Kicking Off The Way We Worked

 

The Missouri Humanities Council’s latest “Museum on Main Street” traveling exhibition, The Way We Worked, is now up and running.

 In preparation for the show to hit the road, a workshop for representatives of the host sites was provided by MHC at its Brentwood, MO offices in September.  MHC staff members Clarice Britton and Anna Wingron, along with Robbie Davis from the Smithsonian Institution “Museum on Main Street” Program, helped the workshop participants learn to assemble and disassemble the exhibit.

 But there is much more involved in preparing for “The Way We Worked” than simply learning how the parts connect together.  Each host community has had a committee working very hard to plan and assemble a local component about the past, present and future of work, workers, and the workplace in their part of Missouri, as well as public programming associated with the topic.

 From the perspective of MHC staff and council members, the best aspect of The Way We Worked is that each site can tell their own story about the history of work in their community.  Each host site will display the same exhibit in a different format and layout, and with different local content, which provides a different experience for the different audiences.

 To a great extent, the Smithsonian portion of the exhibition focuses on questions of why we work, and how our jobs are very much at the heart of how we understand who we are and how we relate to one another.  The show features multiple interpretive segments with large graphics, audio components, relevant objects and work clothing. There are new technological features to the exhibition, including a cell phone-based audio tour, and options allowing visitors to answer questions about the work and to share their stories.

 St. Genevieve is the first stop for The Way We Worked, with the main Smithsonian and local exhibit segments at the Ste. Genevieve Visitor Center, and a local children’s exhibit component at the nearby Bolduc House Museum.  The local programs, running from October 8 to November 5, 2011, featured different work-related themes for each of the 29 days the exhibit was open.  The next stop will be in Rolla, where Arts Rolla will host The Way We Worked from November 19-December 17, 2011.  2012 sites include Poplar Bluff, Fulton, Lawson and Savannah.

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