Recommended
Reading & Viewing
Tips, Guides, and Checklists
Below you will find a number of articles, videos, and other resources to help you develop your exhibit. These resources range from practical guides to pedagogical methods to academic talks on the exhibition as research. Information is categorized as follows:
General Exhibition Planning and Design
Exhibitions as Storytelling
Writing for Exhibitions
Exhibitions as Pedagogy
Exhibitions as Research
Library, Archive, and Special Collections
Digital Exhibitions
Featured Panel on Exhibitions as Public Scholarship
General Exhibition Planning and Design
Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions by Kathleen McLean
Museum Basics by Tim Ambrose and Crispin Paine
Exhibits in Archives and Special Collections Libraries by Jessica Lacher-Feldman
Exhibition Design by Philip Hughes
"How to Plan and Design an Exhibition" by the Capital Heritage Connection
Creating exhibitions: collaboration in the planning, development, and design of innovative experiences by Polly McKenna-Cress and Janet A. Kamien
Exhibition Guides & Checklists
2014_MuseumExhibitionPlanningTool_SchnitzerMuseumUOregon.pdf“Museum Exhibition Planning Tool” by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
GuidelinesForExhibitCuration2019.pdfUniversity of Guelph’s “Guidelines for Exhibit Curation”
aaim_completeguide.pdfThe Getty Museum’s “Complete Guide to Adult Audience Interpretive Materials”
aaim_quickguide.pdfThe Getty Museum’s "Quick Guide to Adult Audience Interpretive Materials"
Guide-to-Exhibit-Development.pdfThe Smithsonian Institute’s “Guide to Exhibit Planning”
Exhibitions as Storytelling
The Art of Museum Exhibitions: How Story and Imagination Create Aesthetic Experiences by Leslie Bedford
Nielsen, Jane K. "Museum Communication and Storytelling: Articulating Understandings within the Museum Structure." Museum Management and Curatorship (1990), vol. 32, no. 5, 10/2017, pp. 440-455, doi:10.1080/09647775.2017.1284019.
Deutsch, Rachel, Leah Woolner, and Carole-Lynn Byington. "Storytelling and Trauma: Reflections on “Now I See it,” a Digital Storytelling Project and Exhibition in Collaboration with the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal." McGill Journal of Education, vol. 49, no. 3, 2014, pp. 707-716.
Storytelling Guides & Talks
Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Thomas P. Campbell thinks deeply about curating—not just selecting art objects, but placing them in a setting where the public can learn their stories.
Exhibit-Dev-Tool-The-Art-of-Storytelling-120.pdf"The Art of Storytelling in Exhibitions" by Tim Willis
Webinar: "The Power of Cultural Storytelling and Place-Based Narrative" by MuseWeb
Writing for Exhibitions
Exhibit Labels: An Interpretive Approach by Beverly Serrell
Nielsen, Jane K. "Museum Communication and Storytelling: Articulating Understandings within the Museum Structure." Museum Management and Curatorship, vol. 32, no. 5, 2017, pp. 440-455.
“Museum Practice: Text and Labels,” Museums Association. Accessed May 26, 2020.
Museum texts: communication frameworks by Louise Ravelli
Writing Guides
10-Top-Tips-for-Interpretation-2011.pdf"Top Ten Tips for Museum Interpretation" by Arts Council England
Gallery-Text-at-the-V-and-A-Ten-Point-Guide-Aug-2013.pdf"Gallery Text at the Victoria and Albert Museum: A Ten Point Guide"
If-You-Cant-See-It.pdf"If You Can't See it Don't Say It" by Kris Wetterlund
Exhibitions as Pedagogy
From Knowledge to Narrative: Educators and the Changing Museum by Lisa Roberts
Learning in the Museum by George Hein
The Participatory Museum by Nina Simon
“Beyond Cul-de-Sac Pedagogy: Museum Studies as a Landscape of Practice” by Juilee Decker from Transformations
“Critical Museum Theory/Museum Studies: A Conversation” by Lianne McTavish, Susan Ashley, Heather Igloliorte, Kirsty Robertson and Andrea Terry Acadiensis
“Toward a pedagogy for faculty and student co-responsibility in curating college museum exhibitions” by Susan Rodgers
Exhibitions as Research
Exhibitions as Research: Experimental Methods in Museums by Peter Bjerregaard
Blog Post: "Beyond the Academy: Research as Exhibition" by Merle Patchett
Tate Museum Symposium: "Beyond the Academy: Research as Exhibition" (audio recordings)
Panel 1: Exhibitions Through Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange
Panel 2: The Role of the Exhibition and the Role of Curator
Panel 3: The Future of the Research Exhibition
Library, Archive, and Special Collections
"Keeping Up with Best Practices: Library Exhibitions at a University Library in a Small Island Developing State" by Genevieve Jones-Edman; Jessica C. Lewis; Bernadette Worrell-Johnson
“Exhibitions in special collections, rare book libraries and archives: Questions to ask ourselves” by Marini, Francesca.
"Organizing Exhibitions: A handbook for museums, libraries and archives" by Matassa, Freda
Digital Exhibitions
“Methodology for Design of Online Exhibitions” by Angeliki Antoniou; George Lepouras; and Costas Vassilakis
Digital Curation Projects Made Easy: A Step-by-Step Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums by Carmen Cowick
Museum Object Lessons for the Digital Age by Geismar, Haidy
Manual of Digital Museum Planning by Ali Hossaini and Ngaire Blankenberg
“Museum without Walls: Digital Technology and Contextual Learning in the Museum Environment” by Kevin Hsieh
Creating a winning online exhibition: a guide for libraries, archives, and museums by Martin R. Kalfatovic
“Collaborating Liberally, Creating Critically: Experimenting with Undergraduate Digital Project Assignments; Beyond a Cabinet of Digital Curiosities: Collection as Praxis” by Brendan O’Connell; Melissa Salrin; and Ben Murphy
Talks & Training