Why Historical Preservation?

Knowing where we come from is important in knowing where to go. In the modern age, we constantly push the emphasis on progress and innovation, and while these things are good, it pushes the past to the past. So, it is vital that places that hold value, such as preservation and historical education, are not just intact, but thriving. Over 60 percent of the National Park Service is devoted to historical and cultural sites, teaching and enriching us on our past, and shaping our present and future. The main issue that these sites face is deterioration. This can be from a lack of funding or even a natural disaster. However, the main cause of deterioration is miscommunication. Miscommunication between administrators, contractors, and historians causes historical sites to remain stagnant. How can design help foster communication within the realm of Indiana historic site preservation? When historic sites are thriving, it revitalizes communities, informs the public, and amplifies culture.

why me?

On a personal level, it comes down to the love I have for these places. I have visited so many historical sites over my travels through the 50 states, and have met and seen the conditions some of these sites are left in. I see the passion that historical home workers have and I hope to make their lives less complicated. The sacrifices that these people take to keep history relevant is awe-inspiring. Beyond this aspect, I hope to make an impact with them that does not revolve around funding. Communication is a more measurable result with more realistic solutions than something open-ended like a funding campaign would have.

RESEARCH:

The methods I used when trying to find out about the problems facing the historical preservation community.

Survey

I sent out a survey to a good portion of museum homes in the Indianapolis and Marion areas to investigate the wants and needs that these people have. The survey was originally based around communication, but the open-ended questions were focused on whatever issues needed to be solved. I discovered that most of the museums didn’t face renovation issues, but rather needed to take the next step. I found that if there was no communication in the community, it was site to site, not from the preservation institutions to museum homes. This was due to museum homes seeing one another as competitors, rather than possible partners.

Interviews

I sat down and talked with those who provided the most thorough survey answers that were willing to do follow-up interviews over the phone. The main thing I wanted to get out of these interviews was more specifics of what challenges were being faced in the community. I asked about their daily lives, what they do that is unique in the museum home community, and what historic preservation meant for them. Each house museum has its own unique story to tell, and have attempted to help spread that story in a special way. The way they attempt this might not have resulted in the way they would, so they needed help in that department.

synthesis

Through conducting interviews and surveys I found that, while on a national level, museum homes and preservation sites are poorly maintained and funded, the ones in Indiana are staying well preserved. Indiana historical sites are thriving due to contributions from organizations like Indiana Landmarks, the nation’s largest statewide preservation organization, and national organizations such as the AASLH. Contrary to the national level, the communication between these preservation organizations in Indiana is strong except that most museum homes do not talk to one another. This realization led me to question what it looked like when a museum home thrived, instead of focusing on how to make a museum home survive. To find out, I had to look at what makes a museum home successful and what the implications of having one mean for the surrounding area.

thriving history:

Asking what a community with a successful museum home looks like.

Re-Evaluation

After re-evaluating my question, I started to consider what my perception of a museum was. Most people see museums as an attraction or a place to visit, rather than what they have the potential to be, which is a place to inhabit. As cities and towns progress to become more connected through places like parks and libraries, these places have been transformed into locations where you can find people gathering around and engaging with one another. I believe that museum homes have the opportunity to occupy the same space as that. Tying a museum home to a community is possible because it does 3 things:

Creates a Rallying Call

Communities have icons and symbols that become a part of and define a city, which can range from local sports teams or an up and coming business. But it should be in a city’s best interest to tie that pride to something that helped build it in the first place. The main reason for this is the rallying call it creates. Knowing your roots helps create a way to see the future. Seeing a place that has been thriving for a long time shows that a town is in the right place, and if the example of that is a site that has been around since the beginning, it shows that the deep roots of the town culture.

Keeps Stories at the Forefront

Most towns and cities in some aspects might have troubled pasts. We tend to look away from these stories. In an age where empathy is becoming more of a cultural norm, it is important that we face and tell these stories head-on. The question we should be asking isn’t whether or not we tell them, but rather how we tell them.

Brings new People to the Area

When a site offers new and different programming, it brings excitement to the community. But creating new, alternate ideas offers the possibility for outside foot traffic to be brought in, simply by standing out from the competition. Instead of tours, what if house museums offered experiences and opportunities that show the past in a way that involves the community in the present and the future while bringing in communities from the surrounding areas?

results:

A book of adaptive programming that aims to inspire and intertwine with community.

The Book

I created a book of programming ideas for museum homes to help them think of ways to interact with the community. These ideas are drawn from other museum homes, as well as libraries and event spaces. The main reason I created a book to give as a resource was due to the lack of talk between museum homes that I found during my research. The goal of this book is to be inspiring while being pragmatic, offering real solutions that can be adapted to the museum home. Some of the ideas act as events, while others can act as permanent installations. This guide will focus on what ideas can be, while simultaneously giving advice and tips on how to build them. It is broken into three main sections.

Breaking The Walls

Most of the time we focus on what we can do inside, within our own borders, and with what we have, but there are opportunities and partnerships that are available in the world around us. Breaking outside the walls gets the museum’s name out, showing that we have created unique ways to explain stories, and show the values we have gained from the past.

Empowering Within

These are ways to alter the current programming from within each museum. The goal is to find new demographics to reach out to. Perhaps not offering just tours, but rather a set of experiences that people can visit again and again.

Thinking Outside The Box

This is vision casting, examples of ways other people have gone above and beyond and provided ways to tell stories that solely could be told by them. These won’t work at every site, but they will be enough to get the brain flowing as to what you could possibly do to break out and get involved in the community.

Creating Grades

To show effectiveness in the ideas and programming that I was creating, I desided to make a system that ranks the most important factors taken into account when planning events. The system covered the following categories:

Each of these was put on a scale of 1 to 10 by using examples of the successes and pitfalls of the event being implemented in real life. This was done to help get a more accurate idea for those wanting to pull off a piece of programming with no prior knowledge.

Exhibition

I showed my books at the Thirteen Thirteen Senior Exhibition, where I set up a wall and pedestal to display the books and my process. The conversations I had those two days were extremely impactful. They shared countless stories as to how local historical societies and museums engaged in their communities. The message of transforming museums into institutions that the area couldn’t live without further proved my point. At the same time, I heard sad stories of how some of these institutions closed down due to lack of foot traffic. One guy told me about when he worked at the Benjamin Harrison house in the ’80s, and when he left the home did not know how to bring inclusivity, not just rely on tours. He ended his story by talking about when he visited it again recently for the first time in 30+ years. He was met with a place that had integrated itself into the community, converting some spaces to create event venues, hosting unique programming ideas.

Reflection

Ultimately I am happy with the results, having landed on the idea of revitalizing community via history and preservation. This idea can be utilized in more ways than just programming, and there could be other ways that benefit towns and cities, such as civic pride and maybe patriotism. If I had to do this again, I would go in-depth with every single event and layout what resources and actions need to be in place to pull them off. This book was made to inspire. If I were to create a sequel, it would be to execute. Overall, I see that I have created the resource that I set out to create, and for that, I would consider this project a complete success.