Public History and Community Outreach

Mike Wallace's Mickey Mouse History has proven to be a rather pointed book so far. He has as many opinions as the Smithsonian has artifacts, but regardless of everything else he has brought up, one point that we agree on is that museums should have some sort of positive impact in their communities. Wallace argues that in urban centers they should perform some sort of community-revitalizing function and he offers a few examples of museums that have just that. One example he provided was the San Diego Historical Society's extra role as a community center in its poor, crime-ridden neighborhood. Wallace isn't alone in this thinking. For those in the Museums class, Ambrose and Paine's Museum Basics also note the power of museums to cause economic and cultural regeneration in their immediate locations.

This, in conjunction with Wallace's discussion on exhibits about poverty and homelessness, got me brainstorming about my own design of socially active museum-community center hybrid. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank (an organization designed to empower the rural poor by offering micro-loans), said in his 2006 Nobel Prize acceptance speech (available here) that in the future he wanted a world where "the only place you would be able to see poverty is in the poverty museums." However, I think there's plenty of opportunity for museums to help fight poverty by putting it in their museums now. Exhibits exploring the causes, past attempts at helping, and prompting the audience to think of their own solutions could help raise awareness, for example.

I thought of an idea as well for an actual "poverty museum," as Yunus said. I do realize that it is a highly impractical idea and would depend very much on a local focus and collaboration with many social welfare organizations, but here it is:

The museum would have exhibits explaining poverty and homelessness, connecting local trends to national ones where applicable. It would explain how certain areas came to be slums, what has been done to help or harm, etc. The language used would need to be careful to put blame where it's due without alienating any group that could be part of the solution. Oral histories could be gathered from those willing (with possible incentives discussed below) to share how they came to be poor, whether by birth, lay offs, drug abuse, etc. and displayed. The dining area could be themed like a soup kitchen (and double as one on occasion).

Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Perhaps attached to the museum or nearby could be some housing for a renewal program designed to help those stricken with poverty/homelessness get back on their feet and into the job market, similar to the Over-the-Rhine Community Housing in Cincinnati (info. here). The program would be voluntary to join but require certain actions, sessions, evaluations, etc. to be taken to ensure that progress is being made. It would attempt to foster a spirit of community as well. Perhaps often one's oral history could count as a good faith "entry fee" to the program, and perhaps some residents could be trained as temporary museum guides who could offer first-hand accounts and receive some pay while seeking long-term employment. The guide idea could be used even without the community housing.

Again, this is probably incredibly impractical--the legal issues might stop it if the economics were doable. Still, the merger of museum and community outreach is a powerful concept that should not be overlooked.