1. “The Educational Promise of Historical Museum Exhibits”
Article written by:
Brenda M. Trofanenko
Acadia University
In the Academic Journal:
Theory and Research in Social Education
Spring, 2010, Vol. 38, Number 2, pp
How many of you went to history museums as a child?
As a student with school?
I am certain this is why I became a history teacher.
My dad used to take us to ghost towns, glaciers, historical museums, and auctions.

2. Creating A Historical Narrative Activity
While listening to this song , your job as a museum curator is to:
1. Classify/group the objects you were given.
2. Order the objects to tell a brief narrative from Canadian history.
3. Create a label for the display.
4. Photograph it.
5. Select one person to share the narrative with the class.
(9) Interlude (3:40) DJ Spooky and Saul Williams
(13) Rivers of Dub - American Psychosis (Symptom One) (4:30) – Ads and Phone Conversations from the CD Adbusters “Live Without Dead Time” Asian Dub Foundation / Mista White / Adbusters
Copyright 2003.

3. Introduction
“Public history museums play a critical role in validating a nation’s history. The museum’s institutional strategies of object display are used to define a particular representation of past events…often without critical reflection on their broader educational impact. ”
Specific to history educators=
-national identity
-nationalism
-patriotism
“educators need to understand that these…institutions may not promote historical inquiry.”
“the museum’s historically determined educational intent remains nationalistic “
“national museums as an institution that educates citizenry while continuing to hold a ‘place of public trust in the public mind’ ”
Within this framework, this article examines the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History exhibit, “The Price for Freedom: Americans At War”, and I am not going to summarize that portion of the article, but have instead chosen to summarize Tufanenko’s criticism and offer questions that may help us guide our students to critically engage on a museum field trip.
“educators must shift the educational purpose of public museums so they can become places where our youth learn how to critically engage with the past”

4. Object based epistemology
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, scope, and limitations of knowledge. It deals with analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it relates to such notions as truth, belief and justification.
In the context of this article - it is concerned with the production of knowledge.
“the objects assume an object based epistemology; each is readily conceptualized and offers “a lesson at a glance, a confirmation of actual life as documented and preserved. The physical objects serve as the evidence upon which history depends for verification, and provide the authority for museums to tell of a past.” Trofanenko
Epistemology (from Greek ἐπιστήμη – epistēmē, "knowledge, science" + λόγος, "logos") or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.[1] It addresses the questions:
What is knowledge?
How is knowledge acquired?
What do people know?
How do we know what we know?
Much of the debate in this field has focused on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it relates to connected notions such as truth, belief, and justification. It also deals with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims.
From:

5. Elements of a Museum Display
Museum elements:
Physical exhibition space
Objects
Text panels
First person narratives
Short historical vignettes
“Traditional exhibition standards turn the displayed objects into something else [a narrative] – that which we call history”.
“these symbols define a singular identity within the plurality and diversity of its citizens … they should not be considered “a product of the past, but rather a response to the requirements of the present”
“objects presented I temporal 3D space organized around a timeline”
“neat chronology of events”
“All work together to instruct the public on what is to be learned from the exhibit.”

6. Trofanenko asserts:
1. “We need to know how to judge what is being presented as historical.” 2. “We need to engage in historical inquiry to understand the past on display.”
For more information about Historical Inquiry as a history teaching method:
-Goolge Historical Inquiry
-see the entry I made with the same title in the database, or
-for an animated explanation of HISTORICAL ENQUIRY please see:

7. Potential questions to ask students:
What is the story being told?
Why might they tell this story – at this time?
Describe the story from one display in your with one words.
Who is telling the story?
How are these objects “out of context”?
Are there alternative interpretations to this story?
What or who do you believe may be missing in the display?
Will the story change if we do not read the tags or we grouped the items differently?
How would it change?
How I would integrate into my teaching practice:
1. Pre-museum visit:
Read the museum description of the exhibit on-line, talk about material culture, talk about the curatorial choices and presentation of objects.
Review the relevant historical context and explain why we are going to this particular exhibit.
Prepare a treasure hunt exercise with critical questions.
Let some students draw, sketch or otherwise tell the story they have ‘perceived’ – their own interpretation of a portion of the exhibit.
2. At the museum:
Ask to meet with the curator after the students have gone through the show?
Have her/him explain to the students their purpose for the show and let the students ask them questions based on their own interpretations.
Group discussion of thoughts, interesting aspects, observations, interpretations, etc.

8. James Luna: Artifact Piece, 1985 -1987.
“I had long looked at representation of our peoples in museums and they all dwelled in the past. They were one—sided. We were simply objects among bones, bones among objects, and then signed and sealed with a date.” James Luna
I believe that contemporary art and artists are a great place for Social Studies teachers to seek concrete examples of people actively challenging the status quo and questioning traditional ways of thinking. This particular example relates to one of the main themes in this article.
James Luna often uses his body as a means to critique the objectification of Native American cultures in Western museum and cultural displays.  He dramatically calls attention to the exhibition of Native American peoples and Native American cultural objects in his Artifact Piece,   For the performance piece Luna donned a loincloth and lay motionless on a bed of sand in a glass museum exhibition case.  Luna remained on exhibit for several days, among the Kumeyaay exhibits at the Museum of Man in San Diego. 
Labels surrounding the artist's body identified his name and commented on the scars on his body, attributing them to "excessive drinking."  Two other cases in the exhibition contained Luna's personal documents and ceremonial items from the Luiseño reservation.
Through the performance piece Luna also called attention to a tendency in Western museum displays to present Native American cultures as extinct cultural forms. 
Quote from James Luna: The Artifact Piece, 1987,
“was a performance/installation that questioned American Indian presentation in museums-presentation that furthered stereotype, denied contemporary society and one that did not enable an Indian viewpoint.  The exhibit, through 'contemporary artifacts' of a Luiseño man, showed the similarities and differences in the cultures we live, and putting myself on view brought new meaning to 'artifact.' ”
From:Retrieved October 28, From:
Could you give an example of one of your pieces and how it deals with ethnic identity and perception? I had long looked at representation of our peoples in museums and they all dwelled in the past. They were one—sided. We were simply objects among bones, bones among objects, and then signed and sealed with a date. In that framework you really couldn't talk about joy, intelligence, humor, or anything that I know makes up our people.
In "The Artifact Piece" I became the Indian and lied in state as an exhibit along with my personal objects. That hit a nerve and spoke loud both in Indian country, the art world and the frontier of anthropology.
The installation took objects that were representational of a modern Indian, which happened to be me, collecting my memorabilia such as my degree, my divorce papers, photos, record albums, cassettes, college mementos. It told a story about a man who was in college in the 60s, but this man happened to be native, and that was the twist on it.
From:
James Luna: Artifact Piece,

9. Summary & Peer Evaluations
If you are interested in seeing the NMAH exhibit on-line: