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Historic Preservation Home > Syllabi > 400 Level Courses > HISP 463 Museum Interpretation and Exhibit Design Lab

Dr. Elisabeth Sommer
129 Combs Hall
654-1310 (office)
Office Hours TR 3:30-5
                        W 10:30-11:30

HISP 463 Museum Interpretation and Exhibit Design Lab

Welcome to the hardest class you’ll ever love (at least that’s what I’m hoping).  Your task, and you have to accept it, is to learn the ins and outs of museum interpretation, and to play an active role in designing and implementing an exhibit.  We will spend the first part of the course reading about and discussing issues of interpretation and the public interaction with museum exhibits.  Ultimately we will be producing an exhibit plan or script for the upcoming clothing exhibit at the James Monroe Museum.  The implementation of the script will be at the discretion of the Museum, so our production experience will take the form of a “teaser” case exhibit here in Combs Hall and possibly a hands-on element for the exhibit at the Monroe Museum. 

This class can only succeed with the full participation of all students.  Because you will work as a team, and in sub-teams, everyone will be responsible for the finished product.  You will be graded largely on your specific portion of the script/exhibit, but I will be paying attention to how each of you works with the others.  When we have readings I expect you to come to class ready to discuss the material, so you need to plan your time carefully.   Class conversation will critical to developing both the script and the case exhibit.  We will also make a couple of field trips, do some short practical exercises, and an exhibit review.  All of this work is intended to help you understand the challenges and processes involved in creating museum exhibits.

Reading Assignments

  • John Falk and Lynn Dierking, The Museum Experience (in the bookstore)
  • Kenneth Ames, ed. Ideas and Images: Developing Interpretive History Exhibits (in the bookstore)
  • Beverly Serrell, Exhibit Labels: an Interpretive Approach (in the bookstore)
  • Alice Parman and Jeffrey Flowers, Exhibit Makeovers: a Do-it-yourself Workbook for Small Museums (in the bookstore)
  • Michael Belcher, Exhibitions in Museums (selections to be posted on Blackboard)

Writing Assignments
In addition to the product of your contribution to the script and exhibit, you will be required to submit the product in draft form.  You will also write an exhibit review, in which you describe and assess one of the exhibits in the Fredericksburg Area Museum.  All students will have to research an object or image and write a draft label.  Finally, each of you will submit a brief report on your experience developing the script and exhibit, which will be due on the day scheduled for the final.

Grades

Discussion/Participation 15%
Draft Label Exercise 10%
Exhibit Review 15%
Product Draft 15%
Final Product and Report 45%

Assignment Schedule (subject to change)

January 14: Introduction (meet at the James Monroe Museum)

January 21: Visitors and the Museum (discussion of The Museum Experience Chapters 1-5 and 9-11)

January 28: Communicating “The Big Idea” (discussion of Ideas and Images selected chapters TBD); Discussion of the “big idea” for Monroe exhibit

February 4: Exhibit Development Process and Challenges (discussion of selections from Exhibitions in Museums); Decision on “big idea” and brainstorming of sections and interpretive goals (Worksheet 4A in Exhibit Makeovers).

February 11: Field trip to the Fredericksburg Area Museum and discussion of Exhibit Labels (Chapters 2-4, 6-8, 10, 14-15, 20)  You will choose a section of the museum for your exhibit review due that will be due next class meeting.

February 18: Field trip—place TBD; Exhibit Review due

February 25: Discussion of exhibit reviews; reports on object/image research; decision on sections and interpretive goals

March 4: SPRING BREAK!!! (don’t get too relaxed, the serious work starts now)

March 11: Guest speaker on exhibit design process (this is your chance to hear from somebody who’s been on the front lines); discussion of visual design elements with preliminary proposals from design and PR teams; Draft Label due

March 18: Group review of drafts of labels, public relations material, and education programs (obviously drafts of all products in these categories are due)

March 25: Presentation and group review of exhibit floor plan and object display (use Exhibit Makeovers Chapters 5-6 as basis for planning, discussion, and critique) final decision on visual design elements; draft of floor plan and object display plan due

April 1: No fooling around—we really need to get working; brainstorming of case exhibit (use Exhibit Makeovers Chapter 2 as basis) Group review of revised labels etc.

April 8: Design and preliminary fabrication of case exhibit elements (Exhibit Makeovers Chapter 3); final review of exhibit script

April 15: Fabrication of case exhibit and (possibly) interactive element

April 22: Fabrication of case exhibit etc; final production of script for submission to James Monroe Museum.

April 29: Installation of case exhibit (hooray!!) individual project reports due