277: How Do They Do That? Behinds the Scenes at the Museum

Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

Guest Jeanne Gutierrez is a Curatorial Scholar in Women's History at the New-York Historical Society. She is a Ph.D. candidate in History at the CUNY Graduate Center. Jeanne is the co-curator of the NYHS “Women’s Work” exhibit. Summary In this episode, Jeanne takes me behind the scenes at the New-York Historical Society to understand the collaborative thinking and effort that goes into curating a major museum exhibit, in this case, “Women’s Work.”

From the Museum’s exhibit program description:

“What is “women’s work?” How have broad trends in American economic, legal, and political history encouraged women to take certain jobs and restricted them from “men’s work?” How have race, ethnicity, social class, legal status, sexual orientation, and gender presentation impacted these distinctions? In a new exhibition, the Center for Women’s History showcases approximately 45 objects from New-York Historical’s own Museum and Library collections to demonstrate how “women’s work” defies categorization.”

Listen for:

• What story the curatorial staff is trying to tell about the nature of women’s work.

• Why collaboration between curators, scholars, and designers is essential.

• How the limited number of artifacts were selected and challenged the team.

• Why the staff had to limit the artifact captions to about 100 words.

• How the intentional organization and display of artifacts contribute to the story and visitor experience.

Social Media / Referenced

• https://www.nyhistory.org/

• Missionary Rag Baby, 1893–1910