Interpreting Difficult History

Name: Interpreting Difficult History
Start: February 7, 2018
End: February 7, 2018

Improve listing Presented by Local History-Field Services, Office of Programs and Outreach, Wisconsin Historical society

Wednesday, February 7 10:30 am - 12 noon Central Time

Interpreting Difficult History

Presented by Julia Rose, Museum Curator, Johns Hopkins University

How do history workers engage audiences in learning about difficult histories? These are the tough stories. These are the recollections from history that can be upsetting, uncomfortable and at times even shocking to learn. This session will involve participants in learning about how to develop and deliver interpretations of difficult histories with strategies that are sensitive and offer ethical representations of historical Others. Historical representations of difficult histories can go beyond informing audiences by encouraging audience members to empathize deeply with the historical suffering of Others and to be encouraged to make meaningful connections to those who suffered and how their suffering is meaningful to society today.

Julia Rose is the director/curator of Homewood Museum at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Previously, she was the director of the West Baton Rouge Museum, an AAM accredited regional history museum. Her primary research interests focus on interpreting difficult histories and documenting historical enslaved plantation communities for museum interpretations. Currently, Rose serves as the Immediate Past Chairman on the Council for the American Association for State and Local History. She received a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, a Master of Arts in Teaching in Museum Education from the George Washington University, and a B.A in Fine Art and Education from State University of New York at Albany. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of Museum Education. She has held positions at the Columbia Historical Society, East Tennessee Historical Society, and Magnolia Mound Plantation. Rose was also an assistant professor and an adjunct instructor teaching museum studies at Southern University of New Orleans and Louisiana State University, respectively. Her most recent publication is Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).