Interpretation

Interpretation & Education

Visitors should enjoy and understand the museum they visit. Effective interpretation allows each visitor to personally connect with a resource or place and to care about the museums on their own terms. Interpretation is about getting the story across to the public. This can take place in text and images (text panels near showcases, guidebooks, websites, apps or movies), but can also be done by guide persons and is then called Live Interpretation: “any live interaction between museum / site staff and visitors” (Imtal-Europe).

Live Interpretation is an important method of presenting. It includes any interpretation, using living people to address the audience. One can simply start with guided tours, workshops and semi-formal School programs. If we move on to living history-type activities, we get demonstrations of historical craft, storytelling and costumed first- and third-person interpretation.

Check our Themed Collections:
Adult Education
Teaching Children

Featured EXARC Members Interpretation Groups

Living History as an Instrument for Historical and Cultural Exchange in German Archaeological Open-Air Museums: an Online Survey Defines Present Status

Author(s)

Tatjana Meder

Jana Seipelt

Sabrina Slanitz

Publication Date

2016-12-01

EXARC Journal Issue 2016/4

The topic of Living History is a controversial one, with diverse opinions on its subject matter. To begin with: What does the term Living History mean? And in what context do we discuss it? Living History has long been utilized as a method of experiencing history and cultural exchange in open-air museums, especially outside of Germany...

Read more about Living History as an Instrument for Historical and Cultural Exchange in German Archaeological Open-Air Museums: an Online Survey Defines Present Status

The VIA SCIPIONIS Project Outdoor Travelling Experimental Archaeology and Re-enactment

Author(s)

J. M. Gallego Cañamero

E. Ble Gimeno

P. Valdes Matias

J. Garcia Perez

Publication Date

2016-12-01

EXARC Journal Issue 2016/4

In August 2015 the first rendition of an experimental archaeology project was held, for the first time in Spain. The objective was to study the problems faced by the Roman Republican legions from the second Punic War during their marches. This project, named VIA SCIPIONIS, captured an historical episode...

Read more about The VIA SCIPIONIS Project Outdoor Travelling Experimental Archaeology and Re-enactment

The Attack on the Tooth Worm

Author(s)

Wiel van der Mark

Publication Date

2016-08-15

EXARC Journal Issue 2016/3

It is the year 1350 in Gravendam, the medieval town of Archaeological Open-air Museum (AOAM) Archeon in the Netherlands. There is a great deal of commotion on the street when the master cabinetmaker, John, screams out in pain and despair caused by a cavity in one of his molars. The sound of his scream is heard by everyone!...

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Recommended Literature

ANDERSON, J., 1984, Time Machines. The World of Living History. Nashville Tennessee: The American Association for State and Local History.

DUISBERG, H., 2008, Living History in Freilichtmuseen. Neue Wege der Geschichtsvermittlung, Ehestorf: Förderverein des Freilichtmuseums am Kiekeberg.

GOODACRE, B. & BALDWIN, G., 2002, Living the Past: Reconstruction, Recreation, Re-enactment and Education at Museums and Historical Sites, London: Middlesex University Press.

TILDEN, F., 1957, Interpreting our Heritage, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.

Interpretation Manuals

2015 Guidebook for Live Interpretation in AOAMs

Size: A4, 40 pages

As part of the OpenArch project, Archeon (NL) published a guide on the use of Live Interpretation in Archaeological Open-Air Museums. This booklet should become an...

Read more and get a PDF

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship. Photo: Colonial Williamsburg

EXARC is proud to cooperate with America’s largest outdoor living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg, in an annual fellowship offer. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation annually invites applications for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship. Fellowships are an important component of the work of the Education, Research and Historical Interpretation Division. Fellowships primarily support research on topics related to British America, the American Revolution, and the Early Republic. Read more

Photo: Colonial Williamsburg

Grundtvig Learning Partnership at EXARC

EXARC and a number of its members applied in 2010 for a Grundtvig Learning Partnership. Grundtvig was a part of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLLP) of the European Union which among others involves Leonardo and Erasmus. The Grundtvig Programme was focussed on adult education and in our case involves several museums, open-air museums, universities and high schools.We worked with our partners from across Europe to share practice, discuss problems and compare solutions on our particular topics. Obviously our project was about non-formal learning in different aspects. While writting an application two projects have been formed: Didarchtik and Zeitgeist.

Interpretation & Education

Interaction with Visitors

Featured EXARC Members Interpretation Groups

Featured in the EXARC Journal

Interpretation

Living History as an Instrument for Historical and Cultural Exchange in German Archaeological Open-Air Museums: an Online Survey Defines Present Status

The VIA SCIPIONIS Project Outdoor Travelling Experimental Archaeology and Re-enactment

The Attack on the Tooth Worm

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship

Grundtvig Learning Partnership at EXARC

EXARC

Social Media

Creative Commons Licence

Interpretation & Education

Interaction with Visitors

Featured EXARC Members Interpretation Groups

Featured in the EXARC Journal

Interpretation

Living History as an Instrument for Historical and Cultural Exchange in German Archaeological Open-Air Museums: an Online Survey Defines Present Status

The VIA SCIPIONIS Project Outdoor Travelling Experimental Archaeology and Re-enactment

The Attack on the Tooth Worm

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – EXARC Fellowship

Grundtvig Learning Partnership at EXARC

EXARC

Social Media

Creative Commons Licence

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