Abstract
The Illinois State Museum’s permanent exhibit, ‘At Home in the Heartland’, has aged poorly since its opening to the public in the Fall of 1992. Many of the exhibit labels feature outdated designs and tell a Eurocentric narrative, presenting the domestic lives of White Americans as the norm. This creates a problematic narrative, one that excludes the lived experiences of the diverse array of people who have called this land their home. This paper proposes an interventionist approach, that replaces one of the outdated exhibits with one that presents a collection of domestic objects and associated narratives, collaboratively sourced from the significant Mexican-American community of Illinois. Taking a similar design approach to the newly installed exhibit, June’s Room, this proposal uses digital exhibit designs at allows underrepresented communities to express the value of these objects in their own words.
Presenters
William OswaldParaprofessional Educator, Software, Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, Ohio, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Museum Transformations: Pathways to Community Engagement
KEYWORDS
Museum, Exhibit Design, Community Outreach, Illinois, Mexican-American, Underrepresentation, Shared Authority
