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The AmericAn Writers museumconcepT plAn

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a m e r i c a n w r i t e r s m u s e u m c o n c e p t p l a n m ay 2 0 12

ta b l e o f co n t en t s

acknowledgment 3

introduction 5

the museum 7

mission, message, goals 19

guiding principles 21

interpretive str ategies 23

design consider ations 25

charet te participants 28

a m e r i c a n w r i t e r s m u s e u m c o n c e p t p l a n m ay 2 0 12 3

ack n ow l e d g e m en t

Development of this concept plan was made possible through grants by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Stead Family Foundation. These grants funded intensive and inspirational development charettes in Chicago, New York, and Boston. Participants included a diverse mix of scholars, writers, publishers, designers, and museum professionals. The leadership of the American Writers Museum Foundation gratefully acknowledges the generosity of treasure, time, and wisdom so fully given by all those who have made this plan possible.

“ there is a void in the american museum world. we collect in central points the artifacts of civilization and honor politicians and soldiers, athletes and artists, inventors and entrepreneurs, but we neglect our writers. in a country established as an idea explicated in written documents and embellished by generations of poets, novelists, and critics, the case for commemorating the written word is self-evident. after all, what is written describes a people and what is celebrated defines their values.”Jim leach, chairman of the national endowment for the humanities


i n t r o d u c t i o n

America as a nation is built on its treasured writings—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the great writings of the nineteenth century, the extraordinary riches of the twentieth century. Americans as a community and as individuals have been shaped by stories, poems,

speeches, plays, songs, autobiographies, histories, essays, screenplays, and more.

Our writers have recorded our history, imagined our lives, entertained us, and explained us to ourselves, continuously helping to shape and enrich not only

our sense of ourselves individually but also our shared understanding of who we are as a nation. It is time for a national museum that celebrates writers, studies the role of writing in our nation’s history and culture, and helps place writing and writers at the center of our national conversation.

Welcome to the American Writers Museum! It is rooted in the essential pleasure of reading. It will be a place for adventure, revelation, contemplation, participation, learning, sharing and delight. Galleries, exhibits, and social spaces will invite visitors to participate in discovering the rich variety of American literature, from the earliest works to the most recent. We will transport

visitors to the worlds that books have created by reenacting the stories and their context. We will show visitors the national significance and global reach of American writers and their works. Visitors will leave the museum encouraged to read and write at all levels. The American Writers Museum is both an idea and a place. It will be a vibrant, experiential center dedicated to the explication and exploration of American writers and their works, and it will be a hub for national discourse on writers and writing.

While not collections-based, the American Writers Museum will leverage national partner relationships to create changing exhibitions that

include important collections from universities, libraries, other museums and private collections. We will not compete with other outstanding programs, but rather,

we will make the museum community aware of the myriad literary resources available nationwide. Web-based exhibits, programs and partner links will be essential tools for ensuring wide visitor involvement and long-term sustainability.

“It is time for a national

museum ofAmerican

writing and writers…”

“ to celebrate the role of writing in our nation’s history and culture…”

“ the idea of an american writers museum seems to me long overdue. the literate world has known and prized american writers since the generation of emerson and thoreau. whitman and emily dickinson have influenced poets and readers in english and in translation into many languages. the great current continues, and a museum honoring and portraying american writing would be an honor to the suffering and vision from which our literature came.” w.s. merwin, us poet laureate


t h e m u s eu m

The idea of the American Writers Museum has been met with universal acclaim. The most common reaction to it is, “You mean we don’t have an American writers museum?” The questions that immediately follow are, “What will be in it, what will it look like, and what will I do there?”

This concept plan is a milestone in the evolution of a simple idea into an institution of substance. We know the American Writers Museum will grow and adapt to new insights and influences over its next period of development. This document represents our aspirations today.

Through the charette process, we have vetted numerous exhibit and visitor experience possibilities. While conceptualizing the physical aspects of the new museum we have been mindful of the incredible possibilities of web-based engagement with our audience as well. Integration of website experiences with the on-site experiences will continue to be a fundamental part of the American Writers Museum’s identity.

A concept plan is not a design. Therefore, the task of such a plan is to present evocative examples without locking in too much specificity too soon. The examples that follow are indicative, only to be refined and improved through continued discourse.

Here is what The American Writers Museum will be: It will be a place where

diverse audiences have unique and unexpected encounters with American writers and writing; it will be a place

with engagement so compelling it will be a must-see, must-do part of the

nation’s cultural landscape.

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MuseuM OrganizatiOn

The diagram below distills the more detailed visitor experience descriptions that follow into a simple overall museum organization. You will see an arrival hall and Literary Commons surrounded by the Literary Lounge, the Scribblers Café and the Writers & Readers Bookstore. Two large spaces

are accessible off the Literary Lounge: the multi-purpose theater and the Writers’ Hall. Nested around the Writers’ Hall are the focus halls aimed at specific changing exhibitions. In addition, special purpose spaces such as building services, administration, and the Education Center will be accessible from the Literary Commons.

WRITERS & READERS BOOKSTORE

LITERARYLOUNGE

WRITERS’ HALL

THEATER

ARRIVALLITERARY COMMONS

SCRIBBLERSCAFÉ

ADMINISTRATION

EDUCATION CENTER

BUILDINGSERVICES

HALL 1

HALL 5

HALL 6

HALL 7(ETC.)

HALL 2

HALL 3

HALL 4

FO

CU

S G

AL

LE

RIE

S

MuseuM OrganizatiOn

theMes

The intellectual framework for The American Writers Museum is characterized by its content themes. Our themes introduce visitors to multiple perspectives of American writing and writers, and encourage visitors’ exploration and engagement with them.

• WritersshapeAmerica.• Diversityofmanykindsisadefiningquality

of American writing.• Americaisanationofimmigrants,and

immigrants significantly shape its writing.• Thepersonalstoriesofwritersmattertothe

work and the reading experience.• Readingisafundamentalpersonalexperience.• Thereisaninterconnectednessbetweenwriting

and other forms of cultural expression

experience DescriptiOn

A well designed arrival experience makes visitors feel immediately welcome and ushers them expeditiously through ticketing, coat check and other essential needs including rest rooms and orientation. Visitors to the American Writers Museum will also know that their experience will be something different—something beautiful, moving, intellectually stimulating, memorable, and fun.


Literary cOMMOns

We envision a signature, iconic element positioned in the arrival hall or Literary Commons, at the crossroads of the galleries, the theater, education center, and other visitor amenities. Characterized in this sketch is an “Ink Fountain”— a three dimensional interactive “pool” of letters and words that spool outward onto the walls of the Literary Commons. Visitors are invited to “dip” their fingers into the ink to discover familiar phrases from writers they love, or to create new word combinations that express their own literary prowess. This soaring interactive will be constantly changing and is envisioned as a combination of state-of-the-art digital projection and an intuitive human interface.

With the Ink Fountain as its anchor, the Literary Commons will encompass the arrival area and visitor services, and it will provide a link to all other areas of the museum. The Ink Fountain will serve a dual purpose as a central orienting feature and introductory interactive experience. Further, the Literary Commons will accommodate programming for small group lectures and presentations. It will be a vibrant, changing space featuring current literary information drawn from links with partner institutions and generated by visitors.

ink FOuntain

1 0 a m e r i c a n w r i t e r s m u s e u m c o n c e p t p l a n m ay 2 0 12

Writers’ haLL vignettes

spir itualit y & religion

the civ il war

southern renaissance

industrializ ation oppression

the frontier & the west

first- person america

who is an american?

Main gaLLery: Writers’ haLL

One of the challenges in developing a concept for the American Writers Museum is establishing an exhibit platform that is flexible enough to accommodate the breadth of American writers and writing. We have solved this challenge in the Writers’ Hall by providing a set of vignettes, stage sets essentially, that can serve the needs of exhibition for a variety of authors and subjects. The additional benefit of this approach is that we can change authors and subjects on a regular basis, which means that while we do not need to be either encyclopedic or comprehensive on opening day, we can promise over time to feature the full range of vital American writing.

The Writers’ Hall will feature a series of vignettes themed to a particular topic or era. Each vignette will utilize a unique display and interactive technology so that the range of experiences in this area will be vast. The experiences will be participatory and intuitive.

The five examples that follow suggest the depth of literature exploration that will be possible. Surprising juxtapositions will be possible by pairing canonical and non-canonical works.

The Writers’ Hall will be organized around a series of themed vignettes tied to literary groupings that can provide interesting and surprising juxtapositions.


1. aMerican Quests

Imagine a map of America nearly 20’ across. Now imagine it as a projection surface on which visitors can choose to trace the route of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, or share in the explorations of Lewis and Clark. With this map visitors will explore historic images, video, and audio to contextualize the stories of American Quests.

Authors and their works can include:• JournalsofLewisandClark• HermanMelville,Moby Dick• ZoraNealHurston,Their Eyes Were

Watching God• JackKerouac,On The Road• FrederickDouglass,Narrative of the Life of

Frederick Douglass• NathanaelWest,The Day of the Locust• RobertFrost,North of Boston• F.ScottFitzgerald,The Great Gatsby• ErnestHemingway,The Nick Adams Stories• SaulBellow,Augie March

2. aMerican FaMiLies

Take a seat and take a role in the all-American kitchen. In a mid-century American kitchen, visitors will play out roles of their favorite characters from authors such as Baldwin and Alcott. Features will include lighting effects, audio cues, and interactive surfaces.

Authors and their works can include:• LouisaMayAlcott,Little Women• EdithWharton,The Age of Innocence• EugeneO’Neill,Long Day’s Journey Into Night • LorraineHansberry,A Raisin in the Sun• WilliamFaulkner,The Sound and the Fury • RobertLowell, Life Studies• HenryRoth,Call It Sleep• AugustWilson,Fences• SinclairLewis,Babbit• JamesBaldwin,Go Tell It on the Mountain

3. aMerican tOWns & cOMMunities

Thornton Wilder’s Our Town is usually staged with little more than ladders for props. This vignette is inspired by that minimalism. Monitors are arranged around the room. Each shows aspects of the American town—the farm, meeting hall, church, places of work, home, etc. Here visitors have a more contemplative experience, exploring the ordinary subjects of great American writing.

Authors and their works can include:• MarkTwain,Life on the Mississippi • EdgarLeeMasters,Spoon River Anthology • SherwoodAnderson,Winesburg, Ohio • WillaCather,O Pioneers! • GwendolynBrooks,A Street in Bronzeville• HenryJames,Washington Square • EudoraWelty,The Wide Net• EdwinArlingtonRobinson,poemsof

Tilbury Town• LouiseErdrich, Love Medicine


4. WOrking

Working is set in a Depression-era movie theater. All interpretation here is on screen, allowing visitors a chance for a short cinematic experience. Interactive technology will be built into this experience to allow visitors to make in-seat viewing selections and to respond to queries embedded within the narratives.

Authors and their works can include:• JohnSteinbeck,The Grapes of Wrath • JamesM.Cain,The Postman Always

Rings Twice• CliffordOdets,Waiting for Lefty• CarlSandburg,Chicago Poems• RichardWright,Black Boy• TheodoreDreiser,Sister Carrie• StudsTerkel,Working• GracePaley,Collected Stories• TillieOlson,Tell Me a Riddle• ArthurMiller,Death of a Salesman

5. cOnFLict

Imagine a boxing ring or sporting venue. Overhead is a JumboTron. Embedded in the floor is a video that illustrates conflict narratives. Seating is provided. The JumboTron can display what is being seen in the floor or historic imagery. The “ring” can be propped with tactile artifacts. This is a group experience, with the audience on all four sides.

Authors and their works can include:• JosephHeller,Catch-22• MartinLutherKing,“Letterfrom

Birmingham Jail” • HarrietBeecherStowe,Uncle Tom’s Cabin• StevenCrane,The Red Badge of Courage• NormanMailer,The Naked and the Dead• MurielRukeyser,The Book of the Dead• AllenGinsberg,Howl• RalphEllison,Invisible Man• CyrusColter,The Beach Umbrella• JamesWelch,Fools Crow


FOcus gaLLeries

An integral part of the visitor experience, the focus galleries will be accessible from the Writers’ Hall. These galleries will ideally be sized to flexibly accommodate a wide range of uses and subjects. One focus gallery can be dedicated to a single author or a single subject such as “banned books,” books that were read to me, bestsellers, and great books that found few readers in their time, while another can be designed for quiet,

contemplative use. The focus galleries will allow the American Writers Museum to showcase an ever-changing array of exhibitions to encourage repeat visitation and to keep the institution fresh.

Children’s literature in American writing is rich. Cultivating a life-long love of reading in children is a national calling. The American Writers Museum will include experiences for children and families throughout, of course, but the focus galleries offer the possibility of creating places

specifically for youthful readers to engage with authors and stories in ways that they cannot on their own or in libraries or bookstores.

Imagine a space where children can “talk” to characters from their favorite books or they can interact with unfamiliar characters from new books they have not yet read. Imagine a storytelling platform dedicated to kids’ literature where children act out scenes from books. Imagine listening stations where visitors can hear the voices of children’s literature authors reading excerpts from their own books—with commentary from kid visitors. And imagine visitor-created stories using key words, images and sounds. If you can imagine this, you begin to get an idea for the possibilities for a kid-centered focus gallery.


sOciaL spaces

We have identified a series of “social spaces” connected by the Literary Commons. Designed for multipurpose use, they will allow visitors to explore American writers and writing in both familiar and unexpected ways in themed spaces designed for social interaction.

Our three main social spaces are a club, which we call the Literary Lounge, which will be tailored toward small performances and themed like a modern nightclub. A café, called the Scribblers Café, will offer food but will also be configurable for small and interpersonal discussions. A bookstore, named Writers & Readers Bookstore, will be designed for retail and there will be provisions for sharing recommendations and commenting on others recommendations.

All three of these spaces will foster repeat visitation through changing programming, social interaction and the ability to create a personalized experience.


The Places Bar will have seating and leaning rail in front of a large multi-screen monitor array. Here, visitors will explore American writers and their places of origin.

The Performance Stage will be a small performance

venue to feature author readings and interviews.

Visitors will engage in Flash Fiction Contests

and Literary Karaoke and explore “Less is More: Brief

and Powerful Speeches”.


theater

The theater will be designed for larger audiences. It will host films, lectures, readings, panels, dramatic performances, events combining literature and music, and other presentations. The theater will also serve as the venue for “master class” writing workshops and programming that will be unique to the museum. It will serve as the prestige presentation venue for important American writers and for national conventions of literary organizations based elsewhere. It will be a host space for small national gatherings convened by the museum (as, for example, of directors of museums dedicated to writers’ homes). It will be a lively co-presentation space that will exemplify the museum’s partnerships with other cultural and educational institutions and sponsors (both local and national). Theater events will introduce new visitors to the museum, and when other cultural and educational organizations, large and small, present events in the theater—and especially literary organizations and sponsors—the museum will welcome new constituencies to its own space.

eDucatiOn center

the American Writers Museum’s core educational mission includes a firm intention to work in close partnership with schools. We will establish the museum’s education center as an accessible an educational resource for schools and school districts. Our staff will work to develop ongoing relationships with principals and teachers that will include assistance in designing innovative classroom learning strategies as well as museum-based programs. We are committed to emphasize the range of ways in which the centrality of American writers throughout the nation’s history

can be integrated into standard disciplinary areas such as literature, history, geography, and cultural studies. Classroom space will offer school groups a place to convene at the

museum to solidify enrichment experiences in the galleries that are linked to curriculum guidelines for each educational level. We envision the education center as a community resource that will include adult programming as well.

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“ establishing a national institution that will celebrate american writing is an inspired idea. the american writers museum will honor the achievements of more than 300 years of american writing. through its programs, exhibitions, public readings, and film presentations, the museum will kindle a new appreciation of our literature and deepen our understanding of american writers.”professor thomas f. staley, director of the harry ransom center, the university of texas at austin

mission

the mission of the american writers museum is to engage the public in celebrating american writers and exploring their influence on our history, our identity, our culture, and our daily lives.


cOre Message

Our vision gives us a purpose and our core message reveals the central insight we trust visitors will gain through their engagement with us:

Writers shape America and their works are central to our history and culture. They are at the heart of our nation and of ourselves, reflecting our variety of origins, traditions, persuasions, beliefs, and cultural diversity.

The particular nature of American ideas and conflict, laughter and sorrow, myth and fact, wisdom and folly, meditation and entertainment,

poetry and politics—all of this is contained within American writing. The American Writers Museum is where visitors will encounter in one place (both real and

virtual) the full range of American literary inventiveness and insight, and will cherish the value of writing and reading in our lives.

gOaLs

Through programs, interpretive strategies and visitor experiences both on-site and on-line, the American Writers Museum will:

• PresentandcelebrateAmericanwritingand writers in ways both new and familiar to a

broad audience. We will show how thoroughly American life has been influenced by American writers, and how thoroughly the variety of American experience has

shaped American writing.

•�� Explore the impact of American writers and their works using experiential, interactive opportunities that excite all visitors and make young readers, especially, eager to learn more about writers and their books.

• Throughexhibitions,programsandactivitiesthat delight, surprise, and provoke, invite visitors to discover and to share with each other the writers and books that speak to their own lives.

• BringAmericanliterature,pastandpresent, to the center of our national conversation and thought.

•�� Maximize visitor engagement by inviting visitors to “write back” to American literature with participatory opportunities both on-site and on-line.

• Encouragethereadingofliteraryworksof all genres, and enhance the literary education of both young and adult populations.

• Broadenvisitorexperiencebyofferingdiversified programming combining literature and other art forms in exhibitions and performances, and by presenting living writers, drama productions, and other forms of visitor engagement.

• Provideaccessformemberstoanarrayofon-line literary archives and resources.

m i s s i o n, m e s s ag e , goa l s

“ there is nothing that reveals america’s character, creativity and national experience more profoundly than the literature our great writers have created.” frank sesno, director, school of media and public affairs, george washington university

a m e r i c a n w r i t e r s m u s e u m c o n c e p t p l a n m ay 2 0 12 2 1

Guiding Principles for the American Writers Museum express the underlying attitudes and assumptions that ground the selection of themes and topics the museum will showcase. We will refer to these often as the museum develops to ensure we stay true to these principles.

• TheAmericanWritersMuseumisaplace for readers.

• Cumulativeexperiencesinthemuseummay be more profound and have more lasting effect than a single, large-scale experience.

• TheAmericanWritersMuseummustberelevant to a large and diverse group of people.

• Fromthefoundingdocumentsthroughthenovels, poetry, speeches, autobiographies, and plays of the present day, America is a nation founded on, furthered, and re-imagined by acts of writing.

• Humanmindsarehard-wiredforstories; the American Writers Museum will be story-driven.

• Humanvoicefacilitatesaccessibilitytocontent.

• Surpriseandhumorareessentialelementsofmuch good writing and enjoyable reading, and will be elements of our visitor experience.

• Visitorexperiencesthatprovokeanemotionalresponse have lasting impact—the American Writers Museum will be experiential.

• TheAmericanWritersMuseumwillnot be a collecting institution

• Viewpoint-driventhemesoremotional/ moral/political/societal questions readily inspire explorations of how an author reflected or challenged popular opinions in his/her audience.

• Everyoneisanindividualreader,withanintimate personal history as a reader, and with favorite books and memorable experiences of reading. In this way reading is egalitarian and inclusive.

• Everyonehassomethingtosayaboutreadingand writing, and the American Writers Museum will solicit and welcome multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

• Museumsarethephysicalexpressionofaninstitution’s values and ideas. These can be shared in other ways, including programs, exhibits, traveling shows, and on-site and on-line interactive media. All of these outlets and techniques combined are to be considered the American Writers Museum.

• Local,regional,andnationalPartnershipswillbe an essential part of the American Writers Museum operational model. Partnerships will offer shared content and loaned collections for mutual benefit.

g u i d i n g pr i n ci pl e s

“ how thrilling to imagine a museum dedicated to the great achievements of american literature. such a museum—no matter where in the u.s. it was located—would immediately become both a national center and a national symbol for creativity, education, and the highest aspirations of our culture.” dana gioia, poet and former chairman of the national endowment for the arts


Each gallery, theme and exhibit will ultimately receive a custom design, tailored to ensure the goals and visitor outcome objectives are met. Interpretive strategies developed in the workshop process and identified below will be employed throughout the visitor experience. Each of these will be used to varying degrees, depending on the type of experience presented.

The vision for the American Writers Museum relies on the robust interaction of its visitors, both on-site and on-line, with the themes and topics the museum will present. Visitors will have a role in what is presented and how it is presented.

The interpretive strategies for the American Writers Museum characterize the multiple techniques and approaches the American Writers Museum will use to present its stories to visitors. The aim is to offer access to the content in a variety of different ways to accommodate the largest degree of learning styles and cognitive, emotional, developmental, and physical abilities.

With the above in mind, here are seven key interpretive strategies the museum will employ:

prOviDe FLexibLe, MuLtipLe pOints OF entry

Researchhasprovidedrichdetailabouthowpeople engage in informal learning environments.

No two people engage in the same way. For this reason the American Writers Museum will employ a consistent strategy of presenting content in multiple ways. This

means exhibits will offer content in visual formats, digital formats, and in sensory formats using tactile elements such as touch objects and touch screens.

OFFer OppOrtunities FOr visitOr-generateD cOntent

The phrase “visitor- generated content” has layered meaning. It can strike fear in the hearts of many curators, but its intent is positive —to increase visitors’ commitment to the

museum by giving them a voice within its virtual and physical walls.

i n t er pr e t i v e s t r at eg i e s


Make aMpLe use OF interactive experiences

Successful visitor engagement is often a result of quality

interactive experiences. These experiences can be simple (a matching game for example), or complex (a touch table). Their aim is always the same—to provide visitors with innovative ways to engage the content so that it is understandable, demonstrable, and memorable. The American Writers Museum envisions use of simple and complex interactives throughout the visitor experience to both enhance enjoyment and to anchor the learning objectives.

integrate sOciaL MeDia intO the MuseuM experience

Many visitors will be using social media to document their visit to the American

Writers Museum and to share their experiences with their friends. Social media is a tool that will be employed to amplify visitor connections to the Museum and its content.

seek huMOr anD evOke eMOtiOns

Discovering humor in writing is among the pleasures of reading. Emotional experiences are those that tend to last. With these points in mind, the American Writers Museum will seek humor and evoke emotion in much of the visitor experience, and will aim to modulate the visit through a range of experiences intended, in part, to evoke an emotional response.

FOster grOup experiences

Most museum visits are with groups. The fastest growing group of museum-goers is inter-generational families. With this in mind, exhibits will be designed to engage

groups of visitors in developmentally appropriate ways. This means exhibits will be designed to engage audiences of varying ages, abilities, and interests while fostering group interactions. This can be achieved through exhibits that invite inquiry and ask questions.

cOMpLeMent exhibits With prOgraMs

Exhibitswillbedesignedtobestand-alone; visits will be successful if self-guided. Nonetheless, programs will complement and enrich an exhibit experience. It is known that personal engagement with museum staff and volunteers greatly enhances visitor satisfaction. Thus, a key interpretive strategy will be to design programs to complement the exhibitions, providing insights and observations that cannot be presented in an exhibition format alone. These can and will include self-guided tours on smart devices, plus tours led by staff “storytellers.”


Modern museums can be marvels of innovation, both in the use of the latest technology and in the employment of design techniques that amplify the impact of visitor engagement. Audience research has repeatedly shown that visitors find museum visits most satisfying when they offer an experience that is unique, rewarding and often surprising.

In this section we address five design considerations that have implications for the facility design as a whole, but have particular implications for exhibition planning and design.

incLusive Design

The American Writers Museum will be accessible to everyone. This simple, yet profound declaration means that the museum must be designed to include anyone who chooses to come. This can be achieved only if the commitment to do so is there from the start. Otherwise, it is almost certain that the museum will end up being more or less successful for some groups over others. In all aspects of its design, the American Writers Museum is committed to create visitor experiences that will be satisfying and accessible for all.

Few public spaces begin a design process by deciding whom they are going to exclude, and yet many design decisions have the effect of excluding many visitors. By making museums too dark—

even though not required by reasons of protecting fragile collections—it makes it impossible for many to read text or to navigate from place to place. By making them too noisy, it makes it impossible for some to hear targeted, local exhibit audio. By providing only one way into the content, it excludes those who miss that one way or find a different way more intuitive. In this way design creates a context that has a material effect on the audience’s ability to engage with the experiences that are offered and to absorb the information that is presented. The American Writers Museum will keep these concerns in the foreground of its design process, ensuring a design that offers multiple points of entry, including sensory experiences, and utilizes the best practices of universal design to ensure accessibility for small children, older adults, non-ambulatory visitors and visitors with physical, visual and hearing limitations.

d e s i g n co n s i d er at i o n s


use OF technOLOgy

Among the joys of the modern world is the pace at which technology evolves. Technology that is routine in museums today was neither possible nor affordable just a few years ago. This pace of change brings with it great challenges for museums, especially those that are projecting

the use of technology three years or more in the future. Decisions about infrastructure, standards and accessibility both on-line and on-site may have long lasting effect.

Technologies are being incorporated into our everyday lives in new and interesting ways with an unrelenting fervor. This growing familiarity of technology offers new and exciting opportunities for visitor engagement in a museum setting.

Technology will play an important role in the American Writers Museum, but we do not want it to be the featured role. By this we mean that for the most part, technology will be incorporated to enhance the visitor experience but it will not be so much in the foreground that it becomes the experience. We envision the use of technology as a way to foster social interaction, to provide easy access to large amounts of data, and to allow an

integration of the museum’s physical experience with its on-line one. Specifically, technology will be deployed to:

• Providevisitorswithawaytoaddtheir own stories and commentary

• Providevisitorswithawaytoseeorhear the stories of others

• Connecton-siteexperiencestoon-lineexperiences and vice-versa

• Connecttosocialmediainrealtime• Connecttopartnerprogramsinrealtime• Fosteracommunityofreadingandwriting,

nationally and locally• Fostersocialinteraction• Refreshandupdatecontentonaroutineand

regular basis

As a general rule, we will utilize technology to offer visitors a variety of ways to engage with the museum’s exhibitions, in recognition of the wide variety in interests and learning styles.

partnerships

Partnerships are an important part of the identity of the American Writers Museum. Partner content and relationships may be featured on-site or on-line. As the museum develops its exhibitions, partnership relationships will be integrated into the design philosophy as a whole in a flexible way.

change

Repeatvisitationisthekeytosustainabilityformost museums and this will be true for the American Writers Museum as well. Beloved exhibitions that are a constant become icons in many institutions, bringing visitors back to these touchstones time and again. But it is true that change is a driver for repeat visitation as well.

The content breadth and scope for the American Writers Museum is huge. This means that it would

command the effort of many lifetimes to present all the material and themes that American writing and writers offer. The American Writers Museum does not

envision itself as either comprehensive or encyclopedic, the opportunities to present new material are limited only by curatorial energy and exhibition funding. The American Writers Museum will be designed for change. The Writers’ Hall vignettes will be designed to incorporate a changingrosterofwritersandtheirworks;theFocus Halls will accommodate changing subject matter;theTheater, Literary Commons and Literary Lounge will all have changing programs as a matter of course.


eDucatiOn

The American Writers Museum views education to be at the heart of its purpose. It is the desire to celebrate American writing and writers that is the

inspiration for the museum in the first place. To be a successful educational institution, the American Writers Museum knows it will need to keep its educational goals in

view throughout its exhibition planning and design. There are many models of successful museum education programs, but they frequently share the same success characteristics, such as:

• Engagingvisitorsasactiveparticipantsin the museum experience, making use of a wide array of techniques within the galleries, including graphics, touchable and tactile objects, mechanical and computer-based interactives, video, audio and other facilitated programs.

• Creatingexhibitionsthatareconsistent with learning theory and our understanding of cognitive development models, that include clear and meaningful learning objectives and are responsive to visitors needs.

• Providingopportunitiesforvisitorstoconstructpersonal meaning from their visit.

• Providingopportunitiesforthevisitorstodiscover new literary works and new insights —to promote the “aha!” moments.

• Facilitatingdiscussionsthatleadtotransformative experiences involving new awareness or understanding, a change in attitude or behavior, or the acquisition of new skills.

As the American Writers Museum moves its building and exhibition designs forward, these considerations will be kept at the forefront of our thinking.


ch a r e t t e pa r t i c i pa n t s

Contributors to this Concept Plan participated in charettes in Chicago, New York, and Boston and provided on-going guidance in the crafting of this document. The American Writers Museum Foundation gratefully acknowledges their unwavering support, energy and commitment to this project.

Andrew AnwayFounder, Amaze Design

Dr. Dennis BarriePresident, Barrie Projects

Lee BeyChairman, Chicago Central Area Committee

Leigh B. BienenSenior lecturer, Northwestern University School of Law

Susan BrandehoffProgram Director, American Library Association

Julie BurrosDirector of Cultural Planning, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, City of Chicago

Antonia ControArtist and Executive Director, Marwen Foundation

Andrew DeVigalMultimedia Editor, New York Times

Dr. Kimberly DixonExecutive Director, Guild Literary Complex

Donald G. EvansExecutive Director, Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

David FenzaExecutive Director, Association of Writers and Writing Programs

Meghan FerrillWriter-in-Residence, Studio/lab design group

Dr. Ed FolsomRoy J. Carver Professor of English, The University of Iowa

Tom GallagherPresident, E&G Property Services

Dr.ReginaldGibbonsFrances Hooper Professor of Arts and Humanities, Northwestern University

Lisa GreenMember, Lookingglass Theatre Co. Board

Daniel GreeneVice President for Research and Academic Programs, Newberry Library

Dina GriffinDirector, The American Institute of Architects Chicago and president, Interactive Design, Inc.

Dr.RobertGundlachProfessor, Weinberg College Writing Program, Northwestern University

RonneHartfieldInternational Museum Consultant

Werner HeinSenior Counsel, Mayer Brown

Lamar JohnsonPrincipal, Gensler Chicago

Katherine D. KaneExecutive Director, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

David KipenFormer Literary Director, National Endowment for the Arts

Victoria LautmanRadio and television host of literary programs

Dr. Jeffrey LependorfExecutive Director, Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP)

Peter LinettPartner, Slover Linett Strategies Inc.

Dr.HakiR.MadhubutiFounder and Publisher, Third World Press, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett Professor Emeritus, DePaul University

Dr. Malcolm O’HaganChairman, American Writers Museum Foundation

ScottRabietPrincipal, Amaze Design

MaxRudinPublisher, The Library of America

Dr. Alice SchreyerAssistant Director, University of Chicago Library

Donna SeamanSenior Editor, Booklist

Dr. Werner SollorsProfessor of English Literature and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University

Michael SpockScholar-in-Residence Chicago History Museum

Paul A. SteinbrecherPartner, Interactive Design, Inc.

Dr.RobertSteptoProfessor of English, African American Studies, and American Studies, Yale University

Helen SullivanPresident, InHouse Communications,

Noreen TomassiExecutive Director of the Center for Fiction in New York

Dr. Anne TrubekAssociate Professor of Rhetoric & Composition and English, Oberlin College

Dr. William VeederProfessor Emeritus of English at the University of Chicago

Jim VolkertPrincipal, Exhibition Associates

Bruce WymanDirector of Creative Development, Second Story

Stephen YoungProgram Director, Poetry Foundation

Design and production of the American Writers Museum Concept Plan by Amaze Design, Boston, Massachusetts

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