A video that may interest museum junction folks came out of the Material Culture Caucus session at this year's American Studies Association. Twenty Years, Twenty Questions to Ask an Object suggests ways to engage students or visitors with various objects, including a scrapbook, which I introduced. http://www.artbabble.org/video/chipstone/twenty-years-twenty-questions-ask-object Estelle Chung from The Hillwood Museum brought a delightful object that spoke to the history of that museum; Catherine Whalen of the Bard Grad Center brought a tantalizing vessel (I'm not giving away what it was!), while Sarah Carter brought bags of Fritos. (Sarah's fabulous online series of videos/classes on material culture and history, Tangible Things, with Laurel Thatcher, are on the EdEx site.)
I wonder if people on this list have introduced objects to visitors or classes in similar ways, how you've done it, and what the results have been?
best,
Ellen
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Ellen Garvey PhD
Professor
New Jersey City University
Author:
Writing with Scissors: American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance -------------------------------------------