Living History: Effective Costumed Interpretation and Enactment at Museums and Historic Sites - Hardcover

by David B. Allison (Author)

Engaging audiences through costumed staff at museums and historic sites is one of the most effective ways to interpret the past for a public used to multimedia presentations on their TVs and computers.

Here, David Allison, who has worked at several museums known for effective enactments, provides:

• the fascinating stories of three large living history museums as they adapt to changing audience expectations.
• a solid overview of the types of interpretation that living history museums use.
• best practices (and practices for you to avoid) from the reams of data and studies compiled by evaluators over the past 10 years.
• an exploration of the the intersection of public history, individual agency, and business imperatives at museums and historic sites.

Living History: Effective Costumed Interpretation and Enactment at Museums and Historic Sites looks at the history of these compelling techniques, provides best practices and strategies for implementing them today, and provides a roadmap for the future of costumed interpretation.

Author Biography

David Allison is Manager of Onsite Programs at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. He helps to create and sustain high-quality shows and facilitated experiences for visitors of all ages. His most recent projects at the museum include writing and developing a new multimodal show on the science of flight. In addition, he works with a team of enactors who portray composite historical characters in the gallery halls and for temporary exhibits at the museum.