How does presentation affect a visitor’s view of the topic of sudden cultural changes? We used that question to create the exhibit-like program, “Memories of the Valley: A Hands-on History of Native Americans in Colonial New England,” at the Fruitlands Museum (operated by The Trustees of Reservations). The program’s hands-on nature required analogues for visitors, and those analogues were based on historical objects. Analogues by nature are symbolic, as symbolism is infused in Native American history. Using concepts central to exhibit design combined with key public programming methods, we aimed to better pull the museum visitor into discussing, analyzing, and understanding difficult historical topics.

Key Inspirations and Goals

There were three key inspirations already existing at Fruitlands for the special program: craft programs, temporary hands-on activities, and history exhibits. As I was currently working as a Fruitlands historical interpreter while simultaneously building exhibits at the Westford Historical Society, it seemed to me there was a disconnect among those inspirations, particularly between exhibits and programs. At the same time, “memories of the valley” was a concept suggested by the museum’s founder Clara Sears as a way to focus on her museum’s collections.

A visitor comment at Fruitlands also highlighted the disconnect between exhibits and programs. One of this museum’s many Hudson River landscapes was the basis for a puzzle in a prior season, allowing for children and adults to be “hands-on” with an art object. The visitor specifically looked for some kind of information on the reverse of the puzzle pieces, which had none (the actual landscape continues to be on display in the museum’s art gallery). While the activity has since been removed, the comment impacted the planning for the crossover “Memories” project.

Such comments show how visitors can actively work to create their own experiences in the museum, and where links in the  experience are missing.^[1] That visitor-expressed disconnect led to the ultimate goal of the project to be two-fold. First, visitors were given the chance to learn how Native Americans in New England were forced to change during aggressive European colonization. Second, visitors were encouraged to develop understanding and empathy with the mind-set of the era through activities inspiring their creativity. Items they made during the program did not have to conform to historically accurate objects, but the experience still provided the history behind objects represented.

Original Program

For a starting point, we looked to the long-running mokuk-making exercise often held for structured school group visits. Mokuks are containers usually made out of birchbark in the Northeast by Native Americans (for a modern approximation, Fruitlands often uses card-stock), and these containers were often a part of what became the present-day tourist trade. So we conducted further research on Native American trade goods, particularly within the Northeast. Meetings with the managing education staff at Fruitlands led to adding beadwork as a focus, with a recommended limit to two types of objects for any activity.

As a kind of test-bed, the goals and concepts of the “Memories” project were first prototyped through another Native American program: atlatl demonstrations.Atlatls, or spear throwers, are commonly demonstrated at Fruitlands’ Native American gallery. Such demonstrations are often a part of larger events, and on request during the summer season. Visitors are naturally pulled into the history through the experience of tossing spears with an atlatl. Our prototype included new exhibit-like labeling provided with the laid out atlatls and spears, as well as a more formal lecture, which was replaced in later implementations with a reliance on the large label. Given information through an exhibit-like setting, the visitors were then allowed to become “part of the exhibit” by using the atlatls. Treating the demonstration more like an exhibit gave the visitors extra context to better understand the mindset of much more traditional hunting practices.

The “Memories of the Valley” program launched similarly during a larger event, which we hoped would negate the need for advertising to raise an audience for this prototyping project. Though the program was originally written as a structured event, ultimately it was conducted more dynamically, whenever visitors were interested in the offerings. This led to inconsistent attendance for the applied project, complicating our prototyping process. The beadwork was of greater interest to participants than the mokuks, which are usually not decorated with beads. The inconsistency in gaining results suggested that a crafts-based program, as opposed to the atlatls, might better be suited for a more controlled environment, like school programs, as opposed to public programming. However, a later version of the project followed more successful path.

Freestanding Activity

The original idea for the “Memories” project suggested multiple platforms, including a freestanding activity and online exhibit. The latter element was abandoned early in favor of the program-based approach inspired by exhibits. Later, the Fruitlands visitor center needed new elements for the limited winter season, which allowed us to lay out the exhibit and crafting components there, minus the introductory label. With the exhibit labels for the beadwork and mokuks in view, the freestanding activity continues the historical-empathy-through-creativity concept of the project.

Free-standing activity in the Wayside Gallery and Visitor Center.

A ‘critical mass’ of visitor attendance for the activity is less of a concern with this design, as it is always available, and interpreters are also continuously available for visitor questions and restocking of the materials. Staff observations of this new iteration suggested greater visitor satisfaction with paired historical context and activity, beyond simply creative activity. Parents have actively read the labels out-loud, while their children were engaged. Also, as with the original application, mokuks and beadwork provoke separate reactions and levels of engagement by visitors, exemplifying how visitors create their own experiences. One conclusion from our prototyping is that more complicated craft-based exhibit activities work best in extremes that allow sufficient time and attention: either structured (programmer’s choice) or freestanding (visitor’s choice).

Bridging the Gaps

Combining techniques of exhibit design and public programs helped to bridge the gap between the museum and the visitor to provide a deeper, more satisfying understanding. Providing Native American history, specifically, can be difficult for Fruitlands, as it represents a spectrum of perspectives; exhibits and programs are not always presented from a single point of view, such as only that of the present-day or only that of past peoples and residents. Providing such history requires significant understanding of the various perspectives, while finding a meaningful and accurate way of translating all that to the museum visitor. Our project suggests that well researched, exhibit-inspired programs (and program-inspired exhibits!) can be a means of bridging those more difficult gaps.

Sources and Further Reading

Anderson, Lauren. “Exhibiting Human Remains in the Museum: A Discussion of Ethics and Museum Practice.” Final research paper, Columbian School of Arts and Sciences, 2010.

Falk John H. and Lynn D. Dierking, The Museum Experience Revisited. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2013.

Karr, Ronald Dale, ed. Indian New England 1524-1674: A Compendium of Eyewitness Accounts of Native American Life. Pepperell, MA: Branch Line Press, Gilliland Printing, 1999.

Native American Collection, Fruitlands Museum (The Trustees), Harvard, MA.

Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Random House, 2001.

Image:

Albert Bierstadt, MT. ASCUTNEY FROM CLAREMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1862, Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA.