Abstract
SINCE 1971, the program for Humanities Projects in Museums and Historical Organizations within the Division of Public Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has funded interpretive exhibitions related to many humanities disciplines, with most projects emphasizing history, anthropology, and art history. The intellectual and affective power, significance, and scholarly and public educational value of exhibitions is a fundamental subject that we consider with each application. Personally, I have found the popular and scholarly debate touched off by The West as America a positive and constructive exchange about the potential-and limitations-of the exhibition medium. This piece will not focus on The West as America. Rather, I will address some of the broader issues raised by that exhibition in the context of our program and through specific examples of supported projects. These issues, like exhibitions themselves, are complicated and multi-layered; they are currently under intense public and professional scrutiny. Responses and approaches to these issues have historically varied according to the type of museum: history, art, and anthropology museums have evolved different presentational strategies, based on their own institutional pasts, collections, missions, and personnel. All exhibitions raise questions of content, design, and presentation. At the NEH, our first question is: Is this project based on sound humanities scholarship? What is the thesis of the show, and is it informed by appropriate primary and secondary sources, such as texts, documents, works of art, historical or ethnographic artifacts, or oral histories? How are the research and sources tapped and analyzed to elucidate an intellectual framework for an exhibition that will be meaningful to a public audience?
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call