For my expert tour, I chose to shadow Joey Long who is the director of the C.H. Moore Homestead & DeWitt County Museum. I chose Joey as she is someone who is directly related to the history of our community and the preservation of that history. The museum is housed in a Victorian mansion which was built in the 1870’s and turned into a museum in the 1960s. The museum shows what a traditional house from that time would look like and also includes an antique farm equipment museum and railroad displays. Over the past few years, the museum has been transferring to integrating more technology in a variety of ways.
Joey has been with the museum since 2012 and says that her job functions have changed quite a bit over that time due to technology. Long said that while many of the duties have stayed the same, how she completes them is more integrated with technology now. However, she admits it has been a steep learning curve for her as she is “technology challenged.”
First and foremost, Facebook has become an integral aspect of her job as many people interact with the page. Whether it is setting up a tour, looking to donate artifacts related to DeWitt County’s history, or looking for community history, technology is an essential part of that. Long spends several hours a day on the website and spends time writing up articles as well. Facebook also allows the museum to collaborate with other museums across the state creating beneficial relationships. She also mentioned that they will be starting an Instagram account to highlight many of the interesting artifacts that the museum houses.
Another big innovation at the museum has been due to COVID. With the help of a website overall, the museum has started to use QR codes to conduct tours rather than face-to-face tours that were done in the past. Long recorded what she would normally say during a tour using Voice Memos on her phone. She said this has many benefits for both her and the people that come to visit and allows opportunities for growth with them being used around the museum grounds in the future.
Over the course of the past few years, the museum has been working on categorizing and cataloging all of their artifacts and donations into a computer program called PastPerfect. This program creates an entry for each artifact, ranging from silverware to antique tractors. Each is given a number, any available history and the current location so the museum can more easily keep track. Joey explained that this is a monumental and slow task as each individual piece of silverware to clothing must be entered separately.
Finally, she mentioned that they have done virtual field trips with artifacts for students around DeWitt County. I thought this was interesting as it seemed similar to a Tweet I saw from the Illinois Holocaust that provided a virtual “trunk” with artifacts for students to engage with. Long says she pulls out several artifacts of note and tells students the stories and history behind them.
In terms of teaching, the museum can be a great resource for students and teachers to use. Joey and I have worked together to create a project in which students research a Civil War Veteran and then go to the cemetery and clean their grave. By working together, it provides an important community connection that benefits both students and the museum. While I was there, we talked about how we could implement QR codes into the project and place them at the cemetery for people to learn about notable citizens that the students create their projects on.
Additionally, the research and source analysis skills are two very important assets in order to become a museum director. In her job, Joey utilizes primary and secondary to create a picture of the past and bringing it to the present. She analyzes both physical and digital records in order to find information. One of the ways to do this online is through www.newspapers.com which includes digital newspaper archives from the last 200 years.
Being able to use research skills to find pertinent information is an important skill for someone going into a historical field and one that students in a history classroom should learn as a part of digital literacy. In my school, we have made an effort to push this the last few years after becoming 1:1. Along with this, being able to analyze primary and secondary sources are crucial as this is where many of the facts and stories that are shared come from. We can apply these directly to classroom learning as more and more sources are brought online, being able to access, research and understand what each of the sources are saying is an important skill. As we have looked to increase reading and writing skills through social studies, source analysis plays a key role in each unit we do throughout the year. Through research projects like on a WWII battle, students can "own" their learning and create engaging lessons using these research skills and primary/secondary sources. Teaching with primary sources is important as students can analyze first hand accounts of historical events.
Doing - Using QR Codes in the museum allows them to transform the way tours are held. Although this was created due to COVID, it is something the museum plans to keep long term. It allows the museum to conduct tours in a way that would not be possible without technology. Additionally, the use of PastPerfect has allowed them to create a digital database of all artifacts. Previously, this was done on paper which could be lost in a fire or flood.
Meaning - Social media allows the museum to tell the stories about artifacts, buildings or people that were important in DeWitt County and provide meaning behind them to people across the country. In many cases, the information can be relevant today.
Relating - Facebook and Instagram are the biggest way the museum is able to relate to others. People enjoy being able to interact with the museum where they or their families have lived for generations. It also allows the community to come together to support a common cause and allows for the dissemination of information to the community as well.
Thinking - The tools above allow 21st technology to give visitors a sense of what life was like in the 1800’s. Visitors must still envision what life was like, however, technology makes bringing the past to present much more real and possible.
Being - The use of QR Codes allows the museum to take people back to the Victorian era in which the house is set. Social media allows the museum to interact and collaborate with museums across the state and country.
I found it interesting to see a common theme about social media now playing a role in communication and engagement. I saw the same thing mentioned in my tour. Hearing the new innovations from COVID is a breath of fresh air. I do like to see the positive effect from COVID.
I thought it was really neat to hear about how the museum has integrated technology into its daily routines/pratctices. When I first looked at your post and the photos I was thinking "how is this illustrating technology?", and then as I read through your post I was thinking how perfect it was that your chose to do your tour there. It is not somewhere you would think of technology being integrated but it most definitely is! The QR codes is something that I think is really neat. It came out of necessity but they are seeing the value in it and choosing to keep it. That's awesome. I also really liked how meaningful you made your calloborative projects …
I thought it was really unique to adopt QR codes for the purposes of allowing people to tour without guides. I think that can certainly make museums into more self-directed attractions, though I admit I like hearing people relate information to me. I also thought it was interesting about the focus on Facebook and social media: Museums certainly need to market just like anybody else and I think that social media can help them do that.