Interpreting Religion at Museums and Historic Sites

Gretchen Buggeln holds the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christianity and the Arts at Valparaiso University. She previously was associate professor and director of the residential research program at the Winterthur Museum. Buggeln is the author of Temples of Grace: The Material Transformation of Connecticut's Churches, 1970-1840 (2003)and The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America (2015), as well as numerous articles on religious architecture and artifacts, museums, and American religious history. She is co-editor, with Crispin Paine and S. Brent Plate, of Religion in Museums: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives (2017).Barbara Franco has had a long career in American history museums as a curator and administrator and most recently served as Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and as Founding Director of the Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum. She served as a past chairman of the American Association for State and Local History and co-edited Ideas and Images: Developing Interpretive History Exhibits (1992).She has written numerous articles on museum practice and historical interpretation, and currently works as an independent scholar and museum consultant.

• IntroductionAcknowledgmentsPart I Case Studies Chapter 1. Religious SitesArch Street Meeting House, Reinterpretation of the Arch Street Meeting House,Lynne CalamiaCalifornia Missions TrailCalifornia Missions,Elizabeth Kryder-ReidEphrata CloisterInterpreting Religion at Ephrata CloisterMichael S. Showalter and Nick SiegertHancock Shaker VillageHancock Shaker Village - Training for Staff & Docents Who Interpret Religion,Todd BurdickJoseph Smith Farm,Facilitating a Reverential Experience.Gary L. Boatright, Jr.Kirtland TempleKirtland Temple: Creating Sacred Space for PilgrimageBarbara B. WaldenMary Baker Eddy LibraryFervent Hearts, Willing Hands: Christian Science in Nineteenth-Century ContextKatherine ConnellMuseum at Eldridge StreetInterpreting the Eldridge Street Synagogue: Two DialoguesAmy Stein Milford and Richard RabinowitzUnited States Capitol Visitor Center“In God We Trust” – Interpreting Religion in the US CapitolFred W. BeuttlerChapter 2. Historic SitesAndrew Jackson’s HermitageReform and Religion at Andrew Jackson’s HermitageMarsha MullinColonial Williamsburg FoundationSatisfaction Through HonestyStephen SealsConner PrairieReligion at Conner PrairieCatherine HughesGeorge Washington’s Mount VernonInterpreting Religion in the Life of a Founding FatherMary V. ThompsonHawaii Mission Houses Historic Site and ArchivesRevisiting the Historical Role of the ABCFM Missionaries in HawaiiThomas A. WoodsGettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum Talk-Back Boards And Religion,Josh HowardLower East Side Tenement MuseumInterpreting Religion at the Tenement MuseumAnnie PollandNewport World Heritage CommissionInterpreting Tolerance to a Skeptical World: The Case of Colonial Newport and ProvidenceKen YellisOld Economy VillageReligious Interpretation at Old Economy VillageDavid MillerSoutheastern Pennsylvania Historic Sites and Houses Interpreting the Diversity of Pennsylvania German Religion at Historic House MuseumsCynthia G. FalkChapter 3. Museum ExhibitionsAbbe MuseumReligious Appropriation Issues and the Abbe MuseumCinnamon Catlin-Legutko and Geo Soctomah NeptuneAmerican Revolution Museum at Yorktown Interpreting Religion at The American Revolution Museum at YorktownK. Lara TemplinArab American National MuseumInterpreting Religion at the Arab American National MuseumPetra AlsoofyDelaware Historical SocietyForging Faith, Building Freedom: African American Faith Experiences in Delaware, 1800-1980Constance J. CooperJewish Museum of Maryland Chosen Food: Eggrolls, Oreos and Judaism in the MuseumKaren FalkMinnesota History Center Interpreting Religion in Peb Yog Hmoob—We Are Hmong MinnesotaBrian HorriganNational Museum of African American History and CultureBlack Sacred Objects and the Matter of Religious Meanings: A CaseStudy from the National Museum of African American History & CultureEric Lewis WilliamsNational Museum of American History Religion in Early America: An Exhibition at the National Museum of American HistoryDavid K. AllisonNational Museum of the Civil War Soldier at Pamplin Historical ParkInterpreting the Religions Life of Civil War Soldiers at Pamplin Historical ParkA. Wilson GreeneThe Rosenbach and the Rare Book Department, Free Library of PhiladelphiaReligion on Display: Three Exhibitions at the Free Library of Philadelphia and the RosenbachKatherine HaasWinterthur Museum Open the Doors and See all the People: Interpreting Pennsylvania German Material Culture and ReligionLisa MinardiPart II EssaysChapter 4. Scholarly Approaches For Religion in History MuseumsGretchen BuggelnChapter 5. Issues in Historical Interpretation: Why Interpreting Religion is So DifficultBarbara FrancoChapter 6. Religion in Museum Spaces and PlacesGretchen BuggelnChapter 7. Strategies and Techniques for Interpreting ReligionBarbara FrancoChapter 8. Interpreting Religion at Museums and Historic Sites: The Work AheadGretchen Buggeln and Barbara FrancoBibliographyContributorsIndex

Interpreting Religion is an essential starting point for those who seek to represent religion to the public. It not only will generate ideas for curators and educators, it will serve to stimulate reflection on the slippery beast we name "religion".