evaluation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website

The website that I reviewed was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. The reason that I wanted to review this website is because I have been interested in visiting this museum and hoped that the website would give me a better idea of what to expect. The website explained that “The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy”. To do this, the museum has gathered research on the Holocaust and created exhibitions, programs, published articles and distributed information to schools.

The website is divided into sections for the museum itself, for the public’s education about the Holocaust, ways in which you can participate in remembering the Holocaust and how to recognize and prevent genocide. The section devoted to the museum allows you to view photos and video clips from special exhibitions in the museum as well as exhibitions only available online. In addition, you are able to view photos from the permanent exhibition and depending on what photos you find interesting, the system will show you more from the collection that relate. When you view a photo from the museum you also receive information on where that particular picture was taken which will help you to locate it when you visit. The education section provides personalized websites for teachers, students, and university scholars. The student section provides online activities in addition to learning about the Holocaust, and the university scholar page provides access to lectures, further study and employment opportunities with the museum. The remembrance section of the website gives information on Remembrance Day and suggests how you can organize your own. The genocide section relates the Holocaust to global issues of genocide that are occurring today and urges you to get involved to stop genocide.

I think that this website achieves the museum’s mission because it brings you into contact with not only the museum, but research on the Holocaust as well. By creating an education section that is relevant to several different groups the museum is able to address the needs of teachers, students and university scholars. I also think that by making it less about the museum and more about education the website follows the mission because while the museum helps to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, having access to the information without having to go to the museum makes the website more effective. You also receive access to special exhibitions and there are hundreds of photographs and video for each aspect of the Holocaust. Overall, this website is effective because it gives the public a greater understanding of the fact that the museum is about education, awareness and prevention, but it also gives the public access to hundreds of photos from the permanent collection. This allows the viewer to learn more about the Holocaust in preparation to go to the museum and may peak their interest to certain parts of the permanent exhibition.

website url: http://www.ushmm.org/

museum exhibit review: MASC

The exhibit that I chose to review is the one currently on display at Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections at WSU. The exhibit is called “Baskets, Bonnets & Pincushions: Interpreting the Life and Work of Mary Richardson Walker”. The objectives of this exhibit are to demonstrate through photos, diary entries, clothing and other personal artifacts from Mary Richardson Walker, what her life was like. It also shows how she had to reconcile gender roles of the time because she was expected to become a mother and a housewife, but it is clear that she wanted to either teach, become a nurse or a missionary instead. Through the exhibit we find out that in order to accomplish her goal of becoming a missionary she had to become a wife and mother first, and was never able to escape the life that society laid out for her.
The materials that MASC chose to display to tell her story are Mary’s diaries from 1836 and 1838, letters to and from her family as well as communication with officials when she was trying to become a missionary. They also have displayed some of the 200 books from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walker which include bibles, and texts on science and medicine. Artifacts from Mary’s home are also on display. These include a quilt, dresses, bonnets, gloves, a writing desk from her trip on the Oregon Trail, and her own personal paintings.
I think that this exhibit was effective in getting its objective across because I was able to learn what life was like for a woman who traveled the Oregon Trail and was a missionary in this area in the 1800s. Generally in history the stories that are told only give one over-arching idea of what life was like, but this exhibit gave a personal account of one woman and the difficulties she faced in life. I learned the complexity of what she faced when trying to balance what she was passionate about with the constraints placed on her gender at the time.
The restrictions that women faced were clear through the diary entries and letters in the exhibit. A letter from one of the men in charge of missionary work in the West telling Mary that they typically do not send single women to be missionaries was placed next to a letter introducing Mary to her future husband. This effectively shows how important marriage was in religion and society and how much women were identified by their marital status. Her diary entries also note how much she disdained housework, possibly being one of the reasons that she did not want to marry and have children. However, the exhibit goes on to show through the house wares on display that as a missionary one of her duties was to display the qualities of a good wife to the natives. By using both written sources and materials taken from her home, the visitor can get a sense of what Mary’s life was like as well as her thoughts on it.
My favorite part of the exhibit was the clothing that was on display because even if there had been no explanation of what the items were used for, you were able to compare the clothes that women typically wore in the 1800s to the clothing that women wear now. The most interesting fact in this aspect of the exhibit was that women typically weighed much less and were quite a few inches shorter than the average female in the United States today. While the label explained this, it made it much more real to see it in person and to compare it to myself. It was also effectively displayed because the dresses were not in the case, but were free-standing on the floor, making them much more accessible. I also learned that I could see more of Mary Richardson Walker’s clothing at the Historical Costume and Textiles Collection in the Department of Apparel, Merchandising, Design and Textiles at WSU.
I chose this exhibit to review because over the past month I have visited MASC several times for different classes but never had to time to walk through the exhibit, read the information and take in all the materials on display. While a lot of people would not seek out this exhibit to go to during the week, I think that those who do visit it and are interested in the material will take a lot away from it. I think the creators of the exhibit did a good job of telling Mary’s story because they introduced the visitor to primary sources of various types instead of just using diaries or textiles they told her life story through books, letters, household objects and text that tied all the information together. I think that if the visitor can leave the exhibit having learned something and is more interested in the subject of the exhibit, then it was effective, and that is what I left Baskets, Bonnets & Pincushions feeling.

Time-Traveling With the Muses in Boston: NYT review 1/15/10

The author of this article, Holland Cotter, discusses how museums sparked his interest when he was living in Boston as a kid. I thought this article was interesting because he talks about how he got interested in museums through Egyptian art that was on display. Instead of seeing the art as the Egyptians meant for it to be seen, as an “irrepressible hunger for life”, he just saw death. This was really interesting to me because it demonstrates that people can interpret art in so many different ways, oftentimes even differently than how the artist meant to portray it. When you place different works of art in a museum people have a chance to compare different artists, eras and styles at one time.
The author explains that he had not been to the museums since a child and when he returned it was great to compare reality to what he remembers of the museum, and was happy that it matched for the most part. I think that this is also another important part of museums: they’re stable and yet fluid. Most of the collections stay the same over time which allows more people to experience the objects, but museums can also acquire new objects and collections to expand what is already there. This gives the museum the unique ability to hold lots of different material, newly collected and old acquisitions, and display them for long periods of time. This means that if I go to either of the two museums that he mentions in the article, Museum of Fine Arts or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, I can look at the same objects that he describes seeing as a child.
I’m most interested in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum because of the way that it was created and maintained. Instead of displaying artifacts on white walls with a distinct understanding of why they were arranged in a particular way, Gardner filled her home with lots of different art, making it an eclectic mixture of different pieces and allowing you to explore and discover works of art, furniture or statues. What I loved about this way of designing a museum is that you are surrounded by pieces that are part of a decorated, ornate space so you are never without something interesting to look at. From the pictures, it really does give off the feeling of a home because the walls are covered in decorative wallpaper and there is a large courtyard with statues in the center of the building. Gardner made certain that the way she arranged the pieces would not change by stipulating in her will that if a piece is moved from the collection, the entire museum would be put up for auction. While this is not feasible for museums to do now, it’s something that I’ve never heard of before and I thought it was a cool way to leave behind a memory of yourself and what was important to you.
Overall, this article made me think about the way that museums are designed overall, and why they’re important for society. Museums allow you to collect artifacts from around the world and put them on display for people to see throughout the years. This makes art and other objects available over time and helps to spread understanding of culture to many generations. I also realized how many different forms a museum can take: from a house created and filled by one person, to a large art gallery with pieces acquired over a long period of time that is constantly added to.

architecture's influence on museums

Before this class I didn’t really consider the architecture of a building to have influence over my experience in a museum, but upon further reflection I realized that the more I admire the building, the more excited I am to experience the exhibits within the museum. For example, while in Washington, D.C. I visited the National Archives. The outside of the building reminded me of the Greek structures we discussed in class because of the columns and the oftentimes imposing presence of the building. The archives have a set of steps leading up to the museum and there are columns in the front of the building. However, you enter into a tour through a smaller door off to the side of the main steps. I love the architectural design of the building and in my mind it solidified the fact that the documents that I was about to see were incredibly important. The smaller entrance that we went through to go on the tour also added to the overall experience because instead of climbing the steps to enter you are given the feeling of privilege because you are taken in through a smaller, less noticed area of the building.
Architecture also makes me more interested in going into a museum that I wouldn’t normally be interested in. If the structure is eye-catching it draws me in because I then want to explore the inside of the building. I think that the more visually appealing that a museum is, the more I think that I will like the objects that are displayed inside. It also gives you a better idea of what kind of exhibits you will experience because in modern art museums the outside of the building is abstract and different from its surrounding structures while history museums typically have a more classical structure. It gives you the opportunity to have an understanding or inkling of what kind of objects or topics you are going to explore and sets the tone for your experience.

layout is key to an effective museum

I think that the layout of a museum is important for it to be effective because without a clear purpose for viewing the artifacts, you resort to wandering around aimlessly. I noticed how effective a clear layout for a museum was when I was visiting Washington, D.C. Each Smithsonian houses a tremendous amount of objects and information and in order to have a good experience and maximize your visit you need to have a clear understanding of what the museum offers. For example, in the Museum of American History there are sections devoted to certain time periods so that if you are interested in the Civil War you can visit a section that gives more information and exhibits for that particular era in American history. This gives the visitor more power over what they view and how much they view in a museum. This is especially important when a museum hold such an immense amount of objects or covers an long period of time in history. I think that a clear layout and thoughtful grouping of objects adds to the quality of a museum because it gives the people the power to learn as much as they want and get the most out of their visit. Since this particular museum was very large maps were extremely important because it gets you to and from any exhibit in the building. This also helps to maximize the amount of time you spend at a museum and can increase the experience that a person has. The layout and grouping of objects is also important in smaller museums because if there is no sense of order or continuity within a museum or gallery the visitors can become confused as to what they should take away from an exhibit. Having a clear understanding of the pieces in a museum and providing an easy to navigate layout makes visiting a museum more effective.

Contextual approach to understanding

Before the 20^th century museums experienced a lot of growth and were influenced by the public as well as technology. Cabinets of curiosities were the beginning of museums because they were collections of oddities from society and other cultures. Originally, museum collections were grouped into objects that were similar. Typically the greatest distinction between objects was natural and artificial (97). As technology increased more groups were created to distinguish objects from one another. Over time collections were broken up chronologically which made museums more of a learning experience for visitors (100). The problem with these approaches was that the materials weren’t connected to the outside world and the world was considered universal and encyclopedic (100).

The contextual approach was created because people wanted to appreciate the connection between the material in museums and the community that they came from. Instead of seeing the world as an “overarching system” a contextual approach makes the world about different communities (110). As popular culture became more important the interaction and meaning behind artifacts also became important. By understanding how communities relate to and interact with their objects museums enhance the learning experience of the patrons and give new meaning to the objects.

I think that the contextual approach is likely to be found in museums today because of the view of museums as a learning experience. Art museums are probably the most difficult to approach with a contextual view because people generally go to admire the art and giving a background on the time period or community from which it came can be distracting. However, by breaking paintings into different time periods and providing optional reading or headphones for audio people can decide whether or not they want to learn more about the context. In history museums it is especially important to provide context because without background on the time period or the event it is difficult to fully understand the objects that you view. Overall I think that the contextual approach was important for museums to adopt because it places objects within a community, allowing for more understanding.

Writing 2: Way of Seeing

Museums influence my way of seeing because by having context to what I am viewing I can heighten my understanding of the objects that I view. Museums have the ability to influence the way that I view an object by the structure and detail that the object is given. For example, if I go to an art exhibit I might see paintings without a name or description that are lined up right next to each other. If a museum is structured in this way it allows me to casually walk around and view the paintings, but after a while this becomes tiresome because I don’t understand what I’m seeing. However, if paintings are given the right amount of space and some description of the artist and time period I take more time with each piece that I’m particularly interested in which enhances my experience. The reason that I enjoy going to a museum that displays art or other objects in this way is that it allows me to learn and helps give meaning to the object that I’m viewing. Another way that museums shape the way I see is by sub-dividing the objects within the museum, allowing for more understanding of the artifacts as a whole. Since the museums that I have visited are broken up into different time periods or themes I have a more comprehensive view of the objects that I see or interact with. In this way, museums shape my way of seeing because I can have more of a choice in what I view. In Washington, D.C. a Smithsonian may be dedicated only to American History, but because there are so many subgroups within American History it’s important to be able to have objects broken up into coherent groups. Museums shape the way that I see because by creating exhibits that give context to artifacts and group them in a particular way I learn more about the museum and the objects that it holds.