Collaborative History: Editing Mayham

The fist Knox Church, ca. 1910

I've recently been working on an editing project that has me simultaneously enthralled and going a bit squirrely.  The project is a church history that highlights a congregation's journey from 1862 to 2012.  As you might have guessed, the impious for this project is that 2012 marks the 150th anniversary of the Church's founding. 

Prior to this project beginning, a basic history of the church has been created for the Church's centennial celebration.  So how did the congregation proceed? A heritage committee was established and numerous congregation members were assigned parts to research and write.  The current minister (who has been at the church since 1994) also undertook writing a substantial part of the more recent history.

Knox Church, 2010.

I think it's great that the history is being written at all.  The history of a 150 year old congregation is a huge project and one which often doesn't get undertaken unless there is a congregation member who is very passionate about it.  There are multiple building changes, a fire, and many community accomplishments to be looked at in the Church's history.

However, editing a lengthy document that was written by between 5-10 people (all of who feel their information is crucial to the history) has been a learning experience.  Initially it felt as though I was handed drafts of ideas, snippets of previously written histories, paragraphs about church groups, and a pile of photographs.  After finding my way through all the material, I've managed to force things into a bit more of a coherent story line.  I'm now starting to look at more formal copy editing and eventually layout. 

I'm looking forward to this project's continued development and eventual publication.  It's a huge milestone for the Church and this history has the potential to be something that future congregations look back upon.

Unique User Groups and Heritage Organizations

The users groups of heritage organizations vary greatly from organization to organization.  People who frequent a university archive, a children's museum, and a local history corner at a public library typically have very different needs.  Providing quality programming depends on heritage institutions knowing their users and gearing specific programming to different types of users. 

One of the unique user groups I've been thinking a lot about recently is visitors from outside of Canada.  This group of patrons contains a variety of users but in my case the group is made up of academics from foreign universities, tourists, and international students.

Visiting academics from afar are often undertaking directed research and may require assistance in making the most of their time in the area. Conversely, tourists and international students often know little about the institution or local history.  Tours and basic public programming should be expanded to explain the significance of the heritage held by your institution.  You may also need to incorporate some broader Canadian or regional history into your tour for the information to make sense.

For example, a group of international students receiving a historic site tour of a former residential school may have little understanding of colonialism in Canada.  It would make sense for the tour introduction to include an explanation of the residential school system, the factors that contributed to the creation of such a system, and a general overview of Settler-First Nation relations.  It is also crucial that staff are using language appropriate to the group - using Canadian-ism and jargon isn't going to be helpful to most international visitors.

Thoughtful planning and tailoring tours to specific groups help enhance visitor experiences.  Feedback from visitors and experimenting with different formats can help you decide what outreach methods work best.

What types of targeted user group programming does your institution offer?

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon

Listen Up: Public History the Audio Way

On weekly basis I spend an excessive amount of time in a car (over 10 hours a week).  One of the few upsides of this car time is my listening to talk radio, podcasts, and audio books. Some of the great public history oriented listening material I've taken in lately includes:

• In Their Shoes on CBC's Ideas program.  This particular Ideas episode focuses on Katherine Govier's ESL work with immigrant women, and her work on the Shoe Project.   The Shoe Project is a  Bata Shoe Museum exhibit focuses on the shoes that brought immigrants to Canada.
• NPR's Fresh Air interview with Craig Timberg.  Timberg is the co-author of the book Tinderbox: How The West Fueled The AIDS Epidemic"  The interview examines the history of AIDS, the impact of colonialism and AIDS in Africa,and recent trends in preventative programs.
• A recent interview on CBC's Spark with David McCandless, which focuses on information design.  The interview provides an interesting look at big data and data visualization.
• Library and Archives Canada recently announced a new podcast series, "Discover Library and Archives Canada: Your History, Your Documentary Heritage." The first podcast in the series focuses on Project Naming, an initiative to identify persons in photographs of Canada's North.

Narrowing Down Your Reading List

A cup of tea, a comfortable chair, and a good book makes for a great afternoon in my mind.  Given my self proclaimed bookworm status, I seem to have a never ending "To Read" list.  I'm no longer in school and other my own desire to keep up with professional literature there is no one telling me what to read.  How do you prioritize all the books, journal articles, and other material you want to read?

Some of the things I do to manage my reading backlog:

• I switch back and forth between fiction and non-fiction reading.  This help me to balance academic reading and pleasure reading. 
• I've started to alternate print media and e-books.  My thoroughly enjoying my Kobo, but still like to use the local library for print media. 
• I've picked a couple of journals which I read each issue of (or at minimum browse).  My personal picks are The American Archivist, The Public Historian, and Archivaria.   I also read Canada's History Magazine on a routine basis.  
• When I see an interesting article or become interested in a specific topic, I try to read that material relatively soon.  I know my personal habits - if I don't read it within a day or two is bound to end up permanently sitting unread and bookmarked. 
• Reading lit reviews, recommendations of colleagues and friends helps weed out thing that might not be such a great read. 
• I use Good Reads to keep track of what I've read and what I want to read in the future. 

How do you prioritize your reading material?

Photo credit: Wonderlane

Culturally Sensitive Heritage: A Case for Health Support

Many heritage institutions broach topics and themes that have the potential to be emotionally difficult for visitors.  The holocaust, wars, slavery, residential schools, and numerous other topics are addressed by heritage organizations across the world.  Physical displays, archival records, and digital material all have the potential to be triggering - especially if the topic being addressed is emotionally sensitive or has a personal connection to patrons.

How do heritage organizations broach collections that contain material which may be considered triggering?  Careful consideration should be put into displays, contextual information, and the general presentation of material.  Ideally organizations will have established policies for handling this type of material and include members from the impacted community in the design process to provide guidance.

In addition to careful display planning many heritage institutions which deal with sensitive material have health support on staff.  Health support workers can have a variety of training, but typically they have some experience in social work or mental health counseling.  Health support can be invaluable for patrons who are triggered by material in a heritage institution.

Even organizations which cannot afford to hire a health support person full-time should look into providing all their front line staff with basic health awareness training.  This training should touch on possible triggers, how to identify people who have been triggered, techniques for approaching and talking to someone who is emotionally triggered, and coping skills for dealing with sensitive information.

Heritage institutions are gateways to the past.  It is crucial that staff are aware that this gateway can open up to memories which are not always pleasant.  History needs to approached respectfully and patron care is essential to respectful presentation of the past. 

Architecture and Heritage Institutions

Resnick Pavilion

Architecture and design can have a huge impact on how a space is used.  This is true in family homes, libraries, art galleries, museums, and buildings of all shapes and sizes.  How space is configured, materials used, the amount of natural light, and numerous other factors impact how visitors perceive a heritage institution.  Architectural features can also enhance or limit display and gallery space.


Architype Review has recently published issues which focus on architecture in libraries, art museums, and performing arts centres.  The architecture featured in these issues varies greatly; some is very modern and innovative while other featured buildings are very simplistic and classical in style.  In addition to providing great images of each structure Architype Review provides descriptive details on the space and its construction.

Some of my favourite featured heritage institutions in Artchitype Review include:

•   The Safe Haven Library in Thailand.  This library is part of the Safe Haven Orphanage and was built in 2009 using local materials and labour. The structure is fairly simplistic but the building was designed to meet the specific needs to the library.  A great timelapse video which shoes the construction of the library and be seen here.
• The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  The

  

  Wild Beast Music Pavilion
  

  Pavilion is a single-story, 45,000 square foot structure, and is currently the largest purpose-built, naturally lit, open-plan museum space in the world.  The fact that the space is naturally lit and relies upon open space is a very unique feature in the museum world.  
• The Wild Beast Pavilion in Valencia, CA is a unique recital hall and outdoor performance space.  The space is multipurpose and is used for instruction, enclosed concert space, and open air recital space.  The numerous functions of the space combined with the visually pleasing design is what appealed to me about this particular design.

What are your favourite heritage institutions with unique architecture?