The American Museum of Natural History
Opens Its Doors to Teachers
by Sybil Maimin
The Structures and Cultures Moveable
Museum, a Winnebago RV containing select museum objects
that goes out to New York City schools, greeted educators
in the driveway of the American Museum of Natural History
(AMNH), the first hint of the instructional treasure trove
that lay inside the building for the 55 participants who
attended the 4th annual Educator's Summer Institute on
World Cultures. For three days, teachers from schools elementary
through college, public and private, learned about the
museum's resources and how to use them most effectively
with their classes. They visited venerable halls with experts
who shared knowledge and enthusiasm and offered tips and
advice about how to engage young people. The teachers became
students themselves in several interactive workshops. An
exciting privilege was a behind the scenes visit to state-of-the-art,
temperature and humidity controlled, dust-free areas to
view parts of the AMNH's vast (540,000 objects) stored
collections, some dating back to 1869, the year the institution
was founded. Teachers learned to "think
like a museum" as the challenges of creating exhibits,
maintaining accuracy, and keeping up to date were discussed.
As explained by Maritza Macdonald, AMNH director of professional
development, "During the summer we have the chance to
have teachers come together to learn how to use the museum.
We have two main goals: increase the teachers' knowledge
of content from an archeological and anthropological perspective
and then show them how to apply it...I like to think of New
York as having urban treasurers. But, we must learn how to
use them."
Participants had an intriguing
choice of workshops. Those who went to the Hall of Northwest
Indians with museum educator Stephanie Fins were rewarded
with an information-filled overview of the oldest ethnographic
collection still on display in the museum in a very popular,
very classic hall that "represents
a moment in museum history." They learned of the importance
of doing comparisons of cultures within a geographic area
and of teaching opportunities presented by environmental
exhibits. Peoples living among trees use lots of wood. Students
can deduce from dioramas that houses made of unfastened wood
planks can be packed up and moved, suggesting hunting and
gathering rather than agriculture. No windows may mean much
outdoor living. Lack of clay and abundance of trees results
in vessels made from wood and, sure to intrigue, wood fiber
baskets woven so tightly they can hold liquid, and garments
woven from cedar bark. Trees in the Pacific Northwest were
huge as attested by the 64 by 8 foot dugout canoe shown in
the 77th Street entrance. Its voyage to the museum
in 1883 via boat, train, and horse-drawn carriage and details
of its installation usually elicit much discussion. The carved
crest (or totem) poles that famously line the hall are only
partial representations, the tree-height originals being
too tall for the space. The sophisticated technology and
artistry in the objects seen in the exhibits can lead to
interesting questions about stereotypes of "primitive" peoples.
Archaeologist Edith Gonzalez de Scollard conveyed the fun
and excitement of discovery as she led teachers through a
reading of artifacts in the Hall of Mexico and Central America.
Students must understand that stones, dirt, and bones do
not reveal everything about a culture. Gray with age, they
do not tell the same story as vivid colors of a modern textile
would. Yet much can be deduced from artifacts, especially
by focusing on one object. Trying to unravel the mystery
of the museum's colossal stone Olmec head brought many theories
from participants regarding the importance of its subject,
his occupation, and how the huge stone got to where it was
found. Because of their fragility, another type of artifact,
pots, are generally found in sedentary, agricultural societies.
Pottery shards may suggest the shape and use of vessels leading
to deductions about diet and ritual. A fun introduction to
archaeology for students is reassembling pieces of inexpensive,
broken (by teacher) dishes and trying to learn from the pieces.
A visit to the museum's collections in their impressive
storerooms was a highlight. AMNH anthropologist Laila Williamson
showed objects from South America, carefully laid out on
pullout shelves in cabinets color-coded by region (green-tropical
forests-for South America). Most of the objects were from
Amazonia and were arranged by tribe and geography. Arrows,
beadwork, feathers, pots, paddles, clubs, ceremonial items,
and baskets were among the 21,000 objects in the group. Issues
of conservation and the difficulties of collecting today
were discussed. Endangered species are off limits. The preference
of many tribes for modern products, ranging from metal pots
to transistor radios, rather than traditional items has resulted
in a dearth of collectable objects. The museum's collections
are available to researchers. Each item is entered in a computer;
digital imaging of the entire collection is an ongoing project.
The keynote speeches offered other avenues of inspiration
and guidance. Laurel Kendall, curator of the AMNH Asian Ethnographic
Collection spoke about weddings in Asia and the many opportunities
that the marriage ceremony has for introducing students to
anthropology and cultural studies. The museum has several
popular wedding exhibits including an elaborately decorated
Chinese wedding chair that carries a bride from her home
to that of her husband-to-be, a journey filled with much
symbolism. An Indian couple is depicted in full, rich, traditional
dress, telling much about family pride. Everyone knows someone
who has gotten married. Students can think like a museum
with projects involving studying and presenting family wedding
photos, lists of gifts, ceremonies and family traditions.
The diversity of students in New York City guarantees good
results from such cross-cultural studies, promised Kendall.
The teachers were even treated
to a mini film festival. Kathy Brew, co-director of the
Margaret Meade Film Festival, explained, "We live in a visual culture...It is a new
kind of literacy that we all have to get used to...We can
all teach and tell, but there's nothing like going to the
source and actually seeing and hearing." Many of the
museum's newer exhibits use film.
Participants in the Institute
praised it for its quality, thoroughness, and respect for
the teachers. Kimberly Vaillancourt, a teacher from Staten
Island found it "useful because
the world is a mosaic and by understanding different cultures
we can understand the world. A program like this brings people
together." Lindy Uehling, principal of the NYC Museum
School, a New Vision theme school that partners with four
museums and sees the museum as an extension of its campus,
said, "The message of the Institute is the excitement
of the museum is available to all. It gives kids the opportunity
to experience things that they could never get in a book...There
is more here than any school could offer."#
