Building Truth Together: Community input and evidence in Exhibition Design

ID: WMA2026_618

Track:

How do you design galleries that reflect a divided public? This session shares a process for developing exhibitions that give equal authority to  stakeholder perspectives  and historical evidence. We discuss the internal framework that kept our team steady while navigating social and political tensions as we collaborated with stakeholders across the state. Attendees will learn a practical path for balancing historical facts with authentic, object-based storytelling to create galleries where visitors see themselves in the stories being told.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: We share practical instruments and tools for protecting equal authority and representation by balancing scholarly evidence with advocacy for all sides during a  high-pressure, state-level exhibition launch.

Objectives:

• Participants will learn how to weigh stakeholder input including scholarly evidence to ensure all sides of a community are represented fairly.
• Attendees will discover how to maintain a steady and respectful team culture when navigating conflicting feedback and external social tensions.
• Participants will identify specific methods for giving community memories and cultural expression the same respect and gallery spaces as historical evidence.
• Participants will learn how to design gallery displays and interactives that meet visitors where they are by linking historical artifacts to contemporary life.

Engagement: We will share the skills and processes in a handout format we used to plan our exhibits. Participants  will break into small groups to analyze specific gallery scenarios, practicing how to represent multiple viewpoints fairly while maintaining historical accuracy. The session concludes with a full-room discussion where groups share their strategies for navigating social tensions and protecting the integrity of their stories. We will need  a projector for the case study and space for small-group discussion.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Curators/Scientists/Historians Other Registrars, Collections Managers Technology 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: This approach is about a mindset of respect and a commitment to evidence, which applies to any project regardless of size. A local site can use these same processes and tools to connect with their neighbors, while a larger institution can use them to reach across a wider region, regardless of social tensions.

Participants