Week 7: New Interpretations

            This week, several articles I read and a guest speaker in my museum studies class at University of the Arts caused me to consider the importance of interpretation in historic house museums. The staff of Glen Foerd is in the process of revamping their interpretation of the house—moving from an object-heavy guided tour to a more personal tour that places the home and those who once resided there into historical context. My main task as an intern is to research the domestic workers that the Foerderer and Tonner families once employed at Glen Foerd, specifically Arthur Laws. By the end of the semester I’m hoping I will have dug up enough information to create a tour that incorporates the formerly untold stories of the domestic staff.

            Dr. Jennifer Janofsky, the guest speaker in my University of the Arts class, spoke to us about her experience as Megan M. Giordano Fellow in Public History. The fellowship is sponsored by Rowan University in partnership with Gloucester County Parks and Recreation Department, and Dr. Janofsky is responsible for both teaching undergraduate courses in public history at Rowan and curating the James and Ann Whithall House in National Park, New Jersey. Janofsky discussed public history within the world of academia, advice on finding jobs, and specific challenges she encountered as the only (part-time) staff member at the Whithall House. Throughout her discussion, I felt like she was preachin’ to the choir (ie. me), and found myself nodding my head in agreement continually for her entire hour-long discussion.

            One specific issue Janofsky emphasized was the need for historic house museums—that have seen a steady decline in attendance over the past several decades—to become relevant again. One of her solutions for the Whithall House was similar to suggestions mentioned at the Small Museum Association Conference I attended in February—to pinpoint themes relevant throughout American history that the visitor can identify with. While conference attendees suggested freedom and immigration, Janofsky considered the universal themes of life and death. As many museum professionals point out, visitors often travel to historic sites to experience what they believe was a simpler time. Janofsky pointed out that life (literally giving birth) and death were far more connected in nineteenth century America than they are today. She planned an exhibit and tour featuring objects on loan from the Mütter Museum that discussed the hardships of, in many ways, the much less simple lives of the Whitall family. This idea appealed to me, and I will certainly be attending the exhibit: “From Midwifery to Yellow Fever: Life and Death at the Whitall House.”

            Several articles I read recently also addressed the idea of keeping house museums relevant through incorporating certain universal themes. I found Adam Steinberg’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Food: Using Food to Teach History at the Tenement Museum” particularly interesting. To my knowledge, the Tenement Museum has not experienced a pattern of decline of visitation like other house museums, but inventing a tour that uses food to discuss the lives of immigrants who once lived—and still live—on the Lower East Side seemed to be a wonderful and unique way to teach this particular history. Food history seems to be trending right now—Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia has historic foodways symposiums and hands-on historic cooking workshops on their calendar for March, 2013.

            Really considering universal themes identifiable throughout history is going to be an important step in revamping tours at Glen Foerd. I’m definitely making progress with research, and am now trying to consider the larger themes to apply to that information in order to create an interesting and relatable tour for visitors.