New Intersections for History Education in Museums

All museums face questions of relevancy and how to best respond to audiences in ways that meaningfully engages them with the museum collection. The traditional model of museums acting as cabinets of curiosities that prioritize collections over audiences is being re-shaped, as they aim to become transformational visitor-centered institutions.¹ This shift is particularly relevant to history museums and historic sites, where it has become clear that attendance cannot be sustained based purely on visitors’ interest in history for the sake of history. History museums and historic sites cannot “remain stagnant as visitors, technologies, interests, and the world around us change.”² The role of education for history museums in the twenty-first century consists of finding new ways to make history meaningful, developing modifications for a range of learner needs and stages, making tangible connections to other disciplines and skills, and facilitating personal connections to content.

The core societal value of history sites has been demonstrated in seminal surveys such as the one conducted by the authors of The Presence of the Past, which concluded that historic sites and museums are the most trusted sources for accessing information about the past and help strengthen ideas of heritage, belonging, and authenticity.³ History museums are poised to leverage this significance in new ways as we move into the twenty-first century, where they have the potential to adopt new learning agent roles and design transformative education experiences.⁴ The articles in the themed section of this issue illuminate a variety of ways that history museums are adapting to the changing landscape in an effort to make stories from the past and historic collections more relevant to both existing and new audiences.

The need for relevancy

The call for museums to be relevant institutions is not new, foundational writers such as John Cotton Dana and Freeman Tilden long ago recognized that the main objective of museums is to be “relevant to citizens’ daily lives and promote lifelong civic engagement” and make connections to the experiences and personalities of visitors.⁵ The need to push for relevance continues, particularly in the field of history, where the common perception is that “history is nice, but not essential.” A group of history professionals concerned about the marginalization of history recently formed a campaign to proclaim history’s relevance and to act as “a catalyst for discovering, demonstrating, and promulgating the value of history,” stating that history is essential to individuals, communities, and the future.⁶ History does not live entirely in the past, as an understanding of history serves many functions in the present, from shaping identity to engaging citizens in contemporary issues. Museum educators play a pivotal role in ensuring that audiences recognize the relevance of history, serving as interpreters, connectors, deliberators, questioners, and companions on a journey of making the past visible for the present.

Before exploring a range of new junctures for history education, it is worth considering one of the most fundamental ways in which history is seen as a relevant pursuit. The significance of history is often coupled with civic engagement, with the History Relevance Campaign, for example, asserting that “by bringing history into discussions about contemporary issues we can better understand the origins of and multiple perspectives on the challenges facing our communities.”⁷ At the Senator John Heinz History, we create programming for ninth-grade students from Pittsburgh Public Schools around a curriculum focusing on the role of civic change agents, hosting daylong summits where students are introduced to both historic and contemporary change agents in Pittsburgh. The goal is to connect student understanding of change in the past with their ability to become agents of civic change in the present, serving as a catalyst for service learning projects. This work is challenging and it leads us down often unexpected paths as educators. Many of our sessions open with questions that elicit concerns that students have about their communities today, as we try to build connections between their stories and those stories of history that they will encounter in our exhibits. The Civics Summit programs are an example of connecting with students’ lives and experiences in a way that does not occur in other gallery sessions.

Working to establish a relevance with the lives of urban youth can be an eye-opening experience, sometimes prompting questions from museum staff about what the place of a history museum truly is in this civic arena. At the conclusion of one workshop, the list of community concerns shared by a class was left on a whiteboard, with the space being used shortly after by museum staff for a lunchtime celebration. The issues that these ninth graders are troubled by were on display for others outside the education team to see for perhaps the first time: police brutality, racism, rape, violence. Entering the room, other staff questioned incredulously of me, “Should we be talking about this kind of stuff in a history museum?” The answer is yes, if we have any hope of making the past relevant for young people today we must meet them in their space, we must find ways of confronting the issues that they care about, and we should work toward finding a lens for them to understand how the past connects with their community today. Making history relevant is not an easy endeavor and this issue explores a range of ways that new intersections can be paved for our audiences.

Intersections for learners

One of the ways that history museums can expand relevance is to create experiences for new audiences. Two programs described in this issue address non-traditional audiences for historic sites and museum, early learners at the Museum of London and Heinz History Center, and youth on the autism spectrum through the Historic House Trust of New York City. Both examples are evidence of the importance for sites to develop accessible programs and opportunities that meet the specific needs of the audience through compelling experiences that are unique to history museums. Recent literature has focused on the need for history museums to become community resources, enmeshed in the fabric of the communities they serve, and if they are to serve as this vital resource they must create experiences and levels of interpretation that reach beyond the traditional demographic.⁸ History can no longer be locked away behind glass cases and out of reach in the corners of historic houses, but must be made accessible to visitors of all ages and abilities if these sites are to become more relevant and embedded as community resources.

The significance of early learning is growing across all types of museums, and history museums and sites can be used to engage both children and their caregivers in museum settings that provide rich contexts for age-appropriate activities.⁹ History museums have challenges for catering to this audience as ideas about the past and historical change can be difficult for young children to understand, but research and museum practice has shown that frameworks can be created to ensure that even the youngest visitors can have a connection with the past. The Institute of Museum and Library Services “Growing Young Minds” report notes that a commitment to early learning is a priority that is essential to the country’s economic and civic future, calling for museums to become more intentional about deploying our vital community resources to engage this important audience.¹⁰ The Museum of London was one of the first history museums to establish a program for the youngest visitors, with sessions that cater to infants from only a few months old up through five years of age. Clare Haywood, the museum’s Early Years Programme Manager, describes how these programs play a curial role in recruiting the museum audience of the future, helping children and their caregivers develop a sense of belonging in the museum that extends into independent experiences as children grow. The article that explores programs for these “littlest historians” also demonstrates how the Heinz History Center was informed by the Museum of London’s early years evaluation to launch a new program, Hop into History, evidence of how evaluation can inform best practices when establishing a program for a new demographic.

Providing new experiences that better serve a range of learners is a way that history institutions can take “bold steps” and expand their overall purpose.¹¹ The Historic House Trust of New York City has exemplified this approach by developing programming that is adapted for students on the autism spectrum. Issues of physical and cognitive accessibility have become pressing issues for museums, and it is predicted that the importance of this issue will only grow in the coming years.¹² Historic sites can be powerful settings for visitors of all abilities to understand and connect with the past. The Historic House Trust of New York City is working to become more accessible and welcoming to school age children with physical and cognitive disabilities, especially those with autism spectrum disorder. Ansel Lurio, Program Manager for the Jeanette and Paul Wagner Educational Program for Children with Disabilities, explores the role of “Social Stories” in creating connections between the students and the historic places that the Trust interprets. Providing sensory friendly visits is paramount for making new intersections with this audience, and the pilot work described provides examples of how to create meaningful experiences that are tailored to this specific needs.

Intersecting disciplines

The formal learning sector has embraced the role of STEM (Science, Technology, Education, Math) education to increase student preparedness for the twenty-first century. The emphasis on STEM has become significant in museum education as well, as museums work to meet the demands of the school districts that they serve and help develop the skills viewed as critical to success in the future. The importance of STEM education cannot be understated, both in terms of its national initiatives and funding priorities, and if history museums are to meet the needs of twenty-first-century education, it will be key to increase integration of STEM skills and concepts. On the surface, it may not seem like a natural fit for history museums to explore STEM content, but there are many ways that historical thinking intersects, beginning with similarities in approaches to learning in these content areas.

Conner Prairie has embarked on a study to develop a method for integrating STEM with history learning in museums. This new approach, grounded in family learning experiences, integrates interactive science activities, observation, measurement and experimentation with the time- and place-specific narrative that characterizes historic learning experiences. Catherine Hughes, Conner Prairie’s Director of Interpretation, and Allison Coseby, Evaluation Coordinator, reflect on the “invisible ripples” that emanate back and forth between history and science learning in their Create. Connect exhibition. These “ripples” are essential for understanding how interdisciplinary connections can be made in learning spaces, which the authors acknowledge are often not immediately recognized by visitors. Making tangible and visible connections that span disciplines can be challenging, but the linkage between history and science learning is an important area for building future relevance. Science and history skills can interconnect to serve as a foundation for learning experiences for a new generation.

While these skills prove useful avenues for connecting the disciplines of science and history, historic practices can also be reframed in an effort to communicate the relevance of history in our contemporary world. Andrea Jones provides an intriguing example of how the lens of environmental sustainability can be used to bridge the past and present for visitors. The Green History initiative of the Accokeek Foundation demonstrates the importance of shifting interpretive paradigms and adapting to today’s learners. Drawing on the environmental issues of today to reframe the past has proven successful at building new audiences, diversifying the topics taught at a historic site, and engaging a range of learners. Intersecting disciplines is one of the primary ways that history can increase its relevance, challenging the perception that the pursuit of history does not hold contemporary value.

Intersecting narratives

The future of history museums is tied to their ability to open access to collections and personalize the past for audiences, providing new ways for museums and the stories and experiences of their audiences to intersect. Museum futurist Elizabeth Merritt notes that, “simultaneously new horizons are being opened by technological advances in communications, content sharing and cultural expectations regarding access, authority and personalization.”¹³ The convergence of technology and shared authority will become hallmarks of outreach conducted by history museums and it is already the reality of a pioneering digital outreach effort detailed in this issue. Community involvement is being reshaped by technological tools, which will broaden access and deepen personal connections with collections. As history museums become more inclusive spaces both in terms of collections and education, it is important to understand the role that technology can serve in creating new collective spaces.

History museums are now engaging visitors by personalizing experiences, particularly by exploiting technology to reach new audiences and localize connections. The future of museum relevance has been identified as adapting to a shift in narrative and embracing technology.¹⁴ The Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas, provides an excellent example of a museum that is moving outside of its walls to engage the community and personalize the past by developing new narratives through technology. David Munns, the museum’s Director of Web and Digital Media, explores the StoryofTexas.com, an immersive website that facilitates outreach. The website is a collection of stories, photographs, videos, and other content created by the public; a virtual gallery featuring an ever-growing assemblage of artifacts; and an interactive state map, which geographically highlights contributions to the Texas Story Project and objects in the virtual artifact gallery. This outreach project showcases the way in which personal histories are incorporated into new narratives and how crowd-sourced artifact finding can converge with the museum’s more traditional curatorial processes. Importantly, this work is also considered transformative in its ability to serve non-traditional audiences and to shift public perceptions of history museums.

Establishing relevancy for the future

This issue addresses a significant range of new intersections for history museums and their audiences, all of which will increase the relevance of these important institutions. These new approaches recognize and are adapting to the changing relationships between visitors, skills, narratives, and museum institutions. The success of history education relies on changing our practice to accommodate the transformations in history and heritage that are taking place within society.¹⁵ Modern concepts of history are bound in understandings of identity, the transformative nature of heritage as part of present day life, and diverse representations of the past. History has a role in every community that extends beyond preservation, capable of making direct connections with contemporary audiences. The case studies in this issue provide examples of effective practice as museum educators envision new ways to serve their audiences and deepen their impact on their communities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

About the author

Mariruth Leftwich, Ph.D., is the Education Manager at the Senator John Heinz History Center, overseeing student, teacher, and youth programs. Her almost 20 years in history museum education has included tenure as Digital Learning Officer at the Museum of London, Vice President for Education at the Charlotte Museum of History, and educator roles at the Atlanta History Center and National Army Museum (UK). Mariruth holds a Ph.D. in museum education from the University of London’s Institute of Education.

Notes

1. Black, The Engaging Museum.

2. Vagnone and Ryan, Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums, 13.

3. Rosenzweig and Thelen, The Presence of the Past.

4. Prince, “Glimpses of the Future of Education.”

5. Vagnone and Ryan, Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums, 51; Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage.

6. History Relevance Campaign, 2014.

7. “The Value of History,” History Relevance Campaign, 2014.

8. Vagnone and Ryan, Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums; History Relevance Campaign; and West, Understanding Heritage in Practice.

9. Semmel, “An Opportune Moment.”

10. Howard, Growing Young Minds.

11. Lurio quotes the “Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums” in his article describing what compelled the Historic House Trust of New York City to adapt its programmatic offerings.

12. Langa et al., “Improving the Museum Experiences of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Their Families.”

13. Merritt, “Setting the Stage,” 9.

14. Merritt, Museums and Society 2034.

15. Harrison et al., “Heritage, Memory, and Modernity.”