Translating archaeology for the public: empowering and engaging museum goers with the past

Abstract

The heart of any heritage programme must involve an examination of the whole heritage process – teaching visitors how insights are actually generated. Archaeological artefacts, for example, are not just inanimate objects. They carry ideas and convey messages, and they ‘document’ the past. One can ‘listen’ to conversations carried out in the physical, or ‘read’ artefacts much as one would a deed, letter or newspaper. Isaac Royall was the largest slaveholder in Massachusetts, and this article provides three examples from the Royall House where the material world has been submitted to textual and linguistic analysis. Visitors to the site learn to ‘read’ landscapes, artefacts and documents, and they are thereby empowered to engage actively in the process of knowledge production. This approach not only cultivates a heightened respect and understanding for what archaeology does, but also makes dialogues of race, ethnicity, class or culture accessible and interesting to more people than ever before.

Keywords:

• archaeology
• house museums
• New England
• public narrative
• slavery

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Royall House Association for having the foresight and collective will to break so significantly with tradition at the museum and to remain so committed to the new mission on every level of both museum development and public interpretation over the years. The museum is simply a different place than it was 10 years ago. I especially would like to thank the director of the Royall House Association, Tom Lincoln, and board member Gracelaw Simmons for sharing their thoughtful insights about the various ways that the archaeological collaboration has helped the museum to make forward progress in its mission to create a more useful and inclusive narrative at the site, as well as the tangible results the collaboration has had on visitor experience there.