Beyond Neutrality
Good Intentions Are Not Enough:
Lessons for
Inclusive Public History
I AM
History “We are MORE than Farmers”
TRANSFORM AND EXPAND THE WAY YOUR HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS ARE VIEWED, ACCESSED AND UTILIZED. AND LET YOUR HISTORY INFORM THE FUTURE.
www.historyit.com
Contents
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ON THE COVER
Departments
Features
3 On Doing Local History
7 I AM History
By Carol Kammen
By Dina A. Bailey
5 The Whole is Greater
12 Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Lessons for Inclusive Public History
By Omar Eaton-Martínez
28 Book Reviews By Adrienne McGraw and Anne Petersen
31 AASLH News
By Mary Rizzo
19 “We Are More than Farmers” An Interview with the Creators of Peb Yog Hmoob Minnesota By Nicholas J. Hoffman
23 Beyond Neutrality By Sean Kelley
“The Big Graph” at Eastern State Penitentiary illustrates the nation’s soaring rate of incarceration and the profound racial disparity within the U.S. prison population over time. Text bluntly identifies these trends as a crisis, and asks how our nation should respond. All visitors are invited to discuss these trends and reflect on their root causes. Photo courtesy of Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Philadelphia.
INSIDE: TECHNICAL LEAFLET
Cleaning House: A Guide to Deaccessioning and Abandoned Property By Alli Rico
History News is a publication of the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). History News exists to foster publication, scholarly research, and an open forum for discussion of best practices, applicable theories, and professional experiences pertinent to the field of state and local history. THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR STATE AND LOCAL HISTORY
EDITOR Bob Beatty | ADVERTISING Hannah Hethmon DESIGN Go Design, LLC: Gerri Winchell Findley, Suzanne Pfeil
History News (ISSN0363-7492) is published quarterly by American Association for State and Local History, 2021 21st Avenue S., Suite 320, Nashville, TN 37212. Periodicals Postage Paid at Nashville, Tennessee. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to History News, 2021 21st Avenue S., Suite 320, Nashville, TN 37212. Article manuscripts dealing with all aspects of public history are welcome, including current trends, timely issues, and best practices for professional development and the overall improvement of the history field, particularly articles that give a fresh perspective to traditional theories, in-depth case studies that reveal applicable and relevant concepts, and subject matter that has the ability to resonate throughout all levels of the field. For information on article submissions and review, see about.aaslh.org/history-news. Single copies are $10. Postmaster, send form 3579 to History News, AASLH, 2021 21st Avenue S., Suite 320, Nashville, TN 37212. Periodical postage paid in Nashville, Tennessee. Entire contents copyrighted ©2017 by the American Association for State and Local History. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the American Association for State and Local History.
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From the Editor
e understand well the challenges we face in sharing our passion for and love of history with an often indifferent public. We frequently utilize tried-and-true “hooks” to draw them in. We develop programs that share interesting tidbits of history, host and/or build special exhibitions, invite high-profile guest speakers, engage in collections-related activities, and the like. All of this works to varying degrees. And for those that don’t work quite as well as hoped, we reset, adjust, and try something else the next time. In doing so, however, we often work in institutional (and historical) silos. We share great stories, but they are often removed from the larger narrative. This is an issue, Carol Kammen believes. And it is something she addresses in “On Doing Local History: A National Civics Lesson.” As Carol began formulating her thoughts for this issue, she sent to me David Brooks’s New York Times op-ed from this past March 21, “The Unifying American Story.” In it, Brooks lamented, “One of the things we’ve lost in this country is our story. It is the narrative that unites us around a common multigenerational project, that gives an overarching sense of meaning and purpose to our history.”1 This sparked an idea in Carol. What if we utilize our assets to focus attention on the U.S. Constitution, to engage in a national effort to educate the public on the document that articulates the very foundation of our nation? It won’t work with every idea we have but it
certainly fits much, as Carol points out in this issue. (Full disclosure: I was the person who said it wouldn’t work well with sports-related history. You can see her deft response in the article.) As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight.” Could the tens of thousands of history organizations in the United States work to improve Americans’ knowledge of the Constitution? Rather than just impacting individual communities, Carol posits, we could help nurture the enlightened citizenry Jefferson and the founders envisioned for the nascent republic. In doing so, we would also answer Brooks’s call for “an act of imagination, somebody who can tell us what our goal is, and offer an ideal vision of what the country and the world should be.”2 Can history organizations and public historians provide that “act of imagination”? Carol believes we can, and that the U.S. Constitution offers just the mechanism.
Bob Beatty David Brooks, “The Unifying American Story,” New York Times, March 21, 2017. 2 Ibid. 1
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On Doing Local History
By Carol Kammen
A National Civics Lesson
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olls show that Americans do not know a great deal of history. We also don’t know how our government works, what our Constitution actually says, and why it functions as it does. We pay lip service to our way of government, and many of us who were born here might do a good bit of head-scratching with a citizenship test. According to the Civics Renewal Network, a group supported by, among others, the Library of Congress, the National Constitution Center, the National Archives, the Newseum, and the United States Courts, only one-third of Americans can name the three branches of government. One in five people believe that Congress must ratify a Supreme Court decision. We are tremendously privileged and woefully unprepared for our system of self-government. We in the history profession also know that the teaching of history in our schools is being squeezed. This is not because teachers are lacking but because the curriculum places less value on history and citizenship than on other subjects. Yes, STEM is important—I believe science, technology, engineering, and math are vital—but I firmly believe that history and the arts must also be an equal part of the education equation. We in the history business do our best to be educational, innovative, engaging, and to make our subjects enjoyable. We do, however, present the past in a somewhat fragmented pastiche. Most history organizations publicize exhibits, invite speakers, and host events on a variety of subjects; they sponsor book talks, bring out objects from storage, create panel discussions, and invite in the public in numerous ways to consider and know a community’s past. In addition, many history organizations reflect academic trends and contemporary interests. We serve as a community’s attic and its memory, as its interpreter and receptor, and as public intellectual. A year’s programs might range from railroads, to interesting people, to African American history, to local products, or to displays created from the collection. We do this because of the
collections we hold, the materials available to us, staff knowledge in creating topics and exhibits, and interests the public has expressed. What if we offered the same broad menu of programs and exhibits and events, but used them to explain our Constitution and our government? What if in addition to the history we exhibit and tell, we engaged in a national civics lesson?
What if in addition to the history we exhibit and tell, we engaged in a national civics lesson?
“That will go over like a lead balloon,” some will say immediately. But think about it for a minute. I have on my desk a copy of the questions asked of potential citizens in 1936 and a memo to naturalization examiners with the principles to be stressed. (Their rationale for this education is explained in a statement headed “Relationship of the Individual to the Government.”) Some of these questions could be an aid in creating a national civics lesson. We might also look to the “Civics (History and Government) Questions Created for the Naturalization Test” available on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. The current test requires rote memorization and not necessarily an understanding of our Constitution.1 Both the 1936 document and the Citizenship and Immigration Services website note the expectation that candidates for naturalization understand concepts of freedom and equality and the supremacy of law. It also wants them to know that the Constitution is a living document, that it is a charter of human rights including religious freedom, freedom of speech and press, and of peaceable assembly. The “Relationship of the Individual to the Government” document stresses the protection each individual enjoys under
the Bill of Rights and discusses the authority of government, which stems from the people. The document goes on to discuss the organization of our federal system of government and the importance of the separation of powers. It is a powerful reminder of what this country stands for. We do not want to use a hammer in delivering constitutional lessons, but firmly, as a thread, weave it carefully where appropriate. It can be part of a discussion of an exhibit, or in the way a topic is introduced, or on an exhibit label. This civics lesson does not have to happen each and every time. It is, however, a worthwhile goal to attempt to keep our public informed and conscious of our role as citizens. We can become a constitutional classroom even when we exhibit about immigration, for example, stressing the relationship of the individual to the government or showing the guarantee of freedom and equality for all under the law. “What is the difference between a state and a territory?,” a question from the 1936 naturalization test, might accompany a discussion of the nineteenth-century push into the West. In a discussion about a new high school or highway, question #41 challenges us: “What opportunities are there…for people to take part directly in legislation?” There is even the timely question (#48) that asked, “Are state officers bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States? Must state officers aid the United States Government in the enforcement of national legislation?” To test my theory, I turned to the 2016 AASLH Leadership in History Awards. I admit that this constitutional underpinning does not work with every winning project, although with some thought, it just might. And these were the examples on the page of the program I opened, I didn’t go searching for “best examples.” • The Bullock Texas State History Museum’s Life and Death on the Border, 1910-1920 might pose question #36, “In what different ways may the President influence legislation?” or question #28, which asks about the HISTORY NEWS
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Citizenship question #47 might be considered, “Upon what must the existence privileges and immunities of citizens of a democratic government depend?” of one state traveling in another? Or it Would this constitutional underpinning might even ask question #7, “What is a work with every subject? Probably not. treaty? How are treaties made?” But it does work with many. Sports are • A book like Brian Albrecht and James a popular topic. Just consider what Title Banks’s Cleveland in World War II could IX has meant to participation in sports address the president’s ability to take (and other aspects of life where federal the country to war and the role of money is involved). Music is an extremely Congress in this process or specifically important part of people’s lives. The citask question #9, “Why should a nation izenship test question that applies could support an army be question #44, and a navy? Who “Distinguish Only one-third of are the militia?” between freedom • For the and license.” Americans can name Nashville Public I am not the three branches of Library’s Civil suggesting we Rights and a Civil clobber the pubgovernment. Society, the 1936 lic with inforcitizenship test mation about question #1 asks directly, “Give reathe Constitution. Rather, we might sons why laws should be obeyed. What show in exhibit labels, or in talks and would be the result of a general disrepanels and newsletters, the ways the gard of law?” Question #24 addresses U.S. Constitution was created, what it this as well: “Can the National protects, how it has expanded, and our Constitution be changed to meet the responsibilities as citizens. This makes us needs of today?,” as does question #41, educators on a number of levels: about “What opportunities are there in our the doing of history, about the history of state for the people to take part directly place, about historical trends and interin legislation?” ests, and about how we are a nation of • The Cahokia Mounds State Historic laws that bind us together. Site Wetlands & Waterways: The Key to I suggest focus on the Constitution so Cahokia project could lead to a discussion that we better understand it. But at the of water rights, and raises the question same time we need to be cautious, for of who’s responsible to keep our water Americans have not always regarded the safe, and how an agency should ensure Constitution with reverence. Woodrow that a water transportation network Wilson, for example, suggested holding a work under its own set of regulations. new Constitutional Convention to update
On Doing Local History >
the 1789 Constitution or to create a new document, an idea that was shot down. We do not educate to revere but to understand. We also need to consider the fact that documents written 200 years ago might need tweaking—or even more—to work for today’s world. New York State’s original constitution of 1777 calls for a vote to hold a constitutional convention every twenty years to renew, amend, or write a new document. The 1936 citizenship test asks, “Upon what must the existence of a democratic government depend?” That was a good question in 1936 and an appropriate question today. History organizations have an educational role and they have an audience. Using the variety of programs that history organizations present, we can help build a more informed population about the nation we live in and the rules by which we do so. We can do our part. That is after all, our job. t “On Doing Local History” is intended to encourage dialogue on the essential issues of local history. Carol Kammen can be reached at ckk6@cornell.edu. 1 The two documents are from the National Archives and Records Administration’s Bureau of Naturalization Correspondence Files. One is a memo dated August 24, 1936, from Charles P. Muller, Assistant District Director, addressed to “All Examiners,” in which the goals of citizenship tests are stated; the second is a list of questions Examiner Samuel Jacob created to be posed to those undergoing naturalization. This list was attached to a letter from Byron H. Uhl to Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization, Washington, D.C., March 11, 1936. These mimeographed typescripts are labeled box 8, file 152, Record Group 85 from a collection entitled: “Citizenship Education Program Files 1935-1954.”
T H E A M E R I C A N A S S O C I AT I O N f o r S TAT E a n d L O C A L H I S T O R Y Acknowledges and appreciates these Endowment Donors for their extraordinary support:
Dr. William T. Alderson Society
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Mr. Leslie H. Fishel*
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Atlanta History Center
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Atlanta, GA
Anonymous Mr. John Frisbee*
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HISTORY
Mr. John & Ms. Anita Durel
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Winston–Salem, NC
Washington, DC Monticello, NM
Washington, DC
Holt, MI
New York, NY Marshalltown, IA
San Francisco, CA Nashville, TN
Baltimore, MD St. Paul, MN
Mr. Dennis Fiori Boston, MA
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Indianapolis, IN
Maryland Historical Society Missouri History Museum St. Louis, MO
Ms. Candace Tangorra Matelic Pawleys Island, SC
Ms. Kathleen S. & Mr. James L. Mullins Grosse Pointe Shores, MI
Lexington, MA Lincoln, NE
Cambridge, MA
Rowman & Littlefield Lanham, MD
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Mr. George L. Vogt Portland, OR
Ms. Jeanne & Mr. Bill Watson* Orinda, CA *Deceased
The Whole is Greater
By Omar Eaton-Martínez
Calling Out Afro Latinx Identity “Latinos... you are more (African) than you might think” —Felipe Luciano, Activist, Journalist, and former Young Lord
H
ave you ever walked into a room and not been acknowledged? How did that make you feel? If you want to make someone feel like less than nothing you don’t have to berate them. All you have to do is look right through them as if they don’t exist. This is something Afro Latinx face regularly. I understand this because it is who I am. I was born on December 1, 1972 in Washington, D.C., to Alfonso and Ruth Eaton. My parents came to the diamond district of the United States mainland from Puerto Rico in the mid-1960s. My father was one of the first of many Puerto Ricans recruited by the National Aeronautics Space Administration in 1966. He had studied mechanical engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, formerly known as El Colegio or Colegio de Agricultura y Artes Mecánicas. My father was born and raised in Santurce, cerca de La Calle Loíza. My paternal grandmother, mi Abuelita Ramona, was born on the French island of Guadeloupe and came to Puerto Rico as a teenager. My paternal grandfather Abuelo Alonzo was from the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas and settled in Puerto Rico as an adult after marrying my grandmother. Although these three family members did not all share the same shade of brown skin and hair texture, in the context of how the U.S. identifies race, it is safe to say all of them were black. My mother was an educator in Puerto Rico and in Washington, D.C. She was part of the original staff of teachers that opened the first public bilingual elementary school in D.C. (maybe the entire east coast), Oyster Bilingual Elementary in the Woodley Park section of the city. She studied education at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, also known as La Yupi. She also was born and raised in Santurce cerca de La Calle Loíza. My maternal grandparents were born on Vieques, the small island just east of the
main island of Puerto Rico. My Abuelo Angel was a black man who fell in love with my Abuela Cecilia, who would be considered a white Puerto Rican. In 1998, my Tio Tonio took me around Vieques and showed me all the hiding spots where mis abuelos would go during their courting stage because it wasn’t acceptable for a black man and a white woman to be together in Vieques in those days.
Although these three family members did not all share the same shade of brown skin and hair texture, in the context of how the U.S. identifies race, it is safe to say all of them were black. I give this brief description and background of my immediate family because one of the first questions I get from people when they find out I am Puerto Rican is, “Wait a second! You mean both of your parents are Puerto Rican?!” Of course the other awkward reaction is when someone hears me speak Spanish in a conversation. They always look at me like I just grew a second head on my shoulders. What is really awkward is I get this question and crazy looks from everyone: African Americans, U.S. Latinos, Latin Americans, white Americans, and everybody else who cares to know and/ or react.
Who is black? Can a Puerto Rican be black? Are African Americans the only ones who are black in the United States? These questions seek to interrogate the notion that blackness can only be expressed through a singular lens. One way to examine this is to review how Afro Latinx are included in the inaugural exhibitions of the National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC). One inclusive curatorial practice to blur these lines of blackness is referred to as “Calling Out.” The curatorial practice of Calling Out is not just an act of inclusion, it is an act of solidarity. The inclusion of Afro Latinx identity in the Smithsonian’s newest institution, arguably the world’s largest museum centering on the black experience, is of deep importance. It blurs the lines of blackness through the intersection of race and ethnicity. By allowing Afro Latinx and other Afro Diasporic narratives to be included, the inaugural exhibitions challenge whiteness as normal. Simultaneously, parts of the exhibitions contest African American as the only black identity in the United States. In October 2016, I met with two NMAAHC curators to discuss Afro Latinx identity in the inaugural exhibitions: Michelle Wilkinson, who co-curated A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond, and Joanne Hyppolite, who curated Cultural Expressions. We spent much of our meeting talking about the major role the museum’s exhibition scripts played in Calling Out, bringing to light an Afro Latinx identity. An example Wilkinson used to illustrate this tactic was the text she drafted to accompany a photograph of Baseball Hall of Fame member Reggie Jackson. The label next to his picture says, “Reginald Martinez Jackson, a black American of Puerto Rican descent, hit three consecutive home runs for the New York Yankees in the 1977 World Series.”1 HISTORY NEWS
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The Whole is Greater > Many Americans and baseball fans ethno-racially identify Reggie Jackson as African American. Wilkinson took this pivotal moment in baseball history to Call Out Jackson’s Puerto Rican heritage by making reference to his full name. The inclusion of his Spanish surname Martinez and of his Puerto Rican identity allows for visitors to view the Hall of Famer with a new lens. This lens advocates for the centering of Afro Latinx within the black narrative of the United States. Although Calling Out is not a formal curatorial practice, it describes well the use of text to explain the multiplicity of identities that make up the Afro Diasporic communities in the United States. Wilkinson explained further, “Some of the topics we deal with include the international dimensions of the Black Power Movement and the changing demographics of cities in which black immigrants settled. So for [co-curator Bill Pretzer and I], we did intentionally try to Call Out places and people that might be connected to some of these themes. With A Changing America being within the history galleries, which really imagine how people became African American and what that means legally, socially, historically, experientially, etc. over time.” This resulted in Calling Out “the variety of identities within black America and that meant at times Calling Out individuals like Shirley Chisholm or Reggie Jackson, who had immediate roots outside the continental United States. Typically, we did this by referring to places of origin for the individual or their parents.” Wilkinson noted how this practice has parallels in popular culture. “I see Calling Out as akin to the term representin’ as used in hip-hop vernacular, where people connect themselves to a place, with pride.”2 When Hyppolite first began work at the museum, one of her tasks was to begin a list of Called Out texts for Afro Diasporic communities. This included Afro Latinx identity for the culture galleries of the museum. She noted in an email exchange, “I’ll speak for myself and say that there’s no formal curatorial practice as far as I know for using the term Calling Out in the way that I did it during our conversation. And I don’t think that I was using it with some intentional consciousness either.” But, she reflected, “I
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can see some of the hidden connections there with the practice of Calling Out people and the places that they are from in black cultures. In my own culture,” she continued, “the first few sentences of a new conversation with people you just met is always about who your people are and what part of the island you’re from. Placing you in this way seems to help people understand you better because seemingly you are always more than just who you are in front of them. And where you are from has also seemingly shaped you in some way that it’s important for them [visitors] to understand.” Having curators like Hyppolite and Wilkinson, who identify with their Caribbean roots, allows the NMAAHC to develop curatorial methodologies like Calling Out that could possibly exist outside of the black/ white binary tradition.3
The curatorial practice of Calling Out is not just an act of inclusion—it is an act of solidarity. For me, being Afro Latino has allowed me to develop a lens that allows me to read blackness and latinidad with a discriminating eye. Calling Out is a practice that I have used in my own personal identity as a method to bring to light what the traditional American lens cannot see. In order to gain this acceptance, my parents and I made the decision to hyphenate my last name the end of my junior year in high school in anticipation that this would help increase my options of going to the college of my choice. Although both my parents were born and raised in Puerto Rico, only my mother had a Spanish surname, Martínez. It is common practice in Puerto Rico, and other Latino countries for people to hyphenate their surnames. Just like that, I went from Omar Eaton to Omar Eaton-Martínez. Now ask me, “Did it work?” Well, I eventually decided to accept the offer to attend the University of Maryland, College Park. They asked me to fill out a questionnaire asking me to self-iden-
tify. I decided to write “Afro PuertoRican” in the “Other” section. Shortly into my first semester, I noticed that all my Latino friends would get letters from the Hispanic Student Union about social activities and my African American friends would get flyers from the Black Student Union. I only received them from the Hispanic Student Union. After much thought I figured out that they must have chosen Hispanic for me. This was just another reminder of my invisibility as an Afro Latino. The Great Migration, an exhibition within the NMAAHC gallery entitled Defending Freedom, Defining Freedom: The Era of Segregation, 1876-1968, contains a section called Coming to the United States. It Calls Out the Caribbean migration narrative. On this panel is the story of my father Alfonso M. Eaton. The migration story of my parents coming from a paradigm of racial democracy in Puerto Rico to a very rigid black American/white American binary influenced my racial self-concept as a youth. I overcame the invisibility of my Afro Latino identity through education. For this reason, I have chosen to research how Afro Puerto Ricans identified with their blackness. This process empowered me because I was able to come to a better understanding about my heritage by researching and complementing it with my experiences growing up with my parents in the States and visiting family in Puerto Rico during the summer. I Called Out my own identity when applying to college. I am thankful for the NMAAHC for doing so in its exhibits. I am interested to see how other institutions take up the mantle of Calling Out. t Omar Eaton-Martínez recruits and manages 200+ interns and fellows at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH). Omar is currently a PhD student in American Studies at University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests are diversity and inclusion in museums and cultural institutions, and Afro Latinx identities. He can be reached at eatonmo@si.edu. 1
Emphasis is my own.
Michelle Wilkinson email with author, December 16, 2016. 2
3 Joanne Hyppolite email with author, December 16, 2016.
The Way Public
History Embraces Inclusion in Today’s Social and Political Climates BY DINA A. BAILEY
Editor’s Note: This is the 2017 Women’s March on Washington at theme article for the L’Enfant Metro Station 2017 AASLH Annual Meeting. The Program and Tobi Voigt Host Chairs and AASLH staff put a significant amount of time into drafting the theme to make it resonate widely across the field. Because we know not everyone can make it to the meeting each year, each spring beginning in 2008, we have included an article in History News about our upcoming annual meeting theme. To learn more about the 2017 meeting and theme, please go to: http://about.aaslh.org/am-theme.
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istory is action personified. History is relevant. History is each of us. Every second that passes becomes a part of history. And, as individuals, we participate in historical moments every day. That said, some historical moments make more of an impact on our consciences than others. We usually know these moments because they are attached to
sentences like, “I remember exactly where I was when President Kennedy/Martin Luther King Jr./Malcolm X was assassinated” or “I remember exactly what I was doing when I learned the Twin Towers had been attacked.” Those experiences change our lives forever; they influence how we see others, how we vote, what we value, and how we perceive the world around us. And too often, these events are marked by tragedy. HISTORY NEWS
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ing collections, developing programs, and building advocacy statements to support funding for programs and agencies that have been influential in ensuring that we can continue to be stewards of history and culture. Fifty years from now, those who see these collections may say, “I remember where I was when the Women’s March happened.” I, and more than forty fellow history professionals, was in Austin, Texas, at the 2017 program committee meeting choosing the sessions for the program of the 2017 AASLH Annual Meeting. We discussed the many interpretations of the meeting theme, I AM History. We introduced ourselves by sharing an example of how we each are an important part of history. Examples ranged from advancements in communications—growing up with a party line and/or rotary phones—to witnessing Vietnam War-era protest marches, to an acknowledgment of the joy of CDs versus streaming music. Through these examples, we shared the big and small ways that we have each been active participants in history; we recognized these moments as simultaneously unifying and uniquely personal. To fully embrace the inclusive nature of history is to embrace the idea that each of us has “our” moment and each of us is entitled to an acknowledgment of that moment. I AM History embraces and celebrates the continuing journey of the United States towards an increase in inclusion. It asks us to consider how we take obstacles and turn them into opportunities. It challenges us to tell the extraordinary stories of all people in all places. It compels us to review our missions, visions, and strategic plans to ensure our organizations will remain relevant as our communities and their needs grow ever more diverse. And it prompts us to be more flexible, more responsive, and more adamant in supporting the transformative power of truth, transparency, and integrity. The theme, I AM History, can be transformative for our field. In order to do so, we need to embrace the theme’s depth and breadth and use it for the good of our organizations, our communities, our field, and our nation. It is a tall order, but not an impossible one. First, we must ask ourselves who history belongs to and how it connects each individual to a larger story. Within our field, we have both the platform and the responsibility to usher in Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
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ith these events often come choices. Both “sides” can choose to become bitter and filled with frustration and hatred, or we can choose to find the courage to see past the immediate fears and hurts and discomforts in order to embrace the values of compassion, empathy, and understanding. That is not to say that frustration and anger cannot or should not be a part of the process; they often are, but we can’t allow ourselves to get stuck there. The values of compassion, empathy, and understanding are essential to embracing inclusion in today’s social and political climates. And inclusion is essential in ensuring a country (and a world) where the United States Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals guide us to be engaged and informed global citizens. I use global citizen because now, more than ever, we live in a global community and what one individual does, what one group of people does, and what one nation does affects everyone in the world to some degree. We are tied to each other’s successes, challenges, and failures. We can’t afford to be isolationists; and, really, it’s just not possible anymore (if it ever truly was). History is reflected in the (global) connections that link together people’s daily participation in historical moments. On January 21, 2017, the Women’s March on Washington became a global movement. Estimates say that up to 4.5 million people participated in marches around the world. Women and men, boys and girls walked together on all seven continents. They marched because they could. They marched because a lot of women couldn’t. They marched because they believe, as I do, that what affects one of us affects all of us. Part of what made the marches so significant was the fact that people around the globe could unite together even as being able to join a march meant something very personal and unique to each individual. It wasn’t as simple as one political group marching. It was about people with many different viewpoints. Women’s March signs immediately headed to museums across the globe. Museums and historic sites have scrambled to respond through gather-
Visitors at Monticello participating in its "Hamilton Tour Takeovers."
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
new perspectives and critical examinations of America’s ever-changing identity. By reorienting history to be more inclusive, more authentic, and more about exploring the boundaries and intersections of how we understand ourselves and our stories within the larger American narrative, we may internalize the very nature of inclusion. AASLH has embraced four aspirations that align with the principles that undergird I AM History. These ambitions reflect the organization’s values and those of the field it supports. AASLH seeks to: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Promote the relevance of history Build diversity and inclusiveness Cultivate an experimental and creative spirit Increase organizational sustainability and transparency.1
These four aspirations support what the association and its members work toward on a daily basis. Through efforts to increase stability and transparency, AASLH desires to encourage greater engagement and trust within its own membership while also acting as a “role model for other nonprofits in the areas of financial decisions, processes, and reporting.” In acting transparently and consistently, our communities will more clearly see our members’ motives and will increasingly rely on our organizations as stable anchors for community endeavors. In addition to modeling behaviors in stability and transparency, AASLH also seeks to model “an adaptive and nimble, yet reflective, culture to address change and quickly take advantage of opportunities.” The experimental and creative spirit cultivated through this modeling will further open the door to previously unheard voices. It encourages members to search out new ideas and new constituents within their communities. It will also support efforts underway by a number of history organizations to decolonize their operations: from collections, to exhibitions, to thought processes. By supporting informed risk-tasking, knowledge-sharing, and imaginative problem-solving, AASLH members will be living through action the idea that I AM History embraces an openness for all people to experiment in what it means to be active participants in historical moments.2 The aspiration focused on diversity and inclusiveness further supports the openness the 2017 annual meeting theme fosters. This aspiration “encourages telling the stories that have not been told,” promotes partnerships with other organizations that have “successfully developed inclusive policies and programming,” and supports building relationships that are based on “mutual trust, balance of power, and recognition of expertise within diverse communities to democratize the historical narrative and sustain the relevance of history
to a rapidly changing demographic.” As we continue to coax a greater understanding of the relevance of history in contemporary local, regional, and national decisions, it is imperative that we unite together as a field and as active organizations that embrace the further diversity of our communities and acts of inclusion within our communities.3 Further, as an AASLH aspiration, the promotion of history relevance recognizes the complexity of history and encourages being transparent about the fact that history is often contested. I AM History aligns with history relevance in fostering healthy and constructive provocation. And many of the sessions during the annual meeting will provide examples of “history and material culture as the essential shaper of the present and as a context for each individual.”4 History is relevant because we are continuously impacted by the legacies of past actions and reactions of people. The five C’s of historical thinking—change over time, causality, context, complexity, and contingency—constitute one of several methodologies that provide a foundation for recognizing how the past and present are strongly tied to each other. In recognizing how those ties are attached to us in both professional, and perhaps more importantly personal, ways, we have the potential to build individual and collective empathy. The ties may lead to increased community inclusion; they may also showcase the relevance of history.5 We saw these principles in action at the 2017 Annual Meeting Program Committee meeting. AASLH received the largest number of session proposals in its history. The amazing depth and breadth of proposals provide strong examples to support both the theme I AM History and the AASLH aspirations. Below are examples of sessions that directly correlate to these objectives.
Promote the Relevance of History “History isn’t about dates and places and wars. It’s about the people who fill the spaces between them.” –Jodi Picoult
HISTORY HAS ITS EYES ON YOU Public historians can (and should) demonstrate relevance in new and creative ways through popular culture that is already tied to history. In “History Has Its Eyes on You,” Stacey Mann and co-presenters will highlight how the hit Broadway musical Hamilton uses the intersection of historical and contemporary themes, deliberate inclusivity, collaboration, and a commitment to the highest artistic and intellectual standards to inform and inspire its audiences. While the musical depicts a familiar history, it does so in unfamiliar ways that invite audiences to shift their perspectives. Mann and her colleagues build off these aspects of Hamilton to discuss how museums and historic sites can leverage a more inclusive future by striving to diversify their stories and their audiences. “History Has Its Eyes on You” concentrates on how storytelling can and should engage visitors on emotional and intellectual levels and therefore highlights the power of people, places, and events and the intersection of media
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and civic literacy today. Presenters Becky Schlomann of the Indiana Historical Society and Kate Quinn of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will bring to bear their experiences translating between the languages of education, history, museums, and the arts and using the power of experimentation, collaboration, and innovation to support history relevance. And Steve Light of Monticello will explore how history institutions are expected to demonstrate relevance to new audiences by connecting the institution’s history to modern day issues and legacies. Together, Mann, Schlomann, Quinn, and Light will emphasize how entertainment and historical rigor are not mutually exclusive and can be leveraged together to engage audiences in compelling ways. They want to consider what “hooks” audiences into the narratives within our organizations while examining how and when to respond nimbly (yet responsibly) to popular culture. Ultimately, they want those who attend this session to gain confidence in demonstrating history’s relevance in response to contemporary pop culture phenomena.
Build Diversity and Inclusiveness “I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap.” –Ani DiFranco
Cultivate an Experimental and Creative Spirit
With a focus on diversity and inclusion, Suzanne Seriff, Senior Lecturer, University of Texas at Austin, and colleagues illuminate the need to push boundaries, to engage “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you in issues of oppression and injustice in traditional and nonhave.” –Maya Angelou traditional museum spaces. Seriff and her colleagues will demonstrate how “Designing for Outrage” examines the INNOVATIVE AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT FROM systemic and often unconscious practice of ignoring issues of OUTSIDE THE MUSEUM BUBBLE exclusion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our field and how we should “legitimate, celebrate, and engage the voices Often looking outside of the public history field brings to of histories, art, and actions of people who have so often the fore experimental and creative ideas (and research) that gone unheard and unseen.”6 benefit our field immeasurably. This should be an active, Prior to the Austin conference Seriff, Scott, and Lau issued not passive, activity. As institutions of cultural trust, we have a strong call for designing for outrage in Exhibition magazine. the responsibility to engage and amplify new perspectives “The common cause and vision for twentyand critical examinations of historical narratives and events. first-century museums,” they declared, “involves a more To do so, organizations must find ways to expand confrontational, immediate, and disruptive exhiconnections with audiences and should design bition discourse about issues that matter in experiences to be more inclusive, more our lives.” Productive dialogues, they authentic, and more willing to challenge maintain, converge on the intersection History is reflected in
the connections made through participation in historical moments such as the January 21, 2017 Women’s March on Washington.
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Tobi Voigt
DESIGNING FOR OUTRAGE
of outrage and hope in order to responsibly confront contemporary injustices; as a matter of fact, they insist that outrage is hope and that strategies should begin with this premise.7 Seriff and co-presenters Jennifer Scott, Barbara Lau, and Yolanda Chávez Leyva will demonstrate how to extend invitations to co-create exhibition experiences for individuals who do not officially “count” in our American democracy: those who are incarcerated, undocumented, underage, and/ or unemployed. They will highlight the many ways institutions can create activist spaces of engagement around issues of oppression and injustice. Leyva will also share her approach to using history and culture as tools for social change as well as in imparting her experience in projects related to women’s advocacy, community organizing, creating safe spaces for women, and providing programming for disenfranchised youth and their families. Ultimately, the session will not just reflect diversity, equity, and inclusion, but it will critically explore the outrage that can come with the systemic exclusion of some voices from American institutions.8 “Designing for Outrage” offers less traditional, but important, strategies to build diversity and inclusion in communicating practical tools and strategies to engage visitors, employ disruption and controversy as tools of engagement, and prepare staff and administration to authentically host a place of disruption without becoming coopted, sanitized, or shut down.
boundaries. Identifying and implementing powerful ideas from outside our field strengthens our ability to engage our visitors. Facilitators will utilize examples from humanitarian organizations, public radio, journalism, and others to focus on techniques and methods that effectively connect story, content, and experiences with audiences in innovative ways. In “Innovative Audience Engagement from Outside the Museum Bubble,” Andrea Jones of Peak Experience Lab, Stacia Kuceyeski of the Ohio History Connection, and Beth Maloney at Baltimore Museum of Industry will explore the concept of engagement in twenty-first-century history organizations. They noted complexity in the increased recognition that visitors often arrive with intersecting identities (for example: gay and Puerto Rican/African American) and that our institutions are also often intersectional (a museum, community center, school, or event space). As the field becomes more comfortable with intersectionality, they posit, it can and should expand the definition of what museums and historic sites can (and should) be. As history organizations continue to compete for leisure time, searching for innovative strategies is imperative. And, in the spirit of change, there must also come a spirit of risk-taking and letting go of the fear of failure. This session reveals techniques to improve informal, transformational learning experiences and encourages engagement strategies that lead to feelings of empowerment and permission to experiment. As those great museum philosophers The Golden Girls once opined, “If you take chances in life, sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen; but, if you don’t take a chance, nothing happens.”
Sustainability and Transparency “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” –Mother Teresa
COLLECTIVE WISDOM Sometimes looking outside the field just means looking to our “sister” organizations in the cultural heritage world: in this case, libraries and archives. Gathering together with intentionality to collectively pursue learning is an extremely effective tool. Such was the case with a group of library, archive, and museum professionals who joined together in the Collective Wisdom Project. In this session, Stephanie Allen of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza and her peers from the Collective Wisdom Project will relate their experiences with the program and share how a dedicated cohort of library, archive, and museum professionals generated solutions for cultural heritage that focus on productive collaborations, crosssector professional development, and continuing education needs for practitioners. They will address issues of structural barriers, diversity and inclusion, sustainability, education, and other topics that emerged as important to our organizations and professionals. Allen, Darla Wegener of the Tulare County (CA) Library, and Susan Irwin of the Arizona Historical Society will share
conclusions and experiences from conversations between library, archive, and museum professionials in a way that will encourage further understanding and action across the sectors. In learning about current structural barriers and cross-sector collaborations, session participants will be able to brainstorm additional ideas for future collaborations and projects between libraries, archives, and museums. And through investigating the overall organizational cultures of these institutions, they will critically explore how we currently work across sectors and how we might better do so in the future. This exploration ultimately factors into how we can become more aware, engaged, and collaborative in seeking funding for a wide variety of professional development and continuing education opportunities. As Genna Duplisea, a fellow cohort member, said, “We all believe in celebrating and preserving a wide array of cultures and knowledges; we all believe in safeguarding the things and spaces we steward; we all believe in reaching users/communities/patrons—people.” Acknowledging and using this collective wisdom unites us, bringing more stability and transparency across a number of fields. These examples all highlight AASLH’s guiding principles and the meeting theme, I AM History. Countless others do as well. I encourage you to consider history relevance, diversity and inclusion, creativity, and sustainability in your own work. And more than anything, do not forget that history is about the actions people take. The 2017 Annual Meeting theme, I AM History, acknowledges that it is the awesomeness of personal participation in the big and small moments that makes the history profession such an amazing field to be a part of. The way we see the world is what makes us good at what we do. And the more we see history as always complex and often contested, the better stewards we will be. Adversity can bring people together just as often as it tears people apart. Where there is adversity, there is also hope, determination, and activism. So, as we live each day in these precious historical moments, let us see with renewed clarity. Let us not be afraid to take action, coming together in the spirit of inclusion and always remembering that what makes America great is the complexity of our history, the passion of our people, and the diversity in our culture. t Dina A. Bailey is the CEO of Mountain Top Vision. She is the 2017 AASLH Annual Meeting Program Chair and a member of AASLH Council. Dina can be reached at dina@mountaintopvisionllc.com and @DinaABailey. 1 Katherine Kane, “AASLH Aspirations,” Broadside, September 29, 2015, http://blogs.aaslh.org/aaslh-aspirations/. 2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
Thomas Andrews and Flannery Burke, “What Does It Mean to Think Historically?” Perspectives on History, January 2007, http://go.aaslh.org/5C’s . 5
6 Suzanne Seriff, “Designing for Outrage: How to Create Activist Architectures for Disruption, Engagement, and Action around Issues of Oppression and Injustice in Our Time,” 2017 AASLH Annual Meeting session proposal. 7 Barbara Law, Jennifer Scott, and Suzanne Seriff, “Designing for Outrage: Inviting Disruption and Contested Truth into Museum Exhibitions,” Exhibition 36, no. 1 (Spring 2017). 8
Ibid.
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Good Intentions Are Not Enough:
The LGBTQ community in Newark held a vigil to honor the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. QNOHP documents events like these.
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Lessons for Inclusive Public History By Mary Rizzo
“What is your ego investment in the project?” Notes from session on
ETHICS VS. ACCESS
Kristyn Scorsone
Newark Star Ledger
at
Inset: Puerto Rican activists demand police accountability outside Newark City Hall in 1974. The Puerto Rican Community Archives, located in the New Jersey Hispanic Research & Information Center at the Newark Public Library, collects materials and oral histories relating to the Puerto Rican community in New Jersey.
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2016 TELLING UNTOLD HISTORIES UNCONFERENCE
t the same time that museums, historic sites, and other public history institutions struggle with dwindling attendance and limited resources, history is being invoked and debated all around us. From voters for Hillary Clinton covering Susan B. Anthony’s grave with “I Voted” stickers on November 8, 2016, to naming the first LGBTQ national monument in the U.S., our public discourse is replete with historical shout-outs. Perhaps this is most clear with the rise of Black Lives Matter, a social justice movement spurred by recent killings of people of color by police. Comparisons with the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-twentieth century are inevitable, as direct action is used to disrupt business-as-usual in cities around the nation to raise questions about continuing racial inequality. On blogs and in social media, people debate history in discussions about the names on campus buildings and symbols like the Confederate flag. There is an acknowledgment that historical narratives are powerful shapers of what we know and, therefore, what we do. Where have museums and historic sites been in these discussions? Some, like the Missouri History Museum, have embraced a role as spaces for community conversation around issues like state-sanctioned violence against people of color, but many have not. AASLH, along with a number of other professional museum associations have urged sites to acknowledge that “historical representations of difficult histories have the power to awaken a passion in citizens by asking them to look at history from multiple viewpoints, viewpoints that can reveal the struggles for a more just and compassionate moral order.”1 A call to use history to engage a “more just and compassionate moral order” is, at heart, a call for an inclusive public history, one that represents the full complexity of the past and decolonizes organizations so that diverse people and ideas are able to meaningfully mold them for the future. As the American Alliance of Museums argues, all organizations are diverse, but “inclusion, on the other hand, must be created.” In many ways, this is counter to the roots of our field. HISTORY NEWS
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Museums and archives, as two examples, were products of imperialism and colonialism, designed to show the power of the state and validate scientific racism. For some, this history is enough to suggest abandoning these institutions, instead creating new community-based projects free of this baggage. This essay suggests, however, that progressive public historians can, even with their limited human and economic capital, turn the assets and authority that we have access to into tools for inclusive public history.2
TELLING UNTOLD HISTORIES What does an inclusive public history project look like? The annual Telling Untold Histories public history unconference (untoldhistories.wordpress.com) puts this question at its center. An unconference is a democratic meeting structure that became popular with digital humanists and is increasingly being adopted by historians. Unlike a traditional conference, no sessions or panels are chosen ahead of time, though we include skill-based workshops planned in advance. No experts read papers or expound to a passive audience. Instead, every attendee has the opportunity to propose a topic for a session that they facilitate as a discussion among members of a community of practice. Everyone is expected to participate, either by taking part in the discussion, taking notes in a shared Google document, or by tweeting or posting about the conversation on social media. Registration cost is $20.3 The connective thread for the sessions is the theme, Telling Untold Histories. We chose this phrase because we are interested in interrogating what stories about the past are not being told by traditional public history organizations, especially those in the New York City, New Jersey, and Philadelphia region, where the Telling Untold Histories unconference has taken place for the past three years. Through our planning group; partnerships with local, statewide, and regional organizations; and email and social media marketing, we draw staff, board members, and volunteers who work at museums, galleries, libraries, archives, historic sites, historic houses, and nonprofit organizations, as well as college and university faculty and graduate and undergraduate students. In 2016, we sponsored the registration costs for fifteen Newark high school teachers and students, who were to begin a community archiving project in Fall 2016. (The unconference was held on the campus of Rutgers University-Newark.) Our attendees are racially diverse: in 2016, 21 percent identified as African American, 6 percent as Latinx, and 53 percent as white. A recurring thread through discussions at Telling Untold Histories has been that good intentions are not enough for truly inclusive public history projects. While all projects must begin with a desire to do something to address complicated issues of contemporary public importance, their creators must interrogate themselves, their methods, and their goals to ensure that power imbalances aren’t being replicated and that communities are equal partners. Below are lessons and examples on creating successful inclusive public history projects in planning, community, and ethics that evolved from Telling Untold Histories.
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PLANNING Many unconference attendees want to push the boundaries of their institutions and engage with histories that are new for them through community collaborations. As one person noted, “We need to figure out how we can overcome barriers. We want people to reach out to us. We want their experiences, their observations to permeate our experience and define how we go about doing the work that we do.” Indeed, it is the opportunity to discuss overcoming these barriers that motivates them to attend the unconference in the first place. This section looks at the role of planning in inclusive public history. It is most relevant to those projects designed to address inequities within institutions, particularly projects around archiving, oral histories, and collecting, though there will be resonances for exhibits, tours, and programs as well.4 Throughout multiple unconference sessions, one question rose repeatedly: what is the purpose of your project? As public historians have shown, our work produces knowledge about the past. What we exhibit in a museum, teach in an educational program at a historic site, or collect in an archive is political. Understanding this, conflicts arise over who gets the right to interpret the past, who controls the story of how we got to where we are today. Being cognizant of the power we hold necessitates careful consideration about projects before undertaking them, even though the daily struggles to guide visitors, write grants, and manage volunteers can make this difficult. Commencing a new inclusive public history project requires forethought. Rather than simply doing things the same way, it may be necessary, especially for institutions that do not have deep connections to their communities or to the communities at the heart of the project, to create new processes that decenter the institution and give power and authority to the community.5 Attendees offered two broad tactics in introducing inclusive public history into an institution. One is to develop new projects addressing gaps in the institution’s collections and programs. The second is to weave untold histories into existing programs. Which is best depends on the specific situation at your institution and in your communities. To illustrate both, I will use examples from LGBTQ history discussed during the session, “Integrating LGBTQ Stories into Broader History.” The Queer Newark Oral History Project (QNOHP) was created in 2011 to document the history of the LGBTQ community in Newark through oral histories with current and former residents. A project of Rutgers University-Newark’s history department and graduate program in American Studies, it works closely with LGBTQ community organizations. QNOHP is creating new knowledge about the city of Newark, whose LGBTQ history has not been written about previously. Our interviews have helped to map where queer clubs and bars once existed. Displaced by urban renewal or simply closed, these clubs were spaces of sanctuary and pride, a role that clubs still play today, as shown in the tragic 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which had previously been a safe space for the LGBTQ Latinx community.6
COMMUNITY Inclusive public history projects spring from communities, either in partnership with public history institutions or on their own. More than twenty-five years ago, Michael Frisch argued that oral historians must acknowledge that their authority is shared with their interviewees or narrators. The historian does not have sole ownership over the history produced. Public historians and others have adopted this idea into their work. The dialogic museum, for example, destabilizes the authority of the curator by giving community members and visitors the ability to question and shape the narratives.8
But just because an institution has a desire for engagement, it does not mean that the community will meet them with open arms. As an attendee at the session on Archives for Black Lives commented, “Sometimes it’s not that you want to remain silent, just that you need the conditions to speak.” There are numerous issues to consider when trying to engage communities, including the positionality of the asker. When an outsider comes into a community asking for help with a project, there are different dynamics at play than when an insider to the community wants to make histories more widely public. The “Archives for Black Lives” session addressed “how to help/do something/support when you’re not a member of the community.” Several examples were discussed, including A People’s Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland, which began as a project of a group of archivists who were attending the 2015 Society for American Archivists annual meeting in Cleveland. Knowing the city’s history of police violence against people of color, the archivists wanted to use their expertise to help the community document this injustice. Most of the archivists involved in the project were not from Cleveland and did not want to speak for the community there. They partnered with Puncture the Silence, the Cleveland chapter of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, to “conduct oral histories on the streets of Cleveland with people who directly experienced, witnessed, or had been impacted by police violence.” Narrators decided whether to make their interviews public or to include their name with the submission. A website gathers these interviews and related documents as an ongoing community archive that speaks directly to an issue that is of contemporary importance, but with deep historical roots.9 Trust is key. Participants acknowledged the existence of decades-long feelings of deep mistrust of history organizations. One noted that she had gone to a public history organization in a majority-minority city to see its African American vertical file. It held only four documents, the earliest dating from the 1980s. Such realities add to the feeling that these institutions are merely interested in communities of color as part of a one-off event rather than ongoing efforts. A different organization wanted to do an exhibit based on oral histories, but few members of the community would consent to be interviewed. It was only after the exhibit was up and they could see it that they agreed. To build trust, the Puerto Rican Community Archive at the Newark Public Library works with the Puerto Rican community through its elders. It has held or participated in numerous events to gather information on the Puerto Rican “riot” that took place in Newark in 1974, reclaiming this forgotten history. Molly Rosner
While QNOHP represents a new project intended to address gaps in our understanding of Newark’s past, interviews show that when LGBTQ Newarkers talk about their lives, they are talking about more than simply their sexuality. Because identity is intersectional (meaning A high school attendee individuals live their lives at the holds up a poster showing when people nexus of overlapping identities, had first encountered including race, class, gender, and their history in public. sexuality), queer history can be Yellow represents childhood, blue woven into any history that an adulthood, and red institution tells. Industrial musenever. ums might be interested in recent historical work on how LGBTQ individuals shaped labor unions, for example. Religion weaves through QNOHP interviews where, surprisingly, narrators argue that they found community in houses of worship. The contemporary debate over transgender bathroom access in states like Alabama and North Carolina could be linked to historical battles during the Civil Rights Movement over the use of bathrooms by blacks and whites. This method may be useful for institutions without resources to create large-scale new projects, but that want to address these issues.7 By developing specific goals for the project, the institution must articulate its vision, why it is undertaking the project, in partnership with whom, how it chose and approached those communities, what the outcomes will be, and who will be the beneficiaries. While engagement with communities outside your institution is critical, engagement with your internal communities, like staff, volunteers, and board members, is equally important. As participants at the unconference noted, institutions may have a stated commitment to social justice and inclusion, but staff or volunteers can undermine this through microaggressions (for example, muttered complaints at queer youth being openly affectionate). The planning process should be transparent. For Telling Untold Histories, this has meant that all planning documents from minutes to the budget are available to members of the planning committee through the use of Google Docs.
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But as Amy Tyson argues, this trust is the product of public historians’ emotional labor. Staff, especially women who are seen as particularly suited for this kind of work, are required to invest their emotional energy into creating relationships that benefit the institution. Community engagement requires these commitments, so how do we handle this organizationally? Planning and buy-in from the leadership is necessary to ensure that (female) staff are not overburdened with these caring tasks and that they are properly compensated for the work that they do, whether it is leading a tour or having coffee with a community partner.10
ETHICS If some stories are unheard, but not untold, the reverse is also true. Some stories are untold because communities do not want them to be heard. Or, they want to have control over who can hear these stories. While ethical issues abound throughout all steps in this process, they are particularly problematic in widening access to community stories. Our mission as public institutions is to serve broad publics. Generally, we see making materials accessible to as many people as possible a benefit and a goal of our projects. But part of the planning process must deal with the question of whether the community wants their story told and to whom. Who can speak for a community? Who can make these decisions? These issues come most sharply to light with oral histories and digital access to archival collections. In both cases, the vast majority of materials were created before the Internet existed, so deeds of gift or consent forms do not include instructions about digitization. Yet, there is an urgency for our collecting institutions to diversify their collections. As archivist Misty DeMeo notes, Canada’s federal digitization process focused on materials that were about wars or politics, two areas that privilege state knowledge and the perspective of white men. Digital humanist Amy Earheart has called for digitization “as an activist intervention in the closed canon. While we should continue to explore tool building, visualization, and data mining as crucial areas within digital humanities, the narrow digital canon should remind us why we cannot stop digital edition work.”11 On the other hand, there are examples where digitized collections have hurt marginalized communities. The sex-positive feminist magazine On Our Backs, published from 1984-2004, is an important source for historians of sexuality, women’s history, and LGBTQ history. Reveal Digital digitized the magazine, making it available online. But the women featured in the magazine (much of which was published before the ubiquity of the Internet) had not given consent to have available to everyone the overtly sexual content they had created for a closed community of women they knew. 12 How do we balance our mandate to make materials that diversify our collections available to the public with these ethical questions? How do we deal with the trauma that many marginalized communities have undergone? As a participant in the session on Archives for Black Lives noted, there is a persistent notion in the West that trauma is healed through talking about it. However, this can also retraumatize communities. And while this is secondary, it must be said,
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retraumatizing a community will destroy those relationships that were being so carefully nurtured between the public history institution and the community. There is no perfect solution for these thorny ethical questions, but attendees offered some best practices. First, know the wounds of the community you are working with. When the community is given a true seat at the table where they have some authority to shape the end product, they will be empowered to speak against problematic topics. But institutions must listen. This can be as simple as having a takedown policy or giving oral history narrators the ability to remove their interviews from a collection if they so choose. In the end, however, there is no simple formula. Progressive institutions understand that the history of our profession is steeped in inequality and we have a lot of work to do to overturn that. To bring in these marginalized voices is the most pressing issue facing public historians today. But we also have to balance our desire to remake our institutions with the real people who live in those communities every day. t Mary Rizzo is Associate Director of Public and Digital Humanities Initiatives for the graduate program in American Studies at Rutgers University-Newark, where she has developed its new Public Humanities M.A. Track. She is the author of Class Acts: Young Men and the Rise of Lifestyle (University of Nevada Press) and is currently writing a book about cultural representations of Baltimore since the mid-twentieth century. She tweets @rizzo_pubhist. 1 American Association for State and Local History, “History Organizations Positioned to be Powerful Participants in Dialogue on Ferguson and Related Events,” AASLH News, December 16, 2014; American Alliance of Museums, “Diversity and Inclusion Policy.” 2 American Alliance of Museums, “Diversity and Inclusion Policy.” See also Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1995); Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums and Heritage (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998); and Andrea Burns, From Storefront to Monument: Tracing the Public History of the Black Museum Movement (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013). 3 Bar Camp, a user-generated conference focused on technology and the Internet, began in 2005. In 2009, the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University held the first THATCamp (The Humanities and Technology Camp), bringing together public and academic historians with technology specialists. In 2016, we offered four workshops: HistoryPin How-To for Beginners, Facilitating Great Conversations, Coping with Copyright, and Jumpstarting Community Dialogue: Lessons from StoryCorps. 4
All quotes from notes recorded at Telling Untold Histories.
James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton, Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory (New York: New Press, 2006). 5
6
See queer.newark.rutgers.edu and historypin.org/en/queer-newark-collection.
Miriam Frank, Out in the Union: A Labor History of Queer America (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2014). 7
8 Michael H. Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1990). John Kuo Wei Tchen and Liz Sevcenko, “The ‘Dialogic Museum’ Revisited: A Collaborative Reflection,” in Letting Go: Cultural Authority in a User-Generated World, eds. Bill Adair, Benjamin Filene, and Laura Koloski. (Philadelphia: Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, 2011), 80-97. 9 Jarrett M. Drake, “#ArchivesforBlackLives: Building a Community Archives of Police Violence in Cleveland,” April 22, 2016. See also archivingpoliceviolence. org. 10 Amy Tyson, The Wages of History: Emotional Labor on Public History’s Front Lines (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2013). 11 Misty DeMeo, “The Politics of Digitization,” Model View Culture, February 3, 2014. Amy E. Earhart, “Can Information Be Unfettered? Race and the New Digital Humanities Canon,” Debates in the Digital Humanities (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012), go.aaslh.org/InfoUnfettered. 12 Tara Roberton, “digitization: just because you can, doesn’t mean you should,” tararobertson.ca/2016/oob.
AASLH acknowledges and appreciates these Institutional Partners and Patrons for their extraordinary support! Institutional Partners
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Arizona Historical Society
Atlanta History Center
Belle Meade Plantation
Tucson, AZ
Atlanta, GA
Nashville, TN
Billings Farm & Museum
Bullock Texas State History Museum
Cincinnati Museum Center
Conner Prairie
Woodstock, VT
Austin, TX
Cincinnati, OH
Fishers, IN
First Division Museum at Cantigny
Florida Division of Historical Resources
Hagley Museum & Library
Historic Ford Estates
Wheaton, IL
Tallahassee, FL
Wilmington, DE
Grosse Pointe Shores, MI
Historic New England
History Colorado
Idaho State Historical Society
Indiana Historical Society
Boston, MA
Denver, CO
Boise, ID
Indianapolis, IN
Indiana State Museum & Historic Sites Corporation
Kentucky Historical Society
Massachusetts Historical Society
Michigan Historical Center
Frankfort, KY
Boston, MA
Lansing, MI
Minnesota Historical Society
Missouri History Museum
Museum of History and Industry
Nantucket Historical Association
St. Paul, MN
St. Louis, MO
Seattle, WA
Nantucket, MA
Montgomery, AL
Indianapolis, IN
turn page for more‌ HISTORY NEWS
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Institutional Partners cont’d
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Nebraska State Historical Society
North Carolina Office of Archives and History
Ohio History Connection
Washington, DC
Lincoln, NE
Raleigh, NC
Columbus, OH
Old Sturbridge Village
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission
Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library
Senator John Heinz History Center
Lexington, MA
Pittsburgh, PA
The Strong
Tennessee State Museum
Rochester, NY
Nashville, TN
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources
Sturbridge, MA
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
Harrisburg, PA
Strawbery Banke Museum
Dallas, TX
Portsmouth, NH
Virginia Historical Society
William J. Clinton Foundation
Richmond, VA
Little Rock, AR
Madison, WI
Cheyenne, WY
Patron Members Ellsworth Brown
John Herbst
Thomas A. Mason
Bev Tyler
Georgianna Contiguglia
Lynne Ireland
Thomas McGowan
Tobi Voigt
John R. Dichtl
Trevor Jones
Rebecca Merwin
Robert Wolz
Stephen Elliott
Katherine Kane
Jean Svandlenak
Leigh A. Grinstead
Russell Lewis
Richard E. Turley
Madison, WI Denver, CO
Nashville, TN St. Paul, MN Denver, CO
Indianapolis, IN Lincoln, NE Lincoln, NE
Hartford, CT Chicago, IL
Indianapolis, IN Fairview, OH St. Croix, VI
Setauket, NY Detroit, MI
Key West, FL
Kansas City, MO
Salt Lake City, UT
Thank you for your contributions as we continue to grow!
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“We Are More than Farmers� An Interview with the Creators of
Peb Yog Hmoob Minnesota B y N i c h o l a s J. H o f f m a n
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with him, designer Sieng Lee, and the Hmong commurom the perspective of the Hmong nity. The entire project from color palette to text would community in Minneapolis and Saint be largely decided outside of institutional control—an idea Paul, the Minnesota Historical Society still radical for many history museums, small and large. (MNHS) was not doing enough to Instead of dismissing the proposal, the History Center adequately convey the diverse experiences of welcomed the opportunity to mark this important anniversary and build on their institutional objective to improve Hmong people in the Upper Midwest. They were internal and external diverespecially concerned that sity and inclusion. From visitors to the Minnesota Scenes from the Peb Yog Hmoob Minnesota exhibit March 2015 to January 2016, opening at the Minnesota History Center. History Center (MHC) Peb Yog Hmoob Minnesota/We left with a stereotype Are Hmong Minnesota, drew that most Hmong people near record-breaking attendance on opening weekend worked at farmers and was one of three exemmarkets. Enter Noah Vang. In 2013, he and a committee from the Hmong community approached the museum with a proposal for an exhibit about Hmong history and culture. They pitched an opening two years later to mark the fortieth anniversary of the first Hmong refugees arriving in Minnesota. Going even further, he asked the institution to fully collaborate on the project by sharing curatorial control
plary projects to receive the 2016 History in Progress Award from the American Association for State and Local History. How can history museums become more equitable concerning the people and stories they interpret and collect? In July 2016, the creators met in Appleton, Wisconsin, for a conversation about their process and perspectives on community curated exhibits.
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Nicholas Hoffman: Who came up with the idea for this exhibit and how did the MNHS become involved? Noah Vang: I’ve been doing a lot of
research for the last ten years looking for Hmong history. Growing up in Appleton, [Wisconsin], it was hard to find any history I could relate to as a Hmong person. What is missing for the Hmong is how we ended up in America or even how we ended up in the Midwest from Southeast Asia. So I was searching for myself. Our generation is trying to find history we can relate to and not just what we learned in the classroom. We, especially me, have a strong desire to learn our history. Through my research I was able to collect a lot of historical documents, and I thought it would be great to share this information with an institution that can understand the vision and make it available to the public. Brian Horrigan: I entered the picture after the Hmong community group had made the first proposal to the History Center. But the story really began far before it arrived at the museum. Vang: Yes, as I began thinking about this exhibit, I consulted with graphic designer Sieng Lee and a few other friends, and we thought about where this exhibit should go. We understood this was an exhibit about history and community, so I thought it would be a wonderful idea to see what the museum would do if we approached them with a proposal. I randomly sent an email to the organization and within two weeks Senior Curator Kate Roberts responded by saying they wanted to explore this further. It was January 2013. I thought their institution did not know much about the Hmong community. There was a limited understanding of Hmong history among the curators and in the exhibits. We are more than farmers. We saw this as much of an opportunity to teach the public as it was to teach the museum staff. Horrigan: The other great thing was the timing. The group
was proposing a date that was two years out. Very often groups or communities will propose exhibits on too fast of a timeline. This committee was targeting 2015, the fortieth anniversary of Hmong migration to Minnesota. We said, “Great—we can do that!” It was a generous lead time. Hoffman: How did the curatorial staff and decision makers respond to the idea of an outside group curating a major exhibit for the institution? Horrigan: We have always wanted to do exhibitions with
communities. In fact, we launched the first round of exhibits at the History Center in 1993 with an exhibit about communities, but at no point had we done something so focused or engaged. The idea is not to do the exhibit for the community, but do it with the community. There is an exchange between curators and community members, but the power
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rests with the community by enabling it to tell the story, instead of us telling the story through our lens. Vang: We had a vision for a larger project. Early on there
was a conversation about doing the exhibit for just a day. It slowly grew to a three-month duration. Then, as the administrators grew more comfortable with us, it eventually became a nine-month exhibit. Horrigan: And you thought our first proposed space wasn’t
nearly large enough. We also went from a 1,000-square-foot space to about 3,000 square feet. It even extended out into the hallway—the first time we’ve done that. You [Vang] had higher ambitions, and we needed more room to tell this story. Hoffman: How did the team establish trust between the Hmong community and the staff at the MNHS? Sieng Lee: Early on I saw this was not just about an exhibit, but an entire institutional change. To do this right, we needed Hmong paid staff at all levels. It is important to have contributors who are culturally appropriate, who understand Hmong, and who were working in education, marketing, and collections. Horrigan: That human resources side cannot be overstated.
It is critical. I wish it would have had longer term consequences. We did hire Noah as a co-curator with me, we put Sieng on the payroll as the exhibit designer. This was their exhibit. They were not made permanently part of the staff, and that I think is regrettable. I wish this project and the whole initiative had that as a more lasting impact. Vang: I think the level of trust was based on proving we
could deliver the content from the community’s perspective. When I started bringing in artifacts for individuals and families, then the curators started to see this could work. Horrigan: We had about 150 artifacts in the exhibit and only
7 were from the MNHS collection. Almost everything else was from Hmong community members or local Hmong institutions. Lee: And there were many items that never made it into the
exhibit. Stuff just kept coming in. We were very glad to have an understanding registrar [Nicole Delfino-Jansen]. Hoffman: Sieng, you mentioned earlier this project was as much about educating the MNHS staff as it was to educate visitors to the exhibit. How did you encourage that growth and cultural discussion with Brian and other staff members? Lee: We were not just there to work on an exhibit. We
learned about each other. I took the staff to the local market. Brian has seen so many babies being born, ceremonies, and funerals. Horrigan: Noah and Sieng became my guides. I read the conventional published histories, but they wanted me to get real cultural training. I learned to never say no. Noah would say, “There is a community meeting I would like you to attend,”
or, “Next weekend there is a baby naming ceremony and you should be there.” I said, “Great, I will go.” I ended up going to everything. I ate black chicken and yes, chicken feet. Lee: You ate intestines! Horrigan: I did; I ate the intestines! That would be my intu-
itive advice to anyone wanting to do community advisory groups. Stop thinking about them as a group who just comes into this building. This place can be intimidating or repelling. Before this project, no one in the Hmong community knew where the museum was located. Learn from the people, go out to the community, go to where they are, do what they do, and learn on their turf. That is the secret of success. Vang: That is how it worked. Brian and the History Center
provided invaluable insights how exhibits work. We were all willing to give a little and learn from each other. Hoffman: The exhibit mostly featured artifacts from personal collections and family heirlooms. How did you go about gathering these items from the community? Horrigan: In the mid-1990s our first Hmong content showed
up in an exhibit. It had a few wonderful artifacts, such as cardboard boxes covered in blue plastic that were used by a Hmong family to transport personal items to the United States. Someone with a lot of foresight collected them. Open House also had a Hmong living room, but again those projects were piecemeal, and not trying to tell the whole story or provide a more critical backstory to Hmong experiences. Vang: I wanted the staff to identify the artifacts themselves so
they could learn about the cultural and religious significance. Ideally the staff would become better at explaining these items to outsiders who are curious about Hmong culture. So, I left some of that collecting and identifying to the staff. Horrigan: Beauty pageants are an important part of the
Hmong community. So I knew immediately that we wanted something to represent that part of the culture. Noah said, “I know just the person.” Hunting is also popular in the community. Noah said, “I know just the person you should talk to.” We came up with the ideas, and Noah always came up with a source. Vang: And I wanted the community to have a stake in the
exhibit, too. Just asking people “what best represents you” provided some of our best artifacts. Horrigan: We would visit a house and Noah would ask,
“What items do you have from the old country?” Often people would present an envelope full of paperwork such as passports, immigration documents, refugee IDs, and other items representing the transition from a community that was never enumerated to one that is now a part of global bureaucracy. The papers are an important part of their past and signals an identity. Hoffman: As of 2010, the census enumerated about 66,000 Hmong living in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area. The goal of this exhibit was to tell a broader history of the entire state and even into Wisconsin. How did you manage to incorporate and acknowledge so many diverse identities and experiences?
A visitor points out his photo in the We are Hmong Minnesota exhibition.
Lee: We are a very cohesive community, but I do not want
it to seem like our community has no differences either. We are a very diverse people in generational experiences and thought. Just because we are Hmong doesn’t mean we do not have a LGBTQ community, for example. Within the exhibit we tried to capture a little piece of everyone’s Hmong identity. Vang: The success of the exhibit had to do with the commu-
nity taking ownership. Also, Brian’s advocacy work within the institution to change its bureaucratic culture to be openminded about community-driven exhibits. This worked. Lee: That is very important. Many pieces of the Hmong
community in Minnesota took great ownership and were proactive about it. We often had phone calls from people in the community who wanted to learn more about the exhibit and how they could contribute. Horrigan: Hmong women are a very strong part of the com-
munity in Minnesota. They feel more liberated and have more freedom being out of the restrictions of a patriarchal society. A group of women leaders heard a rumor that the exhibit was going to be mostly about men. So, we invited them to create content and develop a timeline of Hmong women’s history. All of that appeared in the exhibit and online. We are still improving the timeline to this day. Vang: Half of the artifacts in the exhibit ended up being from
Hmong women. Throughout Hmong history, it was the women who kept and recorded our histories and stories. Hoffman: Sieng, as the designer, that must have been a big challenge to include many diverse voices, moving parts, and experiences. Lee: We just had to pick and choose. You can only design to
your space, and we chose to focus on the objects. Artifacts that were Hmong Green and Hmong White (two of the many sub-ethnic Hmong groups) were intermixed within the space with graphic panels. We made sure not to focus heavily on one thing. My role was to make cultural sense and balance for the many voices and diversity within the Hmong community. HISTORY NEWS
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Hoffman: Anniversary exhibits can often become celebratory and lack critical analysis. How did you incorporate points of conflict or misunderstandings between Hmong and white culture?
Horrigan: Noah said non-Hmong had stereotypical views of
Hmong people. In Minnesota, we often heard, “Those are the people who are at the farmers market.” Vang: Yes, for many people, the point of contact with the
Hmong is at the farmers market. Horrigan: We didn’t feel like it was our place to tell the Hmong community what to say. But we also didn’t want to shy away from points of controversy or highly publicized negative stories like the murders by a Hmong hunter in Wisconsin in 2004. Lee: This was an exhibit about people living in Minnesota.
We used a lot of quotes from interviews of Hmong living throughout the Upper Midwest. We let those quotes speak for themselves. We did not want to design the space to be reactionary to stereotypes or racism.
Hoffman: What are the long-term impacts of this project and new relationships for the MNHS? Horrigan: I am now “the Hmong guy” at the MNHS [Sieng
laughs] whenever someone calls with a question. Since I’m an older white guy, there is something wrong with that. We need a more sustainable liaison with this important community, most of whom live within the Twin Cities and within a few miles of our institution. How can we better sustain the impact of our project? Lee: Goodbye, Hmong history! [Everyone laughs.] Horrigan: Some of the aftereffects are good. A few of the
loaned artifacts were donated to us. The exhibit’s panels were reinstalled at the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University in St. Paul. But, what are the longterm impacts on the Minnesota History Center? I don’t know. We are currently developing a perhaps more radically different project with the Somalian community, so we’ll see.
Hoffman: What was the reaction of people who came to the exhibit, such as the Hmong community, the staff, and visitors from a state with a largely white population?
NH: What are the main lessons you learned and would advise other institutions who are considering similar community curated projects?
Horrigan: Opening day was 4,000 people. In our building it
Vang: Sharing ownership. Invite the community to engage and
felt like the state fair! At one point I looked to our Museum Director Dan Spock who looked over the sea of people and said, “Look what happens when you say yes.” And that is the most important takeaway: quit saying no to people who come to your building and want to be a part of you. All of our institutions unfortunately keep finding ways to say no. Lee: We intentionally worked with community organizers
to ensure Hmong people would attend the exhibit. It was important to show Hmong people will attend community events when they feel invited. You cannot simply erect a building and expect people to come to you. Vang: There were a lot of changes to people’s stereotypes
or misunderstandings. One person told me, “I thought you were all Chinese!” I responded that we are Hmong, and our historical origins began in China some 5,000 years ago. Horrigan: We had a lot of work to create a more encom-
passing understanding of the culture. We did cover Hmong farmers and the farmers market, but we also chose to discuss religion and demystify that for white Minnesotans. As the exhibit developed, we asked the Hmong community if it was okay to cover religion or should we leave that as something off-limits to outsiders. We covered things such as, “What does it mean to be a shaman?” It was a careful balance. Vang: Hopefully the non-Hmong communities who visited
the exhibit took away a better understanding of our culture, learned how our history overlaps, and came to see us as Minnesotans just like them. Lee: The broader immigrant community saw this as their
story, too. English language classes and new immigrant
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groups such as Somalians and Nigerians toured the exhibit. There was a lot of commonality between our experiences as refugees and newcomers.
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participate in the process. Let them tell their stories. When they take ownership in part of the curatorial operation, they will deliver meaningful content. We thanked the History Center for allowing us to co-curate the Peb Yog Hmoob Minnesota exhibit. Do not be afraid to share your institutional gallery space with the community, because the best creative ideas are still out there.
Horrigan: Pound the pavement. You cannot stay in your
archives or your collecting vaults. Most museums and curators need to get out of their comfort zone. We need to be open to being deep into the community as much as we can. At the same time, we need to understand you change the community by just being there.
Lee: Be courageous. This project was very organic and
changed as new artifacts or ideas were added to the exhibit. The museum had to be fearless to provide so much access and be willing to withdraw their curatorial control. t
Brian Horrigan has been Exhibit Curator at the Minnesota Historical Society since 1990, and was co-curator, with Noah Vang, of Peb Yog Hmoob/We Are Hmong Minnesota. Noah Vang is an independent researcher from St. Paul, Minnesota. Aside from writing and working full-time, he also volunteers for local community causes and events. Sieng Lee was the exhibit designer for the Peb Yog Hmoob/We Are Hmong Minnesota exhibit. He is also a visual artist who creates work about his Hmong American experience. Nicholas J. Hoffman is Managing Director of Education and Visitor Experience at the Missouri History Museum. He has served on the Leadership in History Awards Committee since 2012 and will become the committee chair in 2017.
Beyond Neutrality By Sean Kelley
Editor’s note: A shorter version of this article originally appeared in the American Alliance of Museums’ Dispatches from the Future of Museums. It is reprinted here with permission.
Eastern State Penitentiary’s influential “wagon wheel” floorplan visible from above. Photos Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Philadelphia
H
ere at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, we are rewriting our mission statement to remove the word “neutral.” We believe that the bedrock value that many of us brought into this field— that museums and historic sites should strive for
neutrality—has held us back more than it has helped us. Neutrality is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. At Eastern State, more often than not, the word provided us an excuse for simply avoiding thorny issues of race, poverty, and policy that we weren’t ready to address.
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Prisons Today exhibit opens with the statement, “Mass Incarceration Isn’t Working.” The graph compares violent crimes and per capita incarceration before and after these policies took effect.
M
ost visitors to Eastern State are white. Most are middle class, and most are tourists to Philadelphia. Most report that they have never been arrested or know someone who has been incarcerated. Ten years ago I would have argued that these leisure travelers don’t want to explore the complex and troubling root causes of mass incarceration while on vacation. We had already begun to commission artists to explore these issues, and I remain proud of many of those early site-specific installations that brought these issues into our programming. But we placed the artist installations at the physical edges of our property and kept our tours and historic exhibits focused squarely on the past. Nobody complained. Our attendance grew. In some small ways, I was probably right. Bipartisan support for criminal justice reform has grown dramatically in recent years. Ten years ago, our staff was tiny, our resources modest, and our board of directors in transition. Perhaps we weren’t ready. But mostly, I was wrong. Development of our first interpretive plan in 2009 forced us to look more critically at our choices. Looking at a map of programming around the site, I had to conclude that our version of neutrality was mostly taking the form of silence. As one coworker remarked to me in a planning retreat, “Oh, we talk about race and the U.S. criminal justice system every day. Our silence tells visitors exactly what we think about it.” Ouch. I thought neutrality would create a welcoming space for all visitors, but it was becoming clear that our tours and exhibits were deeply uncomfortable for Americans who have experienced mass incarceration up close, within their communities.
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We have tried to shift our focus from neutrality to critical thinking and inclusion. We have found that many leisure travelers really will engage with difficult subjects, but core elements of museum craft become more important than ever. Experiences need to be social, multi-generational, interactive, and accessible to visitors who don’t learn by reading alone. Most critically, they need to genuinely value the personal experiences and wide perspectives of our visitors themselves. In 2014, we built The Big Graph (see cover), a 16-foot-tall, 1.5-ton infographic sculpture that: • Represents the massive per capita growth of the U.S. prison population over the last forty years • Compares the U.S. Rate of Incarceration to every other nation on earth (the U.S. has the highest by a dramatic margin) • Divides nations into those that practice capital punishment and those that do not • Tracks the consistent and disturbing racial disparity in the U.S. prison population over time.
E
very visitor to Eastern State Penitentiary encounters The Big Graph. It concludes the main audio tour and is incorporated into every school tour. The text on the graph is direct and blunt: “How should our nation address this crisis?” The accompanying audio tour asks, “So why does the U.S. need to imprison so many people?” To our surprise, visitors consistently report that The Big Graph feels neutral. But in developing the companion exhibit, Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration, we faced a cross-
Visitors to Prisons Today are confronted with the question “Have You Ever Broken the Law?” Those that admit they have are faced with the question “Does that make you a criminal?”
roads. We had dipped a toe into the pool of transparency about our perspectives, but we had maintained the illusion of neutrality. The new exhibit was shaping up to be a deep dive into issues of economic policy, race, enforcement, and the ineffectiveness of locking up so many people. Were we really going to tell our visitors, “On the one hand, there are powerful arguments against maintaining the highest rate of incarceration in the world, but on the other hand there are convincing arguments for it?” There are not convincing arguments. To set up arguments only to shoot them down felt patronizing. There are too many Americans in prison. Our staff knows it, our advisors know it, our board of directors knows it. And so the organization united around a statement: “MASS INCARCERATION ISN’T WORKING.” That statement opens Prisons Today in 400-point block letters. Nearby, a seven-screen video installation tracks the political rhetoric that has driven American criminal justice policy since the 1960s. The video ends with admissions of humility and compassion from a set of current political leaders, stressing voices from the political right such as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. At a later point in the exhibit, visitors are forced to walk through one of two corridors, based on their willingness to admit if they’ve ever broken the law. Admitted lawbreakers are confronted with artist Troy Richards’s installation, asking if they see themselves as criminals. He invites visitors to leave written confessions of their law breaking, and he displays visitor confessions mixed with confessions from men and women living in prison. Visitors are consistently surprised by whose confessions are whose, thus destabilizing the idea of what defines “criminal.”
An interactive table called “Early Experience Matters” allows visitors to describe their childhoods in broad categories, including race, household income, and funding of their school district. While stressing that some people overcome obstacles and some people squander advantages, the interactive lets visitors know the incarceration rates of Americans with childhoods similar to their own.
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f there’s a message to this exhibit, aside from the failure of our criminal justice system to justify the scale of its growth, it’s a call for empathy. Exhibit cases contain objects on loan from members of our tour staff who have personally served time in prison. (These guides, under the leadership of Director of Education Lauren Zalut, joined our team to speak directly to our visitors about life inside the American prison system.) In one exhibit case is a headscarf on loan from Sheri, who worked in a prison kitchen for two months at $0.19 per hour to afford it. It was her first discretionary purchase. She recalls it making her feel special at a very low time in her life. Elsewhere in the exhibit, a beautiful and troubling film by Gabriela Bulisova tells the stories of six men and women impacted by the criminal justice system, including a man currently serving a life sentence and the Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections. A reading table includes The Night My Dad Went to Jail, a children’s book for ages five to eight years old. We invite visitors to “Send a Postcard to Your Future Self,” using a digital kiosk to create personalized electronic postcards that will arrive in two months, one year, and three years. The postcards remind visitors of what they were thinking during their visit, and recommend ways that they HISTORY NEWS
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can influence our nation’s rapidly changing criminal justice policies based on their responses to the exhibit content.
O
ur frontline staff has faced the biggest challenges. An exhibit can be crafted, prototyped, wordsmithed, and tested. A good graphic designer will make it appear authoritative. Then the exhibit development team will go back to their offices, for the most part. Our tour guides lead
every group to The Big Graph and will invite comment on, for instance, the consistent racial disparity in our prison population over time. They provide content around difficult knowledge, in real time, with visitors who may be encountering this information for the first time. It doesn’t always go smoothly. We say we value inclusion, but do we really want our staff to engage every opinion in open dialogue with visitors? Many visitors find the patterns disturbing, and many recite the cliché, “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” Lively and engaging conversations are common. Some visitors stay silent, perhaps taking it in for reflection later. Some visitors are impatient to move on, and we’re happy to oblige. But angry, offensive, polarizing, or racist comments, although rare, do happen. It leaves us to wonder, is every opinion worthy of discussion by our paid staff?
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Troy Richards’s art installation asks visitors to the Prisons Today exhibit to guess which confessions were left by other visitors and which by people living in prison. Pressing the buttons provides the answers. Many visitors find their inability to guess troubling, and leaves them questioning how people are labeled “criminals.”
Tour Guide Sheri uses her experiences as a recently incarcerated woman working in a modern prison kitchen to deepen the conversation during a tour of Eastern State Penitentiary’s longabandoned dining halls.
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e have developed two “Non-Negotiables”—beliefs we hold throughout the organization. The first is, of course, that “Mass Incarceration Isn’t Working.” We believe crime rates can be lowered while lowering prison populations, and we encourage tour guides to cite four states where policies are currently accomplishing both. And second, we believe the crisis of racial disparity in our prison population is the result of policy decisions, and discussions around race and incarceration should focus on policy solutions and not blame communities. Our guides are empowered to invoke the NonNegotiables, but rarely do. Defining the limits of our intended dialogue aims to give the team the confidence to ask sensitive questions to total strangers in the first place. The contentious 2016 presidential election, and the political divisions that have only grown deeper since, made this work only more intimidating. On a good day, however, our team believes we’re doing our part to support critical thinking, civil dialogue, and a respect for the wide diversity of opinion and experience in our audience. The journey to create this programming has changed our organization. Our board of directors now includes a scholar who studies race and incarceration and teaches inside prisons. It also includes a reentry professional who was himself incarcerated for twelve years. But serious challenges remain. Like many historic sites, we lack adequate racial diversity on our management team, and we are working to attract more racially and culturally diverse staff into our leadership pipeline. Sometime colleagues say that Eastern State is transitioning into an advocacy organization. I reject the term. We seek robust dialogue and we seek empathy for all people impacted by crime or by mass incarceration. Our willingness to admit our perspectives is intended to signal to our audience that we’re honest and direct, but we want them to be honest and direct too. We do a lot of listening. Our visitors—about 240,000 last year—aren’t expecting this programming when they arrive. Most want to see Al Capone’s cell or the site of the doomed 1945 tunnel escape. I’ve grown to think that makes them the perfect audience to engage. Exit surveys conducted after The Big Graph’s completion reflect only 4 percent saying that the inclusion of contemporary content detracted from their visit.
SEAN KELLEY Visitors in the Prison Today exhibit compare childhood factors such as race, household income, and school district funding.
A full 91 percent of visitors reported learning something thought-provoking about today’s criminal justice system. Summative evaluation, press coverage, and social media comments have been encouraging.
A
nd there is hope. Our audience has grown by more than 40 percent since we began addressing these complex and troubling aspects of American life. It grew by 12 percent last year alone, following the debut of Prisons Today with its explicit discussion of race, poverty, and incarceration. Many Americans do want to engage in honest and direct dialogue. I once feared programming like this would suppress our attendance. I feared it would divide our board of directors and scare potential funders. I feared it would harm staff morale, including my own. And I thought neutrality, whatever that meant, had to guide all our programming decisions. I was wrong on every front. Now I wonder what other misguided beliefs we’re leaving unexamined. t Sean Kelley is Senior Vice President, Director of Interpretation at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia. He will host two AASLH workshops in the fall of 2017, one in Philadelphia and one in Austin, Texas (see right), to explore issues of neutrality and advocacy in historic site interpretation. For more information: sk@easternstate.org.
will be presenting a workshop
Saturday, September 9 from 1–5:30 p.m. at the 2017 AASLH Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. THE ADVOCACY / NEUTRALITY THROWDOWN! Some historic sites have begun to openly advocate for social change. They have left the pretense of “neutrality” behind, and admit that our organizations, by their nature, can never be truly neutral. But do these sites actually foster change? How do they measure success? And do they alienate some stakeholders with their approach? Join an open, honest, and energetic set of conversations about the pros and the cons of mixing historic interpretation with advocacy work, including many examples of successful and flawed projects. Advocacy skeptics welcome! HISTORY NEWS
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Book Reviews > A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics By Sally Yerkovich (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016), xiii + 229 pp. Reviewed by Adrienne McGraw
A
t first glance, A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics may seem like a book that would sit on your shelf to be consulted only occasionally. However, it is an important book to engage with actively and often, whether you are an emerging or seasoned museum professional, board member, or volunteer. The Guide, by Sally Yerkovich, provides a framework to solve ethical challenges in our day-to-day museum life as well as in larger institutional dilemmas. It is equally informative for frontline staff as it is for directors and trustees. After all, it is up to each of us to manage our institutions in the most ethical manner possible, regardless of our position.
Yerkovich has pulled together four main professional codes of ethics that guide the museum field, including from the American Alliance of Museums, International Council of Museums, American Association for State and Local History, and Association of Art Museum Directors. The author has included each code in its entirety and in rereading them, I am reminded how central the bond of public trust is to our work. Ten chapters look at ways in which ethical challenges may brush up against mission, governance, leadership, fundraising, and collections management, from acquisition and care to deaccessioning. The chapter on restitution and repatriation is the longest and most complex chapter in the book, rightly so, and covers looted objects, Native American material culture, and NAGPRA. However, the subject of the repatriation of human remains might have been better served in its own chapter, thus helping to decolonize our
thinking about human remains as simply another type of collection. Other chapters include dealing with controversy and censorship, and a final chapter addresses ethics surrounding access and diversity issues as related to museum visitors. Each chapter begins with an overview of how ethical concerns are related to the main topic, and which sections of the codes of ethics are most pertinent. Yerkovich then offers several real-world or hypothetical scenarios, called “Ethics
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in Action,” to illustrate a variety of ethical dilemmas. The compact and lively scenarios are wide-ranging across museum function, type, and scale. The author notes that “correct solutions are not provided” (x). She instead invites the reader to think through various ways the scenarios could be resolved based on a museum’s mission and values, and the circumstances involved. At first, I felt unsatisfied by reading the unresolved scenarios, but as soon as I began chatting with my students and colleagues about some of the more intriguing cases, I realized what excellent tools they are. These scenarios could easily be used in a classroom setting, staff meeting, or board meeting to foster discussion and support training. (Although I struggled a bit with the preponderance of fictitious Anglo names and felt some of the scenarios perhaps unwittingly reinforce issues of privilege.) Each chapter concludes by reinforcing that adherence to codes of ethics is an active process and must be engaged in by all stakeholders. The problem-solving framework Yerkovich provided is simple and straightforward, and once introduced,
should become part of any museum professional’s toolkit. Add A Practical Guide to Museum Ethics to your bookshelf soon! t Adrienne McGraw is Chair of the Museum Studies Program at John F. Kennedy University in Berkeley, California. She holds an M.A. in Museum Studies and M.S. in Education and has more than twenty years of experience in museum education, exhibition development, and advocacy for environmental sustainability in museums. She can be reached at amcgraw@ jfku.edu. .....................................
The Past and Future City: How Historic Preservation is Reviving America’s Communities By Stephanie Meeks with Kevin C. Murphy. (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2016) 334 pp. Reviewed by Anne Petersen
The Past and Future City is a manifesto about the power of historic preservation
to create positive change in our nation’s urban places. Well-positioned to draft the current generation’s preservation charge, Stephanie Meeks, President and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), and NTHP speechwriter Kevin Murphy have put together an accessible publication designed for a general audience. Far from a how-to manual or exhaustive compendium of related legislation and best practices, The Past and Future City is designed to convert the field’s misinformed critics and arm its champions with strategic language and good data. Meeks and Murphy’s thesis is that historic preservation is vital for sustaining and improving livable cities, and that in order to realize the potential of this work, we must change the reputation that preservation sometimes carries. Far from the anti-change antiquarians they are often perceived to be, Meeks and Murphy argue convincingly that preservationists are active, present-minded participants in the change process. Historic preservation, they write, “Is about managing change and helping to
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“[A] thoughtful reference book from leading public historians, curators, and educators who are engaged in a national conversation about how we are conducting local history now, in a post-9/11 era.” —Julia Rose, Director, West Baton Rouge Museum
814 pages 978-1-4422-7877-6 • $145.00 • Cloth 978-1-4422-7878-3 • $144.99 • eBook
“[A] masterwork of research scholarship and professional practice that will prove invaluable to everyone wanting to improve their understanding of the functions, importance, and value of museums— past, present, and future.” —Paul F. Marty, Professor, School of Information, Florida State University
390 pages 978-1-4422-7880-6 • $46.00 • Paper 978-1-4422-7879-0 • $95.00 • Cloth 978-1-4422-7881-3 • $45.99 • eBook
“This work is a valuable contribution for any museum on the how and why to incorporate agricultural interpretation and education into their programs and exhibits.” —Leo E. Landis, State Curator, State Historical Society of Iowa
284 pages 978-1-4422-3011-8 • $38.00 • Paper 978-1-4422-3010-1 • $85.00 • Cloth 978-1-4422-3012-5 • $37.99 • eBook
*When ebooks are available, the discount applies.
HISTORY NEWS
29
ensure a smooth continuum between past, present, and future” (21). Those interested in historic preservation’s needs and concerns in America’s vast rural areas and small communities will need to wait for a subsequent work. The Past and Future City is rooted in the strong tradition of historic preservation in the country’s densest population centers. Meeks and Murphy begin with a concise summary of the contributions of influential New York preservation advocate and erudite writer Jane Jacobs in the 1960s. The authors then review the recent work of NTHP’s research arm, the Green Lab, which had produced several strategic (and user-friendly) statistics and accompanying infographics that support preservation’s role in creating livable cities. One, for example, uses a study of San Francisco to demonstrate that older districts in
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cities tend to support more small businesses. Subsequent chapters arm readers with strategies for advocating for preservation in their own communities, for example by promoting pedestrian-friendly cityscapes, and using architectural compatibility as planning criteria. A chapter on adaptive reuse is designed to unleash creative thinking about the potential of historic buildings to be reimagined for contemporary uses. The last third of the book tackles concerns about inequality, diversity, and sustainability in cities. The field of preservation, the authors freely admit, has been historically complicit in some of these urban challenges, including gentrification and lack of inclusion. The authors convincingly argue, how-
ever, that the great potential successes in the field involve offering solutions to these challenges, such as preserving more special places related to underserved communities, and using preservation as an inherently green building strategy. For most readers of History News, the premise of The Past and Future City will read like preaching to the choir. Use it to sharpen your advocacy language and after you are finished, pass it along to a developer, city planner, skeptical business owner, or an unindoctrinated family member, with a gentle suggestion that the message within might change their and our world, just a little, for the better. t Anne Petersen, Ph.D., is Executive Director at the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation. She holds a doctorate in Public History from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.A. in American Civilization and Museum Studies from Brown University. She has over fifteen years’ experience working in museums and historic sites and is a 2015 graduate of the Seminar for Historical Administration. She can be reached at anne@sbthp.org.
AASLH News
I
t’s your destiny to participate in the 2017 AASLH Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas! Whether you attend in person, join in the Online Conference, tune in to its Twitter and Facebook posts, or happen by the conversations, practices, publications, and committee actions that emerge from the annual meeting, your fate as an AASLH member is connected to the September 6-9 gathering. “Keep Austin Weird” is the city’s famous slogan, after all, and “weird” is from the Old English “wyrd,” meaning “fate” and “to become.” What goes into the conference and happens in Austin won’t stay in Austin, but propels AASLH and the historical community forward for another year. People will test ideas at the meeting that someday become standards and best pracDarren Walker tices for all of us. On the first day of the gathering, Wednesday, September 6, we start with workshops such as “Community Engagement,” “Interpreting Confederate History,” and “Exhibit Makeovers” and move on to the newly devised “Leadership Forum” and an “SHA Workshop” on evaluation. Our two keynoters are Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, who is changing the philanthropic world, and U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas’s 20th District. Like Joaquin Castro Texas, the 2017 AASLH program is big. It is too big to summarize, other than to say it will be field-shifting and fate-setting. It has to be, with a theme like I AM History.
History Relevance Update
F
or the past four years the History Relevance (HR) campaign has been changing the way many of us advocate for public history. Today, HR is on to its second website; has been the focus of dozens of conference sessions across the country; and can count 170 local, state, and national organizations as endorsers
of its Value of History statement. This document, an open-source collection of ideas about why history is essential, is finding its way into many corners of the historical community. For example, the Kentucky, Indiana, and Georgia historical societies each released videos last year describing their missions and programs in terms set by the Value of History statement. Inspired by HR, the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission reoriented its annual report to address the impact the commission’s programs had on Pennsylvanians. Naper Settlement even included the Value of History statement in its own Impact Statement infographic. (Each example is visible at historyrelevance.com.) Meanwhile, the AASLH, as members know, has made promotion of the relevance of history one of its core strategic goals, and in summer 2017 will hire a new position to provide staff support for HR. That administrative boost is crucial, because HR’s volunteers continue to develop multiple projects: from a campaign to reach college and university departments of history, to proposals to granting agencies to hone the Value of History message with the general public, to a strategy for the Education & Workforce Committee of the National Governors Association to engage state leaders in promoting history’s value.
AASLH thanks the following individuals for their leadership as members of the AASLH Legacy Society. The Legacy Society provides AASLH members an opportunity to donate to the endowment via estate planning.
cy
Lega
Austin Annual Meeting Is Weirdly about All of Us
Society
AASLH and Advocacy
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ith the NEH, NEA, and IMLS under threat, advocacy is more important than ever. It’s crucial that we continue to communicate the value of history organizations and museums at every level. AASLH urges its members to advocate for NEH and other federal agencies supporting the work of history organizations. In this, we stand with our colleagues at the National Humanities Alliance, the American Alliance of Museums, and the National Coalition for History. In February, AASLH’s John Dichtl and Bethany Hawkins were part of a record number of advocates who traveled to D.C. for Museums Advocacy Day 2017. In total, 387 people representing 48 states attended, and it was an even more exciting and productive weekend than usual. We are grateful to the American Alliance of Museums for organizing this important event, and intend to continue participating as an official partnering organization each year.
Ms. Sylvia Alderson
Mr. John A. Herbst
Anonymous Mr. Bob & Ms. Candy Beatty
Mr. H. G. Jones
Mr. Robert M. & Ms. Claudia H. Brown
West Hartford, CT
Missoula, MT
Ms. Kathleen S. & Mr. James L. Mullins
Mr. & Mrs. Charles F. Bryan Jr.
Grosse Pointe Shores, MI
Mr. Dennis A. O’Toole
Ms. Linda Caldwell
Ms. Ruby Rogers
Ms. Mary Case & Mr. Will Lowe
Mr. David J. Russo
Ms. Terry L. Davis
Las Cruces, NM
Winston–Salem, NC
Franklin, TN
Richmond, VA Etowah, TN
Washington, DC Nashville, TN
Mr. Stephen & Ms. Diane Elliott St. Paul, MN
Mr. John Frisbee* Concord, NH
Indianapolis, IN Chapel Hill, NC
Ms. Katherine Kane
Monticello, NM Cincinnati, OH
Ontario, Canada
Mr. Will Ticknor Mr. Jim & Ms. Janet Vaughan Washington, DC
Mr. George L. Vogt Portland, OR *Deceased
Mr. J. Kevin Graffagnino Barre, VT
HISTORY NEWS
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This year, AASLH developed online programming to help increase advocacy awareness and skills among our members. This included a free webinar on Everyday Museum Advocacy (find the recording in our online store), as well as an open #AASLHchat on Twitter on the same subject. We’re growing our year-round advocacy capacity as well. At the AASLH Council’s meeting the day before Museums Advocacy Day began, the creation of a new AASLH staff position was approved. The External Relations Coordinator will help support our organization’s collaborative relationships, particularly those in the area of history advocacy, such as the History Relevance campaign and the National Coalition for History.
changes that. The task force is an initiative of AASLH, AHA, NCPH, and OAH. “What Do Public History Employers Want?” presents the findings of a survey of 400 public history employers. It shows what skills and knowledge employers consider essential, which ones will be important in the future, and how the Great Recession shifted the public history job market and working conditions. The report reveals a field in transition. Employers continue to value traditional historical skills and knowledge, but the next generation of public historians will need to combine those with skillsets that many public history programs do not currently address or consider only in part. The full report can be read at tinyurl. com/employerreport.
What Do Public History Employers Want?
Developing History Leaders @ SHA
dvising students on the skills and knowledge needed for jobs in public history has long been a matter of informed guesswork. A new report from the Joint Task Force on Public History Education and Employment
n an exciting development in March, the SHA partners appointed Max van Balgooy as SHA Director, succeeding John Durel’s seven-year tenure. Max is the president of Engaging Places, LLC,
A
I
and teaches in the museum studies program at George Washington University, and is former director of interpretation and education for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The director’s position attracted several strong candidates, which confirmed SHA’s reputation as one of the leading mid-career training programs in the nation. Upon his appointment, Max responded, “I’m thrilled by this incredible opportunity to serve our field as well as work with so many of the people and organizations that have helped me and helped make history a rich and meaningful experience in our communities. I’m also thankful for the tremendous contributions of my predecessors and realize that I will be standing on the shoulders of many people who helped create, sustain, and enhance SHA over many, many decades.” Please join us all in thanking John Durel for his service to SHA and to the field and in offering a hearty congratulations to Max. And see historyleadership. org for details on SHA.
History Beyond
the Classroom
Offering a master of arts in history with a specialization in public history Texas State University’s graduate program in public history focuses on five core areas: • archives • museums • oral history • historic preservation • local and community history Established in 1998, the program integrates public history and history course work to prepare students to engage with diverse community partners and develop new research. The Center for Texas Public History supports the program by providing opportunities to apply theoretical and methodological approaches beyond the classroom. Texas State University, to the extent not in conflict with federal or state law, prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, veterans’ status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Texas State University is a tobacco-free campus. 16-681 8-16
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publichistory.history.txstate.edu
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