A Sense of Place in Museum Public Programming: Three Case Studies
Author(s): Emily Utt and Steven L. Olsen
Source: The Journal of Museum Education , Fall, 2007, Vol. 32, No. 3, Place-Based
Education and the Museum (Fall, 2007), pp. 295-302
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40479620
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The Journal of Museum Education
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A Sense of Place in
Museum Public Programming
Three Case Studies
Emily Utt and Steven L. Olsen
Abstract While place-based education has its roots in the school
system, ideas and techniques of the theory are easily adaptable to the
museum community. This article showcases the efforts of three museums
to apply place-based learning to their programs and exhibits. Innovative
approaches to museum learning have enabled the Pratt Museum in
Homer, Alaska, the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, Washington,
and the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah to
better engage museum audiences within the walls of the museum as well
as in the greater community. Through application of place-based
learning, these museums have found a new voice and power to fulfill the
missions of their institutions.
How can a town of 5,000 residents host a museum with 30,000 visitors a
year? How does a museum document the history of twenty-six different
ethnic groups in an exhibit space of 2,000 square feet? How does a small
town natural history museum become the repository of prehistoric plant
life? This article briefly discusses different ways museums have engaged their
communities in place-based education. These few examples represent the
many museums throughout North America that have found ways to make
the heritage of local settings relevant to the community, the nation, and the
world.
Journal of Museum Education, Volume 32, Number 3, Fall 2007, pp. 293-300.
©2007 Museum Education Roundtable. All rights reserved. 295
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296 EMILY UTT AND STEVEN L. OLSEN
NATURAL HISTORY AT THE END OF THE ROAD
One museum committed to an ongoing, cooperative strategy of strengthe
a local community is the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alaska. Homer is litera
at the western end of the system of paved highways in North America T
Pratt Museum opened in Homer in 1968 and has since become integra
the cultural climate of the Kachemak Bay region. The Pratt is devoted to
ploring the natural environment and human experience relative to
Kachemak Bay region of Alaska and its place in the world."1 In recognitio
the museum's success in achieving its mission, the city of Homer in Augu
2002 passed a resolution that states in part, "the Pratt Museum serve
both a key economic and cultural foundation for positive growth and suc
of the City of Homer."2 Evidence of this privileged position comes pa
from the museum's annual attendance. With a city population of some 5,3
and a regional population of 40,000, the Pratt welcomes an average 30
visitors per year and serves many more outside of the museum walls.
What makes the Pratt Museum so essential to the communities of the
Kachemak Bay? The fact that it is the only natural history museum in a
25,000-square-mile area is just part of the story. More to the point is the
treasured role that the Pratt plays in the life of the entire community in de-
fining their place in the larger world. The Pratt Museum uses place-based
education to relate the modern natural environment to the world of
Kachemak Bay residents.
Symptomatic of how the Pratt Museum has benefited the community
with placed-based learning is the "Sperm Whale Project- A Community Ex-
ploration in Marine Science" that engaged the entire community in a 1993
ocean conservation initiative involving a beached sperm whale. Under the di-
rection of museum staff, local residents and local high school teachers and
students cleaned the whale's carcass and preserved, documented, and artic-
ulated its skeleton. Students weighed, measured, and documented each sur-
viving bone and fabricated missing bones. A student welder constructed the
framework to support the skeleton. Students helped to create a documentary
on the project and helped Pratt Museum staff and community members to
suspend the skeleton in the commons area of the Homer High School.
Students received school credit for the project through internships, teacher-
initiated projects, and interdisciplinary coursework. The labor-intensive
project allowed the community collectively to address an issue of consid-
erable local concern. The museum and community have leveraged this initial
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A SENSE OF PLACE IN MUSEUM PUBLIC PROGRAMMING 297
Pratt Museum summer interns examine bird specimen histories and bird
first day of the Sea Bird Project. Photo courtesy of Ryjil Christianson.
project to encompass other types of marine life and ocean co
portunities.
Another community initiative for the Pratt Museum was the
of wildlife viewing cameras in the surrounding wilderness. Whi
terest in local wildlife is high, providing access can be extrem
Seabirds nest in inhospitable areas, and wildlife preserves an
limit the number of people allowed on site at any one time. I
mitigate this contradiction of values, the Pratt Museum has inst
at three remote sites in the local wilderness to facilitate human
teraction. From the comfort of the Pratt Museum, visitors
nipulate these cameras to view Alaskan seabirds at Gull Isla
Amatuli Island and watch brown bears at the McNeil River B
Researchers and local residents are using the cameras to ga
document the activity of animals without having to be on site.
graphic Magazine has even linked its website to the "bear cam."3
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298 EMILY UTT AND STEVEN L. OLSEN
The first wildlife viewing camera was relatively easy to install and
since Gull Island is only eight miles from the Pratt Museum, and au
feeds are transmitted on sight lines without the need for relays. M
projects, however, have been increasingly difficult. One relay packa
be installed to transmit audio and video feeds the sixty-five miles f
Amatuli Island, and two relay packages were needed to transmi
cam" feed from the McNeil River State Brown Bear Sanctuary. Despit
ficulty of installing equipment, the Pratt Museum was willing to en
the process because of its perceived worth to museum visitors. Fund
the viewing cameras has come from a variety of sources including t
Hughes Medical Institute, the Exxon Vdtdez Oil Spill Trustee Co
Toyota USA Foundation, and the National Park Service.
The Pratt Museum also sponsors periodic public conversa
current issues relevant to the Homer community. Topics range from
rights and natural resources to perspectives on Homer's pioneer pas
A strong and focused education philosophy statement allows
Museum to sponsor a myriad of education programs. A focused
philosophy statement is especially useful because of a very smal
staff. Their statement is full of words like "explore/' "dialogue,
"cooperate," "interact," "dynamic," and "creative." Staff members at
Museum want natural history to be fun and relevant to every
their community. All educational activities focus on the Kach
region of Alaska making it easy for visitors to relate what they see
at the museum to things they see and touch in the outside worl
from middle school to college are involved with internship pro
allow them to engage the museum and community in personal w
serious natural history takes place every day at the Pratt Museum,
visitors are more likely to talk about how "totally fun" the museum
COMMUNITY AS CURATOR
The Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, Washington seeks to "engage t
Asian Pacific American communities and the public in exploring issue
related to the culture, art, and history of Asian Pacific Americans."4 This m
not be as simple a directive as it sounds. The pan- Asian community in Seatt
includes over twenty-six ethnic groups, several of which have had historica
animosities. Instead of focusing on the art, culture, and history of east Asia
the Wing Luke Asian Museum focuses its energy on Asian American exp
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A SENSE OF PLACE IN MUSEUM PUBLIC PROGRAMMING 299
riences in the Pacific Northwest. The museum's statement of
define this focus: "people give us meaning and purpose"; "
our foundation"; and "we desire community empowerment an
Like the Pratt Museum, the Wing Luke Asian Museum use
cation to reach out to its community. Instead of focusing on
vironment however, the Wing Luke Asian Museum discus
environment of the Asian community within the greater Pac
The innovative community-based exhibition model of
Asian Museum is a prime example of how its values impa
operations. Instead of museum staff telling the commun
museum is about, community members tell the museum
about. When an exhibit idea is suggested, staff members acti
munity input. A group of a dozen or more core commu
formed to discuss the exhibit idea and to develop it into
groups usually include a diverse cross-section of scholars, art
leaders, and everyday people in the community. The group, i
ration and frequent contact with museum staff, determin
and themes, directs the content selection and personality of
guides educational programming and publicity. While th
minishes the museum's absolute control over its products, it
the local community. The community voice is heard, and all
In a sense, the community is curator and educator at t
Asian Museum. Guidelines, themes, and ideas presented by
advisory board become the basis of education activities p
time education staff. Tour themes and school outreach pr
signed by full-time staff based on input from commun
Education can be fluid because of the staff at the Wing Luke
Few staff members have degrees in museum-related field
comes from their being part of the communities they are try
Staff feel they are not just creating exhibits; they are sharin
their communities.
The breadth of exhibits at the Wing Luke Museum reflects this com-
munity involvement. The centerpiece exhibit, entitled "One Song, Many
Voices," depicts the 200-year history often Asian American communities in
Washington State. Other exhibit topics range from Japanese-American in-
ternment camps during World War II and historic buildings in the Chi-
natown-International District to the history of the Sikh community in the
Pacific Northwest. Having such an emphasis on community support and
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300 EMILY UTT AND STEVEN L. OLSEN
involvement has had a remarkable impact in the museum's succ
gallery space of no more than 2,000 square feet, annual attendance
An ongoing capital campaign for an expanded museum facility h
approximately $20 million, and the museum will be moving to a
60,000 square foot building next year.
SMALL-TOWN COLLEGE MEETS
WORLD CLASS DINOSAUR QUARRY
Price, Utah seems an unlikely home for any kind of museum, let alone one of
the largest natural history museums in the Great Basin. Located in rural
Utah, two hours southeast of Salt Lake City, Price has a population of 8,000
whose economy relies heavily on coal mining. The local College of Eastern
Utah (CEU), with a student body of 1,600, offers associates degrees and voca-
tional training. Despite its blue-collar population, Price has a local attraction
that few other places can offer. The Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur quarry is one
of the richest Jurassic quarries in the world, and the CEU Prehistoric Museum
draws heavily on its resources. Proximity to remarkable cultural resources,
however, does not guarantee the success of an enterprise like the CEU Pre-
historic Museum. The Prehistoric Museum has become one of the biggest
tourist draws of the area, with 35,000 people visiting the museum every year.
Summer camps co-sponsored at the museum by the Carbon County Edu-
cation and Economic Development councils teach children the basics of di-
nosaur archaeology. In 2006, the museum designed and constructed a
dinosaur bone dig area in a local park because "kids love parks, kids love the
museum, and kids love dinosaurs."6 Public programming at the Prehistoric
Museum allows visitors to find relevance and meaning in a past far removed
in time from their own. The community is drawing on unique natural re-
sources available in their area to create a place-based learning curriculum.
The museum will next build a Mesozoic Garden. In cooperation with the
Global Studies Institute, the glass conservatory will hold the only collection
of plant life from the Mesozoic Era in the world. Shortly after the garden's
completion, the museum is planning to begin construction on a new museum
building. For a town and college that many people do not even know exist,
CEU has built an impressive world-class collection of prehistoric artifacts
that has become a major draw and source of pride for their community. In-
volving community members in museum programming seems second nature
to staff. The museum does not just talk about reaching out to the com-
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A SENSE OF PLACE IN MUSEUM PUBLIC PROGRAMMING 301
munity; community involvement is a natural part of virtua
programming.
The programming at the Prehistoric Museum is especially innovative
because of its very small staff. Almost all staff members are part time: only
the Museum Director and Collections Director hold full-time positions.
Because of its small size, all employees are involved with educational
programs. The museum exists because volunteers and community partners
are actively recruited. The community is proud of its museum and is actively
involved in every aspect of its operations.
CONCLUSION
The museums discussed in this article were chosen because of the active role
they play in their communities. These museums are not merely destinations
or tourist attractions; rather they are active participants in community di-
alogue. Two of the museums discussed are in rural locations and serve as a
meeting place for those communities. The third museum represents and
speaks for ethnic groups located within a larger urban community. All of the
museums chosen represent the impact place-based learning can have on a
community. While all are traditional museums, their programs and exhibits
have adapted to the unique characteristics of their particular place.7 These
museums represent well a major component of place-based education as de-
scribed by Gregory Smith. He states a "critical characteristic of place-based
education is its emphasis on learning experiences that allow students to
become the creators of knowledge rather than the consumers of knowledge
created by others."8
This short list of surprisingly successful local and regional museums
and museum programs could be expanded exponentially without much
effort. Museums all over the country are finding innovative ways to reach out
to their communities. Rural communities, threatened neighborhoods,
marginal groups, special interests, and visionary individuals and institutions
throughout North America have used the forum of museums to commu-
nicate heart-felt messages with a clear and genuine voice. These diverse voices
resonate not only with local constituencies but also with much wider popu-
lations. In many cases, these voices seem to be borne of a need for economic
or cultural survival. But there is as well something profoundly human in
these voices speaking from a variety of genuine perspectives. To the credit of
the museum profession, many communities seem naturally to embrace
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302 EMILY UTT AND STEVEN L. OLSEN
museums as the forum to articulate their distinctive messages. Whi
museums choose to present the world to the individual, an equally p
and perhaps more popular pedagogy is for museums to represent lo
munities to themselves and to hope the world is listening to th
sation. This article salutes the creativity and determination of thos
that embrace the necessity of place-based learning in order to
vestige of local culture in an increasingly globalized society.
NOTES
1. Pratt Museum, "Mission Statement," http://www.prattmuseum.org/museum/about.
html
2. City of Homer, Alaska, "Resolution 02-49," http://clerk.ci.homer.ak.us/resolutions/
reso0249.htm
3. See httpy/magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamgrizzlies/index.html
4. Wing Luke Asian Museum, "Our Mission," http://www.wingluke.org/pages/process/our-
museum.html
5. Wing Luke Asian Museum, "Our Values," http://www.wingluke.org/pages/process/our-
values.html
6. College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum Raptor Review 5 (October 2006): 3.
7. Gregory A. Smith, "Place-based Education: Learning to Be Where We Are," Phi Delta Kap-
pan 83, no. 8 (2002): 584-94.
8. Ibid.
Emily Utt is an assistant researcher/ developer in the Family and Church History
Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City,
Utah. She works mainly in research and interpretation of historic sites. She holds a
B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in history and religion.
Steven L Olsen is an associate managing director of the Family and Church History
Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City,
Utah. Dr. Olsen holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of
Chicago, is an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University, and is past president
of the Western Museums Association.
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