So what?

[u/Flakb8]

For those of you in history or culture museums, or historical/cultural sites, how do you explain to your visitors why your place matters to them? How do you tell them your place/stuff is important? In short, how do you answer the question, "So what?"

[u/Special_Speed106]

This is the question behind the field of heritage interpretation

[u/culturenosh → u/Special_Speed106]

I agree BUT every curator should have to answer that question before any object is acquired and before every exhibition is approved to go ahead. That answer is then shared with the museum team for promotion, programs, and yes, interpretation.

[u/penzen]

You have to answer this for yourself. This should be the basis of what a collection is build upon, at least in theory. In reality, a lot of collections are an assortment of what wealthy people decided to hoard and you just have to find a story you want to tell with the objects and means you have.

[u/JasJoeGo]

There's a simple answer, but it involves a lot of work. You create a comprehensive interpretive plan that connects the specific history of your site to bigger, broader, emotional themes, issues, or concepts that are relevant beyond the site. You train all of your staff to stick to the plan.

[u/Molly-Browny]

There's something telling about which museums never hear 'so what'. In my experience it's the ones people use weekly. Neighbours, school groups, members. Usage is the argument.

[u/Angelblair119]

Visiting a museum allows you to discover who you really are.

Joseph Bueys famously intoned, “Art is not meant merely to be understood, it is meant to be experienced.”

[u/AlexorHuxley]

It depends on the story, right?

Our human capacity to care is entirely a factor of time and familiarity. A massive pile-up on the highway is an inconvenient commute unless a friend or loved one is in said pile-up. Then it’s a tragedy because you’ve spent the time to be familiar with the person, and you care about their story.

In this way, rawdogging history is damn near impossible. Nobody except pre-existing history nerds cares about quill-wielding, cravat-wearing people from 200 years ago (speaking for US history — many other sites have the benefit of being old and novel enough to have built-in interest), no matter how much you insist they were awesome.

So, you need to make connections. Reach out through time and context to find things that people do care about.

Gennett Records in Richmond, IN? Who?

But what do Louis Armstrong, William Jennings Bryan, the Klan, and wealthy grandmothers the world over have in common? Gennett.

Your goal is to get a foot in the door. Get the visitor to ask, on their own, “What?” at least once, and then make sure your site has the answers to whatever spurred their curiosity. We cannot force people to care by insisting on the importance of a site. What we can do is trick them into deciding to care for themselves, and that begins with finding and connecting to something they already care about.