Exhibit Prep 101

                  For this blog entry, I would like to do something a little different by providing a behind-the-scenes look at some of the work we do here at the Museum.  Particularly, I would like to take you through the process of creating an original exhibit from scratch. As some of you may know, we have an exhibit hall for rotating exhibits which changes every couple of months. The majority of exhibits we present in the hall are original themes and ideas utilizing objects we already have in our archives and storage, put together by our staff with help from the board of directors.  The next exhibit we will be presenting is called “Behind Closed Doors”, and it showcases aspects of late-Victorian private life.  Using this exhibit as an example, I will take you through the process of creating an interesting and accessible original exhibit with just a small staff and limited resources.

                The first step in making any exhibit is coming up with an original idea. Usually this is done by a combination of the Board of Directors, the staff, and outside input.  We listen to feedback from our visitors, and the Board comes up with ideas.  The staff usually fine-tunes these ideas based on knowledge of our collection.  Our upcoming exhibit is based on an idea by a board member, with a bit more added to the scope to ensure that we have appropriate material in our collection to do the exhibit up to our standards.  Coming up with ideas for an exhibit can be very challenging. The material must be interesting to our audience, historically relevant, and possible to do.

                Usually an idea is fairly abstract, so the next step after having a general topic is to come up with several sub-topics to research that fit the main idea. For instance, when creating the Behind Closed Doors exhibit, we came up with hygiene, courtship and marriage, home remedies and medications, pregnancy, as well as undergarments as topics to research. Again, we picked these topics based on how interesting they were and how many objects we had that would suit them.

                The next step, arguably the most important, is to find a range of suitable objects and archival materials to use in the display. Because the Daly House Museum is relatively small compared to other museums, this step is somewhat easier for us.  The staff and board already have a large working knowledge of the major items in our collection, both on display and in storage.  However, by looking through our databases we always find something unexpected and interesting. We try to find enough items to fill the exhibit, but not so many that the room is crowded and difficult to navigate.  We also try to find objects that would be interesting to all possible audiences, from children to seniors to expert local historians.

                The objects we plan to display often require a lot of background research themselves. When the museum receives an object as a donation, we find out as much information as we can about the item from the donor and through research.  However, when we plan to put an item on display we want to make sure we have as much knowledge about that object and confirm that any existing information is correct. We therefore look into the origins and purposes of every object we plan to display in a new exhibit.  For this exhibit we used and researched various medications, cosmetics, courtship items, and types of commonly used underwear.

                Most people do not know that the Daly House Museum also has an extensive library, mostly containing books used locally in the early days of Brandon. These books provide excellent context for most of our exhibits, with a wealth of socio-cultural information about our topics.  For example, for the Behind Closed Doors exhibit we used medical books from the turn of the century as well as books of advice about manners and marriage.  These books are all primary sources; in other words, they were written and used during the period we are researching.

                One of the most difficult steps in the exhibit building process is deciding how to use and display our research.  Most people would find it boring if the exhibit room simply contained pages and pages of written information.  Therefore, after the research is complete, we carefully sift through the research to find the most important and interesting information.  Sometimes this information is presented in the form of write-ups.  Sometimes it is used as trivia or other interactive displays. Very often, to make it more interesting and accessible, the information is placed alongside an appropriate object which provides a visual representation of the textual facts.

                After the research has been organized, we start on one of the more fun steps in the process: design.  Each exhibit has a different mood or feeling to it.  Therefore, we try to use different fonts and colour schemes which properly portray the mood.  For this exhibit, we used fonts that appear formal and Victorian but also somewhat pretty and dramatic.  We typically use a fancy font for titles and banners, and a simpler font for all blocks of text.  A colour scheme is also a useful tool in creating a mood. For Behind Closed Doors, the colour scheme involves a deep magenta and earthy green.  We created curtains and accents in the room to match the magenta colour. As a consistent logo throughout written displays, we have a simple magenta corset.

                After the research and design portions of the exhibit preparation are done, it is time to start putting everything together. In order to keep the set-up process less hectic, we usually put together a digital floor plan ahead of time.  This floor plan can be vague or detailed depending on the requirements of a specific exhibit.  For Behind Closed Doors, the digital plan was somewhat more complicated because we had planned to make a bedroom scene, a bathroom scene, and a gallery area between the two.  A digital plan allowed us to see how much room we would have for everything; it also allowed us to see how things would look ahead of time so we wouldn’t have to move heavy or complicated items more than once.

                Before putting items on display, we usually have a certain amount of cleaning to do.  We need to clean both objects themselves that have been in storage and the space they are going to be displayed.  To prevent corrosion, we simply dust objects with a slightly damp cloth.  Clothing items are very gently ironed.  Extremely dusty heavy fabrics are lightly vacuumed so that visitors and staff are not exposed to allergens.  These steps are all important in the appearance and safety of any display.  Between exhibits, we also must clean floors, walls, and display cases.

                Another important step is finding a way to mount artifacts so that they can be seen without risking damage or theft.  However, because of the complexity of this topic, I will leave it for another blog post.

After preparation is complete, we proceed to collection all of the objects and supporting documentation needed and put up our exhibit.  We lay out the display cases, mount items on the walls, and place clothing on mannequins.  It is a complicated process that hopefully ends in an attractive and informative new exhibit for our visitors to enjoy.