Arnim, my close friend of nearly 30 years, was born in Bremerhaven and emigrated to the U.S. as a graduate student. He encouraged me to check this museum out, and it was definitely worth the effort. Again, this museum is not a science museum or center, but there are some wonderful features that might give those of us in the science center field some ideas.The museum tells the story of how millions of Germans shipped out from Bremerhaven in search of a new life, often in America. What is particularly noteworthy, in my opinion, is the remarkable immersive environment this museum creates through a series of relatively simple, multi-sensory techniques. And then there are the stories.
To begin with, visitors receive a ticket with the name of someone. While other exhibitions (e.g., “Titanic”) use this technique to increase visitor interest, this museum provides you with an electronic card. Your card links you to your character at many different stations throughout the museum, allowing you to easily hear or read the stories connected with embarking, eating, sleeping, and just plain surviving the transatlantic trip. You can, of course, hear the stories of other people, but this technology allows you to easily follow your character’s experiences.
To begin with, after a short orientation, visitors go to a wharf to get the experience of how emigrants left home for a new life, along with the sounds, sights, and smells of the real thing. This experience is followed by walking up a gangway into the “ship” and from here on, it is as if visitors were really on board a ship bound for America. Stories are cleverly told through audio labels or on text panels that often are located behind paneled cupboard doors, for those who want to read. While opening doors to read text may seem boring, it works here, because every door has a story behind it.
The stories of 20 people living in a tiny bunk room in steerage are brought alive by representative vignettes about sleeping, sea-sickness, giving birth on board, and a typical diet – all done with restraint in the face of what must have been thousands of potential stories worth telling.
The simulated waiting and questioning rooms on Ellis Island, New York (photo left) left an impression on me. Visitors are challenged to answer the same battery of questions that examiners used 100 years ago to quickly determine the next step for immigrants - whether they would be accepted into the country and if so, what they could then do. Even in English, this was not a simple task, but the exhibition encourages visitors to imagine going thru this triage in a foreign language. All the while, a bell was ringing every few seconds to indicate the processing of yet another new immigrant by some anonymous examiner within the facility. One wrong answer could make the transatlantic trip a trip in vain.
While few science centers or museums can afford to create this level of immersion, there are some lessons to be learned from an exhibition like this. The use of personal connection, amplified with technology that works, can greatly increase the level of personal interest. The technology here was flawless. And we have all experienced exhibits where the potentially great technology functioned only minimally, creating a sense of frustration and alienation.
The use of all possible senses can add an important measure of connection. I wonder how much more we might be able to do within the science center context, for example, through the appropriate use of sound and smell in addition to the senses of touch and sight that we usually employ.
The final experience for visitors is a research room where visitors can look up their ancestors on a variety of web-based databases. Experts are on hand to help with a search, which may produce copies of original documents such as a ship’s manifest or a record from Ellis Island. I found 8 immigrants listed with my great-grandfather’s name (Adam Trautmann), but there was not enough information to select which (if any) was the correct one. I have some more homework to do...
To begin with, visitors receive a ticket with the name of someone. While other exhibitions (e.g., “Titanic”) use this technique to increase visitor interest, this museum provides you with an electronic card. Your card links you to your character at many different stations throughout the museum, allowing you to easily hear or read the stories connected with embarking, eating, sleeping, and just plain surviving the transatlantic trip. You can, of course, hear the stories of other people, but this technology allows you to easily follow your character’s experiences.
To begin with, after a short orientation, visitors go to a wharf to get the experience of how emigrants left home for a new life, along with the sounds, sights, and smells of the real thing. This experience is followed by walking up a gangway into the “ship” and from here on, it is as if visitors were really on board a ship bound for America. Stories are cleverly told through audio labels or on text panels that often are located behind paneled cupboard doors, for those who want to read. While opening doors to read text may seem boring, it works here, because every door has a story behind it.The stories of 20 people living in a tiny bunk room in steerage are brought alive by representative vignettes about sleeping, sea-sickness, giving birth on board, and a typical diet – all done with restraint in the face of what must have been thousands of potential stories worth telling.
The simulated waiting and questioning rooms on Ellis Island, New York (photo left) left an impression on me. Visitors are challenged to answer the same battery of questions that examiners used 100 years ago to quickly determine the next step for immigrants - whether they would be accepted into the country and if so, what they could then do. Even in English, this was not a simple task, but the exhibition encourages visitors to imagine going thru this triage in a foreign language. All the while, a bell was ringing every few seconds to indicate the processing of yet another new immigrant by some anonymous examiner within the facility. One wrong answer could make the transatlantic trip a trip in vain.While few science centers or museums can afford to create this level of immersion, there are some lessons to be learned from an exhibition like this. The use of personal connection, amplified with technology that works, can greatly increase the level of personal interest. The technology here was flawless. And we have all experienced exhibits where the potentially great technology functioned only minimally, creating a sense of frustration and alienation.
The use of all possible senses can add an important measure of connection. I wonder how much more we might be able to do within the science center context, for example, through the appropriate use of sound and smell in addition to the senses of touch and sight that we usually employ.
The final experience for visitors is a research room where visitors can look up their ancestors on a variety of web-based databases. Experts are on hand to help with a search, which may produce copies of original documents such as a ship’s manifest or a record from Ellis Island. I found 8 immigrants listed with my great-grandfather’s name (Adam Trautmann), but there was not enough information to select which (if any) was the correct one. I have some more homework to do...
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