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On March 17, the Missouri History Museum closed its doors to the public, only weeks away from the opening of its new exhibit "Beyond the Ballot: St. Louis and Suffrage." Confronted with the prospect of being closed to the public, its staff has adapted to the new reality of serving its audience in the digital era while the new exhibit’s opening was delayed. The History Museum’s staff, across all three locations in Forest Park, the archives on Skinker, and the Soldiers Memorial downtown, have been working to stay relevant in this new uncertain world in which we are now living.
“You have all the resources and talent you have every day,” says Nicholas Hoffman, managing director of education and visitor experience, when I asked last week via Zoom how he and the staff had banded together without access to their offices during the museum’s shutdown. Dr. Jody Sowell, managing director of strategic initiatives, also joined us to talk about how the museum is facing the coronavirus challenge. He explained that planning online content began the day the doors closed on March 17.
“Uplifting STL started the day we closed," Sowell says. "We wanted a daily positive story from St. Louis’s past. A wide variety of our staff writes those. It takes a lot of people, but we have this collected knowledge and collected stories.”
Shared across the major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the Uplifting STL stories (#UpliftingSTL) are around 300 words long, snapshots of famous figures and events from St. Louis history. The museum recently featured Madame Chouteau, the common-law wife and mother of the founders of St. Louis, for example. While the series focuses on positive stories, they also do not shy away from relating to current events; a recent figure featured was Adaline Couzins, who worked through the infamous cholera epidemic of 1849, another challenging time in St. Louis history.
“Mr. Rogers said: ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,'" Sowell says. "There are a lot of stories that focus on people who helped St. Louis through difficult times." The museum is also drawing from its collection, much of which has been digitized. For example, for another one of its on-line initiatives #HistoriansatHome, Magdalene Linck, an employee of the archives, prepared a recipe for tuna salad from a cookbook in the collections. Another employee, B.J. Vogt, showed off his victory garden. Amanda Clark gives a window into homeschooling her son.
In addition to those short videos, the History Museum has launched a series of live online Zoom events titled STL History Live. These will draw from the vast talent of the Museum staff, but also from guest contributors. Recently, senior curator Hattie Felton presented on small objects from the collection. They will also include community outreach events that originally would have occurred in person, such as the Soldiers Memorial Chow and Chats, a series of lunchtime events that predate the closure of the museum. Hoffman explains, “It can be hard to make it down to Soldiers Memorial [at noon]; we’re actually seeing more people participate now than before.”
“Our new STL History Live series is a lot what we would normally be doing,” Hoffman continues. In the future, he predicts there will be more “live streaming programs and more educational resources online for classes. That will be the priority for the next year or so. We’ve had to completely rethink what a public program is.”
That interaction on Zoom with museum staff also then turns to a call for stories from the public. While many people might not realize it, the History Museum has long collected stories and historical items from contemporary events, and the current COVID-19 pandemic is no different. The effort has already been going on for a while, and the museum has received numerous compelling stories that will now be preserved for posterity. In a way, the first draft of history is already being written. In one photograph, newlyweds kiss while wearing masks on their wedding day. Hoffman also talks about submissions from teenagers, daily thoughts on life during the last month. “These diaries are really moving," he says. "Here they are in the middle of a pandemic. You don’t always find those in archives.” St. Louisans can submit their stories here.
Perhaps the most moving contribution is the “St. Louis Strong” video the museum staff produced remotely, without ever meeting in person. For Sowell, it was about bringing the community together, tying it to the past, and having a hopeful outlook for the future. It was a group effort that faced many challenges, including one moment where the producer, Eric Wilkinson, had to hold one laptop up to another so another staff member could see what was on the other computer’s screen. The end result has been embraced by St. Louis.
But Sowell and Hoffman are cognizant that bumps lie ahead in the road. As of this writing, there is no clear opening date for businesses or museums in St. Louis. For Sowell, one thing is certain: The History Museum needs to stay involved with its visitors, donors, and members and not stay out of sight and out of mind.
For Hoffman, questions arise: Are people going to come back? How are they going to come back?
“We’re also thinking about how we come back,” he says.
Even when the museum reopens, Sowell envisions more digital exhibits and more digital storytelling. Hoffman also sees more virtual storytelling online. Traffic to the History Museum’s website is up 105 percent, and both Hoffman and Sowell see the value in continuing that positive momentum.
It’s been this incredible team effort,” Hoffman reflects, “in less than a month.”
Sowell is also looking to the future, thinking about the potential of "Beyond the Ballot: St. Louis and Suffrage."
“That exhibit was just about finished when we were sent home," he says, "It’ll be waiting there for us when we return.”
