<p> This dissertation examines how the complex geography and contested history of the American West are presented through stories told in the region&rsquo;s history museums. I examine how iconic regional-scale place images are juxtaposed with more critical perspectives on dissonant historical episodes in museum exhibits, and how the spaces of museum exhibits and galleries represent places, structure narratives, and suggest new thematic and geographical connections interpreting the region. Using a series of case studies of museums in Colorado and adjacent states, I develop new methods to analyze museum exhibits as &ldquo;three-dimensional narratives,&rdquo; in which spatial arrangements of objects, texts, and media structure narratives that interpret and contest the past. </p><p> This research builds on cultural geographic research on how contested memory is expressed and presented, both in symbolic landscapes, and through media. I extend this work in three main ways. First, I extend research on monuments and memorials to consider how museum spaces present and contest the past. Second, I follow recent engagements between geography and narrative theory, examining storytelling as a distinct form of discourse, with its own spatial dimensions. Third, I situate this investigation amid increasing scholarly attention to heritage tourism, particularly in terms of how the &ldquo;Legacy of Conquest&rdquo; of the American West is made marketable to visitors. </p><p> I explore this narrative geography through three case studies: First, a detailed examination of the History Colorado Center in downtown Denver highlights how spatial narratives organize and structure museum presentations, emphasizing some thematic and geographical connections while downplaying others. Second, a comparison of six Colorado museums highlighting race, ethnicity, and labor conflict examines the &ldquo;genre conventions&rdquo; through which these &ldquo;counter-narratives&rdquo; are linked to more conventional presentations of the regional past. Finally, a comparison of the state history museums of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming explores how state geographies are presented as foundations of civic identities. </p><p> This research contributes to the cultural geographic understanding of museums as significant venues in which cultural meaning is presented and contested, and develops new methods for understanding museum narratives geographically. Such methods can be productively applied in other heritage tourism settings. </p><p>

By the 1920s, ideas about the function and appearance of the American art museum were shifting such that they no longer were perceived to be merely storehouses of art. Rather, they were meant to fill a present democratic need of reaching out to the public and actively helping to cultivate the tastes and knowledge of a desired culturally literate citizen. As a result of debates about the museum's mission, audience, and design, in 1931 the Philadelphia Museum of Art opened the first branch museum in the nation on 69th Street in the suburb of Upper Darby in an effort to improve the relationship between the museum and the community. With sponsorship by its parent institution and financing by the Carnegie Corporation of New York City, the two organizations hoped to determine, over a five-year period, whether branch museums, like branch libraries, would be equally successful and valuable in reaching out to the public, both physically and intellectually. The new Sixty-ninth Street Branch Museum was to serve as a valuable mechanism for civic education by encouraging citizens to think constructively about art and for the development of aesthetic satisfaction, but more importantly it was to be a catalyst for social change by integrating the visual arts into the daily life of the community. In this thesis I will demonstrate that, although the first branch museum was only open for a year and a half, it nonetheless succeeded in shaping the way people thought about art and how museums were meant to function as democratic institutions in American society. / Art History

This study is an imaginative exercise which explores the use of historic artifacts at the haunted attraction Pennhurst Asylum in Spring City, Pennsylvania. It is understood here that the use of historic artifacts from the former Pennhurst State School within Pennhurst Asylum inevitably tethers the attraction to the difficult history of Pennhurst State School. This study explores the convergence of dark tourism, exhibiting difficult history, and performance as historical interpretation. Within the context of collections management and public history, Pennhurst Asylum acts as a case study exploring what can happen when difficult history is exploited and commodified. / History

<p> The study of an architecture of autonomy consists of theoretical investigations into the realm of building types where a sole use or purpose is manifest in a structure that could, site provided, be constructed. However, provisions that conventional architecture traditionally provide are not present in these explorations. Technological advancements such as indoor plumbing, electric lights, and vertical conveyance systems in the form of elevators and escalators are excluded. Platonic geometric form-making are instead thoroughly investigated, imagined, and manipulated for the purposes of creating new spatial experiences. The desired resultant is an architecture of singularity, an architecture of fantastical projection. </p><p> Through a series of two theoretical ritual-based investigations, three-dimensional form manipulation and construction of proportioned scale models, the essence of elements that compose a spatial experience contributed to a collection of metaphorical tools by which the designer may use to build a third imagined reality: the re-imagination of the archetypal museum. A building whose purpose is not solely to house ancient objects in a near hermetically-sealed environment, free of temperature, humidity and ultra-violet light aberrations, but is a re-imagined. A structure meant to engage the presence of two seemingly divergent communities: the local patron/visitor and the extreme distant denizen. </p><p> This paper also examines key contemporary global artists&rsquo; work and their contributions to the fragmentation / demolition of architectural assemblages for the purposes of re-evaluating the familiar vernacular urban landscape while critically positioning the r&ocirc;le of both the artifact and gallery in shaping contemporary audience&rsquo;s museum experiences. </p><p> The power of the internet and live-camera broadcasting of images utilizing both digital image recording and full-scale screen-projections enable the exploration of &ldquo;transporter-type&rdquo; virtual-reality experiences: the ability to inhabit an art work&rsquo;s presumed original <i>in situ </i> location, while remaining in Chicago as a visitor within a vernacular multi-tenant masonry structure: vacated, evicted, and deconstructed for the purposes of displaying art amidst a new urbane ruin. The complexities of this layered experience is meant to simultaneously displace and interrupt a typical set of so-called <i>a priori</i> gallery expectations while providing the expectant simulacrum that video cameras and screens provide, whetting a contemporary patron&rsquo;s appetite.</p>

<p> Research on Judy Chicago&rsquo;s <i>The Dinner Party,</i> (1974-79; completed with the assistance of more than 400 volunteers), is abundant and generally focuses on the monumental table of thirty-nine place settings acknowledging the contribution of women throughout Western history. Scholars have examined, praised and criticized the installation from various feminist and formal aesthetic perspectives. By contrast, this thesis considers what has essentially been overlooked until now, Judy Chicago&rsquo;s curatorial framework for the entire <i>The Dinner Party</i> exhibition experience. Using my own interviews with the artist, team members, and contemporary curators, as well as consulting the artist&rsquo;s installation manuals from Harvard University Archives, and examining the reception of the curation, I highlight the essential curatorial features that made <i>The Dinner Party</i> such an international phenomenon. The artist&rsquo;s curatorial elements were research-oriented, inclusive and activist-leaning with interactive, multi-media structures to achieve her feminist message. Considering <i>The Dinner Party</i>&rsquo;s current installation at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, my thesis argues that Chicago&rsquo;s successful yet overlooked methods offer the most proactive, critical and approachable curatorial presentation. The current installation that has been stripped of these curatorial elements, while perhaps institutionally practical, compromises much of the message and feminist intent. This study contributes to the field by focusing on this notable exhibition, providing discourse into Chicago&rsquo;s curating and offering considerations for contemporary curating practice, with the goal of contributing to the growing area of curatorial research focused on feminist artists and curatorial projects.</p>

<p> Mobile devices have become increasingly more visible within classrooms and informal learning spaces. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the impact of mobile learning (m-learning) tools to support student learning during teacher-led field trips. Specifically, the research questions for this study are: (a) What conditions affect student satisfaction within an m-learning environment? (b) What impact does an m-learning environment have on levels of motivation and engagement of students? and (c) How do m-learning tools facilitate student knowledge acquisition, participation, and collaboration? The hypothesis of this study is that mobile learning materials can improve students&rsquo; engagement and participation. This design-based research (DBR) study relied on a combination of pre- and post-assessments, teacher interviews, and behavioral observations, in two iterations. The participants for this study included three teachers and 112 students, between 11 and 12 years old, drawn from a sixth grade public middle school in San Antonio, Texas. </p>

<p> This thesis is a critical study of two exhibits, <i> First Encounters Spanish Exploration in the Caribbean</i> and <i> A Tribute to Survival</i>. The objective of the thesis was to understand if and how indigenous activists, using the media as tool, were able to change curatorial approaches to exhibition development. Chapter 1 is broken into three sections. The first section introduces the exhibits and succinctly discusses the theory that is applied to this thesis. The second section discusses the objectives of the project and the third provides a brief outline of the document. Chapter 2 discusses the historical background of American museums in an attempt to highlight changes in curatorial attitudes towards the public, display, interpretation, and authority. Chapter 3 gives a more in-depth overview of the methodology and materials utilized in the thesis. Chapter 4 is a critical analysis of the literature for both <i>First Encounters</i> and <i> A Tribute to Survival</i>. Chapter five is a summary of the thesis and offers a conclusion of the effectiveness of using the media as a tool.</p>

<p>The growing diversity of museum visitors has shifted art museums? educational goals towards developing new ways for visitors to create meaningful experiences. Currently, the predominant method of instruction for adults relies on the lecture based format. The argument made in this study suggests that the interactive strategies used for children could be equally beneficial if applied to adults, provided these activities are designed specifically for adults. Based on the research, when interactive activities are made available to adults it is usually done through a ?multi-generational? approach, inherently geared for adults accompanying children. To address this concern, the study surveyed the educational departments and programs of eight museums in Southern California. The results explore current educational trends and conclude with suggestions how museums can begin modifying and implementing interactive strategies for the adult visitor.

During the Spring 2006 semester, Virginia Commonwealth University students enrolled in the graduate Museum Studies course on exhibition development collaboratively curated an exhibition entitled From the Seat of Authority, which opened at the Anderson Gallery in June 2006. This thesis project documents the exhibition and offers an account of the deliberative and creative development process in which student-curators engaged. It is different from other case studies that focus on the technical aspects of curating an exhibition.Major components of the development process include articulating a theme, selecting artworks, writing interpretive text, and designing display techniques. This thesis project aims to characterize the development of these components in relationship to the overall creative processes. It is important to note that the previously mentioned four components were not developed independently of one another, as the exhibit development process was non-linear and organic.

<p> Early European travel literature was a prominent source from which information about the New World was presented to a general audience. Geographic regions situated within what is now referred to as Latin America were particularly visible in these accounts. Information regarding the religious customs and styles of dress associated with the indigenous peoples who inhabited these lands were especially curious points of interest to the European readers who were attempting to understand the lifestyles of these so-called &ldquo;savages.&rdquo; These reports, no matter their sources, always claimed to be true and accurate descriptions of what they were documenting. Despite these claims, it is clear that the dominant Western/Christian perspective from which these sources were derived established an extremely visible veil of bias. As a result, the texts and images documenting these accounts display highly flawed and misinformed representations of indigenous Latin American culture. Although it is now understood that these sources were often greatly exaggerated, the texts and images within them are still widely circulated in present-day museum exhibitions. When positioned in this framework, they are meant to be educational references for the audiences that view them. However, museums often condense the amount of information they provide, causing significant details of historical context to be excluded. </p><p> With such considerable omission being common in museum exhibitions, it causes one to question if this practice might be perpetuating the distribution of misleading information. Drawing on this question, I seek, with this research, to investigate how early European representations of Latin American culture in travel literature may be linked to current issues of misrepresentation. Particularly, my research is concerned with finding connections that may be present with these texts and images and the negative aspects of cultural appropriation. Looking specifically at representations of Aztec culture, I consult three texts and their accompanying illustrations from the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries to analyze their misrepresentational qualities, and how they differed between time periods and regions. Finally, I use this information to analyze museum exhibition practices and how they could be improved when displaying complex historical frameworks like those of indigenous Latin American cultures.</p><p>