; and 39% had been just once or had not been to a Smithsonian Institution museum at all in the past five years. Whites were slightly more likely to have been to a Smithsonian Institution before, with 84% saying yes, compared to 79% of African Americans and 70% of Other Minorities. However, for those who had been to a Smithsonian in the past, the percentage of frequent visitors remained similar across ethnic groups. African Americans were slightly less frequent Smithsonian Institution visitors than were Whites and Other Minorities (45% of African Americans reported not visiting a Smithsonian Institution museum before or visiting only once, as opposed to 34% of Whites and 40% of Other Minorities).

Almost one–third of the visitors (31%) had traveled to other (non-Smithsonian) museums at least 4–5 times in the last year; 33% had visited 2–3 times; and 36% had visited a museum once or not visited a museum at all in the last year. African Americans in our samples tended to be less frequent museum visitors than Whites and Other Minorities: 48% of African Americans did not visit a museum in the past year or visited only once, as opposed to 24% of Whites and 39% of Other Minorities.

Table 3: Museum visitation habits by ethnicity

Have you been to a Smithsonian museum before?

If yes… How often have you been to a SI museum in the past five years?

How often have you visited a museum in general last year?

or More Times

*The number of cases in the ethnicity groups does not add to the total due to missing data in the ethnicity variable.

Based on a closed-ended list of Smithsonian sites, visitors selected which of those sites they had been to in the past. Table 4 shows that the most commonly visited sites were the NASM, visited by 84% of those who had been to a Smithsonian Institution before; the NMNH(70%); the National Zoological Park (63%); and the NMAH (61%). 9 Least visited were the National Postal Museum (16%), the Anacostia Community Museum (12%), and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York (7%). When analyzed by self-reported race/ethnicity, data showed that African Americans were far more likely to have visited the Anacostia Community Museum (23%, compared to 5% of Whites and 5% of Other Minorities) and the NMAfA (64%, compared to 22% and 29%, respectively); while Whites were more likely to have visited the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art, HMSG Museum and Sculpture Garden, NASM, NMAI, NMNH, and the NPG. These findings confirm that Smithsonian museums with African American themes are visited by a higher percentage of African Americans than are Smithsonian museums with non-African American themes.

and Sackler Galleries of

Notes: Total equals more than 100% because individuals gave multiple responses; the number of cases in the ethnicity groups does not add up to the total due to missing data in the ethnicity variable; percentages were calculated based on visitors who had been to a Smithsonian Museum before, which is why the total N is lower than the overall sample.

9 The numbers for NASM, NMNH, and the National Zoo may be inflated, as some visitors may have included the

visit to these sites, even though they were instructed not to.

Table 4: Smithsonian Museums Previously Visited by Ethnicity

HOW DO VISITORS MAKE CHOICES ON THE NATIONAL MALL ABOUT WHERE TO VISIT?

All results reported in this section are drawn from the National Mall study, which included data collection at the NMAI, NMNH, NASM, and NMAfA. Researchers first sought information about other National Mall sites respondents visited that day (see tables 5 and 6). When corrected for data-collection site bias, results showed that among the most common sites visited were NMNH and NASM, along with the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol Building, and Smithsonian Castle. Least visited were the NMAfA, NPG, American Art Museum, International Spy Museum, National Postal Museum, and the Reflecting Pool.

Table 5: Where Visitors Had Been So Far That Day Prior to Being Interviewed (Corrected for Data Collection Site Bias)

a Frequencies for Freer and Sackler are positively skewed because of data collection conducted at NMAfA, which is often visited in conjunction with the Freer and Sackler.

Researchers also asked visitors where else they planned to go that day. While intention to visit a site is not a perfectly reliable indicator of actual behavior, these data offer some gauge of what sites are of most interest to visitors who come to the National Mall. More than one-third of the visitors interviewed on the National Mall (34%,) indicated that they had no specific plans yet, suggesting that a fair number of visitors are open to making choices throughout the day. Though the frequencies are falsely lowered for the four data collection sites (as visitors had already been to at least one of the four sites so would naturally not include those in their plans), the highest percentage of visitors said that they planned to visit NASM (13%). Other common choices included the National Gallery of Art (9%), NMNH (9%), and the US Botanic Garden (6%), likely because of those institutions’ proximity to the NMAI data-collection site (see table 7).

Table 6: Where Visitors Had Been So Far That Day by Data Collection Site

Table 7: Where Else Visitors Planned to Go the Day of the Interview

*Note that frequencies for the three data collection sites are skewed towards the low end because visitors interviewed had already been to at least one of those three sites

Table 8: Correlation Among Choices of Pre-Interview Visits

Note: Only correlations that were significant at the 0.05 level or below are reported. Only sites with ten or more visits were included.

Visitation-Correlation Analysis

In order to more deeply understand the choices that visitors make on the National Mall, a Kendell’s tau_b nonparametric test was used to intercorrelate the choices made by visitors about their visit on the Mall and adjacent environments thus far that day at the time. In tables 8 and 9, only correlation coefficients are listed where the probability is less than 5%10 and at least 10 respondents stated that they had visited.

Proximity and similarity of institution type were the main factors that influenced how visitors’ choices for venues already visited at the time of the interview are correlated. That is, visitors attending more than one site were more likely to choose a cluster of sites in a given location on the Mall and/or based on the type of institution or thematic focus. For example, visits to the various memorials correlate strongly, suggesting that Mall visitors who travel to one memorial are also likely to travel to another one in the vicinity that day. Art museums in close proximity are also more likely to be visited together (the NMAfA correlates with the nearby Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art and the HMSG).

Note: Numbers represent correlation coefficients with the factor, also called factor loads. Only those higher than 0.3 are reported. The higher the factor load, the more a visit to the site is represented by this factor.

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. Rotation converged in 5 iterations. Only sites with ten or more visitors were included.

10 A probability value of less than 5% indicates that the assumed difference between groups would be correct 95% of the time. This is the standard measure of statistical significance in social science research.

Table 9: Factors That Explain Visit Choices (Principal Component Factor Analysis)

Specifically, visitors to the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art preferred other art museums, particularly other ethnic art museums (like the nearby NMAfA), but were less likely than expected to visit the NMAI. Conversely, visits to the NMAI correlated positively with the nearby US Botanic Garden, but negatively with the museums that feature ethnic art, or with the NMNH. Visits to the HMSG were correlated with those to the Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art (thematic proximity), but also to the nearby NASM (location proximity). Visits to NASM are somewhat independent of other site visits, though proximity to nearby art museums ensures some spillover. However, this is not true for art museums with an ethnic orientation (NMAfA, Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art). Visits to the National Gallery of Art only correlated with those to the nearby NASM, a sign of proximity spillover. Proximity also seems to determine visits connected to the Capitol and the US Botanic Garden.

The popular NMNH correlated negatively with the NMAI, which may indicate a choice in some National Mall visitors between two museums that feature ethnology/cultural anthropology. It also correlated negatively with the other natural science museum, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and with the NMAfA.

Table 9 represents the results of a factor analysis on the choices of visit sites for that day so far. The factor analysis uses the correlation results from those in table 8 to create new artificial variables (components) that link the various sites and thus potentially explain the underlying connections between the visitation of these sites. The numbers reported in the table represent correlation coefficients with a factor, also called factor loads. The higher the factor load (the number reported in the table), the more a visit to the site is represented by this factor. While the results are indicative only, the resulting five explanatory factors, or principle components, confirm the trends in table 8. It is important to remember only sites with more than ten visitors were included. The strongest set of variables that explains choices (Factor 1) are the memorials. That is, visiting one of the memorials on the National Mall is strongly linked with visits to other memorials and weakly linked with a visit to the White House. The Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art and NMAfA museums are linked through the subject of ethnic art and proximity (Factor 2). The NMAI and NMNH “load” somewhat negatively on this second factor, indicating that Mall visitors with interest in ethnic art do not show strong interest in natural history (not a surprise) or American Indian culture (which is somewhat surprising). Factor 3 provides a choice between the NMAI and the NMNH—these two seem mutually exclusive of one another. Factors 4 and 5 represent the power of proximity again in the choices of National Mall visitors; Factor 4 suggests a connection between the US Botanic Garden and the neighboring Capitol Building, and Factor 5 may indicate a pattern of visiting NMAS, the HMSG, and the National Gallery of Art located across the width of the National Mall (it is likely that the two art museums are independently linked to one another, and that proximity forced NMAS on the factor). In sum, thematic overlap and proximity are the two main factors that seem to link visitation decisions by mall visitors.

Researchers also probed respondents on how they made their plans for the day and what, if anything, may have changed after visitors arrived at the National Mall. The majority of visitors interviewed (71%) indicated that they had decided on which sites to visit in advance of arriving at the National Mall, while 29% said they had not decided in advance (tables 10, 11 and 12). Almost one-third of those visitors (30%) indicated that their plans, whether decided in advance or once they arrived on the National Mall, had changed in some way, while 70% indicated that their plans had not changed thus far. These data suggest that a large proportion of visitors to the National Mall stick to their original visit plans, whether decided in advance of the visit or once they arrive; however, some are open to straying from their original plans, or other factors may cause visitors to make different choices once they arrive on the National Mall.

When asked in what ways their plans changed, almost one-quarter of visitors who stated that their plans had already changed (24%) noted that they had skipped a site they had planned to visit. Another quarter (25%) added a site that they had not originally intended to visit; and 12% “swapped” sites—that is, they exchanged one site for another. In addition to the closed-ended responses, visitors gave a variety of reasons for why their plans had changed. Fifteen percent indicated that the original attraction they wanted to visit was closed

(most likely the NAHM); and another 13% said they made a spontaneous decision to visit a site they had not planned to see. Ten percent changed plans because their original choice of site was too crowded, and another 11% changed plans due to weather.

Table 10: When Visitors Made Plans for the Visit

Decided in advance of visit what sights to visit that day

Did not decide on what sights to see in advance of the visit that day

Table 11: Whether or Not Visitors Had Made Changes to Their Plans at Time of Interview

made changes to their plans at time of interview

made some change to their plans at time of interview

Table 12: How and Why Visitors’ Plans Changed

How plans changed Skipped a site, didn't stay, or left earlier than planned

(includes mixed up locations, got lost, site is closer or farther away)

(includes arrived too late, original attraction advertised the new one or was costly, original plan took more time than anticipated, had more time available)

unintelligible

Table 13: Visitor Choices to Visit New Museums on the National Mall

Impact of the NMAAHC on Visitor Choices

In order to understand how the presence of the NMAAHC might affect the choices that visitors make on the National Mall, researchers asked respondents to consider three “new” museums (two of which were fabricated for the purposes of this study to reduce reactivity). More than one third of the visitors interviewed (34%) said they would visit the NMAAHC that day if it were available as an option (either by swapping with another site or adding the museum to their planned agenda), which indicates a relatively high interest in visiting the NMAAHC. Sixteen percent said they would visit another day on the same trip, suggesting a moderate amount of commitment to visiting. About half of the visitors, however, did not show a great deal of interest in the NMAAHC. One-quarter (23%) suggested that they would visit the museum on a future trip to Washington, DC, which indicates a fairly minimal amount of interest in actually visiting the site; and another quarter of the visitors (26%) indicated that they were not likely to visit the NMAAHC at all.

This pattern of intentionality was almost identical to that seen for the fictitious Museum of Technology and Innovation. Visitors interviewed were less likely to say they would visit the fictitious Museum of Musical Instruments, with only 23% saying they would visit that day, and 59% indicating they would visit on a future trip or not at all.

of Musical Instruments (n=40) (n=165) (n=41) (n=264)

Table 14: Visitor Choices to See New Museums on the National Mall (By Race/Ethnicity)

Table 14 shows that some differences emerged, however, when these data were analyzed by race/ethnicity. African American visitors were far more likely to suggest they would visit the NMAAHC that day (76% compared to 25% for Whites and 32% for Other Minority groups). In contrast to about one-third of Caucasian/Whites and Other Minorities who stated they would not likely visit the NMAAHC at all, no one in the African American sample did. This finding suggests a strong interest on the part of the African American community, and moderate interest from other ethnic/racial groups. There was only slightly higher interest in the NMAAHC among non-African American minorities than among Whites. Overall, Whites were about equally interested in all three “new” museums, with their highest interest in the Museum of Technology and Innovation (33% said they would visit that day, compared to 24% for the NMAAHC and 23% for the Musical Instrument Museum). Other Minorities were by far most interested in visiting the Museum of Technology and Innovation, with 52% suggesting they would visit that day.

Overall, visitation data suggest that proximity and thematic orientation determine visitor choices on the National Mall. Some of these choices are flexible; that is, visitors will add or swap to a degree when informed about new opportunities, but they are more likely to stick to plans they make in advance of coming to the National Mall or once they arrive in the area. Interest in a national museum of African American history and culture is moderate for non-African American visitors on the National Mall, while interest in the museum is extremely high for African American visitors to the National Mall.

HOW DO AUDIENCES PERCEIVE AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, AND WHAT IS THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO IT?

Results in this section are based on data from all three phases of the study and all eight data-collection sites. A key objective of the audience research was to document and understand the ways in which museum-goers (both African American and non-African American) perceive and relate to topics of African American history and culture.

Based on open-ended data, by far the most frequent association with African American history and culture was slavery, with nearly half (44%) of respondents mentioning slavery or the slave trade (see table 15). Following are some quotes that help illustrate this finding:

What • happened in the beginning—brought to the US by force, became part of the US. The history of their life, what happened growing up to now, what’s the story? (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, Caucasian).

Slavery • , of course…then more current history (Baby Boomer [43–62], female, Mixed Race).

• [43–62], male, ethnicity not mentioned).

[I would] expect to see slave quarters, artifacts from the people who came over (Baby Boomer

Respondents also strongly associated African American history and culture with art, crafts, music, and entertainment (30%). These responses included general references to “music,” “art” or “crafts,” as well as specific references to musicians or authors, musical genres (such as jazz, blues, and hip hop), and the Harlem Renaissance. Following are a couple of representative quotes:

A • lot of sculpture, paintings, crafts, music, culture (Generation Y [16–31], male, Mixed Race).

Music • , jazz, great time Dixieland (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, Caucasian).

Table 15: Respondents’ Perceptions of the Term “African American History and Culture”

Question: What comes to mind when you hear the term “African American history and culture”?

Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington)

Twenty percent of respondents (n=92) mentioned a connection to Africa, African culture and traditions, tribes and/or origins and ancestry of African Americans. These respondents suggested that a link to Africa and African cultural traditions, heritage, and genealogy is an integral part of African American history and culture, as the following quotes help illustrate:

Tribes • from Africa and what they brought over here, what has continued, traditions like singing, dancing, foods (Generation X [32–42], male, Caucasian).

Needs • to be a museum to show African Americans’ connection to heritage, to reconnect to wisdom, and [knowledge] has been eradicated, good for Americans to see what’s been systematically cut off (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, Native American).

Other common associations with African American history and culture included the Civil Rights Movement and leaders (17%); contributions, successes, and achievements of African Americans (20%); famous individuals, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, and others (14%), and struggles, injustice, and discrimination (13%).11

Differences in Perception of African American History and Culture (by Race/Ethnicity)

When analyzed by race/ethnicity, a few interesting trends emerged. Non-African Americans (Whites, Latinos/Latinas, Asians, Mixed, and Other) were much more likely to mention art, music, or entertainment when asked to think about African American history and culture. They were also more likely to mention slavery, the Civil War, and well-known individuals. This is not surprising, as these are the topics most commonly addressed in both formal education and informal learning contexts (museums, books, television, and other media). African Americans, on the other hand, were more likely to focus on the contributions, successes, and achievements of African Americans; lesser known people and events, or the “untold” stories; and positive attributes of African American culture, such as strength, pride, and perseverance.

Connections to African American History and Culture

In order to better understand possible points of entry for visitors to the NMAAHC, researchers asked respondents to reflect upon which aspects of African American history and culture they personally relate to the most (see table 16). Some respondents answered in terms of the extent of their connection or relationship to African American history and culture.

Fifteen percent of those interviewed said they did not connect at all to anything related to African American history or culture, with some asserting that this was “not their culture” and thus they could not relate to it in any way. A much smaller number (5%) also commented that they did not feel connected to African American topics personally, but were interested in learning more about them and/or supported the existence of a museum devoted to African American history and culture.

11

Some respondents noted a content or topic area that they connected to the most. Almost one-quarter of the respondents (24%) related most to art, music, entertainment, or pop culture—either a genre, such as jazz or hip-hop, or a specific artist or musician. The following quotes from respondents help illustrate this finding:

• performing arts (Generation X [32–42], male, Mixed Ethnicity).

Definitely music would be one of them, because [it’s] interesting, they contribute a lot in music and

• today’s society (Generation X [32–42], male, Caucasian)

Music, some of the artistic expression, art, because I listen to hip hop, [it has a] big impact on

Music, I live down in Louisiana, jazz and [how] it influenced all of our music (Baby Boomer [43-62], • female, Caucasian).

Another common point of connection was the Civil Rights Era and the politics of the 1960s, which was mentioned by 15% (n=50) of respondents. Of those, more than half (57%) relayed a personal experience with this era, such as growing up during that time, “living through it,” or participating in some way. Following are a few representative comments that exemplify this point:

Civil Rights Movement because I lived through it and grew up in it. I was a kid in the same way my

• Dad’s generation feels about WWII, having lived through it, you can place yourself into that history (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, Latino).

• Learned about it in school (Generation X [32–42], female, Caucasian).

The Civil Rights Movement, connecting—growing up hearing about it and changes that happened.

• in Chicago. The 1960s, we saw Chicago burning (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, Caucasian).

The Civil Rights Movement, the ’60s. I taught in all-black schools in my first four years of teaching

• (Baby Boomer [43–62], female, African American).

The struggle—the civil rights struggle. I was a part of it—I was the first black in my class at school.

Fourteen percent felt connected through issues of injustice, prejudice, and racism, often through a very personal experience. In fact, 60% of these responses were couched in terms of a personal and/or family experience, as the following quotes suggest:

• high school (Baby Boomer [43-62], female, Caucasian).

I was born in the 50s—the whole segregation thing, not having black kids in school until I was in

• at a university and there is still a sense of it (prejudice) there with all the different races (Baby Boomer [43-62], female, African American).

I’ve experienced prejudice in the workplace and in stores and I still have a problem with that. I work

• African American).

Lynching; Martin Luther King, Jr.; it all influenced [my] childhood (Baby Boomer [43-62], female,

Table

16:

Aspects of African American History and Culture that Visitors Relate to Most

Question: Which aspects of African American history and culture, if any, do you feel you relate to most? Why?

The number of cases in the ethnicity groups does not add up to the total due to missing data in the ethnicity variable. Totals exceed 100% because respondents gave multiple responses to this question.

Differences in Connection to African American History and Culture (Based on Race/Ethnicity)

A few notable trends emerged when responses were analyzed by race/ethnicity. Not surprisingly, none of the African American respondents felt that they could not relate to any aspect of African American culture; while about one-quarter of both Whites (25%) and Other Minority/Mixed Ethnicity respondents (24%) gave this response. Similarly, African Americans were much more likely than the other two groups to say that they connected to all aspects of African American history and culture (13%, compared to 1% for Whites and 5% for Other Minorities). Interestingly, all three groups were equally likely to relay a personal connection or experience related to African American history and culture, although African Americans were more likely to say they related through a family member’s experience, such as their relatives having experienced racism, segregation, or slavery. In terms of content, all groups were equally likely to say they connected through arts, music, entertainment, or pop culture (21% of African Americans; 23% of Whites; and 22% of Other Minorities). On the other hand, African Americans were slightly more likely to say they connected most through the Civil Rights Movement (18%) than did Whites (14%) and Minorities/Mixed Ethnicity respondents (10%), although the difference was minor in scale; however, African Americans were considerably more likely to relate to successful African American individuals (16%) than were the two other groups (3% and 4%, respectively).

Data also suggested some similarities between African Americans and Other Minorities groups.12 For example, both groups were more likely than Whites to mention connecting through issues of injustice, racism, and violence (19% and 15%, respectively, compared to 10% of Whites). These two groups were also more likely to mention the idea of overcoming struggles as a point of connection (11% and 12%, respectively, compared to 4% of Whites). Finally, one-fifth (20%) of Other Minorities respondents said they related to African American culture because they themselves were a minority or immigrant, or felt they had similar experiences to African Americans in this country, while only 7% of Whites gave this response.

WHAT INTEREST AND KNOWLEDGE DO AUDIENCES HAVE IN TOPICS RELATED TO AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE?

Interest: Open-Ended Responses

Using open-ended prompts, researchers asked respondents what they would most be interested in seeing, experiencing, or learning at the NMAAHC. (Note that while there was some overlap in respondents’ associations with African American history and culture and what they were interested in learning about, these questions were analyzed separately). Responses included content topics, interpretative approaches, and overall experience or “frameworks” (see table 17).

In terms of content, one-fifth (20%) of the respondents were interested in seeing or learning about the successes, achievements, and contributions of African Americans, as well as the progress that African Americans have made in this country. The following quotes help illustrate this trend:

[I’m interested in] the innovations and inventions that African Americans contributed because many • people are not highlighted in history (Baby Boomer [43–62], male).

The impact of black leaders on America…because [it is] important for young people, even for • myself, to understand more about them (Generation X [32–42], male, African American).

• female, African American).

Individuals and our contribution to this country from the 1600s forward (Baby Boomer [43–62],

12 As the sample sizes for Other Minorities groups is much smaller than for African Americans, these results should be interpreted with some caution. Further research would be needed to see if these trends bear out in the larger population.

Many respondents (18%) also expressed interest in seeing the museum feature people, events, and/or accomplishments not typically included in textbooks or other “standard” versions of history. These individuals wanted the museum to move beyond the obvious and well-known stories, and delve deeper into unknown or little-told aspects of African American history and culture. Following are some representative comments to illustrate this point:

Little-known history of African Americans…important figures many Americans aren’t familiar with

(Generation X [32–42], female, Caucasian).

Love to see some of the people and events that took place behind the scenes and how they helped

the famous people that we know about. A room full of successful African Americans for the young people to see, other than the sports and entertainment figures (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, African American).

See more about accomplishments from African Americans that aren’t as well known as Martin

Luther King, Madame CJ Walker, and Malcolm X (Generation Y [16–31], female, African American).

Another 18% of respondents expressed interest in seeing connections to Africa and African culture. These individuals suggested that they wanted the museum to feature aspects of African culture and tribes before coming to the US, and to highlight links between African and African American history and culture, including genealogical roots and origins. The following quotes help illustrate this point:

You always hear about slavery…I want to know what tribes they were, what part of Africa they were

from, like their roots…different shades of black people, eventually see some genetic differences that have resulted from different tribes (Baby Boomer [43–62], female, Mixed Race).

About our ancestry—way before slavery all the way through (to the present) (Baby Boomer [43–

62], male, African American).

A lot of DNA analysis—what tribes different communities came from (Baby boomer [43-62], male,

Caucasian).

Different tribes and masks, dance, the quilts they used to make (Baby Boomer [43–62], male,

Caucasian).

While many respondents associated African American history with slavery, many also wanted the NMAAHC to feature slavery in its exhibitions (15%). Following are several representative comments:

[I am] interested in learning about the slave quarters. I’d like to know how slaves lived. I would

like to experience those conditions where the visitor could actually see how the workers lived (Generation X [32–42], female, Caucasian).

Exhibits about the Middle Passage—I have done research and would like to educate the youth • about the journey (Generation X [32–42], female, African American).

Would like visitors to see how inhumane the Middle Passage was. Most interested in the

experience. Would like to see a recreated environment (similar to the Holocaust Museum) for visitors to experience conditions that slaves lived through (Baby Boomer [43–62], female, Caucasian).

How the slave trade happened (Pre-Baby Boomer [63 and older], female, Caucasian). •

Table 17: What Visitors Would Personally Like to See, Experience, or Learn at the NMAAHC

Question: What would you personally like to see, experience, or learn at a national museum here on the Mall that features African American history and culture? Why? African

Notes: The number of cases in the ethnicity groups does not add up to the total due to missing data in the ethnicity variable. Totals exceed 100% because respondents gave multiple responses to this question.

Some respondents focused on the types of interpretive experiences or components they would like to see in the museum. For example, almost one-fifth (17%) wanted the museum to include interactive, hands-on displays, audio and/or video clips, rather than just images/objects and text labels. Other responses included making the exhibits kid-friendly or accessible to all ages (7%); displaying historic artifacts and documents (6%); and featuring live performances, such as dance, music, theater, storytelling, and arts and crafts demonstrations (6%).

Differences in What Visitors Want To See, Experience and Learn at the NMAAHC (by Race/ Ethnicity)

While the sample size of Other Minorities is much lower than that for Whites and African Americans in this study, some interesting trends emerged when respondents’ interests were analyzed by race/ethnicity. African American respondents and Other Minorities were more likely to be interested in several topics than were White respondents, including the successes, achievements, and contributions of African Americans (29%, 14%, and 23%, respectively); connections to Africa and African culture (22%, 16%, and 21%, respectively); lesser-known people and/or events related to African American history and culture (22%, 15%, and 18%, respectively); and an emphasis on diversity within the African American community (7%, 3%, and 7%, respectively).

African Americans were slightly more likely to say they wanted to see uncomfortable, difficult, or controversial issues addressed by the NMAAHC (14%, compared to 9% for each of the other two groups); and were also more likely to mention that they wanted kid-friendly, family-oriented exhibits and experiences (12%, compared to 4% and 2%). However, this may be partially due to the fact that some of the data were collected at African American Family Day at the National Zoological Park, skewing the results slightly towards the needs of family groups.

Whites and Other Minorities groups were more likely to express interest in learning about a couple of topics than were Black /African American respondents, including slavery or the slave trade (20% and 18%, respectively, compared to 11%) and the fight for freedom and/or the Civil Rights Movement (20% and 14%, respectively, compared to 7%). Again, this is likely due to the fact that slavery and the Civil Rights Movement are among the most well-known and commonly addressed topics related to African American history and culture, and thus non-African Americans are more likely to mention these topics than African Americans, who may have a broader and deeper understanding of African American history and culture.

Finally, while the numbers are quite low, Other Minorities, People of Color, and Mixed-Race individuals seemed to show more interest in learning about the connections and relationships between African Americans and American history and culture more broadly, including other races/ethnic groups (13%, compared to 6% of Whites and 4% of African Americans). They also seemed to show more interest in current, modern African American history and culture (18%, compared to 8% of Whites and 9% of African Americans).

Interest: Scaled Items

In addition to the open-ended prompts, researchers used scaled items to document respondents’ interest in selected topics related to African American history and culture. Table 18 shows that, for the most part, respondents were highly interested in the topics presented. On a 7-point scale, individuals on average rated the items between 5.4 and 5.9. While respondents were most interested in the item related to successes and achievements of African Americans, they were almost equally interested in items related to the struggles of African Americans and “uncomfortable” or difficult issues, such as slavery, lynching, and racism.

Table 18: Interest Scales (1-7)

* These statements were not available for the Portrait Gallery visitors, so sample sizes are lower than for the other items.

Differences in Interest: Scaled Items by Race/Ethnicity

Those who self-identified as African American were significantly more interested in all of the items provided than were non-African Americans, although averages were still very high for the latter groups (See table 19). Whites and the Other Minorities groups were significantly different in their interest in only one topic: the culture of African Americans. Results suggest that African Americans are most drawn to topics related to African American history and culture, but that other ethnicities/racial groups show a high enough interest in African American–related topics to build upon.

Researchers also tried to understand what might turn visitors away from the NMAAHC, or make them

Table 19: Interest Scales (1-7) by Race/Ethnicity

* These statements were not available for Study 1 (National Portrait Gallery and National Zoological Park), so sample sizes are lower than for the other items. Differences between mean scores for all items across the three groups are significant at p<0.0001 (One-Way ANOVA). African American scores are significantly higher than those of the other two, which do not differ other than on the item of Culture.

feel uncomfortable or unwelcome (see table 20). More than one-third of the respondents could not think of anything that would be uninviting (37%), likely either because they had difficulty imagining what could make them uncomfortable, were unwilling to share their thoughts, or simply felt that nothing would actually bother them. Other respondents gave a variety of answers, although no strong trends emerged. About 15% conveyed that they wanted “the truth” of African American history and culture to be told, or the “whole picture,” implying that it would make them uncomfortable if they felt issues were glossed over, glorified, or omitted altogether. Following are a couple of quotes that help illustrate these sentiments:

Nothing [would make me uncomfortable], but as long as you tell the true story of African Americans

(by those who have lived or experienced it) (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, ethnicity unknown).

Something that is factually not true [would make me uncomfortable] (Baby Boomer [43–62], male,

ethnicity unknown).

Almost one-tenth of the respondents (8%) wanted the museum to focus on positive aspects of African American history and culture, suggesting that a negative perspective would turn them off to the experience. The following comments help illustrate this point:

I would be turned off if it was only about slavery, if it didn’t celebrate the long history of African

Americans in this country (Baby Boomer [43–62], female, African American).

Don’t just focus on the negatives or their struggles—there is more to their culture than just that

(Pre-Baby Boomer [63 and older], male, Asian).

I would like to see the influence of African Americans in American culture, politics, power, then start • from beginning and civil rights. People who went ahead like MLK, proud of them (Baby Boomer [43–62], male, Caucasian).

Other respondents offered topics they felt should be avoided. For example, 6% said that a focus on violence, such as lynching, would make them uncomfortable, as the following comments reflect:

Anything negative, dark, graphic. If I have my child with me I don’t want the first image to be

lynching. I would want color, uplifting, celebration of the legacy (Generation X [32–42], female, Caucasian).

If the first figure I saw was a Klansman, it would turn me off (Generation X [32–42, female, African

American).

We all know there are negative and positive aspects, [but I] don’t think if I walked in and saw a big

diorama of police brutality…that would not be very welcoming. My biggest thing is that the harmony between races is reflected (Generation Y [16–31], female, Caucasian).

On the other hand, 5% directly said that they wanted the museum to address uncomfortable issues, sometimes specifying topics such as violence, racism, and lynching. Still another 6% said they would feel uncomfortable or unwelcome if there was too much white representation of African American history and culture; while another 5% noted that they would be turned off to a museum that conveyed an attitude of “blaming whites” for what African Americans have suffered in this country.

Differences in What Would Make Visitors Uncomfortable (by Race/Ethnicity)

While the numbers in each category are quite low, due to the wide range of responses received for this question, some differences based on race/ethnicity can be inferred. Most notably, non-African Americans were much more likely to say that nothing would make them uncomfortable (42% for Whites and 40% for Other Minorities, compared to 29% of African Americans). This may be due to the fact that these respondents could not think of anything that would make them feel unwelcome or were unwilling to share their thoughts on this matter, as it raises some sensitive issues.

Almost all of the respondents who felt that a focus on a “White” perspective of African American culture and history would make them uncomfortable—either conveyed through the content, perspectives, and even staff—were African American. African Americans were also much more likely than other groups to place importance on “telling the truth” (40%, compared to 10% each of Whites and Other Minorities), often with the suggestion that African American history and culture have not been accurately represented in history books, schooling, television, and other mainstream media.

Question: Imagine entering the NMAAHC, is there anything that would turn you off, or make you feel uncomfortable or unwelcome? Is there anything that would make you not want to explore the museum further?

* The number of cases in the ethnicity groups does not add up to the total due to missing data in the ethnicity variable.

* Totals exceed 100% because respondents gave multiple responses to this question.

Table 20: What Would Turn Visitors Off or Make Them Feel Uncomfortable or Unwelcome

Knowledge: Scaled Items

Using the same items as for interest, researchers asked respondents to rate their knowledge of various topics related to African American history and culture (see table 21). Respondents rated their knowledge significantly lower than their interest levels, with overall averages ranging from 3.5 to 4.7. These results are actually positive, because it is ideal for an institution to have an audience with high levels of interest but lower levels of knowledge—meaning they feel there is still more to learn and thus a visit to the museum is likely to be perceived as worthwhile. Respondents were most confident in their understanding of current issues (rating this item 4.6 on average) and least confident in their knowledge of visual arts (rating this item 3.4 on average).

Table 21: Knowledge Scales (1–7)*

Knowledge

* Knowledge statements were not available for Study 1 (Portrait Gallery and National Zoo) so sample sizes are lower than for interest items.

* The sample sizes varied due to missing data.

Differences in Knowledge: Scale Items by Race/Ethnicity

When analyzed by race/ethnicity, data indicated that African Americans perceived themselves to be significantly more knowledgeable than non-African Americans on all of the items (see table 22). This may be due in part to individuals feeling that they should have knowledge of their own culture, and thus may have rated these items toward the high end of the scale for that reason. On the other hand, it is likely that African Americans do in fact have higher levels of knowledge in these areas.

Table 22: Knowledge Scales (1–7) by Race/Ethnicity

Knowledge Items

1-7)

* These statements were not available for the National Portrait Gallery visitors. Actual sample sizes varied due to missing data.

Differences between mean scores for all items across the three groups are significant at p<0.0001 (One-Way ANOVA). African American scores are significantly higher than those of the other two, which do not differ from one another.

HOW INTERESTED ARE AUDIENCES IN VISITING THE NMAAHC?

At all sites, both on and off the National Mall, respondents were asked to rate their interest in visiting the NMAAHC on a 7-point scale (see table 23). Data suggested that respondents overall had a high level of interest in visiting the NMAAHC, rating this item an average of 5.9 on a 7-point scale. When analyzed by race/ethnicity, data showed that African American interest in visiting the NMAAHC was significantly higher than the interest of Whites and Other Minorities groups (6.8 on average, compared to 5.1 and 5.5)*. These results indicate that African Americans will most likely serve as the museum’s core audience, but that the museum holds a relatively high level of interest for non-African Americans as well. However, this data should be interpreted with some caution, as respondents may have a tendancy to rate items toward the high end out of social desirability, or a need to please the researcher and/or appear “politically correct” in this particular case.

Table 23: Interest Scale (1–7) Overall and by Race/Ethnicity

Interest

* Total sample size is lower because of missing data in the ethnicity field. Differences between the mean score across the three groups are significant at p<0.0001 (One-Way ANOVA). African American scores are significantly higher than those of the other two, which do not differ from one another.

C Public Engagement

Introduction

ENGAGING AMERICA: CREATING A DIALOGUE ABOUT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

The new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) will broaden the Smithsonian Institution’s traditional audience and attract visitors of increased diversity both to its site and to other Smithsonian Institution museums on the National Mall.1 In order to strengthen the potential for attracting this new and exciting audience, the NMAAHC sought and documented perceptions, attitudes, expectations, and interests related to the content, themes, partnerships, and collaborations for the museum. This was done through a series of eight public engagement meetings across the country.

Throughout the development of the NMAAHC, the museum will continuously engage its public in venues in every region of the United States and in numerous ways. The intent of carrying out this series of public meetings during the pre-design phase is to:

1. Inform and then confirm assumptions that are being made about exhibition, public program, and other spaces defined in the program;

2. Challenge the direction of the planning process;

3. Uncover missed opportunities and new ideas; and

4. Offer another vehicle for collecting material and defining content.

In meetings with the NMAAHC staff, Smithsonian Institution Office of Facilities, Engineering, and Operations (OFEO), and the Office of Contracting (OCON), the team developed the following specific goals for the public engagement process:

Understand public expectations for the NMAAHC;

Develop content, story lines, and themes;

Explore partnerships, collaborations, activities, and programs;

Acquire collections;

Communicate the NMAAHC vision to the public;

Raise the visibility of the museum;

Establish a framework for managing public expectations;

Reach out to people in rural and urban America.

1 The traditional museum-goer is defined as white, middle class, and highly educated.

Intent And Use of This Chapter

This chapter presents key findings derived from participants’ responses to the discussion questions and dialogue during the sessions. It also suggests ways that input from the public meetings will inform the building program and programming process.

Over a period of three months the project team completed the following comprehensive engagement process:

Reviewed documents provided by the NMAAHC, OFEO, and others; •

Identified stakeholder groups relevant to this phase of the NMAAHC’s development; •

Surveyed opportunities available to reach out to diverse stakeholders; •

Used census demographic data, identified the top five cities for the NMAAHC’s outreach to potential • audiences, matched them with the NMAAHC “target” cities,2 and the relevant organizational meetings;

Researched and compiled a list of over 25 conferences and annual meetings held across the United • States with, and for, the identified target stakeholder groups;

Established a format, content, and means of keeping a record of each meeting; and •

Presented information and discussed the NMAAHC with over 700 people in seven cities across • America.

2

Target cities for NMAAHC are Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC, the top five cities with the largest number of African American residents.

Target Audience for Public Meetings

In a series of meetings in December 2007 and January 2008, the team defined five primary stakeholders for this phase of the Public Engagement process. As graphically represented below, those stakeholders are:

1. Advocates—those representing groups of particular importance to the NMAAHC, including educators, African American economic and political groups, and those addressing the concerns of rural African Americans. Two larger groups, children, and youth and college-aged individuals, were also identified.

2. Government-elected and appointed officials at city, county, and state levels; Congressional officials; and federal agencies and entities.

3. Networkers and Opinion Leaders—representatives of the religious and faith communities as well as social and cultural communities that have large spheres of outreach and influence.

4. Selected Industry Experts—historians, sociologists, artists and collectors, and museologists. An outgrowth of this group is those representing international concerns, including the people of the African Diaspora and new Americans.

The fifth stakeholder for the meeting, media, were identified as a separate but important group.

Figure 1: NMAAHC Stakeholders

Figure

Development and Location of the Public Meetings

Early in the process, the question of how the museum would reach the identified audiences was posed to the consultants. The Freelon Bond team proposed a series of stakeholder meetings in conjunction with annual meetings and conferences that would reach the strategic stakeholders important to the development of the NMAAHC. The resulting outreach included partnering with government associations, museum and historical professional organizations, and one of the largest cultural festivals in the country. Through this process, more than 700 people as far west as Denver, south to Atlanta, and as far north as New York City, participated in small and large conversations with the NMAAHC leadership to identify the most important effect that the NMAAHC should have on its public.

The first stakeholder meeting was held March 3, 2008, in Washington, DC, with 42 members of the National Association of Counties (NACo), the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States. NACo provides services to 3,066 counties by advancing issues important to its constituencies. NACo’s membership includes more than 2,000 counties, representing over 80% of the nation’s population. In the NACo meeting, participants included elected and appointed local government officials. A majority of the participants were African American.

The second meeting was held March 30, 2008 in New York City, with 50 members of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) during their annual meeting. OAH is the largest professional organization dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH’s more than 9,300 members (in the US and abroad) include college and university professors, students, pre-collegiate teachers, archivists, museum curators, public historians, and a variety of scholars. The OAH meeting was the most diverse in terms of age, given student participation.

The third meeting was held April 29, 2008, with 115 members of the American Association of Museums (AAM) in Denver, CO, at their annual meeting. AAM is the largest organization of museum and professionals in the United States. It is the only organization in the US that represents the entire scope of museums— professionals and non-paid staff members. AAM’s membership includes more than 15,000 professionals and volunteers, 3,000 institutions, and 300 corporations. The AAM meeting generated the most discussion, given the size and interest of the group. This session was also the most diverse in terms of race and gender.

The fourth meeting was held July 19, 2008, during the National Black Arts Festival (NBAF) in Atlanta, GA, with 65 people participating. This meeting was a departure from the earlier format because NBAF is an arts fair open to the public. The festival celebrates the contributions of people of African descent and their impact on world cultures. Compared with earlier meetings that targeted specific audiences, the Atlanta public meeting had larger participation from young people, non-museum affiliated individuals, nonhistorians, and artists. As a result, the conversations at the meeting were more far-reaching, resulting in the exposition of topics not heard in previous meetings.

The fifth meeting was held in Chicago, IL, during the Association of African American Museums’ (AAAM) annual meeting and drew a crowd of over 80 museum professionals working with or interested in African American museums. These meeting participants were among the most familiar with the NMAAHC, as the museum has held several public forums, sessions, and conversations with the organization and its leadership since 2001. Participants were enthusiastic about the NMAAHC and continued to express interest.

The remaining meetings will be completed after the publication of this report and will be documented in addenda chapters to be published after each meeting. These gatherings will occur in the following locations:

A public meeting held at George • Washington University with students of the Washington, DC, Consortium of Universities. These schools include undergraduate and graduate programs from American University, Catholic University, Howard University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, Coppin State Univerity, and Morgan State University.

A meeting with the members of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, at • their annual meeting in Birmingham, AL.

At each meeting, members of the Freelon Bond team facilitated the group discussions. Client representatives, including Dr. Lonnie Bunch, Director, and Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Deputy Director, were also in attendance and provided overall leadership and direction during the meeting. Each meeting is documented with video, photography, and transcripts of facilitated discussions.3

During the planning process, a strategic purpose was identified for each session. For example, the purpose of the NACo meeting was to, “create a sense of ownership for NACo members by helping them understand that through small-scale perspectives, their region and constituency will be represented in the museum”; the meeting with the Organization of American Historians was intended to “seek intellectual input” for the agenda of the NMAAHC.

At each meeting, group discussion focused on the following three questions:

What would you expect to see in a National Museum of African American History and Culture? 1.

2. What are the stories that must be told?

3. How would you see the museum addressing “difficult subjects”?

At the AAM and OAH meetings, three additional questions were asked of participants:

What are the intellectual issues this museum needs to address? 1.

2. What would be very disappointing to you if it were missing?

3. How can this new national museum be relevant to your community?

3 Forty-minute edited videos of each meeting are provided in this Report.

Key Findings

After review of the transcripts, videotapes, facilitated comments, observations, and comments from the Freelon Bond facilitators, and others who attended the sessions, the following initial key findings emerged.

BE INCLUSIVE, ENGAGING, AND RELEVANT

The museum must be inclusive in its representation and presentation of the African American experience, and engage visitors in expected and unexpected ways. The NMAAHC experience should be multigenerational and the diversity of the African American experience must be apparent, including gender; age; education and income levels; skin color; language; family background and community experiences; rural, urban, and regional experiences; political affiliations; religious and spiritual influences; migration patterns, etc. African American visitors must be able to relate to the museum’s exhibitions and programs by seeing themselves, their experiences, and their family’s history in the museum. Non-African American visitors must be able to see commonalities of experience—the American experience through the lens of African American history and culture. All visitors must be surprised, delighted, and curious to learn more about the African American experience after leaving the museum. The impact of their experience should resonate with them well after their visit is over.

The museum should find opportunities to set new precedents, and be experimental and cutting-edge in its delivery of content and programs and the use of new technology. Comments such as “All mankind came from Africa. Explore the evolution of man from Africa to ground the visitor in the place we all originated. This is part of our common experience” were often heard at the meetings. In addition to issues affecting African Americans, the museum should also strive to be leaders in the field, working with other African American and ethnic museums on issues relevant to the field.

Collaborations should be sought with traditional and non-traditional local, national, and international partners. The museum should explore ways to broaden its reach through strategic partnerships and relationships with diverse constituencies. Stakeholder meeting participants made the following comments:

• in a public and meaningful way.

The museum should be a living museum, where visitors are encouraged to share their personal stories

The museum must move people to experience the lives of those who lived the history that is being

• told. Stories must be told in ways that allow visitors from diverse backgrounds to connect with real people through non-traditional techniques.

• college, and graduate-school students, especially through collaborations with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Internships, fellowships, and entry-level employment opportunities should be available to high-school,

The museum should find opportunities to link local stories to the national story. •

Diverse programming developed for everyone—free concerts on the National Mall, classes (e.g.,

cooking, quilting, basket-making, genealogy research), performances, social activities, and so on.

• and communities who may not have the opportunity to visit the museum.

Curriculum guides, traveling exhibitions, teaching tools for teachers, and online resources for students

•

A hub and a resource center—a place to start further investigation and exploration.

•

Do not forget the local Washington, DC, community in terms of content and programming.

TELL THE TRUTH

The museum must present history in its proper context and “voice,” including the past and contemporary experiences of African Americans. The untold stories of the African American experience are key to telling a comprehensive history. In its relationship with stakeholders and partners, the museum should be mindful not to compromise by “watering down” sensitive, controversial or edgy subjects. The museum should be viewed as an authentic and trustworthy voice in the African American community and beyond. Stakeholder meeting participants made the following comments:

• Movement. Go beyond what is expected, safe, and traditional.

The museum must be about more than slavery, Jim Crow, the great migration, and the Civil Rights

•

The shame and guilt of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation should be explored.

Lesser known African American business leaders and other professionals, inventors, entrepreneurs,

• politicians, educators, entertainers, civil rights and community leaders, etc., should be presented and their individual and collective contributions to the African American experience should be explored.

• challenges throughout history should be examined.

The strength of the black family, including extended family networks, through struggles and

Do not be afraid to detail the conditions and horrors of the middle passage. Demonstrate the

• experience in a tangible way. The museum must go beyond text to engage visitors, especially children.

• about the African American experience.

Do the very best to “set the record straight” concerning commonly held misconceptions and myths

• communities and their place in the African American experience are important.

The African American experience should not be presented in isolation. Other cultures, ethnicities, and

• “romancing” the experience.

Put the African American experience in music and sports in an historical context rather than

•

Stories should be based on documented evidence and told objectively, honestly, and with sensitivity.

•

Exhibition content and programs should set out to change misconceptions in popular history.

THINK GLOBALLY

The museum should think outside the borders of the United States. The African American experience has and continues to influence (and be influenced by) others around the world. As the world begins to embrace a more unified way of functioning, modern-day globalization involves the economy, technology, social and cultural experiences, and politics. The museum should find opportunities to set new precedents, and be

experimental and cutting-edge in its delivery of content and programs and the use of new technology. Stakeholder meeting participants made the following comments:

• visitor in the place from which we all originated. This is part of our common experience.

All mankind came from Africa. Explore the evolution of humans from Africa, in order to ground the

Explore the African Diaspora and translate the African American experience into a global experience.

• slavery in the Caribbean, African colonization, slavery and capitalism, should be explored.

Slavery should be presented as a national and international concept—issues around slave migration,

The African American experience abroad (military, literary and cultural arts, etc.)

The relationship between African Americans and Africans. How do we see each other? How are we

connected? How are we different? The same?

Explore manifestations of racism and white supremacy around the world throughout history, and the • contemporary challenges we face.

• includes the struggle for freedom?

How is the African American experience similar to and unique from other cultures with a history that

• implications.

Explore the African American influence on the global economy, including historic and future

The museum should be a place that facilitates social change—not just in the US but worldwide. The • museum should have international influence.

ISSUES ARE IMPORTANT

The museum should be a place where issues relevant to the African American experience are discussed, debated, researched, and explored. The museum should be a leader and convener of public forums (at the museum and online) to discuss contemporary issues as they arise and to explore issues affecting African Americans historically. In addition, the museum should also strive to be leaders in the field, working with other African American and ethnic museums on issues relevant to them. Participants raised as several broad issues potential exhibition and program content:

•

The anthropology of race—the evolution and transformation of race in the US.

Analysis of African American identity (past, present, future). Who is African American? What does it • mean to be African American? How do African Americans define themselves?

•

•

•

•

Racial violence (lynching, hate crimes, historical, contemporary, etc.).

What does freedom mean? What does freedom mean to African Americans? Non-African Americans?

Self-determination and the African American experience.

The complexity of race in the US and beyond—What is race? What is ethnicity? What is culture?

How do museums make history and culture relevant? For young people? Non-traditional audiences? • Local communities?

How do museums make a difference in their local communities? Nationally? Internationally? •

How can museums and cultural organizations help make America better? •

What does it mean to be an American?

Universal issues that cross ethnicities, gender, and race (family, struggle and triumph, religion, politics, • etc.)

CELEBRATE AND MEMORIALIZE

Celebrate and memorialize the past while empowering generations to look to and plan for a better future. Museum visitors should be encouraged to gain strength from their ancestors: those who “made a way out of no way,” and those who overcame enormous odds and achieved so much. The NMAAHC will need to identify strategies to balance the varying types and levels of interest of multiple audiences, providing some of the more “expected” content, while also digging deeper to appeal to the interests of visitors with a broader knowledge of and deeper connection to African American history and culture. A contemplative space should be planned to remember ancestors and reflect on the stories told in the museum. Visitors should leave the museum with a sense of their own place in stories that will be told about the African American and American experience in the future. Stakeholder meeting participants suggested the following themes to celebrate and memorialize:

Black intellectual and professional contributions to US society.

Struggles through slavery and freedom, including stories of resistance.

The new successful African American middle and professional class.

Former slaves (through slave narratives).

African American towns across the county.

Unsung African American heroes.

Well-known African American heroes and leaders.

Tangible contributions enslaved Africans brought to the US.

African American seniors—solicit volunteers to share real-life stories.

The spirit of perseverance, continuity, and survival.

Cultural legacies and traditions.

Key Implications for the NMAAHC Pre Design Program

In order to satisfy and exceed the expectations of its publics, the NMAAHC will need to consider the following:

Exhibitions that communicate expansive stories. There is an expectation that the NMAAHC will

address several centuries of African American life in America through its exhibitions, Web site, and/or programs. Exploration of a wide variety of topics on an international and national scale will require a large amount of public space in the building.

Opportunity to regularly update exhibitions and program spaces. For meeting participants it is

critical that the NMAAHC be a engaging and relevant museum that illuminates contemporary history at a faster pace than the average Smithsonian Institution museum. This means having a space with exhibitions that are easily moved or updated..

Creating an active, engaging space that allows for different types of expression. The perception

of many of the meeting participants is that museum spaces are dull or dead (see “Be Inclusive, Engaging, and Relevant”; consequently, they want assurance that the NMAAHC is different. The museum has the opportunity to create a useful space that is constantly active.

Contemplative space(s) for a memorial to named and unnamed individuals can be created.

Place(s) to explore personal history. The NMAAHC will need to include access for visitors to

explore or begin to explore their family history. This may be achieved by providing a space for genealogical research, or simply through access to educational resources or locations that will assist with personal histories.

As meeting participants made clear, the African American story is part of the world’s legacy of struggle, drawing from and contributing to the narrative for reaching for our truest human capacities. There is a strong expectation that the National Museum of African American History and Culture will provide an opportunity to understand a large part of the story.

Collections Storage Plan

D

Summary

Everything that museums do flows from their collections. Therefore, the museum’s facility program must pay special attention to the collections storage needs and the needs of the collection management staff that serve as stewards of the collection.

This part of the facility program helps define the concept of “storage” so as to further the museum’s vision. The collections storage chapter also quantifies collections needs to inform the general museum requirements and facility program components. By detailing a collections storage strategy and a plan to house the NMAAHC collections and equipment, the collections storage chapter informs the overall programming for collections storage space and details how collections will “travel through” and be housed in the building.

With space on the National Mall at an ever-increasing premium, the Smithsonian Institution believes in privileging public function space that enhances the visitor experience. Therefore, this chapter recommends strategies for coordinating on-site and off-site storage needs accordingly. The collection storage chapter incorporates the NMAAHC’s anticipated growth rates and projected spatial needs for a period of ten years.

A key component of the collections storage and research chapter is the findings from peer institutions. The Smithsonian Institution helped to identify several museums and other repositories as peer institutions, based on one or more key similarities to the planned NMAAHC. These similarities include comparable size and scope or focus of collection, comparable storage needs and challenges, and similar collection strategies. Findings from five sources—predominantly museums, but also a resource center and an archives center— inform the recommendations of the collections storage chapter.

Methodology

The team followed a consultative methodology and used the following strategies to prepare this chapter:

Reviewed the Smithsonian Institution’s and the NMAAHC’s protocols, requirements, and standards

for collections storage, staging, and conservation spaces.

Met with the NMAAHC collections management staff to gather information on collections and

equipment needs, and conducted follow-up meetings and phone calls with staff for clarity.

Reviewed and confirmed with staff the museum’s existing collections management policy and

guidelines, current and future collections goals, current collections inventory, and plans/drawings for the NMAAHC off-site storage.

With the NMAAHC staff, analyzed preliminary planning documents as they relate to collections,

including “The Time Has Come,” “Preliminary Thoughts on Storage, Staging, and Conservation Spaces,” “Collections Plan Overview,” and notes from Scholarly Advisory Committee meetings.

Developed a method for projecting anticipated growth rates over ten years given current and future

collecting initiatives and goals.

Estimated collections storage, staging, and conservation needs, including their impact on general

museum requirements and the building program, including HVAC, fire safety, security, etc.

Considered needs for storage in Washington, DC (visible storage, closed storage, study storage),

digital (virtual) storage, and collections storage at other repositories. Site visits and interviews with comparable museums included the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and the NMAI Collections Research Center; the National Museum of American History (NMAH) Archives Center; the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture; and the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (by phone).

ORGANIZATION OF THE SECTION

The section is organized into two parts: the Collections Storage Strategy and the Recommended Plan to House the NMAAHC Collections and Equipment. The details of each part are as follows:

Collections Strategy

1.

Scope of the collection

Collections policy—key components of the museum’s collections policy and the basis for identifying 2. the museum’s collections storage space

3.

Collections and collections storage defined

Storage of collections and environmental conditions (note: The Smithsonian Institution has i. another approach to environmental conditions)

Other storage factors, including space-density projections and safety factors ii. Anticipated growth rates—projections for likely growth over the next ten years iii.

4. Key findings from site visits and interviews—lessons for storage strategy learned from other museums’ experiences

Recommended Plan To House The NMAAHC Collections And Equipment

1. On-site storage needs—storage needs for the museum building on the National Mall

2. Off-site storage needs and coordination—current off-site storage plans, potential future off-site space needs, and storage-coordination issues that could affect building design, staff, and budget

3. Storage support spaces, resource center, and conservation—adjacent spaces that support the museum’s collections storage

4. Other recommendations and estimates, including storage density, safety, and revision

Collections Strategy

SCOPE OF THE COLLECTIONS

The scope of the NMAAHC’s collections is currently articulated by the museum as follows:

As a museum representing a national culture, collections will have regional representations of the African American experience from across the United States. Artifacts and artwork that reflect the historical and cultural links of African Americans to the African Diaspora, such as in the Caribbean, Latin American, and Canada, will also be collected for use in exhibitions and research purposes. Cultural material collected by the museum will cover the breadth and depth of the African American experience, including works of art, historical artifacts, ethnographic objects, photographs, moving images, archival documents, electronic data, audio recordings, books, and manuscripts.

COLLECTIONS POLICY

Identifying a museum’s space and facility requirements requires first understanding the museum’s policy guidelines that define what is to be collected, how the collection is to be managed and cared for, how it is to be used, and how fast collections will grow. The collections policy is closely linked to the fundamental mission and vision of the museum. The NMAAHC has established a policy and procedure for its collections. As the planning process continues, this policy may be revisited and revised to accommodate new mandates, but the fundamental framework is in place. Some important elements of the NMAAHC’s policies towards collections are outlined below:

Collections will cover a range of historical periods from the Colonial period to the 21st Century 1. Five themes will guide initial collection efforts—creativity, family and community life, migration and 2. the African Diaspora in the Americas, religion and spirituality, and work. Two overarching narratives—migration and identity—will further focus and unify collections. 3. The NMAAHC plans to actively collaborate on collecting activities with other museums. 4.

The museum’s entire collection policy can be found in Volume IV, in the General Museum Requirements section of the Facility Program.

COLLECTIONS STORAGE STRATEGY

The NMAAHC is currently developing an off-site collections storage facility in Landover, MD, and it will house the majority of the museum’s objects. The NMAAHC on-site collections storage facility will house the archives and support the exhibition program and other curatorial and museum activities.

The NMAAHC defines collections within three broad categories: museum and archives collections, educational collections, and library collections. Museum and archives collections are used for exhibitions and to support research, publications, and other public programming. Educational collections are used for handson educational programs, both on-site and off-site. Library collections include books and other publications. Each category encompasses a diverse set of materials with different storage needs and considerations. For example, large and delicate objects require special transportation considerations whether moving within the museum or between the museum and storage facilities; items frequently used in educational programs may also require specific transportation and packing arrangements. Items the museum wants to make available to researchers and visitors need more accessibility from storage. Other storage differences stem from the type of artifact, such as old and fragile historical artifacts or digital data.

On-site and off-site storage will include the three categories noted above.

General on-site storage will be closed and only accessible to authorized collections management staff. Study storage will be limited to visitors and researchers via the resource center.

Visible on-site storage is not a consideration at this stage in the planning process. The NMAAHC staff may explore the possibility of visible storage within the exhibition galleries at a later date. As content for the exhibitions develops, the museum may find it useful to display examples of certain types of artifacts or other materials in storage-like conditions, with interpretive elements.

Given the museum’s desire to collaborate with other institutions, particularly museums dedicated to African Americana and those that collect African American material, storage needs for collections from other repositories should be explored. While the need to address this issue is not apparent at this time, future considerations should set out policies or agreements to ensure the proper care of materials in remote locations used by the museum.

Storage of Collections and Environmental Conditions

At the Smithsonian Institution, the current environmental guidelines are 45% RH+/-8% and 70º F+/-4º for exhibitions and collections storage spaces (Mecklenburg et al, 2004). This means it is generally acceptable for collections to be within an RH and temperature box bounded between 37% RH in winter and 53% RH in summer and 66ºF and 74ºF.

Research conducted by Dr. Marion Mecklenburg, Museum Conservation Institute, has demonstrated that these conditions are generally acceptable for all components of the collections, including panel paintings, painted and lacquered furniture, and illuminated manuscripts. According to Dr. Mecklenburg, the only items that might require particularly tight control (50% RH+/-5% RH) are tightly stretched screens and inlaid furniture in fairly poor condition. Material such as furs, skins, birds, photographs, etc., can be stored in cool conditions (40ºF); 20th-century photographic material should be stored below freezing.

These guidelines have been in place since early 2005, and there have been no reported problems. All areas housing collections at the NMAAHC should provide these stable environmental conditions. Since the collection is currently under development, if there are artifacts or other material that require a different or more closely controlled environment, then it will be assessed at the time it is acquired.

The NMAAHC collection storage facility at Pennsy Drive in Landover, MD has been developed according to the following criteria, and it is appropriate and desirable for the environmental conditions to be the same for all areas housing collections, including public exhibition areas as well as collections storage areas at the National Mall site and the collections storage facility off site in Landover.

The following list details the specifics of the Pennsy Drive collections storage location.

3400 Pennsy Drive, Landover, MD, 20785

Move-in date: December 5, 2008

Space use: collections storage and processing

Space activities: storage, processing, and photography

Assignable Square Feet: 15,000

Distance from the National Mall: approximately 11 miles (25-minute drive)

Climate control and monitored

Temperature: 70 +/- 4 degrees F

Humidity: 45% +/- 8% RH

Positive pressure air system

HEPA filtered or activated charcoal air filtration

Utilities/fixtures plumbing required for utility sink at workstation

Grounded outlets for computers

Grounded and capacity outlets for freezer equipment

Fire detection and suppression systems

Fully monitored security

Termite inspected, insect- and rodent-free zone

Exterior has cordon sanitaire of pebbles/rocks (no vegetation) for 18" perimeter, no overhanging tree branches

Conservation-related equipment:

Walk-in Bally freezer, 10' x 20'

Walk-in Bally refrigerator, 10' x 20'

Laboratory fume hood, 48" W x 39" D x 49" H

Utility sink with faucet, 23" L x 23" W x 14" D

In addition to the above, a static-free, isolated space should be designed to store audiovisual materials that are stored on disk, CD-ROM, and other electromagnetic sensitive material. Magnetic material (audio, video, and other electronic records) is considered to have a life span of about ten years. For this reason, they must be periodically transferred to new media. Storage for these materials should be away from any electromagnetic power source (televisions, radios, computers, or electronic motors) on grounded shelving and cabinets.

Other Storage Factors, Including Density Estimating and Safety

Estimating space needs cannot be exact at this early stage in the museum’s collecting process and the building planning process. For space planning purposes only, a simple three-category collection sizing system is offered as a way to begin to estimate space needs for the museum’s growing collection:

Small-Sized Object: Less than 6 pounds. A single person without assistance can safely handle objects of this size. These objects can be stored on high shelving units and in more flexible spaces.

Medium-Sized Object: 6-60 pounds. Objects of this size require special care and handling. They will be stored on lower, more stable shelving and racks, requiring less effort to move. These include framed, glazed works of art on paper.

Large-Sized Object: Over 60 pounds. Objects of this size also require special care and handling. More permanent/fixed and stable shelving and racks should be planned for to store these objects, as they will likely not be moved frequently. They should have adequate space around them for review and care.

The program plan now calls for approximately 20% of the estimated 313,000 egsf1 allocated for the NMAAHC building on the National Mall to be used for collections storage and collections support. A portion of this space will be required for the resource room (library/archive), conservation, and collection handling and collection-related support areas. We estimate that approximately 4,600 asf will be used for collections storage.

Unlike material on display, which is secured in position and instantly visible, material in storage is housed in loose form and in quantity. If not properly protected and managed, material in storage areas can be removed without immediate detection. Risk factors within and outside the museums should be planned for during the design of the museum’s security system.

1 Rounded figure.

Anticipated Growth Rates

Like most start-up museums organized without an existing collection, the NMAAHC’s initial collecting efforts are primarily focused on supporting the permanent exhibition and housing material at risk of being destroyed.

Museum staff are actively pursuing collections during the planning phase primarily through targeted acquisitions; the national collecting initiative Save our African American Treasures; and the StoryCorps Griot project. These efforts will gain momentum and be more aggressive as funding increases, additional staff is hired, and the content for permanent and temporary exhibitions and galleries are more clearly defined. This process will continue through the design phase as well.

Current Collection

To date, the NMAAHC’s collection consists of just under 7,000 items, with approximately 4,000 negatives, 2,000 photographic prints, and 1,000 garments, coiled grass baskets, a church pew, a bronze cross, a congressional gold medal, a large wood table, ephemera and memorabilia, Pullman Porter cap, archival material, and several paintings and fine art pieces. A descriptive list of the collections acquired to date has been provided by the NMAAHC and can be found in Volume VI.

Save Our African American Treasures

Save Our African American Treasures: A National Collections Initiative of Discovery and Preservation is a collaboration among the NMAAHC cultural institutions, community leaders, and the public to preserve and collect African American material culture. Objects that speak to critical moments in our history reside in the homes of families and community institutions around the country—some are yet to be discovered and some may slowly deteriorate due to inadequate conservation. Treasures will stimulate preservation activity nationwide, assist people in identifying and preserving objects of historical and cultural significance, and help to identify potential collaborations among other cultural institutions and communities across the country. The Treasures program will occur next year in Atlanta, GA and New York, NY.

StoryCorps Griot

Griot Project was a yearlong initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to gather and preserve the life stories of African American families. A StoryCorps Mobile Booth—a mobile recording studio—made stops of up to six weeks in Atlanta, GA; Newark, NJ; Detroit, MI; Chicago, IL; Oakland, CA; Memphis, TN; Selma and Montgomery, AL; and Clarksdale, MS. Griot partnered with local public radio stations, historically black colleges and universities, and other cultural institutions, including the NMAAHC and membership organizations, to record and distribute the stories of African American families.

At the Griot Story Booth, participants recorded their stories in pairs—oftentimes friends or loved ones— where one person interviews the other. A trained facilitator guides the participants through the interview process and handles the technical aspects of the recording. At the end of a 40-minute session, the participants are presented with a CD-Rom of their interview. The stories are archived for future generations at the American Folklife Center (AFC), at the Library of Congress, and at the NMAAHC.

Considering that approximately 40% (84,350 asf) of the building program is dedicated to the museum’s public collection space (permanent galleries, and temporary and other galleries), it is anticipated that the museum will open with artifacts, images, and archival material sufficient to create a well-populated and meaningful visitor experience in this size space. Given the emphasis that the NMAAHC is placing on collections, the size of the spaces dedicated to the museum’s exhibitions, and the experiences of other start-up museums with a similar scope that have opened recently, it is likely the Museum could open with

approximately 10,000 objects, images, and archival material or more on exhibition. NMAI opened with approximately 8,000 objects in 100,000 square feet of exhibitions, galleries, and public interpretive spaces. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore, MD, opened with approximately 600 objects in 12,000 sf.

The design process for the permanent collection exhibitions (also known as core exhibitions) is expected to begin in 2009. The process, including design for the exhibition and gallery spaces, is expected to take approximately one-and-a-half to two years. During this phase of the project, museum staff will make final selections of materials for the exhibition and gallery spaces. At the same time, it is estimated that the museum will continue to collect materials central to its mission and vision, material in jeopardy of being neglected or destroyed, and material necessary for educational programs. Also, as the collection grows and content for the permanent exhibition and galleries are fully defined, the museum will begin to collect material in support of other temporary traveling shows it intends to produce.

Due to the nature of the design and construction schedule and projected opening in 2015, aggressive collecting during the next three to five years is expected.2 The collection inventory currently numbers 6,800 items and the NMAAHC registrar recommends a projection of approximately 2,500 objects per year for the next three years. It is likely that, during this time, the collection will more than double its current size. After the next three years, the collecting effort, while still fairly aggressive, is likely to slow down and continue to grow at a steady pace. The museum could expect to grow its collection relevant to the mission, exhibits, and education programs on average by 10–20% annually after opening. During this period, it is projected that the museum will be much more aggressive about pursuing collections in support of temporary and traveling exhibitions. Chart 2 on the following page provides an initial estimate of the percentage of museum collections that might be acquired during a ten-year period (2008–2018) and projected growth rates over the same period.

KEY FINDINGS FROM SITE VISITS AND INTERVIEWS

In consultation with the client, several museums and other repositories were identified as peer institutions and are comparable in terms of size and scope, and focus of the collection. Chart 1 on the following page describes each museum selected for a site visit or interview.

Appropriate collections management staff at each museum was contacted and provided with a set of general interview questions as well as more focused questions specific to their respective institutions in advance of the site visit or interview (see Volume VI for interview questions). In consultation with the client, it was decided that local (Washington, DC, and Baltimore, MD) sites would require a visit by the Freelon Bond team and museum staff. Out-of-town sites were interviewed by phone.

The site visits and interviews were conducted from mid-April to mid-May 2008. Three selected institutions were not visited or interviewed due to scheduling conflicts (the National Museum of the American History, Library of Congress, and the Japanese American National Museum). Lessons learned and key findings that informed this chapter are summarized below.

2 Information provided by NMAAHC Curator Michele Moresi.

Chart 1: Estimated Collections Growth Rate

Collecting Period

2008–2013 1. Material central to the museum’s mission and vision in support of the museum’s Permanent Exhibition and Galleries.

2. Material of significant importance to the museum’s central mission and vision, but not acquired for public display.

3. Material in jeopardy of being neglected or destroyed.

4. Material to support the museum’s education programs.

2013–2018 1. Material central to the museum’s mission and vision in support of the museum’s Permanent Exhibition and Galleries.

2. Material of significant importance to the museum’s central mission and vision, but not acquired for public display.

3. Material in jeopardy of being neglected or destroyed.

4. Material to support the museum’s education programs.

5. Material to support temporary or traveling exhibitions produced by the NMAAHC.

Chart 2: Site Visits and Interviews

National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian Collections Resource Center

Reginald F. Lewis Museum of MD African American History & Culture

National AfroAmerican Museum & Cultural Center

National Museum of American History Archives Center

Location Washington, DC Washington, DC Baltimore, MD Wilberforce, OH Washington, DC

Contact Gail Joice, Collections Manager Patricia Nietfeld, Collections Manager David Terry, Director; Michelle Wilkinson, Dir., Collections and Exhibition

Visit/Interview

Collection Overview Cultural, historical, and religious material related to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans.

Area of Interest for Site Visit/Interview

Newest SI museum, similarities in size and scope, maximizing space on the National Mall, off-site storage.

Cultural, historical, and religious material related to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans.

Newest SI museum, similarities in size and scope, maximizing space on the National Mall, off-site storage.

Material culture, art, and artifacts related to the Maryland African American experience.

Collecting for permanent exhibition prior to opening, ongoing collecting efforts, annual growth.

Vernon Courtney, Former Director

Deborra Richardson, Chair and Curator

Material culture related to African American experiences in American history from 1945-1965.

National collecting initiative, annual growth, thematic focus, part of a larger institutional collection.

[Acc. Founding Archivist John Fleckner]

More than 1,000 collections—paper documents, photographs, motion pictures, videotapes, recordings.

Large archival and digital collection, on-site and off-site storage, public access to the collection.

National Museum of the American Indian Collections Resource Center (NMAICRC)

The NMAICRC opened in 1999 and is the off-site location for the collections and research programs of the National Museum of the American Indian. It is located in Suitland, MD, approximately 10 miles from the National Mall. The NMAICRC provides state-of-the-art resources and facilities for conservation, protection, handling, cataloging, research, and study of the museum’s collections, documents, photography, and paper archives. It houses the museum’s curatorial and repatriation offices, as well as a computer and information resource center, library, and areas for the care of the collections. The facility includes laboratories and workrooms for conservation and registration, managing and photographing the collection, film and video storage, and indoor and outdoor spaces for Native traditional care practices and cultural use of the collections.

Two- and three-dimensional materials not on exhibition are stored off-site. Materials on loan for exhibition go directly to the museum unless they need to be photographed (photography studio only at the NMAICRC); require conservation work; or if the material will not be on exhibition for some time.

Public use of the collection at NMAICRC is by appointment only. Visitors tend to be scholars and groups with various interests.

Five collections management staff, six conservation staff, and four interns operate NMAICRC.

Challenges

Coordination between the museum on the National Mall and NMAICRC requires extensive effort.

Considerable staff time is spent communicating, traveling, and caring for materials between facilities. Cost-efficient communication tools, such as videoconferencing, are critical to effective coordination between the sites.

Building design for the NMAICRC was influenced by cultural traditions. Staff have adapted non-

• traditional ways of housing, displaying, and preserving the collection. Flexibility and being open to new ways of collection stewardship were important during the planning and design phases. Most exhibit spaces are round and open, not square or rectangular, which results in a lot of long narrow spaces throughout the facility. Generally, the collections are in the center of the building. The collections storage area extends over three levels with an open stairway connecting each floor in the center, making maintaining proper environmental controls an ongoing issue. Staff is located along the perimeter.

During the planning phase, funds were available for design and construction. However, two • years later, funding was significantly reduced. Due to current staffing levels, the inventory and registration process is backlogged for approximately six months.

As exhibitions are planned, staff often finds the need to stage material in the collection storage • areas. Adequate staging space was not planned in the storage areas.

There is inadequate storage for non-collections materials, including crates, packing material, and • other equipment. What storage exists is small and narrow. Portable storage units have had to be purchased.

•

The facility is already near capacity. The museum is currently renting extra space from Artex.

No dedicated shipping and receiving area or holding area for collections was built off the loading

• dock. Staff is currently using a small retrofitted area for this purpose that is not environmentally controlled. Materials must be moved soon after they arrive, a necessity that causes problems if staff is not available.

To maintain security and proper environmental controls, collections spaces are separated by hard

• surfaces. Windows and/or intercoms in between adjacent spaces would help staff working together on projects, but located in separate spaces.

The vault is too small to handle many of the larger items. •

The tool room is too small for making crates; consequently, that service is contracted out. In • addition, no plans were made for the room, a retrofitted space, to have proper ventilation and dust collection.

• planning, and staff engagement that occur on-site.

Staff morale is an issue for those assigned to NMAICRC. Many feel left out of decision-making,

What Works

One dedicated loading dock for collections storage, and two separate docks for trash and non-

• collections items (food, equipment, office supplies). Loading dock can accommodate a 55' tractortrailer. A 24-hour staffed security booth adjacent to the dock.

Museum owns one 18' truck. This size of truck does not require a commercial driver’s license to

• operate. Staff can manage the truck for pick-ups and deliveries to and from the National Mall, Artex, and the occasional trip to the HMAI New York facility. The Smithsonian Institution’s transportation division handles the truck’s minor repairs, oil changes, tune-ups, etc.

• in storage areas.

All utility and plumbing piping is installed in hallways adjacent to the collections storage areas, not

• controls.

Areas that house collections have air handlers on the doors to maintain proper environmental

• collections storage area and loading dock for items that might need fumigation/isolation prior to storage.

•

•

An oversized freezer (connected to an emergency generator) is located in a hallway adjacent to the

Large roll-up doors in between rooms for flexibility.

Photo studio adjacent to the inventory room.

• by moveable conference doors. This space works extremely well for researchers and staff.

•

Three modest-sized curatorial workrooms, adjacent to the collections storage area and separated

Staff is prohibited from eating anywhere in the facility except for the dedicated staff lounge.

• collections storage units (approximately 12–14 feet).

A digital image exists for every object in the collection and is represented as compact bar-coded

• small scientific lab, and white floor (which makes it easy to locate small items if they accidentally fall on the floor while handling).

Conservation space is equipped with a textile wash area, mount making space, small photo studio,

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)

The NMAI is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall between the NASM and the U.S. Capitol Building. It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. NMAI’s Mission Statement notes that, “established by an act of Congress in 1989, the museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and empowering the Indian voice.“

The museum’s collection contains a vast range of cultural material, including more than 800,000 works of aesthetic, religious, and historical significance, as well as articles produced for everyday, utilitarian use. The museum’s holdings also include a film and audiovisual collection, paper archives, and a photography archive of approximately 90,000 images depicting both historic and contemporary Native American life.

Only rotating material and archives are on-site at NMAI. The museum opened with approximately 8,000 objects (1%) from its collection on exhibition. Total space dedicated to collections storage and support onsite is less than 5,000 asf. Collections space consists of storage, a small conservation area, and three small workrooms (wood shop, metal shop, and plastic shop). Approximately 200–400 objects are stored on-site at one time.

Challenges

When exhibitions are changing, a classroom on the third floor has to serve as the prep area

• because no staging or prep area was planned. A multi-purpose staging area would be useful.

• collection has grown substantially and space is now an issue.

•

During the planning phase, staff did not anticipate a large contemporary artwork collection, but that

No on-site conservation staff.

• dock level, so trash and food do not have to ride in the elevator, except when there is a special event on a higher floor.

•

No dedicated collections freight elevator; the elevator is shared. Fortunately, the food court is at

Conflicts occur between on-site and off-site staff due to lack of face-to-face communication.

What Works

An effective communication system between on-site and off-site collections management staff,

• including video conferencing and the capacity to share documents electronically on a secure IT system.

• for new shows and rotating material back to the NMAICRC.

Most of the furniture is on wheels for added flexibility. This is helpful, especially as staff prepares

A small conservation lab equipped with fume hood, freezer (11' x 8' x 11'), refrigerator, and vault.

• Does not duplicate what is off-site, but allows for immediate and emergency work on-site. Having this lab equipment available is helpful when an unannounced walk-in visitor presents the institution with a gift.

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture (RFL Museum)

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum is dedicated to sharing African American Marylanders’ journeys toward freedom and self-determination. The museum’s permanent exhibition introduces visitors to Maryland’s African American heritage through three galleries and major content areas: African American Families and Communities in Maryland, Labor and the Black Experience, and Black Art and Intellect. Each gallery tells the story of perseverance, triumph, and the celebration of life through the history and living culture of Maryland’s African Americans.

The concept of creating the RFL Museum was born after careful analysis of the state’s existing historical inventory and tourism studies revealed important historical sites, objects, and oral histories were at risk of being lost forever. The museum opened in June 2005 after over a decade of planning and collecting.

The museum’s permanent exhibition opened with approximately 500-600 objects, images, and archival materials. When the RFL Museum opened, 70% of the material on exhibition was loaned to the institution. Today approximately 30% of the exhibition materials are on loan. To reach this point the museum either acquired previously loaned pieces or replaced loaned materials with items from their collection.

Because the museum’s collection is young and growing, off-site collections storage space is not required at this time. The museum did use Artex to store materials prior to opening.

The initial collecting efforts were focused on finding materials to support the permanent exhibition. As museum staff considers collections growth, emphasis is placed on building a collection around temporary and traveling exhibitions they want to produce. Also, because public holdings of modern African American art relative to the Maryland African American experience are limited, the museum has identified this as a viable niche to pursue.

Four collections management professionals are on staff (chief curator, registrar, exhibition manager, and registration assistant). The public does not have access to the collection storage area or any visible storage.

Challenges

• often work on-site.

No conservator on staff. All conservation work is contracted as necessary. Contract conservators

Non-collection storage space is limited. A very small amount of storage was planned for the

• building. As a result, non-collections items are often stored in dedicated collections areas, which are not full.

What works

Permanent and changing exhibition galleries have dedicated staging and storage areas. •

An ample collections isolation room is located off the loading dock with a small freezer for

fumigation/isolation. Exhibit prep area with appropriate dust collecting equipment is also located off the loading dock.

Conservation lab is equipped with fume hood and eye-wash station. •

• support areas. Office suite includes a small conference room and a copy/fax area.

Collections management staff is located on the same floor (fifth) as the collections storage and

The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (NAAMCC)

The NAAMCC, located in Wilberforce, OH (near Dayton), opened in 1987 to educate the public about African American history and culture from African origins to the present through a variety of programs, including museum exhibits, research and publications, visiting scholars, oral and visual history, and adult and children’s educational activities.

The museum’s permanent exhibition, From Victory To Freedom: Afro-American Life in the Fifties, explores African American experiences in America’s history from 1945 with the ending of World War II, to 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1964. The collection consists of material related to the African American experience in sports, organizations and business, and the military; it includes fine art and folk art created by African Americans, and dolls and toys depicting African Americans.

During the planning phase, the museum directed a two-year national collecting initiative to support the permanent exhibition. Focus cities were selected using census population statistics. A public relations firm was engaged to develop promotional materials for print and radio, and a toll-free telephone number was setup to receive calls and inquiries. A committee of scholars and historians appointed to oversee the initiative traveled across the country selecting material offered by the public.

When the approach to collecting the permanent exhibition was complete, the museum shifted to a more mission-driven collecting effort in order to fill-in the historical and cultural gaps in the collection. Currently, only 20% of the collection is part of the permanent exhibition.

Challenges

No conservation lab on-site. All conservation for the entire Ohio Historical Society, including • NAAMCC, is conducted off-site. Due to budget constraints, conservation is outsourced.

Collections storage space is nearly full. In the future, depending on the growth of the collection,

• the museum may have to look for additional off-site storage if the Ohio Historical Society cannot accommodate it.

No cold storage or cold fumigation/isolation equipment. •

Public access to the collection was never planned. Researchers have limited access to the • collection, including archival material. A small workroom is available for their use, but it is not adequate.

Due to state-mandated lay-offs in recent years, the collections management department consists • of a bare minimum staff—one registrar and two curators.

What Works

Small off-site storage space houses materials that can withstand environmental changes and

climate fluctuations, including large equipment and some furniture. Approximately 10% of the collection is located off-site.

Dedicated loading dock for collections with a small but adequate reclamation area. •

The National Museum of American History Archives Center (NMAH Archives Center)

The Archives Center, founded in 1983,3 identifies, acquires, and preserves archival records in many media and formats to document America’s history and its diverse cultures. Center staff members arrange, describe, preserve, and make collections accessible to support scholarship, exhibitions, publications, and education.

The Center offers these services in a professionally managed reference facility at the NMAH on the National Mall and through online databases, finding aids, and other forms of publication. It also provides expert advice on accepted archival practices and standards and strives to clarify the role that organized archives play in American life.

In the fall of 2003, the Center moved from its location on the third floor of the museum to its current newly retrofitted space. The Center is organized into functional teams representing primary function areas: exhibit, reception, reference, processing, storage, office, and specialized machinery. Approximately 20,000 cubic feet of collection material are stored on-site and off-site. The Center acquires approximately 250 cubic feet of material each year.

Challenges

• a newly designed state-of-the-art archive would better serve the collection.

The space was not designed to be an archive. The retrofitted space accommodates the Center, but

• especially audio and video material.

Proper environmental controls and stable conditions are not maintained for the entire collection,

• (Museum Support Center/Silver Hill, Fullerton, Iron Mountain, and Pennsy Drive) and an inordinate amount of staff time is consumed by logistical planning.

There are four off-site storage locations that support the collection activities of the Archives Center

• and re-enter the Center. There are some concerns regarding security.

No dedicated washroom exists. Staff and visitors must exit the space to use the public washroom

There is no conservation area within the Center. Conservation is done on-site through the NMAH

• conservation lab or off-site at Smithsonian Institution Archives or the Museum Support Center in Silver Hill, MD.

• creates shadows and poor visibility throughout the space. Staff frequently must use flashlights to see and work with materials.

Placement of storage-area lighting fixtures perpendicular to the horizontal built-in compact shelving

• used to store negatives.

Due to limited space and funding, only three small commercial freezers located in the basement are

What Works

Reception area is equipped with lockers for researchers to store their belongings and a well-sized

• conference room for staff meetings, hosting potential donors, and for laying out materials from the collection.

3 Date provided by Founding Chief Archivist John A. Fleckner.

The Center keeps statistics on collections use by staff and visitors. The collection is organized so

that the most heavily-used materials are easily accessible and located on-site.

Storage is located adjacent to the reference area/reading room where researchers are working.

Finding aids are prepared for each item in the collection. Given that material is distributed between

five locations, this makes it possible to find materials easily.

First time visitor/researchers watch a 9-minute orientation video before handling the collection.

Several well-appointed display cases are located in the foyer. This makes it possible to offer

potential donors space to display their items for a period of time.

The Center does not collect material in need of major conservation work unless the material is

significant enough to justify the expense of caring for it.

Vapor barrier has been created around the collection storage space to contain the humidified

environment.

Recommended Plan to House the NMAAHC Collections and Equipment

In 2005 Smithsonian Institution developed specific environmental guidelines for the care and preservation of its collections. These Standards reflected the four primary factors that affect collection storage and conservation: relative humidity, temperature, air cleanliness, and light levels. The creation of the NMAAHC off-site collection storage facility at Pennsy Drive, Landover, MD, was informed by these guidelines; SI’s standards should be employed in the development of the collections storage and support areas, as well as the exhibition galleries, at the National Mall site.

Research conducted by the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute (see Appendix E: “Determining the Acceptable Ranges of Relative Humidity and Temperature in Museums and Galleries,” by Dr. Marion F. Mecklenburg) indicates that these conditions are generally acceptable for all components of the collection. Exceptions will be dealt with on an individual basis and include specific items (such as tightly stretched screens and inlaid furniture in poor condition) requiring more tightly controlled humidity (50% RH +/-5% RH), material (such as fur, skins, birds, and photographs) requiring cool conditions (40°F), and 20th-century photographic material, which should be stored below freezing.4

Relative Humidity (RH)—The ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the absolute humidity of sampled

• air to that of air saturated with water at the same temperature. Other than direct exposure to weather, theft, arson, and carelessness, RH is the most destructive force faced by most museum artifacts. With organic materials (wood, paper, textiles, leather, etc.), changes in RH induce fluctuation in the size of the artifact, which could cause stretching, tearing, swelling, mildew, or mold. A basic principle in preventative conservation is to provide stable environmental conditions with minimal fluctuation. The SI guideline for relative humidity is 45% RH +/-8% RH.

Temperature—Chemical reactions occur faster at higher temperatures, therefore lower room

• temperature where collections are housed is preferred. Another reason for maintaining a stable temperature is that the more stable the temperature, the easier it is to maintain stable RH levels. The SI guideline for temperature is 70°F +/-4°.

Air Cleanliness—Museums should be designed to remove particulate matter (dust, lint, pollen,

• tobacco smoke, coal and oil smoke, and bacteria) and gaseous pollutants from the air (> 90% efficiency particulate filtration according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers). Air-handling systems should be designed to include gaseous pollutant filtering materials.

Light Levels—Defined in terms of sensitivity levels. High light-sensitivity artifacts (paper, textiles,

• pastels, watercolors, etc.) 5-foot candles/50 lux; medium-sensitivity artifacts (oil painting, ivory, horn, bone, etc.) 20-foot candles/150-200 lux; low light-sensitivity artifacts (metal, ceramics, glass, jewelry, etc.) 30-foot candles/300 lux. General storage lighting should be kept at a minimum of 20-foot candles (200 lux). Lights will usually be turned off and even when fully illuminated many artifacts will not be affected because they will be in storage containers, drawers, acid-free boxes, or on closed racks. Ideally, considerable reflectance can be obtained through the use of matt white/ muted storage equipment, and white painted ceilings, which will provide additional light. Special task lighting in an isolated area should also be planned for staff doing work in this area.

4

From Dr. Marion Mecklenburg – see work by McCormick-Goodhart.

ON-SITE STORAGE NEEDS

As noted earlier in this report, the NMAAHC is committed to maximizing the visitor’s use of the museum on the National Mall. Only storage for collections on exhibition, objects used for on-site educational programs, and archival material housed in the resource center will be located on-site at the museum on the National Mall. These spaces are defined as Non-Public Collection Space (identified in Volume IV, Facility Program, Space List Detail, Zone C) and are the most secure and environmentally stable spaces within the museum. Material housed in this space will include items rotated periodically due to environmental constraints,conservation needs, donor requirements, or other restrictions in place to safeguard the items. This space will also house museum acquisitions or material on loan from other museums supporting temporary exhibitions and galleries.

With the strategy of utilizing off-site facilities as the primary location for collection support activities, the non-public collection space represents 20% of the new building program on the National Mall, or approximately 15,000 asf. The on-site space will include the following functions:

Collections Storage

•

Multi-purpose Collection Storage

Temporary/Transit Storage

Collection Handling

Dedicated Enclosed Collections Loading Bay and Dock •

Dedicated Collections Shipping and Receiving (includes Crating/Uncrating) •

Packing/Unpacking; Crate Storage, and Transit Storage •

Clean Installation Room and Preparator’s Workroom •

Curatorial Examination, Documentation, and Registration Workroom •

Receiving/Courier Office •

•

•

Moving Equipment Storage

Collection and Installation Supplies (including Frame Storage)

Dedicated Collections Freight Elevator •

Staging

Copy, Digitizing, and Scanning Area •

Resource Center

Photo Archive

Library/Archive Processing

Library Archive Closed Stacks

Rare Book Room •

Vault •

Conservation

Isolation Room •

Multi-purpose Conservation Lab •

Photography Conservation Lab

Ideally, all Non-Public Collection Support Space (collections storage, collections processing, and conservation areas) should be located on one floor. Access to this area will be restricted to collections management staff only. Office space for registration and collections prep/conservation staff should be designed close to storage and loading dock areas and should provide enough room for proper document storage in fireproof cabinets, etc.

It is preferred that no exterior walls be used for any collections storage or support areas. If exterior walls are a necessity for collections spaces, water and vapor barriers must be installed. There should be no dropped ceilings and all pipe chases, cable entries/exits, etc., and all wall penetrations must be sealed.

Easy-to-clean, low-maintenance flooring that does not require caustic or acidic chemicals to clean should be installed. No carpeted floors should be installed in the collection storage or support areas.

Door sweeps on all doors should be sufficient enough to keep out pests (a mouse only needs a 1/4" of space to sneak in, for example). Catering and trash removal pathways need to bypass doorways and entries to collections storage.

There should be minimal access to mechanicals (elevators, etc.) in the collections storage or display areas. Intake for HVAC systems should not be located near or adjacent to the loading dock.

The collection should not be housed or displayed on the basement or subterranean level. If this is absolutely necessary, water/vapor barriers must be installed.

A combination of compact, high-density moveable storage systems, textile hanging racks and drawers, garment cases, flat drawer files, preservation cabinets, flexible adjustable shelving, and a fine art hanging system, etc., may be required. The use of compact storage systems almost always lead to cost savings when the full cost of additional space needed to accommodate the same collection is calculated.

The purpose of temporary storage at the National Mall site is to accommodate incoming NMAAHC acquisitions in a secure location prior to transfer to the off-site facility, as well as loaned items to be installed for exhibition, and traveling exhibitions waiting to be unpacked or shipped elsewhere. Temporary storage will accommodate a variety of types of artifacts, from ethnographic objects and costumes, to works of art such as paintings and sculpture, both large and small scale.

Special care should be taken to ensure that storage-area lighting fixtures maximize the use of the space and are coordinated with the structure and layout of the storage units. No halogen lights should be used and UV-light filters must be installed on all light sources.

The storage area must be climate-controlled to meet the Smithsonian Institution requirements. Plumbing/ water pipes, heating oil, or natural gas should not be placed near collections storage. Considerations should be made for air quality and sound in all collections support and conservation spaces.

It is anticipated that the permanent exhibition will include a number of large iconic items (Pullman car, airplane, shot-gun house, etc.) throughout the galleries. These items will be on permanent display in the Public Non-Collection Space (Zone A) and the Public Collection Space (Zone B) and not housed in the Non-Public Collections Space; however, the building should be able to accommodate the movement of these items with ramps, removable windows, or wall or roof panels.

For example, there will be times when rigging for very large and heavy items is necessary, even when temporary exhibitions are installed, so specialized flooring that would restrict the use of heavy machinery or equipment should be avoided. Specialized wall treatments that would not allow for unique or large hanging apparatus should not be considered. Doors should be double sized, over-height, and, if swinging, should swing in both directions. Sharp corners and irregular floor plans should be avoided.

OFF-SITE COLLECTIONS STORAGE NEEDS AND COORDINATION

Plans are underway for the NMAAHC off-site collections storage space in Landover, MD (3400 Pennsy Drive). The entire facility is leased by the Smithsonian Institution and will be shared by the NMAAHC, SI Libraries, NMAH, SI Office of Protective Services, and others. The museum’s tentative move-in date is December 2008.

The off-site space currently dedicated to the NMAAHC is approximately 15,000 asf. The space has a visitor’s area adjacent to a processing area. Authorized staff will be able to bring special groups and individuals to observe collections processing and stabilization, view conservation and preservation work in progress, and see select items from the collection. This off-site space is located adjacent to an unassigned space in the building that the museum hopes to have access to in the future. The potential expansion space is approximately 40,000 asf. This space will serve as temporary storage and long-term off-site storage.

Longer-term storage will largely be for archival materials that are part of the museum’s collection, photographs, objects that are rotated in and out of exhibition spaces, etc. Two- and three-dimensional materials not on exhibition will be housed at the museum’s off-site facility. The off-site storage facility should follow the organization of the collections storage, collections support, and conservation area described above.

Coordination between on-site and off-site storage spaces must be planned well in advance of opening. Adequate procedures should be in place to support effective communication between on-site and offsite collections management staff, including video conferencing and the capacity to share documents electronically on a secure IT system (as recommended by NMAI and NMAH).

An off-site collections manager/curator and other collections support and conservation staff should also be planned for, especially if the temporary/long-term facility will accommodate researchers and VIP visitors. At a minimum, in addition to an off-site curator, a conservator and registrar should be located off-site to manage the growing collection.

The museum should consider purchasing a truck to transport material between the National Mall and the off-site facility. As recommended by NMAI, the operation of the truck should not exceed the requirements for a passenger vehicle so that a commercial driver’s license will not be necessary. Staff should be able to drive and operate the vehicle. Dedicated parking for the truck at the museum on the National Mall and at the off-site facility will make deliveries and loading more manageable.

While it is generally more effective to locate storage on-site, off-site storage is a viable alternative, especially when access to the collection stored there is infrequent, limited expansion space exists on-site, and when on-site space is at a premium, as is the case with the NMAAHC. As planning continues and the museum’s staff and its collection occupy the off-site space, the following planning implications should be considered:

Movement of the collection is always accompanied by some risk of loss or damage, although this

can be minimized with proper handling and packing procedures.

Some duplication of facilities will be unavoidable for such functions as shipping and receiving,

packing and unpacking, building services, security systems, and staff work spaces.

Duplication of staff may be necessary. Staff work time will be spent in transit between sites.

Staff morale problems may be an issue (as noted above by the NMAI) for those assigned to the

off-site location, and this can be mitigated with good communication systems.

Off-site storage creates additional security risks for material while in transit and while in an off-site

location. The security implications should therefore be very carefully assessed.

COLLECTIONS STORAGE SUPPORT SPACES, CONSERVATION, AND RESOURCE CENTER

The following support spaces are needed on site for the proper maintenance of the collection, to support permanent and temporary exhibitions, and to accommodate education and research activities. The height and width of the openings to these spaces should be large to accommodate oversized items. Turning radii on the lifts should be calculated for maximum efficiency. As the planning and design phase continues, collections management staff should make further recommendations regarding these spaces.

Loading Dock: An enclosed secure dock, strictly for art/artifacts/collections shipping/receiving (food/ catering and general deliveries must be prohibited) should have ease of entry and maneuverability for trucks potentially up to 80' with cab, and tall enough for a high cube (101+" internal box measurement). Artifacts, crates, collections supplies, etc. are the only things that should be delivered to this dock area. As much as possible, the dock should be well lit and ventilated. The loading dock should not be located near curbs, trees, sharp corners, and hills or inclines. A security booth adjacent to the loading dock and shipping/receiving areas should have a visual connection to a secure entry/exit so that a driver or delivery person may identify himself or herself before being admitted.

Shipping and Receiving: The shipping/receiving area should be well lit, ventilated, and climate controlled. The shipping/receiving area should lead directly and easily to a large freight elevator, and staging and storage areas. This area should be designed large enough to accommodate crating/uncrating, packing/ unpacking, and temporary storage for pending acquisitions. Space for lifts and other large equipment should be planned for.

Freight Elevator: The freight elevator and adjacent hallways should be wide and high enough to allow for movement of oversized items without rigging through windows or ceilings. Freight elevators should also allow movement of collections items from dock and storage areas to gallery spaces without passing through narrow hallways, non-collections areas, and several doors. These elevators should be sized for extra width (10–12 feet) and extra height (12–14 feet) to allow for movement of many oversized items without rigging through windows or ceilings.

Staging: Staging spaces to prepare collections items for registration, storage, exhibition, shipping, etc., should be located adjacent to the loading dock and close to the collections storage areas and the preparatory areas, etc.

Curatorial Examination: A dedicated workspace for collections management staff for initial acquisition inspection and documentation should be located adjacent to shipping/receiving area.

Preparatory Workshops: A fairly large space should be set aside for preparatory activities, mount making, and woodworking (for crates, etc.). Due to the equipment needed to perform these activities, this space will need to be large and well vented, and should block as much noise as possible. Appropriate dust-collection equipment should be installed in this space.

Conservation Area: Although most major conservation work will take place off-site, supplies and adequate workspace will be required at the museum building to address emergency situations and to handle incoming or outgoing loans that require attention and inspection by a conservator. This space will have to be well vented, equipped with a sink, running water, and fume hood, allow space for testing with chemicals, fire, etc., and should also have an area for storage. This area should be close to but not directly in the collections storage area.

Resource Center: The resource center will have public access and restricted access for collections storage. Researchers and visitors will use the resource center holdings. Specialized long-term research is expected to be by appointment only. Restricted access where the collection is housed will include the photo archive, library/archive processing, archival cold storage/freezers, closed stacks, and staff offices. Public access will be limited to a reading/research area to include a rare book room. Lockers should be provided for daily use by researchers.

KEY FINDINGS SUMMARY

The discussions with staff at peer institutions and visits to local facilities provided many key insights from which the NMAAHC can benefit. The experiences of other museums and archives, both positive and negative, have informed recommendations for the NMAAHC collections storage space and practice in numerous ways, a summary of which follows. For more detailed explanations, see the individual site visit and interview reports.

Considering Storage Needs in Building Design

One of the most important takeaways from the site visit and interview process was the importance of considering collections storage needs when designing the on-site museum space. Failure to include effects on collections storage spaces and processes along with other considerations such as aesthetics, visitor experience, and cost-effectiveness has caused problems at other locations. Challenges have included the following: the introduction of food or trash into collections storage areas, other difficulties working with materials or keeping them safe, difficulty transporting objects to and from storage exhibit spaces, and lack of space to store incidental materials such as packing crates for items on exhibit.

Multiple repositories mentioned the value of the following: having dedicated space for certain aspects of collections storage, considering spatial relationships and flexibility of layout, and planning space and policies for future or overlooked aspects of the collections storage process.

First, sometimes special collections storage spaces make sense, even if they duplicate areas found elsewhere in the facility. Arranging for a dedicated collections freight elevator and loading dock helps to protect collections items from trash and food contamination and allows greater environmental and security protection for materials traveling to and from storage. Ideally, an area for isolation (along with needed

equipment, such as freezers), acclimation, and exhibit prep will also be available close to the loading area. Other examples include dedicated washrooms and lockers in storage areas available to staff and researchers.

Second, taking relationships of space into consideration can prove as important as considering the types of spaces to include. Some examples include locating collections management staff close to the collections storage area, having some isolation equipment close to the receiving area, and placing a photo studio close to the inventory room. Planning flexible space can help when space is tight, such as a conference room that can be used for staff meetings, hosting visitors, and also exhibit prep. Another example of flexible space is the use of movable doors between rooms.

Third, planning for needs ancillary to storage and storage-related needs that may arise in the future prevents later problems. Such commonly overlooked spaces include staging, prep, and storage areas for exhibit galleries, workspace for curators, and room for visiting researchers.

Public and research access tends to flow most smoothly at locations that planned for it from conception. The NMAH Archives Center, for example, has several helpful policies including a required video orientation before handling collection materials, statistics on frequency of materials access that inform decisions about storage and organization, and finding aids for collection items.

Coordinating Between Museum and Off-Site Storage

In general, having off-site storage requires attention to coordinating storage and transporting materials between sites, to integrating staff experience on-site and off-site, and to protecting collection items from theft and damage. Having multiple off-site storage locations—as does the NMAH Archives Center— increases the difficulty of coordination and may require enhanced location tools for collection materials. Finding aids, such as barcodes and digital images of materials, can be helpful.

Facilitating communication between on-site and off-site staff is critical, both for maximum effectiveness and for morale. The NMAI and its Cultural Resource Center (NMAICRC) shared their challenges in this area. Videoconferencing, document sharing, and other technology tools help keep staff connected.

Preparing ahead for moves between the museum and off-site storage pays off, such as the NMAI’s strategies of putting wheels on most of the furniture and acquiring a dedicated truck small enough to be operated without a commercial driver’s license.

Environmental Controls

Other museums and repositories underscore the importance of proper environmental-control planning and installation, such as air handlers on doors to collections storage space (NMAI), proper ventilation (NMAI CRC), and a vapor barrier around the collections storage (NMAH Archives Center). Providing stable conditions for diverse collection materials can be challenging, such as the space and expense of freezers for negatives. Designers do well to consider how other aspects of building design may affect collection storage, such as the routing of wires and plumbing to avoid possible fire or flood risk.

Planning Ahead for Growth, Changes in Collections Focus, Possible Funding Changes

Based on the experience of other museums, space will likely become an issue for the NMAAHC at some point in the future. Sometimes this is due to natural collections growth, sometimes to a change in focus leading to the addition of new collections items, and sometimes to changes in process or policy, such as an increased interest in public or research access that was not planned. It helps to have a plan for meeting

future storage needs and to consider possible future uses of space such as a workroom for visiting researchers or visible storage cases for newly acquired items.

Differing staff levels due to funding changes can also affect how materials move through collections storage processes such as inventory, registration, conservation, and transportation.

Collections Safety and Security Needs

Keeping collections materials safe from contamination and secure from theft requires setting aside resources that may include space, funds, and manpower. Museums need ample isolation space, possibly in more than one location; an appropriately sized freezer for fumigation; a vault large enough to handle collections needs; a system for identifying and tracking collections materials; provisions for 24-hour security; means of providing security at points of public contact with collection materials, including loading docks and public storage areas; and plans for maintaining collections integrity during a power outage, such as a generator.

Conservation Needs

To allocate sufficient space and resources for conservation, a facility must first determine how much conservation will be done on-site and at off-site locations. Peer institutions vary widely in their on-site conservation practices. Even without on-site conservation staff, it seems ideal to have a small conservation lab on-site for immediate needs. Materials found in conservation spaces include fume hoods, freezers, refrigerators, vaults, eye-wash stations, textile-wash areas, mount-making spaces, small photo studios, small labs, and hard white floors.

General Museum Requirements

Summary

The General Museum Requirements chapter sets out the needs and primary set of standards for major components of the NMAAHC to achieve its vision and provide a basis for the space program.

This chapter sets out the scope of public activities and planned programming that the NMAAHC will create as it seeks to connect visitors of all ages and backgrounds to the history and culture of African Americans. It also describes the museum’s curatorial objectives and collections management policy as articulated by its staff. An organizational chart and staffing needs framework are laid out, and recommended improvements to the framework are discussed. Finally, key implications for meeting the museum’s cultural and design philosophy in the NMAAHC pre-design document are detailed.

Structure of this Chapter

The General Museums Requirements chapter addresses the curatorial objectives and collections policies, the key public program components of the museum, and the back of house support functions. It comprises the following sections:

Introduction—

• provides a brief overview of the purpose of the report and the process undertaken by the team; details and provides guidance on the Core Statements.

Curatorial Objectives and Collections Management Policy—

• presents the Curatorial Objectives, plus recommendations for collections growth.

Public Activities and Programs Plan—

• details how the NMAAHC will use its collection, and public activities and programs to involve the public in the museum and communicate its mission.

Organizational Structure and Staffing Needs Framework—

• provides initial comments on the current Organizational Structure, and gives a preliminary indication of the NMAAHC’s staffing needs for the year 2015.

• Pre-Design Program—identifies preliminary requirements for the activities and public programs, collections care and management, and staffing needs for the NMAAHC pre-design program.

Meeting the NMAAHC’s Cultural and Design Philosophy: Key Implications for the NMAAHC

The

• Appendices in Volume VI provide technical and background information pertaining to the collections and space guidelines for Smithsonian Institution facilities.

Introduction

The General Museum Requirements chapter provides direction on the functional aspects of the museum in the following key areas:

•

Curatorial objectives and collections management

Activities and public programs

Organizational structure and staffing needs •

Key implications for the NMAAHC pre-design program •

It also provides information about the following aspects of the museum, to give a basis for the space program, which specifies the amount and type of space required:

Provides information on the amount and types of collections that will be housed on- and off-site •

Indicates the public programs and services that the NMAAHC will provide to the visiting public, and

those who may not visit in person but who will hear about the museum through mass media and the Internet

Provides projected staff needs for the museum’s opening in 2015.

Working closely with the NMAAHC Steering Committee, and following a consultative methodology with a regular reporting schedule, the Freelon Bond team undertook a range of activities to provide the basis for establishing the General Museum Requirements for the NMAAHC , including:

A review of documents provided by the Smithsonian Institution’s NMAAHC staff, and by the

Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Facility, Engineering, and Operations (OFEO)

A review of literature on the development of the NMAAHC

Meetings with the NMAAHC staff to discuss curatorial objectives, activities and public programs,

and organizational structure

Site visits with the NMAAHC staff to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American

History and Culture (RFL Museum), Baltimore, MD

Preparation and analysis of scenarios on various issues •

Interviews with the NMAAHC Founding Director Lonnie Bunch concerning operations and

activities, and public programs

Numerous interviews and conversations with the NMAAHC curatorial staff

Interviews as approved by the NMAAHC, and attendance at contractor principal meetings •

Research into the collections of the following institutions:

o National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center (NAAMCC), Wilberforce, OH

o Japanese American National Museum (JANM), Los Angeles, CA

o National Museum of American History (NMAH), Washington, DC

o National Museum of American History (NMAH) Archives Center, Washington, DC

o National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), Washington, DC

o Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (RFL Museum), Baltimore, MD

Research into the collections of the following institutions: •

o National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI)

o National Museum of American History (NMAH)

o National Air and Space Museum (NASM)

Completion of the Draft General Museum Requirements Report, for review by the NMAAHC staff • and the project team

NMAAHC DRAFT CORE STATEMENTS

The NMAAHC Core Statements—the nucleus of the museum—are the policy foundation and encompass different aspects of the museum’s function. These statements were developed with the NMAAHC staff and used by the pre-design team as the guiding principles in the development of these General Museum Requirements for the NMAAHC.

There are three statements:

Mission • : the reason for the museum’s existence (the “Why” of the NMAAHC)

Vision: • the impact that the NMAAHC will have on its community/the world (the “What”)

Mandate: • the boundaries within which the NMAAHC functions—for example, its subject matter, service offerings, catchment area, and disciplines (the “Where,” “When,” and “How”)

At this writing, the following draft statements are under consideration by the NMAAHC staff leadership.

DRAFT MISSION

To share the culture of African Americans, their ongoing struggles for freedom and equality, and their economic role in building the country have shaped America’s history, identity, and democratic ideals.

DRAFT VISION

Option 1

To be a place of meaning, of memory, of reflection, of laughter and of hope. To help people adapt to the changing definitions of American citizenship, liberty, and equality.

Option 2

To help all Americans understand the importance of race and its meaning in a changing America. To be a place of memory, of reflection, of laughter, and of hope.

Option 3

To transform the understanding of American history and culture by experiencing it through the stories and creativity of African Americans.

Option 1

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is dedicated to preserving, collecting, studying and displaying the history and culture of African Americans from their origins to the present: their decisive role in American life and as part of a global African Diaspora. The NMAAHC is dedicated also to collaborating with the Smithsonian Institution, and the myriad museums and educational institutions that explore and preserve this history.

Option 2

This is the National Museum of African American History and Culture dedicated to preserving, collecting, studying and displaying the history and culture of African Americans: their central role in American life and as part of a global African Diaspora. We collaborate within the Smithsonian Institution, and with the myriad museums and educational institutions throughout the country that explore and preserve African American history and culture.

GOAL STATEMENTS

In addition to the Core Statements, the NMAAHC has chosen to adopt draft Goal Statements that communicate the philosophical framework within which staff will work. Using the Vision Statement written by the NMAAHC Founding Director Lonnie Bunch, discussions conducted with senior NMAAHC staff and the Contractor Principal Team, and other documents, the team has identified the following Goal Statements.

Draft Goals

1. Explore and revel in African American history and culture.

2. Be a forum for multi-racial dialogue.

3. Facilitate the preservation and collection of historical objects, works of art, documents, and stories relevant to African Americans.

4. Help all Americans see the relevance of their past to the present and how their experiences are informed by international considerations.

5. Inspire visitors to see America in a new light.

The team has also identified three optional Goal Statements:

1. Create and sustain a distinctive museum on the National Mall that will inspire visitors to see America in a new light—through the African American experience.

2. Preserve, collect, research, and present, in innovative ways, historical objects, works of art, documents, performances, and stories of African Americans.

3. Become one of the most popular museums in America.

As the museum develops further, the staff will assign tasks and objectives to these Goal Statements.

Curatorial Objectives and Collections Management Policy

The NMAAHC staff has wisely determined that the museum will utilize most of its projected space on the high-profile National Mall site for public use with an emphasis on the visitor experience and amenities, as well as support for staff needs. The majority of the museum’s collections will be stored off-site in a space leased by the Smithsonian Institution and developed as a collections storage facility. The strategy for the NMAAHC collections growth and storage is described in detail in the chapter on Collections Storage.

This chapter describes:

Curatorial Objectives, including a detailed Collections Mission, Scope, and Guiding Principles as • determined by the NMAAHC staff and the Freelon Bond team through a series of meetings in early 2008

Smithsonian Institution Collections Management Policies •

Anticipated collections growth rates •

CURATORIAL

OBJECTIVES

Mission

The NMAAHC is devoted to the identification, documentation, preservation, and interpretation of African American history, art, and culture. To this end, it will acquire and maintain a representative collection of African American history, art, and culture in its many aspects from the Colonial era to the 21st Century.

Scope

As a national museum representing history and culture, its collections will have regional representations of the African American experience from across the United States. Artifacts and artwork that reflect the historical and cultural links of African Americans to the African Diaspora, such as in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Canada, will also be collected for use in exhibitions and for research purposes. Cultural material collected by the museum will cover the breadth and depth of the African American experience, and include works of art, historical artifacts, ethnographic objects, photographs, moving images, archival documents, electronic data, audio recordings, books, and manuscripts.

Guiding Themes

Five broad themes link the museum’s collecting efforts to its larger Vision and Mission. They also help conceptualize African American history and the museum’s initial collecting efforts. Museum leadership and curatorial staff are guided in their collecting efforts by these themes. The themes also support the development of the permanent exhibition. A more detailed description can be found in Appendix A.

Creativity • —The development and expression of African American ingenuity, adaptation, and creation of culture in social, political, and artistic life. Collections could include material related to the African American experience in business and entrepreneurship, agriculture, science, technology, the humanities, the arts and performing arts, vernacular art, syncretism, American cultural development, American and world music, and beauty culture.

Family and Community Life—

• The dynamics of the African American experience within domestic and social environments, including changing ideas about the home, family unit, community, and identity in American society. Collections could include material related to marriage and interracial relationships, parenting, women and kin keepers, childhood and adolescence, class and classism within Black communities, and interactions with other ethnic groups and communities.

Migration and the African Diaspora—

• Movement of peoples to and throughout the Americas, from slavery to the present. Collections could include material related to the middle passage, post-Civil War migration, western settlements, the Great Migration, Diasporic archeology, pan-Africanism, Caribbean communities, and African knowledge transferred to the Americas.

Religion and Spirituality—

• Organized faith and its role in the social and political experiences of African Americans. Collections could include material related to the African American church— Evangelism, Protestantism, Baptist traditions, Judaism and Black Jews, and Islam and Black Muslims.

Work—

• Experiences of work and labor during and after slavery in the Americas. Collections could include material related to slave labor and the role of African Americans as innovators and workers in agriculture, the military, medicine, politics, architecture, business, and as entrepreneurs.

Two overarching narratives further guide and unify the five themes summarized above:

Migration—

• Movement of peoples within and beyond the borders of the United States

Identity—

• Expressions of individual or group sense of belonging, including investigations of changing racial, regional and national identity of identities.

Priorities for Acquisitions

Collections acquisitions that support the development of the permanent exhibition are the museum’s initial focus. As the planning process continues, further priorities based on the themes and narratives described above will be developed. Acquisitions (and deaccessions) are guided by the museum’s collections policy.

The NMAAHC’s current collection consists of just under 7,000 items,1 approximating 4,000 negatives, 2,000 photographic prints, and 1,000 garments, coiled grass baskets, a church pew, a bronze cross, a congressional gold medal, a large wood table, ephemera and memorabilia, a Sleeping Car Porter Cap, archival material, and several paintings and fine art pieces. A descriptive list of the collections inventory can be found in Appendix B.

Potential for Collaboration

As an essential part of its vision, the NMAAHC is committed to partnering with a broad range of institutions and cultural organizations across the country to promote a greater awareness and further understanding of African American history and culture. The museum will actively identify opportunities to collaborate on collecting activities with other Smithsonian Institution museums and units and other museums, especially African American museums. When evaluating collection items for acquisition, the museum will make every attempt to consider local repositories.

2. NMAAHC staff estimate that the current count for the collection is 6,800 objects.

THE NMAAHC DRAFT COLLECTIONS POLICY

Introduction

The NMAAHC’s draft collections policy is rooted in the Smithsonian Institution’s basic definition of a collections policy2—a detailed written statement that:

• museum’s professional standards regarding objects left in its care.

Explains why a museum is in operation and how it goes about its business, and that articulates the

• activity.

Sets forth the goals of a museum and explains how those goals are pursued through collections

• informed, and in accordance with the museum’s mission.

Provides a mechanism that assures that decisions concerning collections are prudent, responsible,

• practices, and operations.

Establishes governance standards and describes principles that govern collection activities,

Explains the museum’s purpose or mission, identifies who is responsible for carrying out the

• aspects of this mission, and then describes collections activities that reflect consideration of the basic criteria of collections access and accountability.

Offers comprehensive and practical guidance that assures that careful judgments are being made

• not only with regard to acquisitions but also with regard to the subsequent use and management of objects.

•

•

Guides staff members in carrying out their collection responsibilities.

Addresses the important element of risk management.

• for the public.

Ensures that a museum is fulfilling the fiduciary responsibility for the collections that it holds in trust

• of its officers and staff regarding collections.

Serves as prevention against uncertainty regarding the role of the museum and the responsibilities

In keeping with Smithsonian Institution standards, the NMAAHC’s collections policy includes a statement of purpose, authority, and the collecting scope; and a definition of collections, acquisitions, preservation, information management, risk management and security, access, and loans.

Key elements of the NMAAHC draft collections policy are summarized below. The NMAAHC Draft Collections Management Policy can be found in its entirety in Appendix A. As part of the development and review process, the NMAAHC Draft Collections Management Policy will be coordinated with other SI Policies, including OPS standards, and understanding that OPS is completing a new collection management security policy with Bill Tomkins through the Smithsonian Collection Advisory Committee.

2 Smithsonian Institution Archives, National Collections Program, “Developing a Collections Management Policy”, http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/CMguidelines.html, 2004.

Statement of Purpose

Public Law 108-184 established the NMAAHC within the Smithsonian Institution. The NMAAHC is one of 21 collecting units of the Smithsonian Institution charged with maintaining its own unique collection, purpose, character, and role in carrying out the institutional mission to increase and diffuse knowledge.

Authority

Board of Regents

• —Has responsibility for all Smithsonian Institution collections through the Secretary.

Museum Council

• —Has sole authority to: 1) purchase, accept, borrow, and acquire artifacts; 2) loan, exchange, sell, or dispose of any part the collection; and 3) specify criteria with respect to the use of collections.

Director

• —Oversees daily execution of the collections policy by the appropriate staff and reports to the Council, the Secretary, and the Board of Regents.

Collections Committee

• —Recommends collections acquisitions to the Director.

Collecting Scope

As stated in the curatorial objectives above, the scope of the NMAAHC’s collection includes “regional representations of the African American experience from across the United States. Artifacts and artwork that reflect the historical and cultural links of African Americans to the African Diaspora, such as in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Canada, will also be collected for use in exhibitions and for research purposes. Cultural material collected by the museum will cover the breadth and depth of the African American experience, including works of art, historical artifacts, ethnographic objects, photographs, moving images, archival documents, electronic data, audio recordings, books, and manuscripts.”3

Collections Defined

The NMAAHC defines its collection within three broad categories:

Museum and archive collections

• —Used for exhibitions and to support research, publications, and other public programming.

Educational collections

• —Used for hands-on educational programs.

Library collections

• —Books and other publications.

Acquisitions

The NMAAHC has developed the following acquisitions’ principles, to be followed when acquiring collections:

•

•

•

The material is consistent with collections’ objectives and Smithsonian Institution goals.

The museum has the ability to store, protect, and preserve the material.

The museum is able to document the item’s provenance, legal title, and intellectual property rights.

3 NMAAHC Collections Policy & Plan, “Collections Policy,” p. 2, July 2007.

Consideration of acquisition costs (transportation, purchase, conservation, storage, and cataloging). •

Materials are well documented and/or hold the potential for good documentation through research. •

The materials are appropriate for exhibition purposes and are useful as an educational tool within • an exhibition or other public program.

The materials are associated with an historical event or theme related to African American history • or culture.

The materials have historic or cultural significance to the African American experience. •

The materials have potential for research and scholarship. •

There is no danger of deterioration or loss of the materials. •

Collecting Opportunities and Initiatives

The museum plans to acquire collections that meet the acquisitions’ criteria by gifts and bequests, purchases (through its acquisitions budget or with the assistance of the Collections Acquisition Program), exchanges with other museums or educational institutions, transfers from other Smithsonian Institution museums or bureaus, and through projects sponsored by the NMAAHC.

Parallel Collecting and Conflicts

While some overlap among Smithsonian Institution museum collections is expected and at times desirable, competition among museums is inappropriate. When more than one museum expresses an interest in a collection, the directors of the respective museums must agree upon who will acquire the collection based on each museum’s collection plans, research, exhibitions, and publications, and its relevancy to the material; and the museum’s ability to store, preserve, and protect the collection according to Smithsonian Institution standards.

Terms of Acceptance

The NMAAHC will not accept material if its use is restricted such that it inhibits or prevents effective research, exhibition, loan, or disposal. The museum also will not accept collections requiring permanent or long-term exhibition, or those that must be kept together permanently and/or displayed only as a discrete collection.

Exceptions

After consultation with the appropriate Smithsonian Institution units, and under exceptional circumstances, the NMAAHC may accept collections with restrictions or use limitations.

Acquiring Inappropriate Material

The NMAAHC will accept inappropriate material if it is part of a larger collection that includes materials that are relevant and suitable for permanent inclusion, provided that the donor does not restrict their acceptance.

Approval

The museum’s Director must approve all acquisitions, based on written recommendations from the

Collection Committee.

Preservation

The NMAAHC provides all necessary preservation, protection, and security to Smithsonian Institution standards for all acquisitions. Proper, museum-quality environmental conditions are provided for collection items in storage, on exhibition, within public program areas, in transit, and in processing and conservation areas. The NMAAHC will implement environmental controls as necessary by identifying and committing space and resources required to provide climate-controlled environments prior to acquisition, and by taking preventative and protective measures to minimize environmental damage.

The NMAAHC will consult with the Museum Conservation Institute and the Smithsonian Archives on specific issues of collections care, storage, and conservation, as necessary.

Information Management

The museum will purchase and maintain a computer information system (CIS), such as The Museum System (TMS) used by other Smithsonian Institution museums, to maintain acquisitions records and other relevant collections information. CIS must be compatible with the museum’s Web site parameters.

Inventory

A computerized inventory of the museum’s collection will be maintained. The inventory system must be designed to generate reports, indices, and summaries. A regular schedule to conduct cyclical inventories should also be a part of the design.

Accession Records

Established procedures for recording all material acquired for the collection shall be followed. Before an object is accessioned, the NMAAHC shall have evidence of the museum’s title to it (such as an executed deed of gift, bill of sale, or evidence of bequest), and evidence of the museum’s receipt of the item.

Deaccessioning and Disposal

The NMAAHC will apply the following criteria to determine whether material needs to be deaccessioned.

The material has been damaged beyond repair.

It would be wise to exchange or sell the material in order to obtain other material that will

substantially improve the overall collection.

The material would be more appropriate in another museum.

With regard to Education Department objects only, the intentional destruction of the object will

further a technical laboratory study.

Since the museum’s collecting efforts have only recently begun, deaccessioning is unlikely in the near future, especially prior to the full development of the permanent exhibition. However, any proposal to remove material from the collection must be justified in writing and include a disposal plan from the Chief Curator in consultation with the Collections Committee. An object proposed for deaccession should be offered first to other Smithsonian Institution museums and then to other appropriate museums prior to deaccessioning.

Risk Management and Security

Disaster preparedness and recovery plans should be part of the planning and design process and include a system of developing incident reports to effectively manage any loss, damage, theft, or situation that may cause harm to the collection.

Security • —The NMAAHC facilities and collections will be secured by the Office of Protection Services (OPS). Collection items located in off-site storage, exhibition, and conservation spaces shall have appropriate security systems in place. As the collection grows, OPS will be consulted for appropriate security measures, in order to ensure the safety of the collection. Security requirements are addressed in Volume IV - E of this report and incorporate OPS Protective Design Standards for Technical Security, Rev. 8 included in Volume VI, Appendix D.4

Insurance • —Collections are not insured while on Smithsonian Institution premises but are insured in transit and while in the custody of non-Smithsonian borrowers pursuant to loan agreements and negotiated terms. Incoming loans are insured by the Smithsonian Institution unless the vendor waives this requirement in writing. Objects left in the temporary custody of the museum will not be insured while they are on museum premises.

Public Access to the Collection

The public will have limited access to the museum’s collection, primarily for research and educational purposes. The museum will also make the collection accessible through its Web site and through temporary exhibitions in other museums. The NMAAHC is not planning to make visible on-site storage accessible by the general public, but is considering some type of viewing area for researchers and special guests visiting the off-site collections storage location. The intent is to strike a balance between safeguarding the collection and encouraging its use in promoting awareness and appreciation of a rich cultural legacy.

Loans

The NMAAHC will offer outgoing loans of artifacts and other material for exhibition, research, or other educational (or non-profit) purposes to other museums and appropriate facilities that agree to provide care and security in compliance with Smithsonian Institution standards.

Incoming loans will be accepted only for the purpose of exhibition or research. No indefinite or permanent loans will be accepted. Every loan must be for a specified period of time, with an agreed-upon termination date.

Intellectual Property Rights and Management

The NMAAHC is a holder and user of intellectual property rights and seeks to protect the intellectual integrity of collections while promoting the widest possible access for non-profit and educational purposes. Restrictions or required permissions for the use of collection items for exhibition display or any form of reproduction are recorded in each item’s accessions records.

Standards of Conduct/Ethics

Stewardship of the museum’s collections entails the highest public trust and carries with it the presumption of rightful ownership, permanence, care, documentation, accessibility, and reasonable disposal. All NMAAHC

staff are required to comply with Smithsonian Directive 103, “Standards of Conduct”; the mission statement; and the NMAAHC collections policy. The American Association of Museums’ Code of Ethics for Museums will also guide the museum.

The NMAAHC will ensure that:

Collections support the museum’s mission and public trust responsibilities;

Collections are lawfully held, protected, secured, unencumbered, cared for, and preserved; •

•

Collections are accounted for and documented;

Access to the collections and related information is permitted and regulated; •

• cultural resources, and discourage illicit trade;

Acquisition, disposal, and loan agreements respect the protection and preservation of natural and

Acquisition, disposal, and loans adhere to the museum’s mission and public trust responsibilities;

Disposal of collections is solely for the advancement of the museum’s mission; •

The unique and special nature of human remains, funerary, and sacred objects is recognized;

Collections’ activities promote the public good; and •

• dignity of all involved.

Competing claims of ownership are handled openly, seriously, responsively, and with respect for the

THE COLLECTION: ANTICIPATED GROWTH RATES

The NMAAHC’s initial collecting efforts are primarily focused on supporting the permanent exhibition and on housing material that is at risk of being destroyed. The current estimated count for the NMAAHC collection is 6,800 objects. The registrar consultant recommends a projection of 2,500 objects per year for the next three years, a doubling of the collection over this time period.

With the museum’s projected opening in 2015, the collecting efforts over the next five to seven years are expected to be most intense. After the first five years, the collecting effort, while still fairly aggressive, is likely to slow down and continue to grow at a steady pace. The museum could expect to grow its collection relevant to the mission, exhibits, and education programs on average by 10–20% annually after opening. As the museum enters is operating phase, it is projected that it will then become more focused on pursuing collections in support of temporary and traveling exhibitions.

The chapter on Collections Storage discusses the development of the collection in more detail.

These collections will be housed in the NMAAHC off-site collection storage facility, projected to open in the fall of 2008. As the collection grows and content for the permanent exhibition and galleries is fully defined, the museum staff will make final selections of materials for the exhibition and gallery spaces and they will be transferred to the National Mall site.

The decision to develop an off-site collections storage facility means that longer-term issues of collections growth will affect the off-site facility more directly than the new museum on the National Mall.

Public Activities and Programs Plan

The museum’s exhibitions, programming activities, and events connect the visitor to the content and are the vehicle through which the visitor will understand the museum’s core themes and Mission. The sum of the programs and activities is called the “visitor experience.”

The term “public program” refers to: the experiences that will be available to visitors; • educational activities for schools or other organized groups; • exhibitions—both core exhibitions from the permanent collection and temporary changing • exhibitions; events, entertainment, and performing-arts offerings; and • collections and research activities •

The NMAAHC is dedicated to preserving, collecting, studying, and displaying the history and culture of African Americans from their origins to the present and on to the future. The museum seeks to showcase African Americans’ decisive role in American life and as part of a global African Diaspora. To achieve these aims, the NMAAHC will collaborate within the Smithsonian Institution and with the many other museums and educational institutions that explore and preserve this history.

The goal of this NMAAHC Public Activities and Programs Plan is to indicate a likely range of programs and activities for the purpose of developing the facilities plan. In discussions with museum staff, the following principles have been established.

PUBLIC PROGRAMMING PRINCIPLES

Because history is an ongoing discourse between the past and the present—it is the way a nation, people, or family come to understand themselves and each other—the National Museum of African American History and Culture’s programming seeks to encourage an understanding of American history through the lens of the African American experience. The NMAAHC will share African American culture in order to help all visitors see how their stories, histories, and cultures are shaped by the experiences of African Americans. The museum will communicate its message through the delivery of dynamic, engaging, and interdisciplinary programs in ways that create synergy with the permanent exhibit—continually emphasizing both history and culture components.

In a series of meetings with the NMAAHC education, curatorial, and program staff, team members determined that the museum’s programming and the overall visitor experience are guided by a set of core principles. The museum will be:

Interpretive— • The NMAAHC believes that history is worth remembering: that it is not only an analysis of the past, but a way to understand the present and look to the future. Through exhibitions and programming, and a variety of activities, this new national museum will inform and enlighten a wide range of visitors of all ages. Museum-goers will come to reflect on essential ideas of American democracy—citizenship, liberty, and equality—to better understand themselves and others.

Engaging—

• The “live” experience—including activities and events such as lectures, conferences,

symposia, and performance—is central to the interpretive and educational purpose of the museum. The museum experience will be engaging for everyone, regardless of race, culture, physical ability, or generation.

Contemporary—

• The NMAAHC seeks to be relevant and responsive to today’s audience. The museum will be interdisciplinary and collaborative. It will utilize contemporary performance and performing arts as an interpretative tool. For example, there are contemporary performing artists creating research-based visual and performance work that stems from and is inspired by African American history and culture. The museum will engage these artists in its programming.

Social

• —The NMAAHC will be a place of interaction and dialogue. The museum will be a “lively” place, brimming with activity. Museum programs will stimulate and encourage debate and discussion. Programming spaces should allow for flexibility and spontaneity.

Interactive and informative

• —The museum will utilize interactive technologies to provide “handson” and “minds-on” experiences that engage, inform, and entertain. Visitors will have the opportunity to “do” and “be” a part of the exhibition or live programming in new and interesting ways.

Local, national, and international

• —The NMAAHC is a national museum dedicated to local, regional, and international partnerships and collaborations.

Education

Education is the central purpose of the museum: it is the way in which the NMAAHC will connect visitors of all ages and backgrounds to the history of African Americans. The Education Department’s programming seeks to increase awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the complexity of the African American experience. The Department’s goals are:

• spaces, including visuals, auditory elements, tactile manipulatives, low-tech and computerized interactives, and video technologies;

•

To engage visitors as active participants by using a wide spectrum of techniques within the gallery

To create programming that is responsive and that addresses contemporary issues;

• ages; and

To provide opportunities for self-enrichment and to promote life-long learning for visitors of all

• meanings and understanding of the content.

To facilitate meaningful discussion and provide opportunities for visitors to construct personal

The following sections outline the recommended range of educational programming available to five of the museum’s target audience groups: educators/students, young people and families, scholarly audiences, general audiences, and youth and community.

Educators and Students

School-group visitation can account for 15–40% of total visitors. Groups visit mainly between October and early December, with a peak season from May to June.5 School visits are often young people’s first experience with museums and cultural centers.

The NMAAHC’s school-based programming will engage students through a variety of programming

5 Analysis of Existing Visitation for the National Museum of African American History and Culture Pre-Design Services, March 12, 2008.

strategies. It will offer many opportunities for students and educators to develop an informed, critical understanding of African American history and culture, including:

Performance • —commissioned music, dance, theater, demonstrations, etc. These will occur inside exhibition spaces as well as in classrooms or flexible theater spaces.

Curriculum-based tours • —self-guided and staff-led tours that further connect students to the exhibitions. These might include performances, demonstrations, and interactive exhibits. Tours will be designed for appropriate grade levels, from preschool to grade nine.

Workshops • —students will learn to make things, role play, or engage in research.

Professional development • —the NMAAHC will provide workshops for teachers that combine the historical museum content with innovative classroom applications.

Online educator and student resources • —online resource libraries and activity guides for students and teachers for classroom use will be available.

Young People and Families

Weekends and school-break weeks tend to be the prime time for family visitors, and the best time for family-oriented programming. The NMAAHC programs will encourage children and adults to observe, discuss, and explore history together while developing a sense of reflection and critical thinking in both the museum and beyond.

Collaboration with arts and cultural organizations, both locally and nationally, will enable the NMAAHC to present a range of intergenerational programming, such as workshops, guided tours or gallery talks, “family” days, and other special activities.

The Education Department will also produce a range of publications to enhance the visitor experience, including calendar events, floor or gallery maps, audio or handheld gear and self-guide brochures or booklets. The home schooling community is a constituency the museum will work to accommodate. The evaluation is important in order to keep current and engage our visitors’ enjoyment and expectations consistently and often.

Center for African American Media Arts

One of the Museum’s contributions to research and scholarship is the creation of the Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA).

The focus of CAAMA will be to stimulate interest and inspire new scholarship and innovative applications in the fields of photography and new media by and about African Americans. The exhibition space will expose new audiences to the rich and complex imagery of African Americans.

CAAMA will actively collect photography and new-media works, making them available on-site and online through the process of digitization. CAAMA will bridge the gap between scholars, artists, and the general public, and its collaborative relationships with other museums and research institutions in the United States and around the world will make all these collections available to a large audience.

CAAMA Residency Program for Scholars and Artists

At least one scholar a year will be selected by the NMAAHC’s Scholarly Advisory Committee to work on

a specific project culminating in a public presentation (lecture, exhibition, program), and/or publication. An artist in residence would use CAAMA’s collection as the basis of and inspiration for a new work to be presented at the NMAAHC. During the residency, the artist also would be expected to share the process of creation with selected high school art students.

The Resource Center

The museum will provide public access to its databases, museums, archives, Web sites, programs, and so on through the creation of a Resource Center. The Center will be a user-friendly space and the premiere clearinghouse for African American resources. Users will be served in three discrete adjacent spaces:

Reference Library • —operated by Smithsonian Institution Library (SIL) staff and operated like other SI Libraries.

The Archives • —created by and operated by the NMAAHC staff. It houses documents that accompany collections of the museum as well as documents actively collected. This research facility will have finding aids and databases to access museum primary sources including CAAMA collections.

Technology Resource Area

• —provides ready access to various digital collections, such as databases of persons or visual images and technological activities, and is open to the public.

As described by the NMAAHC staff, the Resource Center will facilitate the following types of activities:

CAAMA

• —Visitors see and engage with objects from the collection.

• National Archives, familytree.com, etc.

Genealogy Starter—Visitors learn the basics of genealogy and about existing programs, e.g., the

Call and Response Activity

• —Visitors may leave information as well as see what others have left, such as the NMAAHC’s Memory Book activity.

General Audiences

The NMAAHC’s Educational Department will develop programming to promote in-depth experiences with the museum’s themes and stories. Through ongoing partnerships with regional arts and culture organizations, the NMAAHC will develop programming that is contemporary and responsive to audience needs and interests.

The NMAAHC’s public programs address key issues in African American history and culture for a general adult audience. Through a diverse range of programs, the museum will offer a unique blend of established voices and new perspectives. Historians, artists, writers, critics, students, and scholars will be invited to participate in a wide range of courses, lectures, conversations, seminars, symposia, performances, off-site gallery and architectural tours, readings, and special programs in the galleries. These programs will respond to exhibitions on view and to broader cultural trends. The NMAAHC’s programming will include open forums for discussion. The NMAAHC will engage visitors in dialogue and debate, deepening their experience at the museum.

In addition to CAAMA’s Artist-in-Residence program, there will be a more general residency program for artists. It will be another way artists across disciplines (theater, dance, music, and visual arts), and

use research (such as African American and African Diaspora history and culture) to inform its work. Interaction between these contemporary artists and the NMAAHC material will inspire audiences to see and understand museum content in new and interesting ways. Artists-in-Residence will create new work that expands the NMAAHC programming with special exhibitions, performances, publications, or new-media material. Artists will also work closely with museum educators to design programs that engage students, educators, and families in new ways.

Youth and Community

The NMAAHC will offer a variety of unique experiences for young people interested in actively exploring African American history and culture. Working with museum educators, scholars, artists, and a variety of community groups, the NMAAHC can be an alternative learning space for young people in the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Area.

Performance

Performance at the NMAAHC is defined broadly to include a range of live performing arts programming, including dance, theater/spoken word, music, and a range of contemporary interdisciplinary performances. Performances will reflect the museum’s commitment to African American history, both past and present.

Through collaborative relationships with local, national, and international artists, the NMAAHC will present or co-present performance programming. This programming will be distinct from other performing arts presenters because it will focus on work that further engages the audience in the museum’s historical content. Performances could occur in the NMAAHC Theater/Auditorium, in galleries, or in partnership with other Smithsonian Institution museums and organizations.

The NMAAHC benefits from its location in a region populated with other diverse performing arts presenters, such as the Kennedy Center, the Strathmore Music Center, the Washington Performing Arts Society, the GALA Hispanic Theater, and the Atlas Center for Performing Arts. The NMAAHC can partner with presenters to commission new works, and to present and tour performances that engage audiences in the museum’s content.

Exhibitions

Programming and exhibitions are inextricably linked, so the exhibition galleries outlined in the NMAAHC Exhibition Plan6 will guide the programming activities of education and public programming.

The guiding principles outlined in both this section and the Exhibition Master Plan presented in this Volume II be integrated into the general programming philosophy and can guide programming choices. There is not one singular African American identity—this notion is one of the museum’s Guiding Principles, and allows the programming to be representative of a range of ideas and perspectives on black identity and culture.

Within the permanent exhibition spaces, such as the “Reflection Zone” and the “Call and Response” space, there will be an opportunity for staging educational and public programs. It would be wonderful for visitors to be able to interact with a storyteller or discussion leader in one of these zones as part of their exhibition experience.

There will also be an opportunity for “in-gallery” programming and experiences, as well as for programs taking place in “activity spaces,” which will be flexible and dynamic and support a range of programs and activities.

Through performances, lectures, residencies, and other programming presented by the Education and 6 Exhibition Master Plan, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Preliminary Document Outline, Version 4.2, May 16, 2008.

Programming staff, visitors can explore topics thematically and thus gain a broader experience of the museum.

A rotating program of exhibitions adjacent to the Resource Center will be dedicated to an exhibition whose selection of images will be available through CAAMA. On-site museum visitors and researchers will have access to the entire digital collection through kiosks.

Programming Beyond Museum Walls Web/New Media

Many cultural institutions today use the Web and other new media to make content available to audiences before or after their visit—or in place of a visit altogether. The NMAAHC will take advantage of these opportunities through several portals, including CAAMA. The museum will organize online exhibitions curated from its digital collection. For instance, the CAAMA site will host Web versions of exhibitions, such as “Let Your Motto Be Resistance” and “Black Washington: Picturing the Promise,” with narration by a noted scholar on the subject.7 Such an exhibition would include:

•

•

An introduction, and, if necessary, thematic divisions.

A list of works in the show (title, date, medium, artist, size, accession number, donor).

• career (if the artist is alive, he or she will also be featured).

Video of the artist’s family members, models, and colleagues discussing the artist’s work and

• funders.

Exhibition resources, such as a biography, bibliographic information, and credits for organizers and

Museum kiosks (located in the Resource Center) and CAAMA online will also provide links to other institutions with significant African American digital collections, such as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Library of Congress Digital Collection of African American History & Culture.

Additional opportunities for audiences to connect to the museum’s content include:

Podcasts—

• The NMAAHC will offer a series of digital media (video or audio) files for distribution over the Internet. The series will include recordings of the NMAAHC programming as well as specially created programming for the Web.

Blogs and discussion forums

• —These will allow for continuous discussion and be linked to specific museum programs, such as symposia or performances.

Web access to collections

• —These will allow remote access to the NMAAHC collections.

Additional Areas to be Studied

The staff of the NMAAHC have been clear that the museum will operate with a fully functioning publications department that will include the creation of:

•

•

Catalogs and Quarterly Publications

Educational Material, such as Outreach School Kits and Outreach School Programs

7 From the NMAAHC staff description of the Center for African American Media Arts.

Organizational Structure and Staffing Needs Framework

CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

The NMAAHC has developed, and is in the process of building, an organizational framework (see chart 1). This structure is in line with what the pre-design team would recommend. Although the organization is not fully formed, the structure is based on what we call the “three pillars”: Curatorial, Programs, and Collections; Operations and Administration; and External Affairs. These areas are organized as major working groups, each reporting to an Associate Director.

The merits of this model include:

•

Clear lines of reporting, which pave the way for strong management that can set priorities.

• dedicated to operating the building and serving visitors, and others that will create content.

Like-minded people grouped to work together; for example, there will be several departments

• A good critical mass in each pillar. This tends to result in a healthier, more visitor-oriented organization.

•

Easy expansion of the current structure into the NMAAHC’s Opening Day structure.

The cautions around this model include:

• committees, task forces, and communication tools are essential.

The potential for limited interactivity between working groups. Strong interdepartmental

• team is critical so that institutional priorities can be set and communicated properly “down” each pillar—and so that ideas that come “up” through the pillars have a forum.

The reality that Associate Directors may become competitive or isolated. A cohesive management

Chart 1: Organizational Structure

STAFF LEVELS AT RELEVANT INSTITUTIONS

In order to assist in estimating the staff size for a fully operational NMAAHC, the team looked at three relevant SI museums:

National Air & Space Museum (NASM); •

National Museum of American History (NMAH); •

•

National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI).

When New York–based staff for NMAI is subtracted, all three museums report fewer than 250 full-time staff.

Table 1: Staff Levels at Relevant Institutions8

Full Time Employees NMAH NASM NMAI

8 NMAI categorizes its departments in a unique format that diverges slightly from that listed above. The information presently available does not allow for specific subdivision listing of staff size. Therefore, subtotals are used, with the following two caveats: (1) the subtotals are approximations based on our understanding of NMAI’s department categories. (2) NMAI is a museum with three locations - on the Mall, in Suitland, MD, and in New York City. The only location whose staff is singled out in the information available is that of New York. It remains unclear exactly how many employees are housed onsite. Therefore, it should be understood that the on-site total = Mall + MD. Off-site total = NY.

NMAAHC STAFF ASSUMPTIONS FOR SPACE PLANNING

The Pre-Design team worked with the NMAAHC to create a preliminary staff list that estimates the number of private offices and workstations that will be needed when the NMAAHC is fully operational. Note that the current list only estimates staff to be housed on-site; it is possible that additional staff could be located at an off-site location.

Some of the key assumptions that set the NMAAHC apart from other SI museums are:

Outsourcing of Exhibit Design, Exhibit Production, and most Conservation; •

Fewer on-site Collections staff; •

Relatively smaller staffs in Research and Archives; •

Significant attention paid to Education and Public Programming; and •

Significant Visitor Services resources devoted to ensuring a positive visitor experience and assisting • in crowd control.

The size of the NMAAHC is estimated to be in the range of 165–175 full-time staff. The NMAAHC has requested offices for about half of the total staff: 85 private offices and 90 workstations.

Table 2: NMAAHC Staff Assumptions for Space Planning

Meeting the NMAAHC’s Cultural and Design Philosophy: Key Implications for the NMAAHC Pre-Design Program

PRELIMINARY PLANNING PRINCIPLES AND ASSUMPTIONS

The following planning principles and assumptions identify the overarching project goals and provide a constant by which achievements can be measured. These will serve as touchstones throughout the design process.

Preliminary Planning Principles

The key planning principles for the NMAAHC are derived from the Vision, site and building information, and guidelines provided by the Smithsonian Institution and the entire planning team. Three principles predominate:

The NMAAHC Pre-Design Program will support the Mission, Vision, and Mandate of the NMAAHC.

Spaces in the NMAAHC will serve multiple purposes and should be planned to be flexible, while

supporting the primary function.

All areas housing collections, including public exhibition galleries and back of house collection

storage and handling areas, will be controlled and monitored to provide stable environmental conditions to meet the SI standards of 70F +/-4F for temperature and 45% RH +/-8%, with a positive pressure air system and HEPA filtered or activated charcoal air filtration.9 Artifacts requiring different or more closely controlled environmental conditions will be assessed on an item-by-item basis.

Preliminary Planning Assumptions

Two important assumptions govern the preliminary framework for the Pre-Design Program:

•

The size of NMAAHC on the National Mall site will be 313,110 egsf.

• focused on supporting the exhibitions.10 •

Collections will be stored primarily off-site and the NMAAHC on-site collections facilities will be

COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT SPACE

The primary collections storage and processing facilities will be located off-site at the Pennsy Drive facility, about 11 miles from the National Mall site. The primary function of the collections handling facilities at the NMAAHC building on the National Mall will be to support the exhibition program. The implications for the NMAAHC space mentioned below refer to the pre-design program for the National Mall site.

Access to all Non-Public Collections Space (storage, processing, and conservation) will be restricted to authorized staff only. The following collection management spaces are required on-site to support the

9 These are the general requirements for environmental conditions adopted by SI in 2005, based on research conducted by Dr. Marion Mecklenburg, Museum Conservation Institute. Dr. Mecklenburg’s report, “Determining the Acceptable Ranges of Relative Humidity and Temperature in Museums and Galleries” is included in Appendix E.

10 The NMAAHC is currently considering whether “visible” conservation facilities, similar to those at the National Portrait Gallery, which allow visitors to watch conservators at work, with interpretive and educational displays, might be provided at the National Mall site.

exhibition program. The comprehensive suite of collections management provided off-site will, of necessity, duplicate some of the functions at the National Mall site.

On-site Collections Management Facilities

Truck Parking

On-site parking (within the loading dock area) should accommodate trucks making art/artifacts deliveries including tractor trailers 55'–80' (with cab) and high enough for a high cube (101+" internal box measurement). Material on loan (temporary exhibits and borrowed artifacts) will be delivered this way.

Also, given the coordination that will have to occur between the on-site and off-site collections spaces, parking should also accommodate a small 15'–18' truck (museum-owned) making deliveries between the two spaces.

Trucks making deliveries should have ease of entry and maneuverability in and out of the dock.

Enclosed Loading Dock

The museum will require an enclosed, dedicated collections loading dock, strictly for art/artifacts/collections shipping/receiving (food/catering and general deliveries must be prohibited to prevent infestation and contamination of the collections). As much as possible, the dock should be well lit and ventilated. Curbs, trees, sharp corners, and hills or inclines should be avoided.

A security booth adjacent to the loading dock and shipping/receiving areas should have a visual connection to a secure entry/exit, where a driver or delivery person may identify himself or herself before being admitted.

Intake for HVAC systems should not be located near or adjacent to the loading dock.

Collections Shipping and Receiving

The shipping/receiving area should be well lit, ventilated, and climate controlled. It should lead directly and easily to a large freight elevator, and staging and storage areas. This area should be large enough to accommodate crating/uncrating, packing/unpacking, and possibly secure temporary storage for pending acquisitions. Doorways should be large (minimum 8' x 10'). Ceilings should be high (10'–12'). Space for lifts and other large moving equipment should be planned for. The isolation room and registration/ documentation room should be adjacent to this area.

Clean Installation Room

Consistent with all areas that house collections, this area should be climate controlled and have controlled secure access. This area should be adjacent to the preparator’s and curatorial workshops. This is a clean space used for exhibition installations, so air quality should be a priority.

Isolation/Fumigation Room

Crates holding traveling exhibits, borrowed artifacts, and objects from the permanent exhibition or objects moved from the off-site location may be stored here for a period of a few hours to a few weeks. This area may include a freezer for cold fumigation storage.

Preparator’s Workshop

Due to the equipment needed tor collections preparation work, preparation areas/workshops will need to be large and well-vented, and should block as much noise as possible. Appropriate dust-collection equipment should be installed in this space.

Temporary Storage for Pending Acquisitions

A dedicated work and storage space for collections management staff for initial acquisition inspection and documentation should be located adjacent to shipping/receiving area.

Registration Workrooms/Curatorial Support/ Documentation

Office space for registration and collections preparation/conservation staff should be designed close to storage and loading dock areas and should provide enough room for proper document storage in fireproof cabinets, etc.

Receiving/Courier Office

This area will support incoming and outgoing collections-related courier, mail, staff deliveries, and all other non-art/artifact material related to collections management, storage and support. This area should be adjacent to curatorial registration and workrooms and the documentation area.

Copy/Digitizing

This area should be adjacent to curatorial registration and workrooms and the documentation area.

Ceilings

Ceiling height in collections work and storage areas and movement corridors should be a minimum 12 feet clear height. This provides 2 feet of air circulation space and 2 feet of space for ducting and services above an 8-foot-high storage unit.

Collections Access

All public non-collections areas should be accessible to visitors while all collections areas are closed to the public, with access provided to authorized staff only. Non-public areas must be capable of being excluded from visitors. Staff access to office and work areas must be possible without entering galleries or public areas. Event spaces are to be accessible by both staff and the public. Mechanical, electrical, elevator and telecommunications rooms should be accessible by service personnel without having to pass through any public exhibitions areas or non-public collections spaces to maintain security integrity.

Collections Movement and Minimum Opening Sizes

The largest truck opening is 8 feet wide by 11½ feet high; therefore, collections movement doors and corridors should ideally have a minimum opening size of 10 feet wide by 12 feet high, with wider openings for ease of movement at turns. Collections areas should have overhead or rolling (coiling) doors.

A separate means of moving the larger items in and out of the building may need to be provided, such as a removable or rebuildable wall panel to one of the gallery spaces. This would allow that space to accommodate larger-than-usual artifacts. The minimum size of the openings and the clear ceiling height at the enclosed loading dock, collection shipping/receiving, crating/uncrating, collection movement corridors, crate storage, preparator’s workshop, collection freight elevator, staging lobby, temporary exhibition storage, isolation room, etc., through to the galleries should be 10 feet wide x 12 feet high.

Viewing windows should be installed in all doors through which collections move. They should be approximately 3 inches wide by 18 inches tall, with the bottom of the window located approximately 4½ feet above the floor.

Preferably, in new construction such as the NMAAHC, there should not be any ramps in the collection zones. However, should ramps occur, the gradients in collection zones should be no more than 1:30. Ramp gradients in non-collection zones should be no more than 1:12. Barrier-free access must be provided.

Elevators

Elevators will be required to access all building levels for public, staff, collections and exhibits, and service access. At least one elevator will need to provide access to the roof to any mechanical penthouse areas for the movement of supplies such as air filters and chemicals and for replacement parts such as fan motors.

Dedicated Collections Freight Elevator

The freight elevator and adjacent hallways should be wide and high enough to allow for the movement of oversized items without rigging through windows or ceilings. Freight elevators should also allow movement of collections items from dock and storage areas to gallery spaces without passing through narrow hallways, and non-collections areas.

Elevator doors may need to open on both ends or sides. Elevators should also have:

Collection control zone RH and temperature

Recommended internal car size of up to 12 feet wide x 22 feet deep x 12 feet high

Door opening size of 12 feet wide x 12 feet high, minimum

A smooth floor to avoid inducing vibration in carts

Power-operated doors

Lockable doors with key or card interlocks to prevent unauthorized use

Public Programs

The NMAAHC will offer visitors a participatory, immersive experience that is multi-layered and interdisciplinary. Programming throughout the museum spaces will integrate visual, audio, and performance to give visitors an exciting museum experience.

The following spaces are key to the museum’s public programs:

Threshold Experience

A visit to the NMAAHC will begin with a unique “threshold experience,” which will let visitors immediately transition from the feel of the National Mall to the NMAAHC experience. This space will therefore need to be programmed for multimedia experiences.

Main Lobby

The main lobby will be an extension of the threshold experience and will be the key space for visitor orientation. It should not be considered a primary performance or other public programming space, and thus should be minimally equipped for performance, such as a jazz trio, during a special event.

Café or Public Eating Space As a Public Program Venue

It is anticipated that a public eating space at the NMAAHC will also be available for public programs after hours. Programming in the NMAAHC eating space should be located in an easily accessible location, similar to that of the National Museum of Natural History, with visibility from the street and/or a clear street profile for increased audience interest. It should be designed with excellent acoustics for both amplified and nonamplified performances. Vehicle access to loading/unloading areas is essential.

Retail as an Extension of Public Programs

The NMAAHC Store will be the premier location for a full range of products focusing on African American history and culture (poetry, dance, theater, spoken word, crafts, etc.); children’s books and activity guides; travel literature; African American periodicals; books on Africa and its Diaspora; US history; films; audio and video recordings; educational materials for teachers and students; periodicals; maps; cookbooks and food seasonings; photographs; and posters to complement and extend the visitor's experience. The Store should also provide a range of unique products developed from and inspired by the museum’s collections (e.g., calendars, note cards, clothing, photographic prints, clothing, and posters.)

Theater/Auditorium

While the café or lobby might feature informal or special-event performances, the flexible theater space will house much of the museum’s performance programming. The NMAAHC staff will continue to assess the museum’s options for the “mix” of musical performances, lectures, and symposia than for dance or theatrical performances and programming styles for the theatre and auditorium spaces, as this will have a significant impact on the space.

The theatre/auditorium will include:

Recording and editing facilities for sound and video (recordings can be broadcast or used

for podcasts)

Seating configurations that provide ideal sightlines and sound quality for live events

Video conferencing equipment

Adjustable acoustics for amplified and acoustic performance

Stage with enough depth for dance performances, live music, or theater •

Flexible lighting capabilities •

Center for African American Media Arts (CAAMA)

The CAAMA’s holdings comprise the preeminent physical and digital collection of photographs and new media documenting the African American experience from the nineteenth century to the present. Its collection will pull together visual material from a variety of disciplines without privileging the images according to traditional categories such as documentary photography, fine art photography, and new media. This approach is intended to facilitate access to a wide spectrum of images drawn from the NMAAHC’s collection, other Smithsonian Institution collections, and from institutions collaborating with the NMAAHC that otherwise would not be available from one source.

Resource Center

The Resource Center is a user-friendly space that gives visitors access to the museum’s collection through three discrete and adjacent spaces:

Reference Library—primarily for museum staff but accessible to scholarly staff and graduate • students by appointment.

Archives—primarily for museum staff but accessible to scholarly staff and graduate students by • appointment.

Technology Resource Area—provides ready access to various digital collections, such as • databases of persons or visual images and technological activities. Open to the public.

CAAMA in the Resource Center

Since the majority of objects owned by the NMAAHC will be stored off-site, interested scholars, students, researchers, and artists can access the second tier of the Center by appointment only. These visitors can make a request to see the objects that have been digitized for the CAAMA site and will be assisted by CAAMA’s curator/archivist.

Exhibition Galleries

Performances within exhibition galleries can be difficult to manage and achieve effectively. The NMAAHC will not program designated performance spaces into the galleries; however, it will utilize space for some performances presented by the Education Department as interpretative tools. The galleries should include the following features to support programming within the public exhibition space:

Acoustics—acoustics should allow for quality sound and limit sound bleed across galleries •

Accessible electrical outlets •

Staging—either space for temporary staging or part of interior design •

A Visual Resource Gallery Space/Kiosk Hall will be located adjacent to the Resource Center and will be accessible to all museum visitors. The gallery space will be unstaffed and will contain small exhibitions created from the works available through CAAMA. It will also have numerous computer terminals where visitors can access CAAMA’s entire digital collection along with oral history videos related to CAAMA images. In addition, NMAAHC’s collection can be accessed through the museum’s Web site.

Educational Programming

The NMAAHC’s educational programming will be highly participatory, and the spaces will include:

Interpretative elements in the classroom spaces, such as artifact niches embedded or text panels • representing the museum’s core themes

Adjustable walls to accommodate groups of varying sizes •

Access to exhibition galleries •

Adjacent storage and preparation areas

Built-in AV technology for presentations

Support Spaces

Rehearsal, technical, and performance support spaces should conceptually revolve around the performance, educational, and exhibit spaces to encourage ease and interaction between programmed activities.

Outdoor Interpretation/Experience

The visitor experience begins prior to entering the museum building, and this is the basis for the concept of the Threshold Experience described earlier. Because of security concerns in Washington, DC, and the location of the museum on the Monument grounds, opportunities for large-scale programming are limited at this time.

Staff Support Spaces

Staff work areas will include a range of offices, workstations, and workrooms appropriately equipped to support the various museum functions and activities. The NMAAHC staff is considering the spatial organization for work areas that will best support the activities and characteristics of this museum.

The staff work areas should meet the Space Guidelines for Smithsonian Institution Facilities, September 2003, provided in Appendix C and meet the Smithsonian Institution safety and security standards.

Introduction

“Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish – and with which we could start to rebuild.”

-From Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama

This Exhibition Master Plan is the result of many months of consultation with the staff and executive management team at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. It is also the result of a highly collaborative process with the interdisciplinary Pre-design Planning team assembled by Freelon Bond. Further, it has been influenced by the audience research and public consultation process, and it has greatly benefited from the vision established for the museum prior to the commencement of this report.

The Exhibit Master Plan can stand alone, but it is best understood in the context of the other volumes of this complete report, including, especially, the Facilities Plan and the Institutional Plan. The Exhibit Planning process has led the Pre-design process, however it is fair to say that the Facility Plan, the Institutional Plan, and the Exhibit Plan are now woven together as one, each reflecting influence from the other.

The NMAAHC will be a unique institution, and this is reflected in this Master Plan. Incorporating suggestions heard repeatedly in public engagement sessions and gleaned through audience research, the NMAAHC will strive to do the following:

Be inclusive

Tell the truth

Think globally •

•

Be a place for dialogue and current issues

Celebrate and memorialize African American culture and history •

Audience research has let us know that African Americans want to know more about what it means to be African American – the successes, the lesser known stories, connections to Africa and the tackling of difficult issues. Non-African Americans want to know what it means to be African American as well. They also want to know more about music and entertainment, the fight for equality, slavery and freedom, and the Civil Rights Movement. A large portion of our audience will come from the millions of visitors already attracted to Smithsonian Institution museums on the National Mall, and from those visiting memorials and monuments in Washington, D.C. In addition, the NMAAHC has the great potential to attract a whole new class of visitors, those who are not presently on the National Mall and those who are not necessarily regular museum-goers. For the exhibitions to be successful, the Exhibition Master Plan recommends ways to welcome the diverse audience this museum is likely to attract.

In the pages that follow you will find a visitor experience description that builds from a single, seemingly simple core message, emerges through a set of guiding principles and design implications, and is finally articulated in a gallery organization that includes detailed goals, objectives and programmatic requirements for each thematic area. This plan presents the foundation for design and options for consideration, but it is

not yet design. Rather, this Exhibition Master Plan signifies the alignment of an inspirational vision with a carefully wrought exhibit plan destined to achieve an extraordinary visitor experience.

Core Message

The Core Message is the main message that the museum strives to convey to visitors. It guides the development of all topics, thematic organization, and exhibit experiences.

To share the culture of African Americans, their ongoing struggles for freedom and equality, and their economic role in building the country that has shaped America’s history, identity and democratic ideals.

Guiding Principles

The Guiding Principles express the underlying attitudes and assumptions that ground the selection of the themes and topics.

This museum is about you, whether you are African American or not.

The stories told here are quintessential American stories. 2.

There is no single African American community or identity; it is a diverse and regionalized

population shaped by movements and migrations, the African Diaspora, and local cultural, political, and economic situations.

4.

Race has defined and continues to define the American experience.

The quest for liberty and equality is ongoing, and African Americans continue to be at the forefront 5. in shaping America’s definitions of these ideals.

African American resiliency has shaped the American character. 6.

African American struggles for freedom have informed human rights movements around the world 7. and have been informed by global influences.

African American culture has been influenced by and has influenced the African Diaspora and the 8. world.

African Americans have profoundly shaped this country.

Implications of the Guiding Principals for the Experience

This museum is about you, whether you are African American or not. 1.

Implications:

• be many personal stories told in first person narrative to communicate exhibition messages. You will find yourself in the museum, regardless of your background. • All will feel welcome from the moment they approach the museum. • Visitors will have numerous opportunities to add input and hear what others have to say. •

The voice of the museum is African American, but the museum welcomes all visitors. There will

2.

The stories told here are quintessential American stories.

Implications:

Exhibit emphasis will be on telling African American stories. Sometimes they might be well-

• known stories, and other times they will be stories most visitors will not have heard. Some stories will stand alone rather than be a part of larger narratives, but they will always broaden visitors’ understanding of African American history and culture and help visitors see America in a new light.

3. population shaped by movements and migrations, the African Diaspora, and local cultural, political, and economic situations.

4.

There is no single African American community or identity; it is a diverse and regionalized

Implications:

Regional and cultural differences in African American experience and identity will be

• highlighted and explored throughout. Visitors will be able to explore the African American histories and stories of their own regions. • The exhibits will allow visitors to explore social, personal, and institutional definitions of African • American identity over time and across space.

Race has defined and continues to define the American experience.

Implications:

The exhibits will place the dialogue about African Americans in a more complex framework of • racial relations than the simple dichotomy of “Black” and “White”.

5. forefront in shaping America’s definitions of these ideals.

The quest for liberty and equality is ongoing, and African Americans continue to be at the

Implications:

• of these stories to their own lives and to the present.

The exhibitions will present stories as ongoing, provoking visitors to think about the relevance

6.

• and to act to make America achieve its unfulfilled promises.

Exhibits will be conceived not simply to make people aware, but to encourage them to reflect

African American resiliency has shaped the American character.

Implications:

• by the survival of African Americans through enslavement, segregation, and the ongoing effects of racism.

Exhibits will make it clear that resilience, an American core value, is perhaps best demonstrated

7. world and been informed by global influences.

African American struggles for freedom have informed human rights movements around the

Implications:

• internationally (e.g., apartheid) will be explored.

The influence of African American struggles for freedom on race-based movements

The connection of the African American story to broader human rights movements worldwide

• will be made in order to place this American story in a broader context (e.g., youth struggles, or efforts to overcome state-sanctioned oppression or economic injustices.)

African American culture has been influenced by and has influenced the African Diaspora and 8. the world.

Implications:

• on how African Americans have shaped Africa, its Diaspora and the world, but also on how those people, cultures, and histories have shaped African Americans and America. The museum will look at these mutual influences with a primary focus on:

This guiding principle calls for the museum to present a global perspective, focusing not only

•

African influences on America during the Atlantic slave trade; 1.

African American influences on Europe, Asia, and elsewhere; 2. African American influences on Africa; 3. Contemporary African and African Diaspora influences on America. 4.

9. African Americans have profoundly shaped this country.

Implications:

• will be on shining a celebratory light on the contributions of these unacknowledged Founding Fathers.

Without flinching at the painful losses suffered by African Americans, the emphasis of the story

• Rights, and other defining foundations of democracy will be shown to be the direct result of African American struggles for freedom.

Fundamental American documents such as the Constitution and key amendments, the Bill of

• backs of African Americans.

The benefits of citizenship available to all Americans today will be shown to be won on the

The goal of the exhibitions is to achieve the following through topics and content, linking themes, interpretive strategies, and visitor experiences:

Present America in a new light;

Provide a place of memory, hope, reflection, and laughter; 2.

Provide a space for reconciliation and healing;

Encourage discussion and respectful debate;

Facilitate the exploration of identity;

Connect the past to the present;

Help all visitors see that the stories told here are their stories too;

Celebrate African American creativity and resilience.

Thematic Framework

This section of the document provides a description of the overall thematic organization of the exhibits expressed through narrative and a gallery organization bubble diagram. It defines the overall number of exhibition spaces, their topics, relative sizes, and relationships to each other.

Entry

The Central Hall (6,000 asf): will welcome visitors and introduce them to history and the main

themes of the museum.

History

Galleries:

Slavery and Freedom (13,000 asf): will illustrate the inextricable link between American freedom

and American enslavement, up to the period of Reconstruction.

Segregation (4,000 asf): will focus on the period from post-Reconstruction through the aftermath

of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 with a closer look at the various permutations of tragic violence fundamental to segregation.

1968 and Beyond (5,000 asf): will continue the historical chronology to the present and ask

visitors to think about how their lives are affected by the African American struggle for freedom and how it might inspire them to action.

Culture

Galleries:

Musical Crossroads (13,000 asf): will examine African American music as an integral American

phenomenon through the lens of social and historical change and allow visitors an opportunity to listen to and appreciate that music.

Cultural Traditions (4,000 asf): will focus on the great cultural contributions of African Americans

beyond music and the visual arts, including entertainment, oratory, craft and material culture, fashion, and the intellectual arts such as literature, playwriting, science, philosophy and the broader humanities.

Sports (4,000 asf): will celebrate how African Americans have changed American sports, against all

odds and how African Americans in sports have changed America.

Visual Arts (4,000 asf): will display a portion of the NMAAHC’s permanent collection of visual art as

well as a changing space for painting, sculpture, and works on paper including photography.

Community

Galleries:

Power of Place (11,000 asf): will use the lens of place to explore regionalism within the African

American experience.

• African American institutions and social organizations as tools in the struggle for change.

Make a Way Somehow (6,000 asf): will focus on the creation and use of formal and informal

Other Galleries:

Youth Gallery (4,000 asf): will be dedicated to youth, families, and school groups. •

• the museum’s collection and will provide visitors with the means to explore the collection digitally.

•

•

Center for African American Media Arts (800 asf): will present a rotating display of imagery from

Changing Gallery (5,000 asf): will accommodate traveling exhibitions.

Changing Visual Arts Gallery (2,000 asf)

This diagram presents a conceptual organization of the public, collections-based galleries discussed in the Exhibition Master Plan. It does not necessarily represent actual adjacencies.

Interpretive Strategies

Exhibition themes and topics are conveyed through the interpretive materials and messages that are displayed. The visitor experience encompasses much more, however, and interpretive strategies define a collection of experiences that reinforce messages and serve overall exhibit goals. The following is a list of those strategies that will be found throughout the museum and which are unique to this museum (as opposed to a more generic list such as: artifact-dense display, theaterettes, environmental recreations, etc., all of which will also appear as part of the kitof-parts).

Reflections Zones

These are spaces off of the main museum path that allow visitors to pause and reflect or honor and recognize an individual or event that has been interpreted nearby (e.g., the death of Medgar Evers). They provide a place to transition from one topic to another where needed. They could be object presentations or simply reflective spaces anchored by dramatic lighting, a sky view, an art installation, or an audio track.

Call and Response Zones

Visitors can access stories from/about historical figures and can also record their own stories or image as well. Call and Response Zones can take myriad forms, but they should offer opportunities for intergenerational and intercultural gathering and dialogue. They could be group listening booths (listen to Griot stories communally), performance opportunities (social interactives in which your image or words are experienced by all), or forums in which visitors respond to each others’ questions or creative expressions. The point of these spaces is that people come together and experience something together, and in so doing, go beyond just gaining awareness of history, but see themselves as part of it.

Lenses

The museum’s focus on identity invites the inclusion of myriad forms of expression that explore identity and the meaning of historical events. Lenses are exhibits that will provide visitors with the opportunity to look at specific American events or phenomena from the perspective of a particular individual, culture, or group (e.g., Frederick Douglas expressed his opinion on Independence Day through his speech, “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July”). The design of the lens exhibits can be varied to suit the format of the particular expressions (e.g., a video clip of a play such as August Wilson’s Radio Golf as it interprets contemporary gentrification, a life-size reproduction of Renee Cox’s portrait, “Queen Nanny,” commenting on Jamaican Maroons who successfully defied British colonial troops, or a poem such as Countee Cullen’s “What Is Africa to Me?”). The key design element is the juxtaposition of the subject and its interpretation. These two elements are always placed in relation to each other so the visitor may encounter them at the same time.

Lens exhibits will help visitors see the profoundly American character of Black life and the Black content of American culture. They will allow the museum to provide visitors with multiple perspectives on American history and culture.

Visual Arts

In addition to being treated as a “lens” as described above, fine arts will play a major role in the museum, supporting the unique opportunity that the museum has as both a history museum and a culture museum. Art will be used in three major ways to enhance and complement the themes and ideas presented in the galleries:

A form of expression used as an interpretive strategy throughout the museum to help elucidate a • moment, convey emotional vitality, or provide a sense of place (e.g., Whitfield Lovell’s “The Great Dismal Swamp,” or Romuald Hazoumé’s “La Bouche du Roi”).

A vehicle for social change used by artists to express their interest in social and political revolution • (e.g., the Harlem Renaissance).

An illustration of an historical idea or theme such as resilience, perseverance, struggle, protest, • inspiration, achievement, and other themes central to the museum.

Exhibition Walkthrough

This is a narrative description of the visitor experience for each exhibition, following the outline presented in the thematic framework. It describes what people will see, do, and hear in each space. The experiences described are derived from the central message, the guiding principles, the linking themes, and interpretive strategies. Sketches of key experiences will illustrate the narrative.

Following each narrative description is a list of goals, messages, and possible topics and stories that might appear in the exhibition.

GALLERY: CENTRAL HALL

“…whatever else the true American is, he is also somehow black.”

-Ralph Ellison, “What America Would Be Like Without Blacks” (1970)

Experience Narrative:

Though the building’s site and architecture, the exterior spaces, and the museum threshold will offer visitors their first impressions of the NMAAHC, the Central Hall will be the place where they are really immersed. Its intent is to introduce, welcome, awe, and educate. This 6,000 sf space will be a gathering place, useful for museum functions in off hours, but primarily a place for everyone to be made to feel that they belong here and that this story has something to do with them. It will generate excitement for the experiences to come by providing views to and through the Outer Hall to the galleries themselves.

Dramatic objects will create the first impression in the Central Hall. Large iconic elements such as a Segregated train car and/or a slave cabin will invite visitors to approach and explore. They will have immediate appeal to a universal audience, yet tell powerful stories about a particular population. Their placement might also serve as portals into adjacent spaces.

They will be supported by a rich media show that will enforce the Core Message and Guiding Principles of the museum. It is inspired by the oldest surviving African American performance tradition in America, the ring shout, with its focus on community, call and response, use of percussion and clapping, and slow circular movement. It seems an apt metaphor to use in welcoming people to the museum and immersing them in the content. It honors the ancestors and propels visitors into history, into community, and into the future, celebrating camaraderie, the power of the human voice, and dance.

The “dancers” of the ring shout are contemporary and historic people projected in a media show on the walls surrounding the visitor. The dancers move in a slow, counter-clockwise motion to the beat of an audio track. Lighting and media treatments on the floor and ceiling enhance the experience as the ring shout moves from scene to scene throughout history (from the Middle Passage, to the Civil War to plantation fields to juke joints and beyond).

Each scene will feature audio tracks and the projection of key texts that help convey the messages of the museum. One idea is to use the language of the Declaration of Independence, juxtaposing its promise of liberty and equality with language of the African American struggle to make the promise of this documents a reality. This language could be culled from well-known speeches, church sermons, musical lyrics, and colloquial speech.

The show is but one element of the Central Hall. Visitors are immersed in this show, but it is subtle enough that it does not overwhelm necessary visitor activities such as socializing, finding one’s way, and group activities.

Goals:

• entertaining way.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Deliver the core message of the centrality of African American culture in an immediate and

Welcome all visitors.

Provide a galvanizing entry experience that entices visitors to explore the museum further.

Orient visitors with regard to their choices and museum offerings.

Present the themes of the galleries in a succinct and impressionistic way.

Present select artifacts in a dramatic fashion.

Provide function space.

Messages:

•

African Americans have shaped what it means to be American.

• American story.

•

•

An understanding of freedom and democracy is enhanced by an understanding of the African

African American stories are the quintessential American stories.

These stories are everyone’s stories.

Possible Artifacts or Elements:

• The text of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and/or amendments.

The words of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Ralph Ellison, Fannie Lou Hamer, or Malcolm X;

•

•

•

A section of a Segregated rail car.

A slave cabin.

HISTORY

GALLERY: SLAVERY AND FREEDOM

“There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”

-Harriet Tubman, runaway slave and abolitionist (1820-1913)

Experience Narrative:

Slavery and Freedom is one of the major galleries to which visitors will be directed from the Central Hall. It is here that visitors will begin a journey through the history of African Americans, beginning in Africa and ending with contemporary issues linked to the legacy of slavery.

This 13,000 asf space will interpret the inextricable link between American freedom and American enslavement, illustrating that the birth and development of freedom gained its coherence only in relation to the practice and development of slavery. Slavery and Freedom will invite visitors to understand that the tension between slavery and freedom is not just central to understanding American history, but central to understanding one of the greatest and longest lasting crises of freedom the world has ever faced. Slavery was the engine of the global economy from the 17th through 19th century and the struggle against it irrevocably shaped world history. Always mindful of that global perspective, the exhibition will infuse its main storyline of American slavery and freedom from Africa through Emancipation and the end of Reconstruction with international and diasporan focal points.

This gallery is the first and largest of the museum’s three history galleries, each following a single chronology. Each is intended to be visible from the other, with Segregation and 1968 and Beyond looking down upon or otherwise always referencing the Slavery and Freedom gallery.

One strategy to connect the three history galleries involves stacking them with visible overlooks from one space into the other. Here, sample exhibit elements (a timeline in grey, a “milepost” in green, and a 100’ slave ship hull) are included for scale.

Each gallery features three main interpretive zones:

Sweep:

This sweep utilizes objects, media, and graphics to provide a historical sweep or spine to the gallery. The intent is that it occupies a fairly open space that can be seen from many areas and therefore acts as a reference point. In this gallery, the “sweep” covers the time period of 1750 to Reconstruction with a sub-focus on pre-American slavery and on the global influences of the slave trade.

Mileposts:

The mileposts are large, iconic elements that represent seminal or transitional moments in American history (such as the creation of founding documents or historic events such as the Haitian Revolution). At any one time, two or more mileposts are visible to the viewer in order to signal a continuum or progression of time.

Stories:

Stories are the intimate areas of the galleries. As opposed to the “sweep” areas, they are relatively tucked away, though obviously still very accessible. Their subject matter and spatial design provides an opportunity to experience history from a personal and emotional perspective. They look at slavery from the vantage point of the enslaved, using the life stories and words of enslaved people.

“Sweep” is illustrated here by a timeline spine, center, and three-screen media show, in back. In front is a “Milepost” depicting a large graphic of the Declaration of Independence.

A “story” section of the gallery is shown here as a video of a slave sale reenactment shown on a large screen. It is accompanied by the oral history of a contemporary individual relating the story on which the reenactment is based.

As in all galleries, there will be “call and response” zones, “reflection” zones, and “lenses” as described in the section on Interpretive Strategies. As an example, visitors might see a wall of portraits of enslaved and free blacks in early America.

At a station below this wall of faces, they will have the opportunity to hear stories about these people’s lives and to add their own stories. A lens opportunity might come in the form of an examination of texts by such notable African Americans figures as Frederick Douglass, Harriet A. Jacobs and William Lloyd Garrison as they reflect on their status—text from such an exhibit would provide a window into the practical and metaphysical power of literacy for free and enslaved blacks.

Goals:

Interpret slavery from a variety of perspectives:

• the legal, economic, and social importance of the trade nationally and internationally; 1. the contradiction of its development alongside the development of the nation’s founding 2. documents, tenets of freedom, and democracy; the personal experience of enslavement. 3.

•

Show how slavery was different across regions and time.

• expectancy, etc.).

Depict conditions and experiences truthfully and frankly (violence, separation from family, short life

Messages:

• political, economic, intellectual, and cultural life;

Understanding slavery is crucial to understanding American history; it was central to the nation’s

Slavery was the engine of the global economy from the 16th through 19th century;

• It survived for centuries despite the profound immorality of the institution and its practice;

•

•

•

•

•

The struggle against slavery irrevocably shaped world history;

The concept of freedom and practice of enslavement changed over time;

Enslaved peoples came from rich cultural communities in Africa;

There were degrees of enslavement;

• despite the worst of oppressive conditions; Survival was the highest form of resistance;

The enslaved resisted their condition and developed communities and identities in the Americas

• When slavery legally ended, its impact continued;

•

• Slavery was a moral abomination.

Possible Exhibit Elements:

• Slave ship or slave ship remnant/artifacts;

Slave scale (used to weigh slaves during auction);

• Cotton Gins;

• Runaway notices/broadsides;

• Dave the Potter’s “Great and Noble Jar”;

• Harriet Powers quilt;

• Slaveship manifest;

• “Free Cotton Umbrella” owned by Elizabeth Cady Stanton;

•

• Richard Allen’s Bible;

• Railroad;

Papers/artifacts from Amos Noe Freeman minister, abolitionist and “conductor” on Underground

• Slave cabin, St. Mary’s, MD, ca. 1800’s;

Slave dresses and/or clothing made by enslaved seamstresses;

•

• Tom Feelings drawings of the Middle Passage;

Table made and used in kitchen of small plantation Cedar Grove, Edgefield, SC;

• 19th century instruments, furniture;

•

• Diorama of a plantation;

•

•

Jacob Lawrence’s print series, The Legend of John Brown;

Selections of African art, such as Ashanti gold objects, Benin bronzes, or exquisite fabrics.

Possible Topics:

•

•

•

•

•

•

Large-scale slavery on southern plantations;

The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 and its impact upon southern slavery;

The impact of U.S. fugitive slave laws;

The Middle Passage;

The Underground Railroad;

Individual stories of escape from slavery;

• along with others, filed a petition on June 25, 1773, asking that they might be liberated from their state of bondage;

•

Examples of early activism beginning with Felix Holbrook, Massachusetts Bay Colony resident who,

The creation of various laws relating to slavery as the institution expanded across the colonies;

• colonial period, on the process of independent worship, and the attitudes concerning slavery within various religious denominations;

•

The Christianization of the enslaved and its effect on the legal status of the slave trade in the early

The founding of some of the country’s first black churches;

• Slavery in the northern states;

African American agency and cooperation in the establishment of American Colonization Societies;

•

•

•

Revelations on the Founding Fathers who were slave owners;

Stories of free blacks;

• Universities)

The role of education, from primary schools to HBCUs. (Historically Black Colleges and

HISTORY GALLERY: SEGREGATION

“One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat caught in a trap.”

-Ida B. Wells, journalist and anti-lynching activist (1862-1931)

Experience Narrative:

This 9,500 sf gallery is a continuation of the experience visitors had in the Slavery and Freedom gallery. It focuses in on the period from post-Reconstruction through the aftermath of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, with a close look at the various permutations of segregation and the violence that kept it in place. Like the Slavery and Freedom Gallery, it will pay particular attention to intimate, personal stories so visitors can understand the impact on individuals while grasping the bigger picture of the geographic, political and intellectual dimensions of this chapter in American history (experienced through the “sweep” and “mileposts”).

The exhibition will place the American movement against Jim Crow into an international context, showing how African Americans both “looked outward” for comparisons to their situation, drawing inspiration and assistance from various social, political, and cultural movements around the globe, and also how the world “looked in”, becoming inspired by, invested and involved in the African American fight for full freedom, justice and equality in the 20th Century.

Goals:

•

Use personal stories to reveal subtleties in segregation;

• Present segregation as a continuation of slavery and freedom;

Engage those visitors who lived under segregation and those who did not;

• Interpret experiences of segregation from the vantage points of privilege and oppression (primarily

•

• from white and black perspectives with variation based on region); Help people engage with and feel the experience.

Messages:

•

Segregation was a means of controlling society;

Segregation affects our society today;

• Black institutions emerged in this period, nurtured in the environment of segregation;

•

• The experience of segregation was different regionally;

Segregation was enforced through physical, emotional, and institutional violence;

• Families, churches, fraternal organizations, and schools provided support to black communities;

• African Americans drew inspiration and support from political and social movements around the

• world (e.g., Garvey, Gandhi, etc.).

Possible Exhibit Elements:

• Actors reading from the Freedmen’s Bureau papers;

1955 two-tone Chevy, sandwiches in wax paper, and a shoe box with fried chicken;

•

Photographs of African American Mississippi from the Henry Clay Anderson Collection; • Jim Crow railroad car; • Segregation sign, Nashville City Bus, c. 1950s; • Oral Histories. •

Possible Topics:

Development of African American responses to Jim Crow; • Enforcement and perpetuation of segregation through direct physical, emotional and institutional • violence; The world that blacks made despite the hardships and deprivations caused by segregation; • The psychological and emotional support for children provided by black families and communities • (churches, fraternal organizations, schools);

The new traditions and cultures African Americans brought back to their homelands as they • traveled to Africa as part of Christian missions in the 19th Century.

HISTORY

GALLERY: 1968 AND BEYOND

“For in the end, freedom is a personal and lonely battle; and one faces down fears of today so that those of tomorrow might be engaged.”

-Alice Walker, author (1944 - )

Experience Narrative:

This is the final gallery in the chronological sequence of African American history told in the museum. While we look at the contemporary resonance of slavery throughout the museum, this 5,000 asf gallery provides a dedicated space in which to look at the impact of the African struggles for full citizenship on movements around the world and the contemporary state of race relations, beyond simply Black and White. It addresses the time period from the late 1960s to the present and features the same treatment of sweep, mileposts, and stories that is used in the previous two history galleries. The gallery ends with a visitor-driven, interactive center in which to explore the continuing importance and resonance of race and constructions of identity and other challenges facing our culture in the 21st Century.

Many cultural institutions have tried to create places of dialogue to varying degrees of success (e.g., the Museum of Tolerance and the National Underground Freedom Center). The aim here will be to create a space that allows multiple conversations, not limited to one specific topic or dialogue partner, to take place.

Goals:

• galleries;

Continue the chronological exploration of African American history begun in the previous two

• to social and economic disadvantages in African American communities;

Investigate ongoing disparities in access to employment, health, education, housing, etc., that lead

• importance of the past in shaping the present);

Help place these contemporary disparities in a longer historical perspective. (Show visitors the

• group identity within American society;

Provide a place to explore the continuing importance of race as a complex marker of individual and

Connect the dots between African American freedom movements and other local and global

• movements for civil and human rights (e.g., women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights, disability rights, South Africa, Tiananmen Square, Poland, etc.);

• background;

Help every visitor see how the African American experience matters to him or her, regardless of

• place.

Encourage visitors to think about what they can do to help make America a more just and equitable

Messages:

• and the world;

1968 marked a cultural, political, social, and economic turning point for African Americans, America,

• freedom, equality and justice continues and is played out in other contexts;

•

Despite the gains of the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., the Civil Rights Act) the struggle for full

The legacy of slavery lives on in this country;

• employment;

With segregation legally abolished, the struggle focused on poverty, housing, health, education, and

African American culture shapes American and global culture, especially youth culture;

• African American experience has shaped world events, becoming a model not only for American

• freedom, but for freedom and human rights movements internationally; African Americans and people from the Diaspora continued to influence each other politically,

• socially, culturally; It takes ongoing action on the part of citizens to help America live up to its ideals of equality and

• freedom; We are all affected by these stories;

•

• You can make a difference.

Possible Topics:

Politics and Activism:

• Vietnam War;

Black Power/Black Nationalism;

• Affirmative Action;

• Blacks in politics;

• Political party realignments;

• Regional conflicts in Africa (Angola, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zimbabwe, S. Africa, Sudan, Congo, etc.);

• Trans-Africa and African Liberation Movements;

• Congressional Black Caucus;

• Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement as the template for other activist causes: feminism (Black

• feminism/Womanism/3rd World Feminism), gay and lesbian, transgender, and disability rights, poverty politics.

Post-segregation world:

•

Urban renewal/White flight/busing;

• Blacks in the military;

De facto segregation in neighborhoods, schools, and higher education;

•

Suburbanization of the Black middle class;

• Community Action/Community-based development corporations/Title 7 CDC’s;

• Back-to-the-land movements;

• Marketing and advertising directed to Blacks/inspired by Black culture;

•

• Migrations: reverse emigration to the South, immigrations from Africa, the African Diaspora.

Culture – popular culture/music & entertainment:

Television:

• Roots/Black sit-coms/Oprah; Blaxploitation films;

• Spike Lee;

• Studio Museum and the recognition of Blacks in contemporary art;

• Afro-centrism (Kwanzaa, etc.);

• Sports phenomena (Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Williams sisters);

• Black theater (August Wilson, Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange, Suzan-Lori Parks);

• Urban fashion;

•

• Car culture;

Mural Movement: graffiti & tagging;

• Hip Hop/ Rap/ World Music (esp. Reggae)/ Early Disco & Break-dancing/ African discovery and

• adaptation of Black American music.

Intellectual, Scientific, and Entrepreneurial Directions:

Multiculturalism;

• Rise of Black Studies;

• Intellectual movements/Crisis of Black intellectuals;

• Religion (empowerment theology, Black Muslims);

• Blacks in science (medicine, technology, space);

• Black entrepreneurship/Black corporate leaders;

•

• Blacks and communications technology (Black bloggers, Web sites).

CULTURE GALLERY: MUSICAL CROSSROADS

“We pledge allegiance

All our lives

To the magic colors

Red, blue and white

But we all must be given

The liberty that we defend

For with justice not for all men

History will repeat again

It’s time we learned

This world was made for all men”

-Stevie Wonder, lyrics to “Black Man”

Experience Narrative:

Music is not only one of the most universally appealing lenses through which to understand America’s history; it is also a compelling agent in that history. The Musical Crossroads gallery will explore music’s pivotal and exciting role in freedom struggles, from the plantation to civil rights marches to the dance floors and recording studio to the air waves.

The name itself is indicative of this exhibition’s main goals. In its content, Crossroads is a space where history and culture can cross and intermingle, where we can explore the tensions and intersections between the sacred and the secular; where music serves as the crossroads between races, cultures, regions and nations. It is the other major gallery, besides Slavery and Freedom, to which visitors will be directed from the Central Hall, and it will serve as an introduction to other exhibits on African American culture.

Other

There are four main elements to this dynamic gallery:

Notes 1.

2. Listening zones

History of African American music theater

3.

4.

Notes:

Music as American history exhibits

Visitors entering this exhibit from the Central Hall encounter a path delineated by exhibit elements called Notes that lead towards a central core. These Notes highlight specific songs, people, or events that made a significant contribution to African American (American) music. They act as wayfinders and dramatic design elements in the space, but they also provide a synopsis of African American music, a sort of hall of fame or highpoints, for those “streakers” who will not experience the whole gallery.

History of African American Music Theater:

The Notes exhibits lead visitors to the central core. An icon in the middle commemorates the music and the musicians, but the main feature is a roughly 10-minute long audio visual program, in a theater, that presents an emotional and sometimes rousing history of African American music, from its beginnings in the holds of slave ships to contemporary popular music, from field hollers to hip hop to neo soul and the rediscovery of juke joint blues by such indie bands as the White Stripes. It provides a summary of the vast variety of types of African American music that have existed and a sense of how they have influenced each other. It also reinforces a main point that American popular music IS African American music…the influence of the music is so deep that it defines the character of American music, regardless of who performs it. The presentation serves as an introduction to the gallery, and sets the stage for the content that follows.

Genre or Listening Zones:

The central core acts as a hub to an array of Listening Zones that fan out around it. These zones are organized by genre, but without reference to any sort of chronology or progression. They are glassenclosed so that once inside you can look out and see to the other genres, reinforcing the idea of a continuum of influence.

It is in these Listening Zones that visitors are introduced to the characteristics that make the blues, for example, or define what Gospel music is. This is the music appreciation portion of the exhibit. Each zone will provide opportunities to learn about, practice, and experiment with the stylistic traditions of African American music: the lyrics, the instrumentation, rhythm, sense of improvisation, the use of vocals, etc. These zones will also introduce visitors to the variety of subgenres within each main genre (e.g., Delta Blues, Chicago Blues, Rhythm & Blues, etc.).

Visitors will be able to hear and make playlists of the top 100 songs in each genre and scan the sound of this music over time. Interactives will encourage visitors to dance. Visitors would be able to spend hours in these spaces, if they so desired, learning and listening to the history of African American music. No matter how long they stay, they will be able to continue their experience at home through internet-based activities. The type and number of activities and experiences here is endless.

All experiences will be designed to be appropriate for groups or individuals, and for the computer- and techsavvy as well as those who are not. The look of these spaces will be spare (think Apple Store) but will use graphics environmentally to provide a look and feel appropriate to each genre space. The point is for each and every visitor to have the opportunity to appreciate the music and feel the emotion it coneys.

Music as American History:

Behind every great song or musician is a sociocultural and historical story that made the music what it is and which was affected by the music or its production. Seen from within each Listening Zone are the exhibits about the social context behind the music. These surrounding exhibits will use artifacts, imagery, and theatrical techniques more heavily than the Listening Zones, but will be highly visible from within the Listening Zones. Carefully-placed charismatic items (e.g., ‘50s car, a musician’s costume, a setting suggestive of Beale Street, etc.) will draw visitors out of the Listening Zones into the surrounding exhibits.

Here is where visitors will learn, for example, why the blues spread throughout the country, via the Great Migration. They will learn about the harsh conditions of plantation and sharecropping life that informed the Mississippi Delta blues and the experience of taking the train to Chicago, IL; or St. Louis, MO; or Memphis, TN. They will learn about the conditions that faced many blacks when they arrived in the cities and the new kind of music it produced. They will learn about the new social dynamics produced by the integration of music production and enjoyment. They will learn about the importance of the church in African American music, the centrality of belief and of oratory that can be heard in everything from the Rhythm and Blues and Soul sounds of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, to the rappers of the 1990s, to “Yes We Can” by will.i.am. They will learn about the Civil Rights Movement as part of an exploration of spiritual music, and about Black and White relations throughout the centuries as explored through the appropriation and control of Black music (Gershwin and Joplin, Sun and Stax, etc.). The political, social, economic, and historical influences on each genre will be explored here, as will be the influences that the music had on society.

Visitors to the “Music as American History” section of the gallery will find artifacts and imagery that suggest a social context. But the exhibits will also include music. Media will help support the vibrancy of these places, as here, in a media show about Detroit, MI, in the 1960’s that is triggered by sitting in a car (audio supplied by “tuning” the radio in the car).

Goals:

• country;

Help visitors gain insight into and feel the emotional experience of African Americans in this

Help visitors understand the social and cultural realities that affected African American musical

• expression as musicians, composers, and performers fought for freedom, agency, and upward mobility in their quest for their piece of the American dream; Showcase African American musical innovation and creativity from America’s beginnings to the

• present;

• of African American music;

Introduce visitors to crucial figures (both well-known and unknown) in the history and development

• make up and distinguish different African American musical traditions from one another; Celebrate African American music for what it is…America’s popular music;

Help visitors appreciate the music by gaining musical literacy, understanding the components that

•

• normally come to the museum;

Appeal to a variety of visitor ages, genders, and backgrounds and draw visitors who would not

• Diaspora on African American music.

Highlight the influence of African American music on world music and the influence of the

Messages:

• of American history; Individually and in groups, African Americans have used music as a tool to express creativity, to

The content and style of African American music, and the context in which it is created, tells a story

• overcome injustice, to cross lines of race, and to gain economic success; This quintessential American art form is infinitely diverse and complex and comes from a long

• history of musical traditions; There are characteristics of music (e.g., sacred and oratorical roots, rhythm, lyrics, improvisation,

• etc.) that are unique to African American music and which developed over time; American popular music is African American music;

•

• African American music has strong roots in its African and diasporic past;

• traditions to Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world.

African American Artists (such as the Fisk Jubilee Singers or Hip-Hop bands) brought new

Possible Artifacts or Elements:

Church; • Juke Joint;

• Recording Studio;

• DJ Booth;

• Peter Szego banjo collection (18th and 19th century);

• Hazel Scott (pianist, New York 1940s) memorabilia and scrapbook;

•

• Motown costumes and memorabilia;

Supremes outfit ca.1960s;

• Fisk Jubilee Singers music sheets, memorabilia, recordings;

• National Negro Opera Company photograph ca. 1940s;

• Memphis Blues Photographs;

• Duke Ellington Collection;

• Apollo Theatre materials;

• Louis Armstrong’s childhood cornet;

• Sheet music from the DeVincent Collection and Others;

•

• Cast costumes from the Black Fashion Museum Collection.

Possible Topics:

African roots of African American music and dance;

• Musical forms in enslaved communities and the role of cultural expression for communication,

• solace and spirituality;

• Transition from spirituals to gospel;

Appropriation of Black music from performance and minstrelsy to cover records;

•

•

Advent and development of ragtime, blues, swing, jazz, soul, Hip-Hop, etc.;

• Role of music in political movements;

Connections and tensions between sacred and secular music;

• Business of music and performance (e.g., Motown, Black Swan, and Stax recording companies and

• Def Jam, etc.);

Rise and fall of Black radio;

• Influence of music from the African Diaspora (e.g., Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Miriam Makeba, Hugh

• Masakela, and Bob Marley).

CULTURE GALLERY: CULTURAL TRADITIONS

“Those that don’t got it can’t show it. Those that got it can’t hide it.”

- Zora Neale Hurston, folklorist and writer (1903-1960)

Experience Narrative:

Before entering the Sports and Visual Arts galleries, visitors will pass through a gallery that is part introduction and part display. It will introduce visitors to the idea of “culture” (and “Culture”) and to the creative role that it plays in society…not just to the creativity behind it, but to the role it plays in defining identity and shaping history.

For African Americans, most of whose families suffered years, or even generations of lack of access to adequate education, if any at all, expression came in the accessible forms of fashion, dance, language and speech, craft, art, etc. Eventually, traditions formed and talents in certain fields became inextricably linked to African American identity.

The gallery will give visitors a glimpse of some of these expressions through media, images, and object display. It will also feature interactives that will allow people to participate or get a feel for the form themselves, from dance to hair weaving. They will experience great moments in Black entertainment through theaterettes.

Goals:

• fashion and language);

•

Explore forms of cultural expression by African Americans beyond music and visual arts (e.g.,

Highlight their impact on American culture overall;

• Interpret the historical context of each expression;

Focus on the creativity and imagination of the people who make these expressions;

•

• museum;

Meet expectations of an audience who wants to see culture addressed in a significant way in the

Provide an opening for a discussion of race, roots, and appropriation;

• Reinforce the overall museum message about the centrality of African American culture.

•

Messages:

• flux, adapting to and shaping the world around them; They have been profoundly influential in shaping American and even world cultures;

African American cultural expressions, while often rooted in deep and long traditions, are always in

• They have mixed with, adopted and adapted aspects of a variety of world cultures to create

• something new.

Possible Topics:

• become mainstream in America);

Fashion and beauty culture including hair (including hair braiding fashions from Africa that have

•

•

•

•

•

Entertainment (including theatre and film);

Oratory and spoken word of all forms;

Dance and movement more broadly;

Building arts and architecture;

Material culture;

Forms of expression connected to worship (altars, graveyard decoration, etc.);

• “Craft” or folk arts, including basketry, quilting, wood carving, ceramics, blacksmithing, boatbuilding,

• instrument and furniture making.

CULTURE GALLERY: SPORTS

“When you scrimmage, and they throw the ball up… we all equal.”

-Ben Jobe from “Black Magic”

Experience Narrative:

Today, we watch talented African American competitors breaking records in all sports. They raise our spirits and inspire greatness, and it is hard to imagine that not very long ago, the arena of competitive sports was not open to them. Until the 1940’s, most sporting events were separated by color lines, and African Americans were denied the fame and money that Whites and others were allowed. Those that were the first to break through suffered harassment despite the extraordinary skill that brought them attention.

This gallery will begin with a look at the role of sports in life in America. It will then look at some of the best known athletes who paved the way for the elimination of race as a factor in American sports, and move to a celebration of contemporary athletes who continue to bring American sports to a new level. In each case, the sheer genius of their ability will be celebrated and the context in which they succeeded will be told. The stories will offer a delicate balance between the public and private, and social and collective narrative.

Goals:

•

•

•

Explore athletics as a form of cultural expression by African Americans;

Highlight the impact of African American athletes and athletics on American culture overall;

Present the severe adversity that many black athletes faced;

• museum;

Meet expectations of an audience who wants to see sports addressed in a significant way in the

Provide an opening for a discussion of race, roots, and appropriation;

• Reinforce the overall museum message about the centrality of African American culture.

•

Messages:

African American athletes, teams, and coaches have been profoundly influential in shaping

• American and even world history; Athletes

• overcame extreme obstacles in order to perform their sports; Sports were a way to release steam and enjoy oneself, and sometimes were the only way to survive;

• The belief that African Americans are better athletes than others is a stereotype that needs to be

• demystified by a more thorough understanding of history and social context.

Possible Topics or Elements:

• Uniforms;

Oral histories;

•

•

Archival material;

• Memorabilia;

Sports equipment;

• Periodicals;

•

•

News Clips;

• League Baseball and Jackie Robinson, the Harlem Globetrotters, Arthur Ashe and Apartheid Movement, Magic Johnson and HIV, Althea Gibson, marching bands,etc.

Possible stories include: Joe Lewis vs. Max Schmeling, Muhammad Ali vs. George Forman, Negro

CULTURE GALLERY: VISUAL ARTS

Experience Narrative:

In addition to the use of visual arts throughout the galleries to support interpretation, the museum will include a 6,000 asf “white box” space dedicated to its display. The majority of the space will host permanent collections and a smaller portion (approximately 2,000 asf) will accommodate temporary exhibitions, either organized in-house, or traveling exhibitions from other institutions.

Both galleries will be flexible enough to host installation work and accommodate all the various technologies that we may need to employ (e.g., digital table, audiovisual/digital art, wireless technology, hand-held devices, etc.).

Goals:

Display a rotating selection of fine art from the NMAAHC’s permanent collection;

• Present art in a way that it can be aesthetically appreciated on its own, not necessarily in support of

• larger stories (as it is being used to do in the rest of the museum);

•

Demonstrate the richness and complexity of African American culture;

• Exhibit works from important public and private collections;

Showcase a variety of art movements, styles, collections, subjects, and artists;

• Help fulfill the museum’s intention to treat history and culture as a common venture.

•

Categories of artwork presented:

• The Harlem Renaissance;

19th- and Early 20th-century Academic Art;

• WPA through WWII;

• Folk Art;

• Abstract Expressionism;

• The “Black Aesthetic”;

• Postmodern Art;

•

• Contemporary Art.

COMMUNITY GALLERY: POWER OF PLACE

Experience Narrative:

This 11,000 asf gallery will focus on regional and cultural differences in America as told through specific stories from across the country. The places depicted may be as small as a room, studio, home, or business or as large as a plantation, neighborhood or town. Each will open up a single moment in time, demonstrating both the unique particularity of that place and time in African American life, and its connections to a broader human story. While the focus will be on locations within the United States, content within exhibits will connect the American experience, where appropriate, with the cultures and histories of the Diaspora.

The gallery will feature two main elements: a large map of the country surrounded by approximately 9-10 vignettes, each encompassing approximately 1,000 asf. The map of the country will span approximately 4050 feet and face visitors as they enter. It will signal to visitors that they are in a gallery that will emphasize the power of place in America. The map itself is an interactive media show that responds to visitor input. It will highlight stories of migration and stories from particular places. At kiosks surrounding the map, visitors can access more information about African American history from their own hometowns and they can add their own stories or memories.

Dynamic, theatrical vignettes are visible beyond the rim of the map. Their design is realistic, crafted with props and including artifacts when available. Visitors will be immersed in them. Audio tracks will play a soundtrack for each place, both of environmental sounds and narratives. Interpretation embedded within tells the stories of what happened here and adjacent exhibits interpret its significance in American history.

Goals:

Use the lens of place to explore regionalism and regional diversity within the African American • experience;

Allow visitors to access information and stories about their own state, region, or town in the • museum;

Help visitors discover and explore regional diversity in America through a variety of experiences; •

Provide detailed information about particular places at specific moments in time; •

•

Allow further investigation of those individual places through time;

Allow visitors to add their own stories to the historical landscape of America. •

Messages:

•

African American experiences varied across the country.

There is no one monolithic Black experience because of the unique characteristics of region, place, • and time.

Possible Topics

Dutreuil Barjon’s furniture shop, New Orleans, LA, 1821: Born in Saint Domingue (later Haiti) in

• 1799, the son of a French landowner and a free woman of African descent, Barjon made his way to New Orleans. The antebellum city had a thriving system of apprenticeships that included many Free Men of Color—Barjon apprenticed and opened his own furniture making business in a period when free Black craftsmen and business owners flourished in the city. His son, Dutreuil Barjon, Jr., would apprentice with his father and continue the business well into the 1850’s.

Residence attic of Harriet A. Jacobs, Edenton, NC, 1830’s-40’s: Jacobs spent years in a

• crawlspace in her grandmother’s attic protecting her children while waiting for a moment to escape to the free North.

Slave cabin on antebellum Brome-Howard Plantation, St Mary’s City, MD, circa 1840’s: Part of a

• 3,000-acre tobacco and wheat plantation, the main house and adjacent buildings were built circa 1840.

• work in a variety of occupations during the antebellum period. Also site of Frederick Douglass’ escape to freedom.

Shipyards, Baltimore, MD, 1840’s: site where enslaved Blacks were leased from their owners to

Lobby of the City Hotel, San Francisco Bay, CA, 1850’s: This vibrant hotel was the site where

• businessmen and the local elite explored politics and society on the eve of the “Gold Rush” and the War with Mexico.

Contraband camp circa 1862-64, Corinth, MS: The Corinth Contraband Camp, operated by the • Union Army during the Civil War, provided housing, cooperative farming, reading lessons, and informal religious meetings for those who had escaped enslavement.

Emancipation Proclamation Day in Washington, DC: In 1866, the celebration of the 1862

• Emancipation Proclamation involved an organized procession of 4,000 to 5,000 “colored men” led by colored troops and civic associations.

• Blacks and Whites freely intermarried in the late 19th century.

Covert, MI, circa 1870’s: Incorporation and early years of this completely integrated town and

• operated by African Americans.

•

Allensworth, CA, circa 1910: A small all-Black town in southern California, governed, financed and

A’Lelia Walker’s salon in Harlem, New York, NY, circa 1927: A’Lelia Walker, the daughter of Madam

C. J. Walker, hosted the memorable salon of the Harlem Renaissance, known as the “Dark Tower.” She had an active role in the social life of well-known musicians, artists, and writers, both White and Black.

Dug-out in Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York, NY, ca.1930’s: The first Negro League game at

Yankee Stadium was in 1930, between the Baltimore Black Sox and the Lincoln Giants. The New Amsterdam News announced, “For the first time the famous Yankee Stadium is donated to the Colored people of Harlem for the benefit of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters … .”

Savoy Ballroom, Harlem NY, ca. 1940’s: A ballroom for music and public dancing located on Lenox

Ave, between 140 and 141st Streets. It was famous for its house band led by Chick Webb and for being a place where people of all cultural identities could be seen dancing the Lindy Hop.

The photography studio of Henry Clay Anderson in Greenville, MS, ca.1954: Anderson was the

local photographer in the segregated town of Greenville, MS, from 1948 to the early 1970’s, and he documented a time and place where blacks defied Jim Crow.

Cabrini-Green Apartment, Chicago, IL, ca. 1970’s-1990’s: This public housing project on Chicago’s

north side was represented during the world premiere of Roots on ABC in 1977.

COMMUNITY GALLERY: MAKE A WAY SOMEHOW

“… let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows….”

-Martin Luther King. Jr., Address to the SCLC, August 16th, 1967

Like a ship that’s tossed and driven, battered by an angry sea. When the storms of life are raging, and their fury falls on me.

I wonder what I have done, to make this race so hard to run.

(Then I say to my soul, soul take courage)

The Lord will make a way somehow.

The Lord will make a way somehow.

- Lyrics from gospel song, “The Lord Will Make A Way Somehow.”

Experience Narrative:

The exhibitions in this 8,000 asf gallery will explore the way in which people crafted and continue to craft possibilities in a world that denied them opportunity. It is organized thematically, each theme being represented by an iconic element such as a classroom, a church interior, a barbershop, etc. In contrast to the sets in The Power of Place, these locations are not specifically designed to represent a particular historic site. They are general representations that can evoke the historic circumstances and setting of the institution overall. Their form causes a particular relationship between visitors and the subject (e.g., all seated facing forward in a row of pews, experiencing a media piece or graphics at the front of the “church”).

Goals:

• sports clubs, and schools.

•

•

•

Address formal and informal African American community-building organizations such as churches,

Address interracial organization and cooperation.

Emphasize African American agency.

Allow visitors to investigate these organizations through time.

Messages:

•

African Americans achieved success despite unique and sometimes overwhelming obstacles.

• Americans “made a way out of no way”.

The everyday institutions of the black community were used as strategies by which African

Individuals helped to found, expand and maintain a host of religious organizations, sports clubs,

• presses, and enterprises (e.g., Freedman Hospital), schools (e.g., historically black colleges and universities), served in the military, and founded labor organizations.

• organizations.

African Americans showed resilience and creativity as they organized and participated in these

• political development.

The African American presence has been central to America’s economic, social, cultural and

Possible Topics:

Historically black colleges and universities;

• Religious, professional, and educational institutions; • Enterprise; • Sports;

• Labor movements; • Black press;

• Military; • The role of other communitiy identities such as gays and lesbians; • Interracial organizations. •

OTHER GALLERIES: YOUTH GALLERY:

Exhibit Narrative:

The youth gallery is envisioned as an approximately 4,000 asf space capable of accommodating both children and their families, and during school hours accommodating two school groups simultaneously for a total of approximately 75 – 90 people. The target audience is children 10 and younger, although as families often include groups with children of varying ages the gallery will provide opportunities for older children and their parents as well.

One of the functions the gallery may perform is to launch school group visits. On a practical level this means the gallery will need to be adjacent to or very near divisible classroom space. If possible, other desirable adjacencies are with Musical Crossroads and the Power of Place galleries. The gallery will need to serve as both program space and as a space for self-guided small group experience. It will need to be readily accessible from the primary visitor arrival point to the museum.

The NMAAHC believes that children and their families represent an underserved population in history museums in particular and in varying degrees across the National Mall at other Smithsonian Institution museums. In addition, the NMAAHC recognizes the importance of engaging children in the major topics of the museum in order to advance its singular mission of changing behavior and helping visitors engage in concrete actions that serve to make America better.

The gallery will serve two distinct audiences: children 8 and under, considered “concrete” thinkers developmentally, and anyone 9 and older, developmentally more capable of conceptual and abstract thinking. The aim for our younger audience will be to create experiences that are consequence-based and have measurable outcomes. For example, younger children might explore the life of an enslaved child to learn about the differences between their lives. They might also explore the larger concept of fairness, a simpler term for the themes of equality and freedom found in the Slavery and Freedom gallery. For our older visitors we can provide experiences that engage them in more variable outcomes. An example might be a role-playing activity in which the visitor may have to make a decision about separating an enslaved family, or alternately, role-playing as a member of an enslaved family.

The gallery will be a large open space, subdivided visually by floor and ceiling treatments. The space’s scale and its design will be intentionally welcoming to young children and their caregivers. The visitor experience will not be linear; rather, visitors will select the order in which they engage with the exhibits. Exhibits will be designed to foster individual, group and intergenerational interaction. In addition, especially for this audience, the exhibits will incorporate technology that fosters user-generated content in the gallery. The use of technology will also make possible post-visit communication with the museum.

While the gallery will embody the messages and content presented in other parts of the museum, it will do so in a way that is especially welcoming and appropriate for children. The gallery will be organized around two central questions: “Who are you?” and “What will you do?” The intention of these questions is to offer visitors a framework to explore what characterizes their ancestry, beliefs and interests in order to see the pervasive influences of African American history and culture throughout their lives.

The gallery is envisioned as having an arrival area (“welcome”) that is populated with images of parents and children from around the world, but especially with people of color from Africa, the Caribbean and throughout the Americas. In this area will be comfortable seating and a small group-gathering place. Through these images and thematic propping, children and their caregivers will see themselves portrayed in ways that are vibrant, diverse, warm, and welcoming.

The outlet from the “welcome” area will lead visitors to a junction within the overall youth gallery – in this area visitors will explore the question “Who are you?” by examining photos, name registries, language, dress and food preferences to build hypothesis’ about their origins with the aim of understanding themselves in order to understand others.

Flanking this space on either side are two featured gallery spaces. One focuses on history and the other on culture. Rather than presenting an abbreviated or scaled-down version of the slavery and freedom gallery, the first of these spaces is entitled the “Gallery of Courage and Kindness” and offers an experiential way to explore issues related to the African American experience. As the title suggests this area explores through personal stories the challenges and triumphs of kids and their families from the colonial period to the present.

In the “Gallery of Show and Tell”, visitors have the opportunity to explore music and the arts both as an historical cultural expression, but also as a contemporary one. Here, visitors should be able to see and listen, but also compose, sing, dance to their own creations plus create and post their own artwork.

After exploring the two galleries flanking the “Who are you?” discovery area, visitors will be able to enter the area called “What will you do?” Here visitors will find media-based interactive experiences aimed at social interaction with others both within and outside the museum, coupled with opportunities for creative cultural expression.

Within each of these areas will be a combination of simply themed environments, minimal interpretive text, necessary instructional text based on intuitive interactive activities, and computer-based interactive activities. Small theatrical spaces for role-playing activities and a sound-proof area for music sampling and creation will be provided.

Goals:

Provide a place for children and their families to explore the themes of the overall museum in • developmentally appropriate ways;

Provide a place to launch school-group visits; •

Encourage young visitors to feel welcome, safe, and comfortable in the museum; •

• background;

•

Help every visitor see how the African American experience matters to him or her, regardless of

Encourage visitors to think about what they can do to help make America a better place.

Messages:

• the evidence of this history is all around us; You are part of this history and culture;

African American history and culture have influenced every aspect of American history and culture;

•

•

Music is an expression of African American culture that has near universal appeal;

Racial understanding remains an issue in this country and around the world; in this place, it is OK

• to talk about race; you can improve your community and the world by participating in conversations about race; You can make a difference.

•

Key Elements:

•

A welcoming atmosphere that immediately invites children to participate;

• and post-visit engagement;

•

•

The use of technology that accommodates user-generated content, games, investigation and pre-

Exhibits that are true to the themes that are presented throughout the museum;

Exhibits that are developmentally appropriate for the target audience;

• visitors’ lives;

•

•

Visitor experiences that foster the idea that African American history and culture are relevant to

Spatial organization that works well for large and small groups and self-guided and tour groups;

Exhibits that help children feel empowered and believe that their ideas matter.

OTHER GALLERIES: GALLERY: CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MEDIA ARTS

Experience Narrative:

The Center for African American Media Arts is a collecting entity whose goal is to foster creativity and education in the African American arts by providing easy access to the most extensive collection of photography and visual media by and about African Americans to the broadest possible audience.

It features five main components: a residency program 1. an online database 2. online exhibitions 3. a platform for visitors to link to other significant African American digital collections 4. onsite exhibitions 5.

The onsite exhibition will occupy an 800 asf space adjacent to the Resource Gallery. The CAAMA Gallery will be traditional in its method of display. Museum objects whose images are available through CAAMA will be selected by the CAAMA’s curator/archivist for display in the space. Such exhibitions could rotate every three to four months and will feature works representing some aspect of the CAAMA offerings organized by collection, theme, or medium. For example, the CAAMA’s gallery could feature an exhibition of the museum’s holdings of 19th Century African American daguerreotypes, a selection of photographs by Greenville, Mississippi photographer Henry Clay Anderson, or film stills by Robert Galbraith’s from the documentary film, “All My Babies”.

In addition to the exhibition, the CAAMA on-site gallery space will feature research kiosks at which visitors can access the digital collection and link to sister collecting agencies. The content of the CAAMA will also be available on the museum’s Web site and in the Resource Center.

Goals:

•

Expose new audiences to the rich and complex imagery of African Americans;

• widest possible audience;

Make the most comprehensive image collection by and about African Americans available to the

• arts (digital video, podcasts, internet art, digital art);

Stimulate interest in and inspire new scholarship about African American photography and media

Enga

• ge young audiences by utilizing the latest technologies to display and access the material; Make a vital contribution to the understanding of African American history and culture, and its

• impact on American history and culture, through the lens of photography and new media;

•

Help fulfill the museum’s intention to treat history and culture together;

• available in the center.

Reach out to sister institutions by helping them digitize their collections and making their materials

Possible Artifacts or Elements:

Images by and about African Americans spanning the 19

• th Century (e.g., African American daguerreotypes) to the 21st century with a concentration on work from the mid-20th century to the present.

OTHER GALLERIES: CHANGING GALLERY:

Goals:

Provide flexible space suitable for temporary or traveling shows. •

Design Considerations

Elsewhere in this document the authors address design considerations that have implications for the facility design from a broad institutional perspective. In this Exhibition Master Plan document, we wish to make mention of four global design considerations that have particular implications for exhibition planning and design.

Approach to Education & Learning

The Smithsonian Institution views education to be at the core of its purpose, thus the Smithsonian Institution is committed to providing a contextual framework to support meaningful visitor-centered experiences. To this end the NMAAHC Education Department has developed a working vision statement to capture the purpose of education within a SI museum environment:

The Education Department will practice current Museum Education learning theories and techniques to nurture a more informed citizenry. Upholding education to be the key to personal and societal betterment, we aspire to jumpstart critical thinking skills and creativity, to generate selfpride and to inspire life-long learning for diverse audiences.

Following this vision, the educational goals for the NMAAHC are:

•

•

To make the African American story accessible to local, national and international visitors;

To convey the centrality of African American history and culture;

• spaces, including visuals, auditory elements, tactile manipulatives, low tech and computerized interactives, as well as video technologies;

To engage visitors as active participants by using a wide spectrum of techniques within the gallery

• overall visitor experience;

To conduct both front-end and formative exhibition and programmatic evaluation to improve the

• objectives, and are responsive to visitor needs;

•

To create exhibitions that are responsible to learning theory, have clear and meaningful learning

To provide opportunities for self-enrichment and to promote life-long learning for visitors of all ages;

• and contemporary issues;

To provide opportunities for visitors to construct personal meanings and understanding of historic

• and exhibitions;

To facilitate meaningful discussion and transformative experiences for visitors through programs

• programming and department goals.

To apply Outcomes Based Planning and Evaluation strategies when developing and assessing

While promoting the preceding goals throughout the Smithsonian Institution, the Education Department will create programs that bring about in visitors:

•

•

•

Awareness, knowledge and understanding;

Engagement or interest in concepts and processes;

Change in attitude towards a topic;

• New skills.

Change in behavior, resulting from engagement;

•

Universal Design & Accessibility

The views regarding accessibility have changed dramatically over the last few years, thanks in no small part to an enlightened view on the subject by the U.S. Departments of Justice and of Interior, respectively. It is no longer enough, nor appropriate to view compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act as a high water mark; instead it is the view of the NMAAHC that every aspect of the design of the new national museum should include universal design as part of its core design criteria, in order to provide a rich interpretive experience for all visitors regardless of physical differences or cognitive capabilities.

The National Park Service has taken a broad view in the interpretation of universal accessibility, producing a landmark document in 2007 entitled “The Programmatic Accessibility Guidelines for National Park Service Interpretive Media”. In the words of the National Park Service, the document was prepared for “media specialists, interpreters, rangers, superintendents, and other National Park Service employees and contractors who develop and approve interpretive media.” Its aim is to ensure publications, exhibits, audiovisual programs and tours, wayside exhibits, signage, and Web-based media provide park visitors with information and context so that their experience of visiting national parks can be both safe and meaningful. Park visitors who have physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities have legally established civil rights to receive the same information and context that NPS interpretive media products have always provided to their fellow citizens. The following is an excerpt from Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended:

No otherwise qualified handicapped individual in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of his handicap, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.

Citing the National Park Service as an example of a proactive organization taking meaningful steps to ensure their visitor experiences are designed to be enjoyed and experienced by all visitors, the NMAAHC similarly seeks to ensure that its visitor experiences are developed with diverse visitor capabilities and variations in mind.

Sustainable Design

The idea of sustainable design as a primary design consideration in a major national building ten years ago might have come as a surprise, but today it is a matter of best practice. Making material choices that are long-lasting and renewable, choosing HVAC systems that are energy efficient and that minimize their impact on carbon emissions and the environment is simply a necessity in an age of rising energy costs and more scarce resources. At the same time, a commitment to sustainable practice offers many educational opportunities within the building and exhibits, plus a potential inspiration for fund raising opportunities. This commitment also presents challenges, such as finding environmentally-friendly alternatives for the plastics, inks and solvents commonly used in exhibitions in today’s museums. Within the context of exhibition development, the designer will want to be encouraged to explore alternative means and methods that meet performance requirements while targeting strategies that are sustainable throughout the operational life of the project or the operational life of any element placed within it.

Use of Technology

The Smithsonian Institution and the NMAAHC view the creative use of technologies as among the most rich challenges facing the designers of the new museum. Because technology is evolving so quickly, it is difficult to plan a museum years in the future and feel comfortable with a platform or hardware choice. Perhaps more importantly, the ways in which technologies are being incorporated into our everyday lives means it is an equal challenge to determine what aspect of technology will provide new and interesting ways to enhance the visitor experience without either seeming dated or too “bleeding” edge. The exhibition master plan has already identified a number of ways in which technology may be incorporated to enhance the visitor experience, applied to achieve such outcomes as:

Pathways: Provide visitors with a way to track their own interests (e.g., gender issues, the rural

experience, etc.);

•

Provide visitors ways to add their own stories;

Meet needs of all ages and learning profiles; make technology as invisible to the user as possible.

Offer visitors several ways to find stories; •

•

Create social interaction;

• off-site (e.g., downloading music they heard at home);

Connect exhibits with Web-based museum programs so that visitors can continue their experience

• (e.g., social or individual);

Allow visitors many musical selections to choose from and different methods of listening to them

Engage audiences that wouldn’t normally come to the museum. •

The implication of technology in exhibition design in particular has to do with its integration institution-wide, and the long-term commitment to continual upgrading and enhancements as new technologies become available.

NMAAHC Pre-design and Programming Team

Owner

Smithsonian Institution

NMAAHC

Pre-design and Programming Team Leader

Freelon Bond

General Museum Requirements, Audience Research, Public Engagement, Collections Storage Plan

Lord Cultural Resources

Exhibit Planning

Amaze Design

Visitation Studies

Institute for Learning Innovation

Landscape Planning

Peter Walker & Partners

Structural Engineering

Robert Silman Associates

MEP Engineering

WSP Flack and Kurtz

Sustainable Design

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)

Civil Engineering

Delon Hampton & Associates

Traffic Studies

Gorove Slade

Geotechnical & Environmental Engineering

Froehling & Robertson, Inc.

IT/AV/Data Management/Telecommunications

Shen Milsom Wilke

Multimedia - Performance

Fisher Dachs Associates

Code/Fire Protection

Rolf Jensen and Associates

Accessibility

Access-Andrews Consulting

Vertical Transportation

Lerch Bates

Lighting

Fisher Marantz Stone

Estimating

Faithful + Gould

Security

Ducibella Venture & Santore

Document Editing

Kirsten Mullen