hands-on v. hands-off, rembrandt rule
TRANSCRIPT
HANDS-ON vs. HANDS-OFF:THE REMBRANDT RULE REVISITED
American Association for State and Local HistoryAnnual Meeting, 2011
Ron M. PotvinAssistant Director & Curator
John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities & Cultural HeritageBrown University
“Are we cheating our visitors by simply showing and describing objects? Can using an object in an ‘authentic’ way facilitate a more immediate connection with people in the past who performed the same act? A one-size-fits-all approach to collections impedes the ability of museums to creatively engage visitors.”
Remarks by Ron M. Potvin at the AASLH Annual Meeting 2010
“It is important for museum professionals to realise what a powerful, almost magical, experience touch can provide when handling something venerated. This does not have to be an obviously ritual object—it could be a Paleolithic hand-axe awesome for its extraordinary age, or a slave yoke redolent of misery.”
Elizabeth Pye, The Power of Touch (2007)
WHY DON’T WE ALLOW TOUCHING OF ARTIFACTS?
• Breakage
• Gradual wear and tear
• Theft
• Authority vs. Shared Authority
THE REMBRANDT RULE INSTITUTIONALIZEDDeeds of Gift, Loan Agreements, Collecting Plans and Policies
Specific wishes of the donor or lender must be considered, as well as “boilerplate” language in loan agreements, deeds of gift, and museum policy.
“I understand that the management, use, display, or disposition of my donation shall be in accordance with the professional judgment of the trustees and director of the museum.”
“Objects borrowed shall be given proper care to insure against loss, damage or deterioration. Objects will be handled only by experienced personnel.”
Quotes are from sample documents in Buck and Gilmore, The New Museum Registration Methods (2010)
•Museum Professional Training and Standards of Care
“Stewardship is the careful, sound, and responsible management of that which is entrusted to a museum’s care. Possession of collections incurs legal, social, and ethical obligations to provide proper physical storage, management and care for the collections. Effective collections stewardship ensures that the objects the museum owns, borrows, holds in its custody, and/or uses are available and accessible to present and future generations.”
AAM Accreditation Commission’s Expectations Regarding Collections Stewardship, 2005
CAN WE “GET AROUND” THESE RESTRICTIONS
1. Flexible Loan Agreements and Collections Policies
John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage
Three-tier collections management system, described in loan agreements and collecting plan
A. “Rembrandts”: “The JNBC will protect objects from fire, theft, mishandling, dirt and insects and extremes of temperature and humidity.” Highest level of care.
B. Interpretation Collections: “The JNBC may use interpretation collections for instructional purposes in carefully controlled circumstances.”
C. Instructional Collections: “The JNBC utilizes these collections for the instruction, practical use, or enjoyment of students, researchers and the general public. These objects may be examined, handled, or dismantled by students or researchers, or displayed for extended periods of time for interpretive or decorative purposes, and will be exposed to wear and tear commensurate with their use and function.”
2. Study and Education Collections
“Often items can be used for scientific study, school programs, hands-on demonstrations, exhibition props, or testing in conservation research. In these cases, it is expected that the objects will be subject to physical deterioration or destruction over time.”
Buck and Gilmore, The New Museum Registration Methods (2010)
Alaska State Museums, Sheldon Jackson Museum
Curators work with teachers to choose objects to loan for classroom use. Objects are integrated into programs and curriculum in a variety of ways including
•Classroom exhibits
•Models for students to create their own reproductions
•Inspiration for creative writing, drawing, or drama
•Primary research material for written and oral reports.
3. Reproductions and Durable Objects
United States Capitol Visitors Center
The Exhibition Hall at the visitor’s center includes an 11-foot high tactile polyurethane model of the Capitol dome, reproductions of architectural features, and original building elements, all touchable.
4. Replaceable Objects
Lower East Side Tenement Museum
•Barrier-free tours—No velvet ropes or partitions
•Appropriate objects purchased from antique stores
•Theft has not been a problem
•Security is still a concern, but not as big a concern as at other house museums
CAN WE DO MORE?
“‘It reminds me of my grandma's house in town,’ Bourdo said. She looked over the Depression-era house and marveled at everything from the doctor's satchel left in the doorway to the canned goods in the old-fashioned cupboards. ‘I have not regretted my childhood,’ she said. ‘It might be a different story for my mom and dad, but for us kids, no, not once.’”
Muskegon Chronicle (2009)
The Scolnik House“A Historic House of the Depression Era”
•Opened in 2007
•Part of the Lakeshore Museum Center in Muskegon, MI
•Period appropriate furnishings and decorations
•Self-guided, but with volunteers stationed on each floor
“We encourage people to sit down and read a magazine from 1930. We invite them to play Monopoly, or the piano. We also invite visitors to write down their memories of the Great Depression.” Dawn M. Willi, Historic Sites Manager
DR. BOB’S HOME•Akron, Ohio
•Birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous
•Visitors, including some struggling with addiction, are still offered coffee and counseled at Robert Smith’s kitchen table
•Tour is self guided. Many of the greeters are themselves recovering alcoholics.
“I was very happy to see a coffee pot in the kitchen, and full too! There is something special about AA coffee. Upon walking into the kitchen, it smelled like an AA meeting. I imagine the conversations that took place in this room, and throughout this house, had an incredible depth and weight.”
Anonymous Recovering Alcoholic and Blogger
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION•Lincoln’s Cottage—Some rooms are interpreted with period pieces and visitors are allowed to sit on the furniture as part of the interpretive experience
•The Trust wanted the cottage to be furnished with Lincoln’s ideas, not his furniture
•Little documentation of what the Lincoln’s brought with them when they used the site
•Reproductions were less expensive and replaceable
Used for teacher training workshops in 2010
“The cottage provides a canvas to humanize the president, but it also provides an opportunity for historic perspective-taking. These figures were living in the 1800s and had things in common with us—grief, fear, the need for quiet time…”
8th-grade U.S. history teacher at Paul Public Charter School in Washington, DC.
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION
•Overnight stays for a fee
•Guests have the run of the house and collections
•1970s and 80s furniture designed by Mies van der Rohe
•Replaceable
Farnsworth House, Plano, IL
•Built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1951
•A single building on seven acres
•Opportunities for programming are limited by the nature of the site
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATIONPhilip Johnson Glass House, New Canaan, CT
•Built in 1949 by Philip Johnson
•12 buildings on 50 acres
•Still experimenting with possible uses and programs such as “Glass House Conversations.”
•No consensus on appropriate uses
PROS
•Provides income for running and maintaining the sites
•Provides an immersive experience
CONS
•Creates an aura of exclusivity at odds with a public mission
•Wear and tear on collections and sites
From left: Andy Warhol, David Whitney, Philip Johnson, Dr. John Dalton, and Robert A. M. Stern in the Glass House in 1964
BENEFITS OF A SENSORY EXPERIENCE
•Evoking memories—Especially useful with seniors, displaced persons, and persons with dementia. Useful in forming connections to time and place
• Access for the blind and visually impaired
•Enriching Museum Learning—Research by Reach Advisors indicates that adults under 50 are over two times more likely to include a hands-on experience in their memory of a museum visit than adults over 50
•Individualized Learning—Touching an object encourages people to form their own meanings and connections, more so than seeing or hearing about an object
•Activate Objects—Machines, mechanisms, and musical instruments are difficult to understand unless they can be run, manipulated, or played
•Ethnography—The purpose and meaning of anthropological artifacts can best be understood by members of that community, which may require handing
“Simply handling for handling’s sake may not be satisfying. Objects are ‘passive’ so, without some background information or some sort of focus for handling sessions, the preconceptions people bring with them may go unchallenged and little discovery or learning take place.”
Elizabeth Pye, The Power of Touch (2007)
Rather than “Don’t Touch Anything,” the new guideline should be “Don’t Touch Everything.”
TOUCHING OBJECTS
A group of objects that can be handled as part of an individ-ual sensory experience. Easily replaced or durable.
“REMBRANDTS”
The base of your collections in need of, and worthy of, the highest standard of care
FACILITATED OBJECTS
A group of objects that can be handled, touched, or used with the guidance of a trained interpreter.
•Allows for increased flexibility in the use of collections and enhanced sensory experiences with objects
•Acknowledges that not all objects are equal and so should not be treated the same way
• The value of each of these different types of interactions should be treated as equally valid and important to a visitor’s experience
A MODEL FOR STRUCTURING A COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
WHY AREN’T WE THERE YET?
•The Rembrandt Rule
•Museum standards and policies
•Lack of adequate research in the museum field about the relationship between objects and senses and emotions
“The energies and collective wisdom of curators, conservators, educators, preservationists, and funders should be directed toward guiding historic sites in making decisions about responsible and flexible use of collections.”
Remarks by Ron M. Potvin at the AASLH Annual Meeting 2010
