Museum Musing

This morning we met with Nora and Analú at the Newberry Library for an incredible discussion on some of the things from their vast collection. The documents that they pulled to tell us Chicago’s story were a wide ranging as they could be. From protest art to Malcom X’s Pullman employment record card to family photo albums, we saw an incredible snapshot of Chicago’s paper history. The documents were all connected in someway to incredibly diverse residents of Chicago, such as the ancestral inhabitations of the land, the Potawatomi People, the Latinx community, and the African American community.

One of the things that resonated with me was the emphasis that Nora placed on what the Newberry Library was for. She said that the goal of a place like a collecting library like the Newberry is twofold: 1) to preserve and conserve the ephemera, 2) to share that information to those who may wish to learn from it. He comments really emphasized to me that the stories of the objects are always stronger when places in context with their history and with other objects. More context often equals a more complete story. Continuing with this thought, I was reminded that most of what I personally do in my museum setting is provide the context. Interpreting at a living history museum is embedding that context and using the surrounding artifact infrastructure to convey context to visitors!

After some fantastic shawarma for lunch, we met with Sarah at the Swedish American Museum in the Andersonville neighborhood. This medium sized museum with a cafe, shop and several floors of exhibitions (including an adorable children’s museum) tells the story of the large Swedish population in Chicago. It was like an extension of our conversation about immigration from the Newberry. Their main museum floor was a comprehensive loop following the push and pull from Sweden to Chicago, and what the lives of the immigrants were like before and after arrival. The sense of community here was really strong as the SAM was built by the community for their community.