Useful guidance on making a difficult task easier, says Verity Smith
“It is daunting … to revisit trauma and to take the incumbent risks that are associated with internment, murder, racism, annihilation, torture, and depraved inequality.”
Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites is the latest volume in the Interpreting History Series by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).
Julia Rose analyses the challenges facing museum professionals and institutions in how they interpret difficult and contentious history while encouraging audiences to look at the past through honest and ethical representations.
By day, Rose is the director of the West Baton Rouge Museum and a lecturer in museum studies at Louisiana State University. Her primary research interests lie in interpreting and documenting the history of enslaved plantation communities, but she draws on
a variety of examples as guidance for museum professionals in developing compelling and ethical interpretations of difficult histories.
Defining difficult history is in itself just that: difficult. Rose emphasises the “desperate need to remember that we also possess the ability to do harm”, therefore museums exist to tell stories of trauma and loss, as well as celebration and innovation.
The book leads readers through the “major conceptual and practical hurdles” that historians and curators need to cross and identifies questions to be asked, such as, “What is the purpose and the expected outcome of telling the story?” and “How does the story relate to the human condition today?”
Rose first came to the issue of interpreting difficult histories through curating a commemorative exhibition on the founding of Oak Ridge Tennessee, one of three cities where the first atomic bombs were developed, which culminated in the catastrophic end to the second world war in Hiroshima in 1945. She felt challenged to confront and interpret this history to respect the memory of the victims and perpetrators.
This is just one example that illustrates the need to address the variety of responses, from museum visitors to museum professionals.
Rose highlights the risks of displaying what might be considered shocking content –
it can offend or emotionally hurt visitors. Equally, the “overabundance of images dulls their senses”.
She raises the question of how much shocking or graphic content is too much to bear, provoking the reader to consider the most appropriate way to interpret a difficult history. Rose illustrates this dilemma with the example of a photographic exhibition that displayed 20th-century photographs of lynchings in the American South.
Visitors’ tolerance was tested, the intensity of response continuing many years after the photographs were exhibited. This demonstrates the lasting impact of interpreting this particular history.
Rose goes on to explore the ethics of interpreting difficult histories in chapter four. She quite rightly states with caution that “working with emotional content raises hard questions and exposes the dangers of good intentions that have not been thoroughly vetted”.
While it can be tough for museums and historic sites to strike a balance in interpreting two sides of a story, this chapter cites several reasons why it is necessary to interpret difficult histories, as well as how to achieve this sensitively.
I was drawn to this text through my own interest and research into objects and their representation of difficult histories as the focus of my MA thesis. This text has offered a new perspective on the interpretation of traumatic history and how it can be represented on a larger scale at significant historic sites.
The real-world examples from across the globe give a realistic context to Rose’s guidance. Even for those who have not researched in depth or interpreted difficult history for the purposes of an exhibition or project, this book is essential for anyone working in the context of such subject matter. It has a clear structure and accessible language, which makes for a practical and supportive companion.
Verity Smith is a project management assistant at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. She is also a trustee and secretary of the Social History Curators Group
“It is daunting … to revisit trauma and to take the incumbent risks that are associated with internment, murder, racism, annihilation, torture, and depraved inequality.”
Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites is the latest volume in the Interpreting History Series by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).
Julia Rose analyses the challenges facing museum professionals and institutions in how they interpret difficult and contentious history while encouraging audiences to look at the past through honest and ethical representations.
By day, Rose is the director of the West Baton Rouge Museum and a lecturer in museum studies at Louisiana State University. Her primary research interests lie in interpreting and documenting the history of enslaved plantation communities, but she draws on
a variety of examples as guidance for museum professionals in developing compelling and ethical interpretations of difficult histories.
Defining difficult history is in itself just that: difficult. Rose emphasises the “desperate need to remember that we also possess the ability to do harm”, therefore museums exist to tell stories of trauma and loss, as well as celebration and innovation.
The book leads readers through the “major conceptual and practical hurdles” that historians and curators need to cross and identifies questions to be asked, such as, “What is the purpose and the expected outcome of telling the story?” and “How does the story relate to the human condition today?”
Rose first came to the issue of interpreting difficult histories through curating a commemorative exhibition on the founding of Oak Ridge Tennessee, one of three cities where the first atomic bombs were developed, which culminated in the catastrophic end to the second world war in Hiroshima in 1945. She felt challenged to confront and interpret this history to respect the memory of the victims and perpetrators.
This is just one example that illustrates the need to address the variety of responses, from museum visitors to museum professionals.
Rose highlights the risks of displaying what might be considered shocking content –
it can offend or emotionally hurt visitors. Equally, the “overabundance of images dulls their senses”.
She raises the question of how much shocking or graphic content is too much to bear, provoking the reader to consider the most appropriate way to interpret a difficult history. Rose illustrates this dilemma with the example of a photographic exhibition that displayed 20th-century photographs of lynchings in the American South.
Visitors’ tolerance was tested, the intensity of response continuing many years after the photographs were exhibited. This demonstrates the lasting impact of interpreting this particular history.
Rose goes on to explore the ethics of interpreting difficult histories in chapter four. She quite rightly states with caution that “working with emotional content raises hard questions and exposes the dangers of good intentions that have not been thoroughly vetted”.
While it can be tough for museums and historic sites to strike a balance in interpreting two sides of a story, this chapter cites several reasons why it is necessary to interpret difficult histories, as well as how to achieve this sensitively.
I was drawn to this text through my own interest and research into objects and their representation of difficult histories as the focus of my MA thesis. This text has offered a new perspective on the interpretation of traumatic history and how it can be represented on a larger scale at significant historic sites.
The real-world examples from across the globe give a realistic context to Rose’s guidance. Even for those who have not researched in depth or interpreted difficult history for the purposes of an exhibition or project, this book is essential for anyone working in the context of such subject matter. It has a clear structure and accessible language, which makes for a practical and supportive companion.
Verity Smith is a project management assistant at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford. She is also a trustee and secretary of the Social History Curators Group
