Not everyone warmly embraces the study of history. Some people say they are not interested in history at all. Others see history as something that is nice, in theory, but not necessarily significant to their daily lives. Some of us are interested in books and movies about historical topics, or our own family history, but reject the boring, fact-memorization we remember from school. We often don’t take time to think about the stories behind the objects we carry with us. We forget how technology has changed the scale of our world. This is something I like to call “historical blindness.” We have become desensitized to the unique history inherently connected to each person, item, and idea that populates our daily lives. So how do the staff at the State Historical Society of North Dakota (SHSND) work together to change this perception, help people regain their vision, and help everyone see that history is, in fact, essential?

The field of science is miles ahead of historians on this issue. The careers of Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye (the Science Guy) reflect the success that scientists have had in promoting an appreciation and respect for scientific understanding to a broad audience. Rather than simply providing “edutainment” for the masses, these professional scientists have legitimate academic backgrounds and are also stellar communicators. Science Communicators provide science-related outreach to non-experts and present topics in a fun and easy-to-understand format. They are storytellers, actors, marketers, and journalists. They are the link connecting the average layperson to the academic ivory tower. Science Communicators are equally at home demonstrating an experiment to kids or testifying in front of Congress. They rock, and the public loves them.

Historians need to embrace the concepts that Science Communicators have been demonstrating. The time has come to follow the advice of public historian Jason Steinhauer and embrace the title of History Communicator.[1] We already have public historians who generally work outside of the traditional college classroom. They are museum curators, archivists, educators, and all the people who work at the SHSND. Most of us already communicate with the general public on a regular basis. Steinhauer, who works for the Library of Congress, also supports the History Relevance Campaign. This loose network of history professionals have identified seven essential values of history as outlined in a values statement.[2] The values include establishing an identity through history; learning to apply critical thinking skills; creating strong communities; spurring economic development; engaging citizens; inspiring leaders; and establishing a legacy for the future.

Public historians are poised to become the History Communicators of the future. We are story tellers. We are museum whisperers. We are rock stars. The staff working at the SHSND—the History Communicators—in hand with the History Relevance Campaign, will help the general public finally understand that history is, in fact, essential.

If you remember my previous posts about the SEND program (http://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/please-dont-eat-artifacts), then you know we have educational trunks that provide history-related objects and information to classrooms throughout the state. Students can touch real things that represent and interpret the history they are learning about. Of the trunk topics we have available, the Fur Trade trunk is always one of the most popular. It is packed with interesting objects that reveal what the world was like when Europeans and Native Americans first engaged in commercial activity together. Just one object can be used to teach a multitude of concepts. For example, this is a leg-hold trap from the trunk:

Leg-hold, spring trap from the Fur Trade SEND trunk

The jaws are welded shut so people of all ages can safely handle the object. It is made of steel and is about 27.5” long, including the chain. The long spring on each side of the jaws (as opposed to coil springs) makes it a double, long-spring trap. There is also a round pan with a maker’s mark on it.

Close up photograph of the trap pan displaying the manufacturer’s logo

The pan gives us a lot more information to think about. It is stamped: Oneida Victor 1, Made in U.S., Reg. U.S. Pat of Animal Trap Co. Lititz, PA. There is also a large, noticeable “V” cut into the steel pan. An internet search for the term “Oneida Victor” reveals that the Oneida silverware company traces its roots back to a religious commune in New York that owned several enterprises over the years, including a company that was once the leading manufacturer of game traps.¹

What other discussions can this object spark? If we are working with a group of students in a classroom, I would expect a lot of students to have questions about what trapping is. Some students might have first-hand experience with trapping, especially if they live on a farm or their family hunts and fishes. This object might generate a conversation about the ethics of hunting, fishing, and trapping, especially with an adult audience. It would be good for the person leading the discussion to have an understanding of the history of trapping and changes in best practices and standards that the trapping community has developed in response to changing viewpoints on hunting and trapping ethics.

This also opens up a lot of opportunities to talk about and study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) topics in relation to land and resource management. Students could be presented with a real life problem: develop a beaver management plan in an urban area. They would need to figure out the range of modern beaver habitat (they can be found in forty-nine states). Students would need to figure out how many beavers the local ecosystem can support, how many are estimated to be living there, and what the best options are for population control. This will also raise some interesting issues for the students including how to coordinate their efforts and how to educate the public about an often controversial issue. What a great example of project-based learning connecting current events to real history—bringing history to the classroom in a relevant way!

Minnesota History. “MHS Collections: Society Collects Animal Traps.” Winter (1972): 146-148, accessed September 2, 2015. http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/43/v43i04p146-148.pdf.

I have written before about the SEND program. SEND trunks provide objects to classrooms throughout the state. Students can touch real things that represent and interpret the history they are learning about. Once in a while I get a chance to see how teachers and kids are using the trunks. Recently I overheard a group of fourth graders using the fur trade SEND trunk exclaim with excitement, “Hey, it’s just like Minecraft!” For those of you not familiar with the phenomenon of Minecraft, it is one of the most popular video games in the world having sold more than 60 million copies as of October 2014.

Minecraft Landscape

Minecraft is a world made up of colorful cubes that players use as resources to find, mine, and craft into other resources. Hit a block from a tree enough times and it turns into wood. Make enough wood and you can build a house. Two key features of Minecraft are that it is open ended and non-linear, and that it allows for social interaction with other players. The open-ended/non-linear format can be seen in a variety of other video games including Farmville and the Sims. Rather than having to achieve something specific to get to the next level, Minecraft players simply have to stay alive and keep crafting new things. The concept gives players an incredible amount of freedom and independence, and allows for a great deal of creativity in a game. The social aspect of the game allows players to interact with each other, create communities, and trade things. One player might be the best person among a group of friends at providing food, while someone else excels at building shelter. Playing together produces a stronger community.

Disneyworld rendered in Minecraft

While much has been written about the evils and dangers of video games, there is a lot of new research focused on how games like Minecraft encourage learning and social interaction among players. The multi-player mode allows kids to form communities and play together in one world. This gives socially awkward kids an opportunity to socialize and make friends. It also fosters an interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). One company, MinecraftEdu, makes affordable versions of the game available to schools. Websites like Minecraft Teacher (minecraftteacher.tumblr.com) and Teaching with MinecraftEdu (services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/Teaching_with_MinecraftEdu) help teachers develop lesson plans based on the game. For example, teachers have created lesson plans using Minecraft to teach math and scale by constructing buildings in the game. Others teachers have taught architecture, geography, and history by having students build entire cities in the game.

The Eiffel Tower rendered in Minecraft

What does all of this mean for our fur trade trunk? Education department staff are exploring ways in which we can take advantage of the open ended and social gaming aspects of Minecraft to teach about the fur trade. Maybe our game could have students acquire furs faster for every ten Objibwe words they learn. This doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice education for entertainment, but rather we can enhance education by making it engaging.

One of the cool things about my job is I get to put real objects in people’s hands. When objects are donated to a museum they generally go through a basic process. A committee considers a number of things including: What is known about the history of this item? Do we know who created it or who used it? How does this relate to what we already have in our collections? Do we need another one? Is there a clear connection to North Dakota history? Is there a clear chain of legal ownership established? This chain of ownership is known as provenance in the museum world. If we can’t establish provenance, we usually can’t accept an object as a donation.

So what happens to items that are not accepted in the official museum collection? There are a number of things a donor might decide to do at this point—keep the item, sell it, throw it away. We usually recommend other museums that might be interested in particular items, and sometimes we ask to add the objects to our Education Collection. While an official museum collection is handled in a very purposeful manner, objects in an education collection are eventually used up. Objects that are part of the official museum proper are not touched unless they need to be, such as an inventory or being placed in an exhibit. The goal is to preserve these objects forever. An education collection is different in that while we do try to handle things carefully, we know that it is unlikely these items will be preserved forever. The objects very well could be used up to the point they are broken and eventually thrown away. Why would we allow this to happen? An education collection gives us objects we can put into people’s hands. Visitors can examine quilt squares to see the difference between machine and hand stitching. They can put on a pair of wire rim eyeglasses. They can pick up the scent of cloves that can still be detected in a metal spice container. They can write on a slate board and feel the fur on a beaver pelt. There is nothing more fun than explaining to a group of 4^th graders that the coprolite they are holding is real, fossilized, dinosaur poo.

One way of getting all these educational objects into people’s hands is to ship them out to every corner of the state in big boxes we call SEND trunks. The Suitcase Exhibits of North Dakota (or SEND) program is geared to the 4^th grade classroom. However, we have all kinds of other organizations that use SEND trunks including other museums, nursing homes, Boy Scouts, and homeschool groups. We retire and add new topics periodically, with about 18 to 20 topics available most of the time. If your school or organization is interested in getting your hands on history, you can order a trunk by submitting the form available at this link: http://history.nd.gov/pdf/SENDApplForm2013.pdf or e-mailing me at dlstuckle@nd.gov.

Gun Barrel fashioned into a scraper to clean the flesh off of animal hides before tanning. From the Fur Trade SEND Trunk.

Do you remember the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials? A couple of people bump into each other, mingling their chocolate and peanut butter snacks? Initially they are irritated with each other, but then they discovered the tasty goodness of combining the two treats. I think of those old ads every time I hear people asking why history museums need to add science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to their regular programming. STEM is more than a trend or a buzzword. What seems to really be new about the STEM concept is the realization that we need to do more to engage students. This includes developing new ways of getting excited about subjects that are vital for a well-rounded education, and meet the needs of our modern workforce. This seemingly new push to include STEM curriculum into museum programming can initially cause some frustration. However, I like to think of it as my job to help people see the delightful new things we can now enjoy together.

Hesperornis and Xiphactinus are part of a nice science buffet in the new galleries.

So what does all of this have to do with history, and why does the State Historical Society of North Dakota care about STEM? Well, I’d like to challenge you to take history out of the science classroom or try to take science out of the history museum. I don’t think it can really be done without sacrificing something special and leaving us with substandard subject matter. Using science as an example, most textbooks have sidebars to explain why people such as Marie Curie and Albert Einstein are important to the field. Science classes also usually dig into how the field has changed and developed over time and how new research has added to or challenged previous understandings. That all speaks to the importance of using historical thought to help develop a well-rounded science class. In turn, we can take our students into the new Innovation Gallery: Early Peoples at the North Dakota Heritage Center and look at all the ways to think about STEM in a museum context.

Left: A stone tool demonstrates the technological skill of early peoples.
Right: Tipis and earthlodges are perfectly engineered for living on the prairie landscape.

There is the technology involved in flintknapping to make stone tools. There is science involved in brain-tanning animal hides. There is math involved in figuring out how much food needs to be stored to get your community through a hard winter. We even have the engineering involved in building a home on the prairie.

This exhibit in a grain bin is a great showcase for featuring the rich agricultural history of our state.

Music, literature, and art are also all represented in the new galleries. Need writing prompts for students? Our galleries are full of them. Interested in getting kids to think about nutrition for a health class? Spend some time in our galleries learning about traditional foodways of the Native Americans and immigrants who have lived here. Need an opportunity to connect urban students to where their food comes from? We’ve got you covered.

No matter what you are learning about, we have objects and artifacts that can help make a topic relevant for students. Even if you don’t think your topic is history-related, the history is probably all over it, making for a great intellectual treat.

What does it take to become an engaging museum? This isn’t an easy nut to crack for most museums, but staff must learn how to tackle this problem. We spend a lot of time thinking about, researching, and gathering data to understand who is part of our audience and why—or why not. This work includes creating and conducting surveys, talking to visitors, and developing relationships. We also must try to identify people in our community who don’t already attend our programs and events, and work on ways to become relevant to them also. Just like any community, our audiences shrink, grow, and change over time too. We have to be willing to experiment with new techniques, ideas, and technologies to identify, develop, and engage our visitors and the communities we serve.

After we understand more about who our audience really is, the next step is to build a relationship with them. We want to keep them excited and coming back to see what we have in store for them next. Social media certainly plays a part in this work, but ultimately it takes vibrant programs and events to keep people excited. A great model of a site trying out new programs is the Former Governors’ Mansion State Historic Site, managed by Johnathan Campbell. The FGM is a house museum located in Bismarck that has been experimenting with new programs to see what might interest long-standing patrons, but also tap into the growing number of new residents in the area.

Former Governors' Mansion State Historic Site

The FGM has done a lot to leverage social media in order to build relationships with people and has a very active Facebook page. In the past year they have held a variety of events that are old favorites like the annual ice cream social. They have also experimented with programming designed to reach new audiences. An example of this is work done with the North Dakota Women’s Network to promote education about women’s rights, equality, and voter education. They’ve also held a film series, had art and craft events, and hosted knitters.

Knitting Brigade - photo by Johnathan Campbell

Becoming an engaging museum starts with developing a deeper understanding of your audience, but it doesn’t stop there. Museums have come a long way in building their capacity to engage communities. We work to develop relationships with visitors and the larger community that, if done right, can effect transformative change on a community in a way that really matters. This is not always easy work and can be painful at times; however, the rewards are immeasurable and the time and effort are worth it. So if you ever have an opportunity to take a visitor survey or provide feedback, know that your comments can help develop richer museum programming and a more transformative experience for everyone.