How this project started
Museums and public history sites often mention the word story when talking about their history exhibitions. But when one looks closely there often seems to be little use of concrete narrative elements or complete story arcs. I wanted to bring my many years of experience teaching literature and narrative film to the table to see how I might help museums utilize storytelling elements more fully.
My co-visitor Chris Bettinger reads about Kenichi Horie's sailboat, The Mermaid, at the Maritime Museum.
How the research unfolded
A 2023 NEH Award allowed me to visit several history-based exhibitions at West Coast museums and public history sites, bringing along co-visitors to partner with me in conducting narrative-based analyses. After our visits, we discussed what we thought the big ideas of the exhibition were and how well each used storytelling elements in their labels and exhibition design to convey their message.
From the forms we completed after each visit and our post-visit dialogues, I composed in-depth story design-focused exhibition reviews. What I ended up discovering was that while there were some excellent examples of exhibitions using narrative elements to convey their message and engage visitors, the concept of story genres could be used to understand more fully why a certain exhibition was effective or how an exhibition might have conveyed its material more powerfully.
My co-visitor to the Wing Luke Museum, Yijing Tan, pauses to take a picture of the graphic novel panels that open the "Resisters" exhibition.
Where we’ve been
This map gives a sense of the variety of West Coast museums and public history sites that I visited during my year-long sabbatical. On the "Selected exhibitions" page, you can read full analyses of exhibitions that I felt offered either a compelling use of story or a constructive opportunity to embed story more effectively.
Lisa Manter, Story Design Specialist
I have been a professor of literature and film for over 25 years at Saint Mary’s College of California. While I have always been fascinated by museums, lately I have become focused on how my background in literature, film, and queer theory might be used to increase visitor engagement at both history and art museums. I have taught classes on writing in and about museums (“Art in its Place”) and visitor experience for young adults (“Experiencing the Museum” – co-taught with Dr. Susan Spero). The NEH-supported research that is used as the basis for this website also informs my most recent museum-focused course, “Public History and the Power of Storytelling." In addition to teaching, have offered two Western Museums Association pre-conference workshops: the first on “Camping the Museum,” with co-facilitator Paul Gabriel, on how to use camp aesthetics to help visitors have more fun at museums; the second called "Story Time!" with Paul Gabriel and Katherine Whitney on how to embed story into museum exhibition design.
Acknowledgements
Funding for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities through their Awards for Faculty at Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Saint Mary’s College of California, provided support for development of the English and Public History course that this website supports through a 2021 SOLA Dean Mini-Grant.
I wish to thank my colleagues in the History and English Departments for supporting me in the early stages of my project, particularly Dr. Aeleah Soine and Dr. Elena Songster. I am also grateful to Elizabeth Gallagher, Director of the Office of Research, for her sage advice in putting together my application.
A special thank you to Dr. Susan Spero, former director of the Museums Studies Program at JFK University. Without her encouragement, wisdom, and knowledge, this research project would not have been possible. I also want to thank Paul Gabriel, who started me on my museum journey by camping the museum with me and introducing me to so many inspirational people at the Western Museums Association Annual meetings.
Nilpa Jhaveri was instrumental in designing this website, and I am grateful for her thoughtful questions and guidance.
And last but not least, a heartfelt thank you to my partner, Rohan Talip, whose moral support has been invaluable.
Narrative transforms our experiences from “events that happened” to “events with meaning,” from information to knowledge, from chaos to order, and in the process, life becomes lived rather than endured. – Amelia Wong
Closing thoughts . . .
Bibliography
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Iaculis quis ornare nibh eget. Dui amet amet mattis enim. Sagittis purus facilisis enim amet quis congue tempor. Viverra at in diam et risus vel at quis. Ac nisl lacus ut integer.
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Iaculis quis ornare nibh eget. Dui amet amet mattis enim. Sagittis purus facilisis enim amet quis congue tempor. Viverra at in diam et risus vel at quis. Ac nisl lacus ut integer. Eros odio mattis est integer in posuere lorem.
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Iaculis quis ornare nibh eget. Dui amet amet mattis enim. Sagittis purus facilisis enim amet quis congue tempor. Viverra at in diam et risus vel at quis. Ac nisl lacus ut integer. Eros odio mattis est integer
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Iaculis quis ornare nibh eget. Dui amet amet mattis enim. Sagittis purus facilisis enim amet quis congue tempor. Viverra at in diam et risus vel at quis. Ac nisl lacus ut integer.
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Iaculis quis ornare nibh eget. Dui amet amet mattis enim. Sagittis purus facilisis enim amet quis congue tempor. Viverra at in diam et risus vel at quis. Ac nisl lacus ut integer.
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Iaculis quis ornare nibh eget. Dui amet amet mattis enim. Sagittis purus facilisis enim amet quis congue tempor. Viverra at in diam et risus vel at quis. Ac nisl lacus ut.