Chicago's DuSable Museum of African American History will develop and present the "Exploration of African American Physicians and Surgeons" project with an overall goal to expose young people in the community to the opportunities and benefits of STEM education. Project components will include educational programming, lectures, and an historical exhibition revolving around African American contributions and achievements within the world of medicine. The exhibition will focus on work of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the founder of Chicago's Provident Hospital, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States. Dr. Williams was the first general surgeon to perform a documented and successful pericardium surgical procedure to repair a wound. The project's educational programming will explore the ways in which other African American doctors broke down racial barriers within the field of medicine.
Development of a prototype of an immersive game set in 17th-century London that explores the relationship between science, culture, and history.
The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) is developing Age of Alchemy, a game exploring alchemy’s “Golden Age” in Europe during the 1600s. In this era, alchemy was not a fool’s quest for riches and eternal life: it provided economic opportunity, invited curiosity, and examined relationships between humankind and the natural world. Alchemy formed our current ideas about experimental scientific practices and paved the way for modern chemistry. It also impacted period literature, visual art, and music and continues to excite public imagination. Age of Alchemy draws on CHF’s collections of alchemical art and rare books to produce a visually rich and historically accurate experience, awakening empathy for past individuals who used experimental work to navigate society. During this prototyping phase, we will work with playtesters and our advisory team of experts to shape key game mechanics and assess levels of audience engagement and the successful communication of our humanities themes.
BHS is requesting NEH funds to support its newest exhibition, Sick: Seven Diseases That Changed Brooklyn, which, along with complementary education programs, public programs, and a project website, aims to reveal to diverse audiences that conceptions of illness and health are a manifestation of not just biology, but beliefs, institutions, and identity. Sick will use Brooklyn’s rich history to show how concepts of illness and wellness have transformed over 400 years with a focus on seven different diseases. Topics range from smallpox and Native Americans in the seventeenth century; to devastating nineteenth-century outbreaks of cholera in the growing city of Brooklyn; to pharmaceutical innovations that would grow into global corporations; to local doctors and nurses, activists, and communities who fought disease and redefined caregiving; to the experiences of a diverse group of borough residents and their families during the earliest days of HIV/AIDS; and more.
Planning for a permanent exhibition examining the role of horse-drawn vehicles in American life in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
A World Before Cars represents the latest phase of a major redesign of the LIM’s carriage museum, which contains one of the largest and finest holdings of horse-drawn vehicles and related transportation artifacts in the country. Utilizing the expertise of skilled consultants and the highly-regarded H. Lee Skolnick Architecture and Design Partnership, the LIM will plan an interpretive gallery composed of hands-on activity areas that explore the experiences of carriage riding/driving, the integral role of horses in 19th-century America, and the ways in which carriage design innovations informed and influenced automobile design. From a ride simulation exercise to interactive computer kiosks and a comparative display of carriage and automobile parts, this new gallery will be designed to engage a variety of different visitor age and experience levels, providing an immersive entry into the world of carriages, and the unexpected ways in which they connect to our modern lives.
The New Bedford Whaling Museum (NBWM) will develop a traveling exhibition titled A Spectacle in Motion: The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World. This exhibition features one of the longest and most distinguished paintings in the United States, the 1,275’ Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World, an authentic and arresting depiction of a 19th-century whaling voyage. Painted by two New Bedford artists, the Panorama travelled the United States between the 1850s and 1870s as a moving picture show. It has not been shown in its entirety or as it was originally intended since the 1870s. The Panorama contains broad content related to history, industry, and geography, and conveys themes of globalization, cultural diversity, popular literature, and visual culture. The traveling exhibition will debut in New Bedford, MA in 2018, and then travel to Mystic, CT in late 2018. The project also includes the development of digital content and educational programs.
Planning for the reinterpretation of the museum’s Egyptian collection that would explore the intersection of human and natural histories in ancient Egypt.
Building on Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s (CMNH) current NEH Digital Projects for the Public Discovery Grant, this exhibition grant will allow CMNH to begin planning for its multi-phase exhibition, Egypt on the Nile. As part of the project, CMNH will: convene a team of expert scholars and scientists to refine current research themes and generate new humanities and scientific knowledge through which the public can connect their contemporary experiences with the human and natural history of ancient Egypt; form and consult a community focus group for audience input; identify anthropological and natural sciences collections for the exhibition; and evaluate CMNH exhibitions, conservation, and storage considerations and costs. To carry out these goals, the Project Director will lead committees in a series of meetings and two workshops held in Pittsburgh to produce exhibition designs and a draft script along with plans for outreach, marketing, and evaluation of the final exhibition.
Production of an immersive website exploring the history, culture, and archaeology of the Giza plateau.
The Giza Project at Harvard University plans to build the full-scale version of its forthcoming public website, Digital Giza. Using the tools of the future to study the past, this free online resource will integrate diverse primary documentation from over 100 years of international archaeological research in Egypt with a scientifically-informed 3D immersive computer model of the whole Giza Plateau, including the pyramids, temples, settlements, and surrounding cemeteries. Through various “digital archaeology experiences,” visitors to the site will engage with new forms of interpretation and story-telling based on Giza materials digitally embedded and clearly contextualized in their original spatial settings. The Giza Project’s ultimate deliverable will be a powerful new online education and research tool for the world community at all levels of expertise: an interactive website and virtual environment encouraging exploration into Egyptological, historical, and broader humanities themes.
This paper is a reflective account of a public participation project the authors conducted in Japan in 2012–2015, as part of the central government's initiative for evidence-based policy-making. The reflection focusses on three key aspects of the project: setting a precedent of involving public participation in policy-making; embedding an official mechanism for public participation in policy-making process; and raising policy practitioners' awareness of public participation. We also discuss why we think engaging with policy practitioners, while problematic in various ways, is and will continue
This paper presents the first study ever conducted on the profile of visitors to the Museum of Human Evolution of Burgos (Spain), which exhibits the finds of the Atapuerca archaeo-paleontological sites. The research was guided by the principles of public communication of science and the methodology of the studies on museum visitors. The analysis reveals a positive perception; the Museum is associated with the sites and they are valued as cultural heritage. Complaints are very limited but useful to produce a set of recommendations to further improve the exhibition. In addition, the findings are
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TEAM MEMBERS:
María Eugenia ConfortiMaría Gabriela ChaparroPamela DegeleJuan Carlos Díez Fernández-Lomana
This paper describes community engagement activities with indigenous heritage and archaeology research in the Caribbean. The practice of local community engagement with the archaeological research process and results can contribute to retelling the indigenous history of the Caribbean in a more nuanced manner, and to dispel the documentary biases that originated and were perpetuated from colonial times. From the conception of the ERC-Synergy NEXUS 1492 research project, a key aim has been to engage local communities and partners in the research process and collaboratively explore how the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Tibisay Sankatsing NavaCorrine Hofman
At the beginning of May, 2018, the European Commission has presented its proposal for Horizon Europe, the framework programme which defines priorities and budget distribution for the future of European Research and Innovation (2021–2027). The announcement has raised concerns within the community of stakeholders engaged in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), a democratization process leading to connecting science to the values and interests of European citizens by mean of participatory processes. Through this flash commentary we aim at providing a wide range of arguments, as well as
The New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC) initiated the Understanding Communities Study with the goal to better understand how New Jersey history and history organizations can be more inclusive for all. NJHC contracted RK&A for the first phase of the study to conduct focus groups with members of Hispanic and Latino communities in New Jersey. NJHC plans to expand the study to other communities in the future. The New Jersey Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development served as advisors in the project.
With support from NJHC partners, RK&A conducted three focus groups with