Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites, Paperback

Interpreting Difficult History at Museums and Historic Sites is framed by educational psychoanalytic theory and positions museum workers, public historians, and museum visitors as learners. Through this lens, museum workers and public historians can develop compelling and ethical representations of historical individuals, communities, and populations who have suffered. It includes various examples of difficult knowledge, detailed examples of specific interpretation methods, and will give readers an in-depth explanation of the psychoanalytic educational theories behind the methodologies. Audiences can more responsibly and productively engage in learning histories of oppression and trauma when they are in measured and sensitive museum learning environments and public history venues.

About the Author:

Julia Rose is presently the director of the West Baton Rouge Museum. Her primary research interests focus on interpreting difficult histories and documenting historical enslaved plantation communities for museum interpretations. Currently, Rose also serves as the Chairman for the Council for the American Association for State and Local History, and is a board member for the Louisiana Association of Museums. She received her Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, a Master of Arts in Teaching from the George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and Education from State University of New York at Albany. She has held curator positions at the Columbia Historical Society in Washington, D.C., Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, East Tennessee Historical Society, and Magnolia Mound Plantation, and was a faculty member in the Master of Arts in Museum Studies Program at Southern University at New Orleans. In addition, Rose is presently an adjunct faculty member at Louisiana State University where she teaches museum studies.