Museum diorama getting too old?

[elmira64]

Remove it for some giant storyboard with little on it. They seem all the rage these days...........

A lot of space is wasted on these giant "indoctrination walls". A significant amount of artifacts, displays, etc. could take the place of this foolishness. The diorama in question may not be up to the standards of some, but at least it is a visualization of something. Some of the artwork or information on these walls is not entirely accurate either.

 

[Story]

I suspect the staff wants to remove it since its not historically accurate. Museums should be in the business of informing, not misinforming. I dont mind a well done diorama to bring a moment to life, but its got to be accurate or it has no place in a museum. Then its just a neat toy.

Then have a plan to offer a better more-funner substitute so there's no vacuum, is what I'm advocating.

 

[Story]

Kids all have cell phones: maybe a recorded description with sound effects to give them a 2 minute version of what they´re looking at that they can dial into? Are there other depictions of combat in the museum? If so, you could develop interpretation around the theme of different ways to depict combat in media, from the woodcut to the painting to the diorama to the digital age...

Slapping a video of how a wargame played out up on Youtube is now a thing. Our boy Garry Adelman hosted a RevWar event that was backed by our champions AMERICAN BATTLEFIELD TRUST.

So run a wargame as a featured event, leave the figures in place at the end of the game and put up the salad bar snot barriers "until next time" with a QR Code link to "see what you missed on Youtube".

 

[Kurtlg]

The issues are that the diorama needs some TLC and that some of the staff thinks the children spend too much time looking at it. I get it that school groups are important to the museum and that there are lots of logistics involved. Ultimately they have to get them loaded back on the buses on time. However others probably enjoy the diorama as well. It's been several years since I was at the museum but even then it was obvious the diorama needed some work. There are also room constraints to consider. If some one wanted to donate additional dioramas I imagine there would be lots of red tape involved and no guarantee that they would be displayed. I hope there is a way to keep the diorama because something that attracts the attention of children these days should be considered an asset , not a burden.

 

[Texas Yank]

I'm a fan of dioramas and this one looks pretty good to me. One nit-picky comment though.... I sure would not want to be that cannon.

 

[DixieRifles]

If it is meant to portray a specific action, I would guess Petersburg.

I recall from my trip to Petersburg in the 1960's, there was a full-size display of a soldier who manned a cannon by himself. There were details about who, when and where tis took place.
Maybe that explains the 1 man gun crew in the diorama.

 

[major bill]

A few months back they closed the Civil War gallery to update it. After 30 years of being the same I wondered what they would do. Basicly they repaced some artifacts such as the two Custer flags (probably to protect them from light and further damage). Some long winded word plaques were repaced with large photos. The large drawing of a slave in chains was replaced by a photo of a USCT. They also cleaned inside the cases and replaced faded description signs.I believed the diorama would be removed, but it was left in place. The staff must have thought that in the end the diorama was acceptable.

In my opinion the Civil War\abolitionists room did not flow well. It showed artifacts, photos, and word signs, but it did not "tell" a story in a linear way. I did discuss this a couple of times with the Museum staff, but they are the ones with Master Degrees and Doctorates in museum science. I thought they might go the large story board route, but they went with less words and more photos. I am not sure of the budget they had in place to update the Civil War\abolitionist room. The State moved the over sight of the State History Museum from Parks and Recreation commitee to Natural Resources commitee and it appears the Natural Resources committee is much more generous with funding.

 

[2nd Dragoon]

It has stars and bars which is the reason that the staff want it removed.... Bring in more dioramas

 

[major bill]

It has stars and bars which is the reason that the staff want it removed.... Bring in more dioramas

Many school children believe the Confederates are British because of the "British" flags. Some kids see the US flags and believe the Confederates are German soldiers. I am not that sure I should correct their misconceptions. Typical questions are "Did the Americans win?" or "Why are the Americans fighting the British?" Not sure how I should answer these types of qurstions. "Yes the Americans won." Seems like a safe answer. "They are Confederate solders not German soldiers." Often leaves the kid standing there with a puzzled look on their face.

 

[Kurtlg]

Many school children believe the Confederates are British because of the "British" flags. Some kids see the US flags and believe the Confederates are German soldiers. I am not that sure I should correct their misconceptions. Typical questions are "Did the Americans win?" or "Why are the Americans fighting the British?" Not sure how I should answer these types of qurstions. "Yes the Americans won." Seems like a safe answer. "They are Confederate solders not German soldiers." Often leaves the kid standing there with a puzzled look on their face.

That is pretty sad.

 

[major bill]

That is pretty sad.

I am supposed to asking leading question to get the children to think. "Why do YOU think the Americans are fighting the British?" But this answer seems so very wrong. "The Americans are fighting Confederates." often leave a child confued. With 10 to 15 fourth graders spend one to three minutes learning about both the Civil War and the abolitionists movement in Michigan, I often have more questions than I can answer in one to three minutes. "Is that a real artillery bullet?" "Are those real pistols?" "Why is there a Devil's pitchfork in the display case?"

 

[Harms88]

There's a billion things you can remove from museums but dioramas shouldn't unless they're completely inaccurate.

We have a tiny military history museum the next city over that will create dioramas using just regular plastic soldiers because they know it's visually appealing and kids love them.

Dioramas also get people to ask questions.
At Little Big Horn, my sister as a 10 year old asked who Custer was in their diorama they had of the Last Stand.

 

[121st PA Vols]

I suspect the staff wants to remove it since its not historically accurate. Museums should be in the business of informing, not misinforming. I dont mind a well done diorama to bring a moment to life, but its got to be accurate or it has no place in a museum. Then its just a neat toy.

The popularity of diorama's to me and visitors I've known is they offer a glimpse, a visual awakening and stimulus to many, especially the young about the topic. I never thought they set out to be absolutely accurate as Philippeaux did in painting Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.

If they strove for absolute accuracy at for example the battlefield at Gettysburg, they'd have to move more than a few monuments and even remove a couple that weren't at the battle but found their way onto the field.

** Check out The Gettysburg Heritage Center's diorama that has been there since I was a kid on Steinwehr Ave. If nothing else, it has sparked a lot of interest over the years.

 

[rebel brit]

A great looking Diorama that's in need of a little T.L.C and good to hear it hasn't been removed.
You've already had lots of good suggestions and advice, but for what it's worth here's an idea.
You could contact the Michigan Toy Soldier Company at https://www.michtoy.com/ . Perhaps they may be interested in sprucing it up a little maybe adding a few modern figures, scenery etc, better still adding several small vignette's. It could then be used as a showcase for their Company.

 

[Library Lady]

I like @rebel brit 's idea. Companies are always looking for naming rights or product placement in return for cash or services.

 

[archieclement]

I am supposed to asking leading question to get the children to think. "Why do YOU think the Americans are fighting the British?" But this answer seems so very wrong. "The Americans are fighting Confederates." often leave a child confued. With 10 to 15 fourth graders spend one to three minutes learning about both the Civil War and the abolitionists movement in Michigan, I often have more questions than I can answer in one to three minutes. "Is that a real artillery bullet?" "Are those real pistols?" "Why is there a Devil's pitchfork in the display case?"

Museums have botched the abolishionist and UGR story rather completely, it would likely confuse them to present an accurate account.

 

[R. Porter]

I like @rebel brit 's idea. Companies are always looking for naming rights or product placement in return for cash or services.

You beat me to it!

If the museum is a 501c3 organization companies could write off donations on their taxes. While they wouldn't be paying for advertising, it would be expected that they would get credit for their donations by having their name displayed and their logo too. The museum should have a department devoted to soliciting donations; there are all kinds of fund raising strategies and planning tools on the Internet. Taking a page from the war game example above you could produce short features to show in the museum or on local public media on the research and construction involved in producing a diorama for the museum. The subjects of the dioramas don't have to be restricted to the Civil War; they could be from all periods of history and focus on state and local events. That way everyone could see how something is chosen to be represented in a diorama; what scale and materials will be used; what artifacts will be selected to tie in with the diorama and how they were acquired in the past (maybe suggesting to museum goers that they might donate heirlooms one day) or how they were obtained for the diorama. You could even obtain reproduction items for both kids and adults to handle and try on (why should kids have all the "toys" and all the fun? A purist might complain that a museum is not a playground but the fastest way to lose your past is to make it so boring that no one wats to visit it or to make it taboo so that no one can ever discuss it.

Those in charge of these message boards don't want you to drag any controversial modern or current events or opinions into our discussions, but we do just that. We dress them up in funny old clothes and give them old fashioned tools and appliances and we argue over what they do and the morality of it. It gives some a way to better understand where they came from, why and how. Others might have a way to discuss politics and religion without offending one another. Some learn how different people see things differently and some learn what good old fashioned common might look like. There are so many things you can get from history but you won't get anything if you're not involved in history.

I'll get off my soap box. I don't remember many museums taking this approach so maybe very few people see things this way.

 

[Old Soldier]

Why not just put it in a corner? It will stop people 'gathering around'.

 

[GMSorrel]

How many folks remember these awesome maps from Bruce Catton's American Heritage Pictorial History of the Civil War?? I got this book as a young teen and I'll say these maps did as much as anything to create a 40+ year passion for studying the CW. Many others have commented on how these maps changed their life, lol.

To me, these particular maps are just printed dioramas if you will. They draw younger folks in to where they can visualize the actual event. They can understand this much more than printed lines or printed text. So much more detail (even if not 100% accurate) than can be shown or told otherwise in a matter of minutes.

 

[BuckPvt]

The question isn't really "What to do with this diorama?" It's "What is this diorama doing?"

How does the diorama tie into the rest of the museum? Is it supporting other existing interpretation? Is its purpose to grab kids' attention? Are there other solutions that better accomplish the intended use? The last one is important to ask if it's gotten to the point that time and money has to be sunk into it (which from the sounds of it, it has).

I'm of the opinion that history museums are some of the worst offenders when it comes to keeping up to what engages society. If you go to other types of museums (aerospace, science centers, natural history, etc.) and they do a much better job at keeping up with effective interpretation. A lot of Civil War museums would look very familiar to visitors during the centennial 60 years ago. And I'd bet when those centennial museums were going up people were arguing that when they visited the battlefields 60 years ago in 1900 they took a good book on the topic and used the war department markers and those worked great for learning. Times change, audiences change.

Tilden's "Interpreting our Heritage" actually briefly mentions that. Battlefields were originally laid out for the veterans. A lot of interpretation wasn't required because you didn't need to tell a veteran of the Wheatfield what combat was like in the Wheatfield. So as the 20th century went on and the visitors changed more from veterans to general public, different methods were required for interpretation. Although written in the 50's an using a type of writing somewhat obtuse today, it's still a good read for its six basic principles of interpretation:

1. Any interpretation that does not somehow relate what is being displayed or described to something within the personality or experience of the visitor will be sterile.
2. Information, as such, is not Interpretation. Interpretation is revelation based upon information. But they are entirely different things. However all interpretation includes information.
3. Interpretation is an art, which combines many arts, whether the materials presented are scientific, historical or architectural. Any art is in some degree teachable.
4. The chief aim of Interpretation is not instruction, but provocation.
5. Interpretation should aim to present a whole rather than a part, and must address itself to the whole man rather than any phase.
6. Interpretation addressed to children (say up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the presentation to adults, but should follow a fundamentally different approach. To be at its best it will require a separate program.

Personally, I don't find dioramas all that engaging to children anymore. When they are, it's usually because everything else is even less engaging to them. Go to a natural history museum, many still use those miniature dioramas of what life was like when the dinosaurs still roamed. But you'll find kids largely tend to skip by the dioramas because the newer methods of interpretation in the exhibits tend to provoke kids much better.

I know they're fighting words here, but it was the same with the electric map at Gettysburg. Its time was passed and there were better ways to convey the same information to modern audiences.