Blog Post #2: Outlining an Exhibit

Blog Post #2: Outlining an Exhibit

          High in the second story of Fort Condé, computer keys clicked, a pen scratched, and a weary intern searched for the hidden path to wisdom. His efforts were days in the making. He had journeyed to “The Ark” for insight and it had bestowed understanding to his pursuit. Having started with a simple seven pages of text, the search was finally coming to a close. With the afternoon sun bearing down on the City of Six Flags, the extremely handsome intern stretched back in his seat and exclaimed to the heavens, “It is completed!”

            I know what you’re thinking, “Seth, why was the extremely handsome intern locked up in the second story of Fort Condé when he could be out bringing smiles to the masses with his extremely handsome face and charming personality?” Fear not, citizens. I do that on Fridays. This week my efforts were on an even more noble pursuit. I was tasked with the production of a tour outline by my Current Curator, Jennifer Fondren. This outline was to aid the docents when they give tours of the India exhibit. To help facilitate the transfer of historical knowledge to the masses…I can think of nothing more noble and heroic that that. (Cue melodramatic music and impressive fake tears.)

            With some pointers from Jennifer and a few examples of outlines from the other exhibits at the museum, I went to work. Luckily, I had a copy of the text panels used in the exhibit. I went through the text, writing down the main ideas and one or two supporting details for each one of the panels. Then, using those points, I created the outline. Along with the outline, I included some discussion questions for the docents to ask their tour groups to involve the group. This outline will also include references to particular artifacts throughout the exhibit for the docent to point out to their groups, but seeing as how the exhibit does not have any artifacts in it yet, I felt that it would best be left until I placed some artifacts later on in my internship. While this week’s work may not have been the most exciting, it was my first experience doing something for an exhibit and I really enjoyed it. While the public won’t be able to see the outline, what I wrote will be used by docents to give tours. To know that I did something that directly related to an exhibit at a history museum, was awesome. (I’m still geeking out about it.) This week was my last week with Jennifer at Fort Condé, and I had a lot of fun spending time over there. Next week, I’m off to Collections to work with the artifacts for India.

So with more to come,

Seth Kinard