January 22, 1926. Washington, D.C. “Arcade Hockey Club.” And if roller hockey isn’t your cup of tea, we also have Billiards Dancing Bowling.
Washington, D.C., circa 1919. “Sennett girls.” Producer Mack Sennett’s comedy reels featured a bevy of “bathing beauties,” among them Marvel Rea, seen here in the harlequin costume. National Photo Company.
1962, Seattle, Washington, USA – A little girl listens in on The Hearing Exhibition at the Seattle World’s Fair.
Space Pilots. Minneapolis, Minnesota: A small boy’s dream of piloting a rocket ship through outer space came as nearly true as modern science could make it for plastic-helmeted Johnny Bower (left), and Neil Smith, both seven years old. The youngsters got their big break when Minneapolis-Honeywell’s Aeronautical company invited them, among other young sons of technical employees to visit the plant and see what their dads were doing. “Pilots” Bower and Smith are manipulating special computing equipment developed to duplicate characteristics of supersonic craft and the flight conditions they might be expected to encounter.
Host Bud Collyer brings laughter and smiles to the faces of panelists Polly Bergen, Ralph Bellamy and Kitty Carlisle while Hy Gardner remains only mildly amused.
Nazis burn the library of Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin, 1933. In doing so countless texts and documentation of early 20th century LGBTQ* history disappears. Remember, it’s never “just some books.”
Nun using card catalogue in the New York Public Library, 1944. Alfred Eisenstaedt.
The Kent State University Museum at Kent State University has a new exhibition – “Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen.” See her outfits from “A Philadelphia Story!” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner!” Adam’s Rib!”
James, Jordan and I have a final project plan! Written by Jordan Grant.
Summary:
This semester, our graduate team is working alongside the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, the National Museum of American History, and American University’s Performing Arts Department to develop two original pieces of museum theater based upon the lives of two inventors – Margaret E. Knight and Marion O’Brien Donovan. Along the way, we’ve learned a great deal about museum theater, from the best practices in the field to the day-to-day insights that accompany researching, writing, and revision. Rather than keep this knowledge to ourselves, we hope to create a website that can help others who have an interest in museum theater, Our website [www.historyonstage.org] will focus in on the particular challenges that come with presenting history on stage (as opposed to science or other popular topics). We hope to give students, educators, and museum professionals the resources and advice they need to create productions of their own.
In more detail, the site will:
- Give a brief introduction to museum theater, describing its particular strength and weaknesses as a way to interpret the past.
- Offer visitors advice on how to begin creating their own piece of historical museum theater (not program)
- Give visitors tips, based on the our experience, for each stage of the development process (initial planning and key messages, research, drafting, revision)
- Direct visitors to other resources, such as official associations for museum theater, the best literature in the field, and examples of other successful pieces of museum theater (videos and other media).
- Introduce visitors to our team (the authors), as well as our ongoing project on women inventors.
Since our website hopes to direct visitors through paths of webpages, we plan to use WordPress to build the site. Also, since we are required to build an online portfolio for our public history project, our “About Us” page will also offer information about our ongoing theater project, complete with a bibliography, primary documents, and content-rich descriptions of our inventors.
Rough Timeline
[Purchase domain space]
Vision and Planning Meeting – 03/30/10
- Create a site map
- Finalize content and responsibilities
- Discuss site’s overall mood and appearance
Rough Design Meeting 04/07/10
- Present and Discuss Site Mock-Ups
[Construct style sheet]
Open Lab Meeting 04/14/10
- Begin adding content (text) to site
- Add header graphic to homepage
[Create presentation for class]
[Continue adding content to site]
Check-In Meeting 04/21/10
- Find missing content
-Check all citations
-Revise and edit the site’s voice
- Make additional polishes and flourishes
