Can You Hear Me Now?Connecting to Visitors through Real Stories of

Artifacts and Place

Developed with funding from:

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INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE

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© Copyright 2012 by the American Association for State and Local History. All rights reserved.

AASLH encourages the use of this curriculum by museum service providers, consultants, and others who present training to historical societies, historic houses, and other organizations. While permission to use and adapt the curriculum for education and training purposes is not necessary, we do require credit to AASLH and its StEPs program, including the AASLH website address, whether the user’s work is in print, electronic, or spoken format.

About the American Association for About the American Association for State and Local HistoryState and Local HistoryThe American Association for State and Local History is the only national association dedicated to the people and organizations that practice state and local history in order to make the past more meaningful to all Americans. From its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee, AASLH provides a variety of programs and services, as well as leadership in the national arena. AASLH’s members are American leaders in preserving, researching, and interpreting traces of the past to connect the people, thoughts, and events of yesterday with the creative memories and abiding concerns of people, communities, and our nation today. History organizations are foremost education institutions, and they excel in creating the enlightened, engaged citizenry that the founders envisioned.

AASLH AASLH 1717 Church Street 1717 Church Street

Nashville, TN 37201-2991Nashville, TN 37201-2991

Tel 615.320.3203Tel 615.320.3203

www.aaslh.orgwww.aaslh.org

Can You Hear Me Now? Connecting to Visitors Through Real Stories of Artifacts and Place

A 6.5-hour curriculum for use in workshops for paid and unpaid staff of small- and mid-sized museums, historic houses, historical

societies, and other history organizations

Project Personnel Curriculum Developer: Sarah Pharaon

Curricula Series Manager: Linda Norris, Consultant

Evaluation: Conny Graft, Consultant

Project Director, Cherie Cook, AASLH

Curriculum Advisory Committee Patricia Miller, Illinois Heritage Association,

chair Myers Brown, Tennessee Historical Society Brian Crockett, Consultant Jeff Harris, Indiana Historical Society Laura Ketcham, Federation of North Carolina

Historical Societies Kyle McKoy, Arizona Historical Society Steven Stearns, National Guard Bureau

Special thanks to Andy Verhoff and the Ohio Historical Society for piloting the curriculum.

Course Outline Can You Hear Me Now? Connecting to Visitors Through Real Stories of Artifacts and Place

SUMMARY This workshop helps participants understand how to find and tell real, compelling stories, how to address difficult issues within their community, and how to present stories to make their history organization more relevant to visitors and their community.

TARGET AUDIENCE Paid and unpaid staff with responsibility for interaction with visitors and audiences including board members, directors, educators, interpreters, marketing and development staff, and exhibit developers will find this workshop helpful.

StEPs STANDARDS AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

This workshop curriculum supports the following standards and performance indicators from the AASLH StEPs program (www.aaslh.org/steps):

Section Three: Interpretation (INT) Standard 6: “The institution uses techniques,

technologies, and methods appropriate to its educational goals, content, audiences and resources.”

Standard 7: “The institution presents accurate and appropriate content for each of its audiences.”

Standard 8: “The institution demonstrates consistent high quality in its interpretive activities.”

Basic Level Performance Indicators The institution uses more than one interpretive technique

to present and explore a topic. (INT 6A) The institution offers a variety of programs and

exhibitions that appeal to different ages and interests. (INT 7A)

Good Level Performance Indicators The institution offers different levels of information for

audiences of different ages and abilities. (INT 6A) Exhibits and programs offer choices so that visitors and

audiences can learn from the presentation methods they prefer. (INT 6A)

The institution develops different programs and exhibitions that suit different learning styles. (INT 7A)

Public programming staff and volunteers receive training that addresses presentation techniques and content, and educational theory and practice. (INT 7A)

Better Level Performance Indicators Presentation techniques take advantage of the

institution’s resources (e.g., volunteers, staff, budget, facilities, equipment, space, etc.). (INT 6A)

The institution offers a variety of exhibitions and programs to engage audiences and foster meaningful debate and the free exchange of ideas. (INT 6A)

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It regularly tests and refines innovative presentation techniques for its exhibitions and programs based on its interpretive plan. (INT 6A)

The institution establishes learning, emotional, and behavioral objectives for exhibitions and programs. (INT 7A)

The institution involves its audience, community, staff, and volunteers in the development, evaluation, and reshaping of its major programs and exhibitions. (INT 7A)

Interpretation links exhibition and program topics to the community’s current issues and concerns. (INT 7A)

The institution tests innovative program, interpretation, and exhibition methods and strategies to engage new audiences. (INT 7A)

OUTCOMES After completing the workshop, participants will have gained an understanding of the benefits to using stories within museum interpretation, learned the basic elements of good storytelling, and examined methods by which stories might be better incorporated into their institution’s interpretation.

WORKSHOP LENGTH This workshop is designed to be presented as a 6.5-hour session in a single day.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED 1. LCD projector and computer for PowerPoint slides

2. Audio speakers connected to the computer (or other media player) for audience to hear podcast recordings embedded in the PowerPoint slides

3. Flip chart, easel, and markers4. Internet connection

WORKSHOP LOGISTICS Room SetupMeeting rooms often have seating arranged in rows with a podium or table in the front of the room. This type of setup is the least favorable for adult learners. It encourages passive behavior and makes it very difficult for people to engage in dialogue.

Your workshop will be much more successful if you arrange for one large conference table (for small groups) or with a U-shaped configuration of tables and chairs with participants facing each other and the instructor up front (works particularly well with groups of less than 20); small groupings of round tables with 4 to 8 people per table works for larger groups.

FacilitiesTo increase engagement and participation, answer logistical questions at the beginning of the workshop. It’s possible that many of the workshop participants have not been in the facility before. Explain the location of restrooms, fire exits and procedures, and room security during breaks. These are issues that may distract people if they are not taken care of at the beginning of the day. Once people feel their basic needs have been acknowledged, they are free to give you their full attention.

ScheduleAdult learners like to know right up front what is planned for the day. Spend two to three minutes at the beginning of the

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workshop reviewing the agenda including approximate times for breaks and lunch. Again, once people feel their basic needs have been acknowledged, they are more apt to give their full attention to the workshop which means both they and you will have a more successful learning experience.

Adjusting workshop activities to the size, interests, and needs of your group is another great way to create a successful learning experience. For example, depending on the size of the group and the degree to which people engage in dialogue, it may be necessary to adjust the schedule as you go. Plan ahead which activities you could delete if time runs short.

ADULT LEARNING PRINCIPLES Adults have a different learning process than children. Typically, adults like to have “voice and choice” about their experiences and they like to have some control over the learning process.

The research on adult learning suggests that retention of learning is a key challenge for mature learners. Adults remember only 10% of what they read and 50% of what they see and hear. But they retain around 70% of what they say themselves and about 90% of what they do. This gives you some good hints about how to structure your sessions. To ensure a successful workshop, give participants plenty of opportunity to make comments, share experiences, ask questions, and when possible, engage in activities where they are doing hands-on tasks that relate to the workshop topic.

Learning StylesParticipants will have a variety of learning styles so it’s very important to present your information via several modes including visual, thinking, discussion, and hands-on activities.

Visual Learners – Vsual learners may say things like, “I see,” “Show me,” or “I need to read the instructions myself.” Visual learners benefit from overheads, handouts, graphics, websites, and readings. The room setup is important to visual learners. They need to see what is happening, as well as who is talking.

Oral Learners – Oral learners are likely to say things like, “I understand what you are saying” or “This sounds great.” They need to hear discussion and express their questions, thoughts, and conclusions out loud. They may seem to be distracted, offering little eye contact when in fact they are often taking notes and working through what is being said.

Kinesthetic Learners – You can lose kinesthetic learners if you do not have enough breaks and activities. They prefer actively interacting with people and objects to support their learning.

Managing Challenging ParticipantsOne of the most challenging aspects of training or group facilitation is effectively handling difficult group members. Here are a few typical behaviors along with suggestions to help you deal with each. These situations will require your best communication and facilitation skills.

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The Non-Participant – Engage these people by calling the person by name, directing an easy, non-threatening question to them, or responding to negative body language by asking if there is something they are unclear about or not complete with. Check in with them on breaks to see what’s going on.

The Monopolizer – This person attempts to control groups by talking, interrupting, and answering all of your questions. If you do not get this person under control you will lose the others’ attention and interest. Summarize the monopolizer’s comments quickly and move on. Use hand signals and body language to recognize others. Interrupt if this person’s behavior continues. Ask for input from those who have not been heard from.

The Challenger – Generalize. Remind the group that there is no “one way” but that you are providing information on proven practices and solutions. Cite sources when appropriate. Use “I”statements such as “I recommend.”

The Inquisitor – Generalize. State that there may be many answers. Invite others to express opinions. Remind the group that facilitators are not experts. Ask for input from others in the group.

The Distracter – You may encounter a person who is intent on distracting others during the workshop. Side jokes, talking while you are presenting, and pulling you and others off focus are typical behaviors. Remind people that others are very interested in getting as much out of the course as possible and refer to the time schedule as a way of bringing them back. Sometimes simply standing silent and waiting for them to stop has a big affect.

The Wanderer (going off on tangents) – Ask if you may put this topic on an issues list that the group will come back to, if time permits. Return to the scheduled topic. You might also suggest that participants who would like to continue this discussion can do so during a break or over lunch.

MATERIALS Participants should bring: Instruct registrants to bring an image of an object from

their institution’s collection to the workshop. If the object is currently on exhibit, registrants should also bring the object’s label text. If they cannot access a museum collection, they should bring either a photo of an object of personal significance or the object itself from their home.

Instructor should bring:1. Print-outs of images from museum collections. A great

source is the Smithsonian, http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/index.cfm. Bring one image for each participant.

2. Post-it notes (need about 5x the number of participants)3. Copies of the following workshop handouts for all

participants: Handout A – Object Biographies Exercise

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Handout B – Object Biographies Model/Lower East Side Tenement Museum

Handout C – Object-Based Community Planning Model/Heart and Souls Community Planning

Handouts D1, D2 and D3 - Alternative Labeling Project/Hull House Museum

Handout E – Bibliography

INSTRUCTOR PREPARATION Instructors are encouraged to adapt the curriculum to meet their audience’s needs by adding activities, examples from local organizations, additional handouts, etc. They may want to also add their organization’s logo to workshop handouts and other materials. The PowerPoint slides were created using PowerPoint version 2007. Instructors are advised to carefully check the slides for any image or text shifts or other changes that may have occurred when the file was downloaded to their computer. By using these curriculum materials, instructors agree to credit AASLH and StEPs during the workshop. Instructors may want to consult the following materials as part of their preparation for teaching the workshop:

Fisher, M., et al., “The Art of Storytelling: Enriching Art Museum Exhibits and Education through Visitor Narratives,” in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2008: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. Published March 31, 2008. Consulted August 19, 2011. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/fisher/fisher.html

MN 150—Minnesota Historical Society collected nominations from state residents about the 150 key people and objects of state history. http://www.mnhs.org/exhibits/mn150/about.htm

Montgomery Connections. For more information www.montgomeryhistory.org (then click on Montgomery Connections).

The Odditoreum in Australia offers creative examples of object biographies written by visitors. http://www.freshandnew.org/2009/07/fictitious-narratives-visitor-made-labels-the-odditoreum/

Rose, Julia. “Interpreting Difficult Knowledge.” Technical Leaflet 255. Nashville: AASLH, 2011. Available via download in AASLH Bookstore at www.aaslh.org. Note to instructors: AASLH grants you permission to photocopy and distribute copies of this technical bulletin to workshop participants.

Wing Luke Museum’s Community-based Exhibition Modelhttp://www.wingluke.org/pages/process/modelbackground.html

http://www.themoth.org

http://heartandsoulstories.pbwiki.com/ and http://www.orton.org/who/heart_soul

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http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/

EVALUATION This curriculum was developed by AASLH with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. AASLH needs your help in gathering data for grant reporting requirements and to make sure this curriculum meets project outcomes. AASLH may ask you to complete a brief, online survey about your experience using this curriculum. Please complete the survey at your earliest convenience after presenting the workshop.

You may also receive a request to collect your workshop participants’ email addresses so that AASLH can send them a link to a brief online survey. The purpose of the participant survey is to evaluate the curriculum, not the instructor’s performance. There are no questions that ask when or where the person participated in a workshop or who the instructor was. If you are asked to include your workshop participants in the survey, AASLH will request that you provide it with your participants’ email addresses. AASLH will then send them a link to the online survey. Also, be assured that AASLH will not use instructors’ or participants’ email addresses for any purpose other than to send a link to the one-time survey. AASLH is willing to share the survey questions and all survey results with workshop instructors and service organizations.

Instructors and their organizations or agencies may want to distribute their own survey to workshop participants at the conclusion of the workshop.

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Workshop Curriculum

Upon arrival, confirm that computer audio speakers (or other media player) are working for the embedded podcast.

30 minutes Welcome, Introductions, and the StEPs ProgramIntroduce yourself and thank host institution. Ask participants to briefly introduce themselves, the site/museum they are representing today and a favorite story from their youth. In order to encourage attendees to mention the story by name rather than actually telling the story, you should model a response. Go first, introducing yourself and mentioning a story you enjoyed, e.g., “Cinderella,” Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” or “When my grandfather used to tell me about working in the coal mines.”

Next, direct participants to the flip chart and explain that throughout the workshop you will be using the flipchart as a “parking lot.” Explain that if participants have questions that might be answered more comprehensively at another point in the day or at the end of the workshop, you’ll add them to the parking lot to remind you to revisit the question/topic later.

Review location of restrooms and give estimated times for breaks and lunch.

Slides 1- 13 The American Association for State and Local History developed this workshop as part of its StEPs program. StEPs is a self-study program for small- and mid-sized history organizations. The program uses assessment questions and performance indicators to help theseorganizations learn more about museum operations and rate their policies and practices in terms of how well they are meeting national museum standards.

AASLH developed StEPs with help from more than 130 volunteers from across the country. It was piloted at 47 sites located in 14 states from Maine to Alaska, California to Maryland, and Mississippi to Minnesota (plus Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont). The pilots included all-volunteer organizations, historic houses, privatenonprofits, government-affiliated sites, and tribal sites.

StEPs is the perfect entry level program for organizations that do not feel ready for other assessment programs like AAM’s Museum

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Assessment (MAP) or Accreditation programs. With StEPs, the history museum community now has a set of specific recommendations for what an organization needs to be doing in order to meet national standards. The recommendations are divided into three levels (Basic, Good, and Better) which allows for incremental improvement.

Many of the recommendations StEPs presents can be achieved without large sums of money. New or revised policies and practices, such as drafting a collections management policy or training people in

proper collections housekeeping, require more time than money. StEPs rewards an organization’s progress with certificates each time it reports back to AASLH that it has achieved Basic, Good, or Better performance indicators in a section of the program. This is a great way for an organization to highlight its accomplishments and be rewarded for its work. Each participating organization is eligible for a total of 18 certificates (6 sections multiplied by 3 certificate levels – Bronze, Silver, and Gold). Organizations interested in learning more about the StEPs program can go online to www.aaslh.org/steps.

30 minutes Why and How do Museums Tell Stories?

Slide 14 Explain to participants that the ability to tell stories is a core aspect of history and memory work which, if integrated effectively, can breathe life into collections and tour content by connecting past and present and capturing human emotion

Slide 15 Plan for the Day Why we are here? What will we learn today? Our goals for today are:

1. Review the benefits of using stories within museum interpretation—exhibits, tours and programs

2. Learn the basic elements of good storytelling, and 3. Examine methods by which stories might be better incorporated into

museum interpretation.

There will be opportunities for your active participation, as we’ll be completing exercises in small groups, engaging in large group discussion and taking time for personal reflection.

Slide 16 What is a Story?

Review the definition of story and storytelling as described by the National Storytelling Association. Stories are narrative accounts of an event or events. We use stories to pass on accumulated wisdom, beliefs, and values. Stories explain how things are, why they are, and their role and

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Stories are the foundation of memory and learning. Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present, and

future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions.

Ask for volunteers to read each of the bullet points out loud, replacing “stories” with “museums.” Do the definitions work as well?

Slide 17 Why Should Museums Tell Stories?Make a list with the group on the flip chart about why museums should tell stories; make sure the ideas below are covered.

Integrating stories into museum interpretation makes sense.

Intrinsic: Humans are natural storytellers; making sense of ourselves and the world around us through narrative.

Accessible: Narrative is also how most visitors make sense of history

Relevancy: Stories have a point of view and support personal interpretation and multiple perspectives

Long-term impact: While initially less informational, stories are more likely to be remembered by visitors

Is there any reason why museums should not tell stories?

Slide 18 Garrison Keillor Quote

Give participants a moment to read through a quote from one of America’s most well-known storytellers (quoted in National Geographic Magazine, December 2000).

Keillor’s quote spotlights one of the most compelling arguments for the use of story within museum interpretation – relevancy. When people hear stories and imagine themselves within them, they open themselves to the possibility that the history of a site, an object or a long dead ancestor is relevant to their lives today.

Slide 19 Storytelling is, by its nature, personal, interpretive, and uniquely human. Storytelling passes on the essence of who we are. Stories are a prime vehicle for assessing and interpreting events, experiences, and concepts from minor moments of daily life to the grand nature of the human condition. It is an intrinsic and basic form of human communication. More than any other form of communication, the telling of stories is an integral and essential part of the human experience.

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10 minutes Break

30 minutes The Logistics of Telling a Good Story

Slide 20 Explain to the participants that though we all tell stories at dinner parties and to our co-workers, some people do it better than others. Often how the story is told is as important as the story itself. Tell the group that you’d like them to listen to a clip from The Moth. Based in New York City, the Moth stages professional storytelling events, leads community and school-based trainings, and invites the public to submit the stories of their life on line. Their only stipulation is that all stories must be “true.” Play the audio clip for participants by clicking on the link within the PowerPoint. Tell the participants that the clip is approximately 12-13 minutes long. Dim lights if necessary.

Facilitate a brief discussion (15 minutes) with the full group about the clip. Ask for a show of hands in answer to the question, “Was this an effective story?” Using the flip chart, ask the group to identify what “worked” about the story. If necessary, prompt them further with follow-up questions such as: What elements of the story made it great? What did the storyteller do well? When the participants have finished, briefly summarize the list you have developed as a group.

Slide 21 Tips for Telling a Good StoryExplain that many of the “building blocks of a good story” that they have identified are reflected in the guidance offered by some of the world’s best storytellers. Review the following tips for telling a good story with participants.

Slide 22 Show, don’t tell. The use of action, imagery, and dialogue add color to a story. Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. In other words, show, don’t tell. The visitor must experience the events and emotions through your words.

Slide 23 Keep it simple. The brain gets overwhelmed when trying to process too much information. Beware of tangents: if something goes too far astray, you will probably lose your audience’s attention.

Slide 24 Remain aware of your audience. Direct interaction between the teller and audience is an essential element of the

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storytelling experience. An audience responds to the teller’s words and actions.

Slide 25 Be flexible. A strong storyteller uses the generally non-verbal feedback of visitors to immediately adjust the tones, wording, and pace of the story to better meet the needs of the audience.

Slide 26 Prepare. Before attempting to tell a story, write it down and read it out loud. This will help you identify the nuances in the story and whether the words are really what you’d like them to be.

Ask the group if there are any questions.

45 minutes Object-based Storytelling

Slide 27 Explain to the group that the stories they tell in their interpretation can be drawn from numerous sources, including the lives of people who lived through a historical event, the architecture of a site, the thoughts and opinions of community members who visit the museum and the objects that make up its collections. Moving forward in our day, we’ll work with various techniques you can implement to mine the stories of your museum.

Storytelling helps people read objects as cultural artifacts by giving them meaning, purpose and context. We’re going to work through an activity developed by the education team at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City. The purpose of the exercise was to help Tenement Museum educators explore objects that had long gone without interpretation within the historic apartments at the Museum.

In the Tenement Museum model, educators were asked to sit in silent reflection in the museum galleries, considering an object that they never discussed on their tours or that visitors often asked about. For our purposes today, we’ll be working with the images or objects that you’ve brought with you to the workshop today.

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EXERCISE ONE: Object Biographies Goal: Participants will understand that stories are “artifact” and that storytelling enables audiences to “read” objects as cultural artifacts by giving them meaning, purpose and context.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Images of collections objects (use those brought by instructor)Handouts A and B

PROCEDURE: Distribute Handout A only and one object image to each participant. Explain that they will be given ten minutes to carefully consider the object and write s its story on the worksheet that you have provided. Emphasize for the group that this activity is meant to be conducted in silence. (10 minutes)

Instructor serves as timer for the activity. When five minutes remain in the reflection period, inform participants they will regroup in five minutes.

Divide participants into small groups of five or less. Time a minute and ask participants to listen to the contour of one minute. Ask participants to think about how in this timeframe they will tell the story of this object. (5 minutes)

You again serve as timer. One by one, with no discussion between tellers, participants will tell their stories to their small groups. When a minute has passed, inform the groups to switch speakers. Repeat until everyone has had an opportunity to tell their story. (5 minutes)

Once all stories have been shared, lead a discussion with the full group: 1. What moments did you find striking during the exercise? What do you

remember most vividly? Why? What did you notice about the stories? 2. What do you notice about yourself as a storyteller? As a listener?

What is the effect of the stories on how you viewed another participant’s artifact? Your artifact?

Distribute Handout B. When this activity was evaluated at the Tenement Museum, educators indicated that having reflection time in the galleries was invaluable to them as they rarely have the opportunity to truly examine the historic spaces around them. They also indicated that the opportunity to write creatively about an object freed them to think beyond the tour script about how objects came to be in the space, why they were important, and how families used them.

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The results of this activity were shared with the curatorial team, who were able to provide educators with more information on the objects that educators expressed interest in thereby strengthening the museum’s training materials. [The Museum also shared the results with historians and scholars, who, through an NEH Planning Grant, wrote brief historical essays of the objects that educators selected, and in some cases were brought to the Museum to lead an educator training exercise and public program.]

Slide 28 Another example of object biographies is from the Pitt Rivers Museum in England. Here’s a brief sample of one biography from their website—others were written by scholars and students.

Slide 29 MN 150—Minnesota Historical Society collected nominations from state residents about the 150 key people and objects of state history.For more info: http://www.mnhs.org/exhibits/mn150/about.htm

Slide 30 And another example of visitor-created object biographies in a creative way is the Odditoreum from Australia. For more infohttp://www.freshandnew.org/2009/07/fictitious-narratives-visitor-made-labels-the-odditoreum/

Explain to participants that object-based storytelling also provides a strong opportunity for strengthening an institution’s interpretation through the introduction of multiple perspectives. One way that some museums, like the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, have used this technique is through the use of community-based story circles.

20 minutes One Framework for Compelling Stories

Slide 31 Throughout today, we’ll be talking about many different ways to tell stories and great stories can be humorous, sad, terrifying or enjoyable—but they should be always compelling.

One mechanism museums across the globe have begun to use to lay the groundwork in working with their communities to tell difficult stories was developed in 2000 by the United Nations Truth and Reconciliation Committee. For five years, the committee had worked to identify the underlying reasons behind events that occurred in Bosnia and during South African apartheid. Known as the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Committee), the Committee published a hefty report of its findings. Amongst the pages is a useful tool in telling difficult stories. The report proposed a new definition for the word “truth” and presented four types of truth.

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Slide 32 The Four Truths

Forensic Truth. What happened to whom, where, when, and how, and who was involved.

This is often the truth that museums live in. Typically, we feel most comfortable in providing the historical facts that surround an event.This is often where curators and collections teams are most comfortable.

Personal or Narrative Truth. Truth of personal recollection and memory. In the words of the TRC, “Memories of pain, however flawed with forgetting, indelibly scar the victims of unjust suffering…Personal stories are not the whole of truth, but they are integral to the truth that leads to new justice.”

This encompasses most of what we’ve been talking about today -personal memories and stories. It’s important to remember that this truth centers on the idea that all people in a community have stories, and that all stories have equal value. In large museums, it’s often the educators, interpreters and some curators who are charged with presenting this truth. In smaller museums, this can be volunteers who work on exhibits, with school groups, and with the general public.

The next two are a bit trickier, but they are vital to the practice of telling difficult stories.

Social Truth. Once TRC member defined this as “The truth of experience that is established through interaction, discussion and debate.” Simply put, when a number of stories of a given society are told publicly, together they form a “social” truth, or more aptly put, a “societal” truth.

This is where museums have a real opportunity. Most of what makes difficult stories so challenging for museums to tell is that most of us live in our personal truths. But as community institutions, museums and historic sites have a unique opportunity to be places where our visitors can interact, discuss, debate and assemble the larger social truth of difficult issues.

Reconciliatory Truth. Also called “Public Truth” is the exposing of the past events in order to raise a public awareness and to elicit a “never again” position toward such atrocity resulting in a “healed” society.

Of course, not all difficult stories can be characterized as atrocities, but the idea of incorporating Reconciliatory Truth into a museum’s efforts

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can be vital in explaining to funders, board members and members of the community why it might be important to tell difficult stories and the important role that museums can play in raising public awareness of the past, examining the present and shaping a more just future.

We’ll come back to these ideas and how you might use this approach in your community. But a large part of thinking about this framework is thinking about the idea of multiple perspectives—that there is not one single truth.

30 minutes This may be a good stopping place for a lunch break. 45 minutes EXERCISE TWO: Engaging Multiple Perspectives

Slide 33 This next exercise has been modified from tools developed for use in Heart and Soul Community Planning, a technique which uses storytelling to help communities tell their shared history, explore their lived experience, and heal divisive pasts.

Goal: Participants will understand that telling the story of an object, site or community involves purposeful planning and the involvement of multiple stakeholders. Participants will understand that storytelling is the integration of fact, opinion and experience and that every story can be told from multiple perspectives.

MATERIALS NEEDED: Images or objects of personal significance (that participants brought with them)Post-it notesHandout C

PROCEDURE: Divide participants into groups no larger than five. If the room arrangement allows, it is useful for groups to be seated at small tables or to move chairs into circles of five chairs each.

Ask the groups to place the images and objects in the center of the circle. Group members may look at them, but they may not discuss them.

Each person takes one Post-it note for each object. Ask everyone to write down a word or phrase on each note in response to each object. Tell the group that responses might address how the object makes a participant feel, what it brings to mind for them, or how the object intersects with their own personal story. (10 minutes)

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Within each small group, the participants should select one of the five objects and its related sticky notes. They should stick the completed notes to a nearby wall or sheet of paper, and look for similarities and differences. (10 minutes)

Invite the groups to reassemble as one large group. Facilitate a discussion about the experience. Did the thoughts provided by others complicate the story of the object for the participant who brought it? How might this activity be useful as a tool for program development? For exhibition development? For members of communities that aninstitution works or wishes to work with? (15 minutes) Distribute HANDOUT C that participants can use as a printed reference to the exercise just completed. They can take the handout home and perhaps do the same activity at their museum. Highlight the last section of the handout that asks some interesting questions:

How might these stories be most effectively shared? Using what media?

In silent reflection, write the important message of an individual community story or the collective community story. Add five critical details to include. Sketch out the beginning line, the middle line and the final line.

As a group, map the stories literally, on a map of the town and figuratively--how they relate to one another, talk to one another, and talk to and for the community.

Whose stories are not included in the picture we have created? Who are the keepers of these stories in our community?

Take a few minutes for participant questions. (10 minutes)

Slide 34 Multiple Perspectives examplesMontgomery Connections. For more information www.montgomeryhistory.org (then click on Montgomery Connections)

Slide 35 Anoka County Historical Society, Vietnam exhibit

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45 minutes Stories: Everyone Has One

Slide 36 Ask the group to share questions that are commonly asked of visitors at their museum or historical organization.

According to the National Storytelling Association, storytelling is, by design, a co-creative process. Storytelling audiences do not passively receive a story from the teller, as a viewer receives and records the content of a television program or motion picture. Listeners create these images based on the performer’s telling and on their own experiences and beliefs. In a museum, educators and exhibit developers can use this through the development of open-ended questions.

Slide 37 What is an Open-ended Question?

An open-ended question has no right or wrong answer because itasks for opinion, belief, or knowledge based on personal experience. Asking open-ended questions literally opens the door to conversations with our visitors because it requires no prior knowledge of museum content or subject matter in order to answer the question or be part of the conversation.

The simple truth of the matter is that everyone has a story. When an institution strengthens the way in which it tells stories, visitors to the site will may respond with a desire to share their personal stories, thereby enriching and often complicating the larger narrative of a site.

For an educator or docent focused on giving an information-packed hour-long tour in only an hour, the visitor who wants to share his or her story with the group can be challenging. But it is important to remember that in effective storytelling, listening to the stories of others is as tell stories.

Slide 38 The Role of Questions in a Story-based Interpretive Approach

Educators and docents who use storytelling technique recognize that open-ended questions play a role in engaging visitors in the two-way process of storytelling because they:

1. Invite visitors to share opinions, thoughts, and feelings; 2. Encourage participation; 3. Establish rapport between educator and visitor as well as

between visitors;4. Stimulate discussion amongst the group; 5. Maintain a balance of authority between educator and visitor.

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Slide 39 Types of Questions

Slide 40 Fact-based vs. Open-ended Questions

Ask participants if they notice anything similar about the open-ended questions. Make sure to point out the intentional use of “you” in all of them. Also, point out that the open-ended questions are not restrained by time or based in a visitor’s knowledge of history. They are intentionally phrased to emphasize the connectedness of the human experience and are written so that all visitors might envision their response today.

Slide 41 Re-framing Questions

As a group, make a list of questions typically asked of visitors. Ask the group to suggest ways to rewrite any of their questions that were not open-ended into an open-ended format. If there’s time, brainstorm additional open-ended questions.

Slide 42-43 Best Practices in Open-ended Questions and Story Sharing

When you begin a tour, tell visitors that the tour will be a conversation between the educator and the visitors. Explain “we’re going to think about this history together,” and that the tour will be a cooperative process.

Ask people why they are visiting today and relate their answers to the history of the site in an effort to get people to make connections between past and present.

Balance presenting information with asking questions. A good rule of thumb is one question per space or tour stop

Be supportive of any comments people make especially the first comment, because it sets the tone for the entire tour.

If someone says something that is tangential or off-topic, acknowledge the comment politely and graciously, and then bring the discussion back to the main topic.

Only ask questions about the topics that you really want visitors to be grappling with. Don’t ask too many questions about less significant issues.

Build up to the most difficult questions. Start with the questions that are less challenging (questions about personal experience) and move to those that are more challenging (questions about values and beliefs.)

10 minutes Break 30 minutes Labels and Storytelling at Hull House Museum

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Slide 44 We discussed earlier that stories are one way by which humans construct their understanding of the world around them. Thus far in the workshop, we’ve talked about the use of story predominantly in the oral tradition – how an educator or interpreter might create and tell the story. However, many of you likely come from sites that do not utilize guides and/or also give visitors the option of a self-guided experience.

An interesting model for strengthening the use of story at sites without the use of guides or interpreters was developed at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago. Called the Alternative Labeling Project, the initiative works to redefine the stories the site tells through its object labels.

Pass out HANDOUTS D1, D2, AND D3. Explain to participants that these handouts contain language that the staff at Hull House has used in explaining their goals for the Alternative Labeling Project.

At Hull-House, most of the individuals and groups asked to write new labels were artists, including Luis Rodriguez, a Chicano writer and the International Contemporary Ensemble, a music ensemble. The staff does not remove the existing exhibit labels, but rather adds simple handouts containing the new label and explaining the project. Visitors are invited to take a copy of the alternative label with them if they’d like (for example, visitors can take Luis Rodriquez’ poem home with them).

Slide 45 PAIRED DISCUSSION. Instruct participants to pair up and read over the examples on the D1, D2 AND D3. Ask them to spend 5 minutes in conversation with each other exploring the following questions: Who, besides the staff of the institution, might have a story to tell

about items in the collection? Whose story is your institution not telling? Who in your community might be the keeper of that story?

After 5 minutes, invite participants back to the full group. In the remaining time, ask for volunteers to share their thoughts from the discussion.

Slide 46 Here are two additional examples of alternative labeling. The first isfrom Harvard Natural History Museum.

Slide 47 The second is from the Ballantine House, Newark Museum.

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45 minutes The Hairy Part: Telling the Difficult Stories

Slide 48 We’ve spent our day examining the basics of good storytelling and outlining different methods by which you can begin cultivating and adding stories into your institution’s interpretation. More than likely, as we’ve talked there’s been a few institutional stories rattling about in your head, most notably the one that you fear telling. It may resemble one of the following: We have a Ku Klux Klan robe in storage that we’ve never exhibited. Our local newspapers are full of articles about new state laws

surrounding undocumented immigration. I wonder what they would think about the immigration history of [insert name of local historical figure here]?

I’d love to tell the story of the Newark, New Jersey Riots, but our visitors have such different memories of the events; inevitably we’d make someone really angry.

Slide 49 If you are having trouble thinking of a difficult story for your institution, try brainstorming the following questions:

[Insert board member or funder name here] would be very nervous about us addressing that part of our community’s history.

If I suggested an exhibit about???? to other staff, volunteers or board members, they would worry that we’d lose patrons

The most divisive issue in my community today is????

Remind the group that at their heart, history and heritage are inherently contested. It’s a central terrain on which people work out issues they are dealing with in the present. Unfortunately, heritage and museum practice is

still grappling with how to deal with conflict. For the most part, we’ve approached interpreting conflict as a problem to be managed.

Ask if anyone has an example of a site that interprets difficult history.

Explain to the group that museums and heritage sites have unique resources to help people deal with conflict: perspective of the past; human connection; and their ability to serve as a trusted space for engagement across difference.

Slides 50-51 Generally, difficult stories are difficult because they are either: emotional recent contested any combination of the above three

As examples, an emotional topic might be the treatment of enslaved people on a Virginia plantation; a recent difficult topic is Hurricane

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Katrina (though that could certainly be considered emotional as well); a contested topic - the U.S. - Dakota War of 1862.

Slide 52 SILENT REFLECTION: Ask participants to spend a few minutes in silent reflection considering the following:

What is the “difficult story” of their institution? What makes it “difficult”? Who might care about the way that this story is told? What benefit could the institution gain by telling it?

LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION: Ask for volunteers to briefly share their story and resulting thoughts with the group. Invite participants to respond and identify if the stories are emotional, recent, contested or some combination of the three. (10 minutes)

Museums interested in telling difficult stories often struggle with two key challenges:

explaining to the public why it might be necessary to share and discuss a difficult story, and

getting past “our personal story” of the history we want to tell or rather our need as historians and educators for there to be empirical fact.

One of the common recommendations for museum staff to discuss emotionally challenging or contested histories is for staff to utilize

techniques that emphasize multiple perspectives. Some of the techniques we reviewed today like the use of open-ended questions and community labeling, will serve you well in handling difficult stories at your institutions.

20 minutes Revisit the Parking Lot, Q&A, and Wrap Up

Slide 53 Explain that it’s time to wrap up today’s workshop.

Distribute Handout E which is a bibliography of resources that participants can consult. Revisit the “parking lot” on the flip chart that you set up at the start of the day to make sure all initial questions have been addressed. Ask for any final comments or questions.

Ask the group what they would like to do in terms of storytelling when they return to their organizations.

Adjourn.

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