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Books by Meighen Katz

"Narratives of Vulnerability in Museums: American Interpretations of the Great Depression" is a s... more "Narratives of Vulnerability in Museums: American Interpretations of the Great Depression" is a study of the challenges museums face when including narratives of instability, uncertainty and fear. As a period of sustained societal and personal vulnerability, the Great Depression remains a watershed era in American history. It is an era when iconic visual culture of deprivation mixes in the popular imagination with groundbreaking government policy. It is the era of Roosevelt, radio and breadlines. But it is also the era of cooperative housing initiatives, major industrial action and innovative theatre projects. It is an era with immense potential for museums, but potential that is accompanied by significant challenges. Through case studies ranging from the 50th anniversary of the Wall Street Crash to the onset of the 21st century Global Financial Crisis the book explores both the successes and obstacles involved in translating historical narratives of vulnerability to the exhibition floor.

Incorporating an innovative, trans-genre museological model, "Narratives of Vulnerability in Museums" draws connections between exhibitions of history, art, and technology as well as heritage sites all focused on a single era. It employs interpretations of housing, preserved and reconstructed, to discuss ideas of belonging and community. It examines the power of the iconic national story and the struggle for local relevance through discussions on strikes and industrial action. Finally it examines the use of fine art in history exhibitions to access the emotional aspects of historical experience.

The result is a volume that considers both how societies talk about less celebratory aspects of history, but also the expectations placed on museums as interpreters of the public narrative and agents of change. It makes a significant contribution to discourses of museum studies, of interwar history, of the social role of cultural institutions, and to vulnerability and resilience studies.

This chapter examines the Old Melbourne Gaol's interpretation of the experience of woman and the ... more This chapter examines the Old Melbourne Gaol's interpretation of the experience of woman and the focus of their interpretation on lives of poor urban-dwelling women, prior to their arrests. It argues that the "dark tourism" aspects of the site allow the Gaol to broach difficult topics such as infanticide and abortion. Ultimately, however, the ever-present narrative of criminality limits the site's ability to deliver a nuanced interpretation of these women's lives.

"The Things about Museums constitutes a unique, highly diverse collection of essays unprecedented... more "The Things about Museums constitutes a unique, highly diverse collection of essays unprecedented in existing books in either museum and heritage studies or material culture studies. Taking varied perspectives and presenting a range of case studies, the chapters all address objects in the context of museums, galleries and/or the heritage sector more broadly. Specifically, the book deals with how objects are constructed in museums, the ways in which visitors may directly experience those objects, how objects are utilised within particular representational strategies and forms, and the challenges and opportunities presented by using objects to communicate difficult and contested matters. Topics and approaches examined in the book are diverse, but include the objectification of natural history specimens and museum registers; materiality, immateriality, transience and absence; subject/object boundaries; sensory, phenomenological perspectives; the museumisation of objects and collections; and the dangers inherent in assuming that objects, interpretation and heritage are ‘good’ for us.
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Journal Articles by Meighen Katz

UNESCO's recent report on the relationship between culture and urban sustainability proposes that... more UNESCO's recent report on the relationship between culture and urban sustainability proposes that museums contribute to the larger civic project by " representing multicultural societies and giving minorities space within national narratives. " 1 If, as the report suggests, cities rely on their cultural institutions such as museums to enable integration through narrative, then it is vital to consider how, and how well this, is actually being achieved. The American urban homeless of the 1930s present a viable case-study as to the integration—or lack thereof—of one particular historical minority. Examining the interpretation of this select group allows us to then assess the forces at play in museum-based cultural and civic inclusion in order to draw some conclusions about the realities of this goal.

The Public Historian, Vol 36, No. 2 pp. 8-25, Nov 2014

Taken by a host of talented photographers, the Farm Security Administration photographs have beco... more Taken by a host of talented photographers, the Farm Security Administration photographs have become the defining visual imagery of the Great Depression. Familiar, beautifully composed, and free from reproduction copyright, these photographs have become an essential tool for interpreting a number of facets of the 1930s, especially that of poverty. As useful as the images are, the nature of their creation and the embedded messages regarding hardship mean that they are not as universal as is sometimes presumed. This article examines how the images facilitate interpretation of Great Depression history, particularly that which pertains to the experience of poverty, and the repercussions and limitations of their use.

Book Reviews by Meighen Katz

Australian Journal of American Studies, Vol. 32, No.1, Jul 2013

Robin Hood, created by Foz Allan and Dominic Minghella, BBC, 2006. Torchwood, created by Russell ... more Robin Hood, created by Foz Allan and Dominic Minghella, BBC, 2006. Torchwood, created by Russell T. Davies, BBC, 2006.

Exhibitions by Meighen Katz

Papers by Meighen Katz

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary exploration of the ways in which the history of the Gre... more This dissertation is an interdisciplinary exploration of the ways in which the history of the Great Depression and the 1930s has been encapsulated and interpreted by public historians through museum exhibitions. This project drew cues from both American History and Museology/Museum Studies and made use of exhibitions both past and standing, institutional archives, exhibition catalogues and curatorial interviews as research sources. It encompasses exhibitions on labour, on arts and technology, on FDR, housing and general American history. In doing so, it has employed a relatively new model for investigation of historical interpretation, one that that incorporates multiple genres and institutions while focussing on the specific decade of the 1930s. This approach is a departure from the more common practice that either focuses on a single institution or collection, or uses a particular exhibition genre, such as immigration, to explore exhibitions across a number of eras. By using a model of trans-institution, trans-genre museum analysis examining the multiple strategies of interpretation in exhibitions that share a commonality of period, the end result both broadens the discourse of how that specific period is understood, as well as the discourse surrounding historical interpretation as a whole. This project achieved three significant goals. First and foremost it created a picture of "best-practice" interpretation of the Great Depression and the 1930s within American history exhibitions between 1982 -2007, a period in which the New Deal was, in varying degrees, out of favour on the American political landscape. Second, it broadened the public history discourse surrounding several important themes of the Great Depression era. Key among these was the theme of vulnerability and the continued dominance of the paradigm of resilience within interpretations of 1930s poverty. It also considered the incorporation of media products as historical artefacts rather than just as interpretive tools, the more common focus f [...]

Public History Review, 2006

he Powerhouse Museum was conceived by the trustees of the Australian Museum in 1878. By 1880, Aus... more he Powerhouse Museum was conceived by the trustees of the Australian Museum in 1878. By 1880, Australia's first Technological and Industrial Museum was open to the public. Over the next 125 years, the museum experienced various metamorphoses and name changes, most notably its transformation into the Powerhouse Museum which opened during Australia's Bicentenary in 1988. On the 125 th anniversary of the birth of this world-renown museum comes Yesterday's Tomorrows: the Powerhouse Museum and its precursors 1880-2005, edited by eminent urban and public historian Graeme Davison and Powerhouse Museum curator of social history Kimberley Webber. This visually appealing book approaches the history of the museum from a thematic perspective, focusing on innovative exhibitions and bold personalities that have peppered the museum's past. Broken into three sections-'Visions', 'Stories from the Collections', and 'Tomorrows'-this collection of essays covers a broad spectrum of topics in the museum's history. Quirky stories of past curators and popular objects ensure an entertaining read, with copious images providing engaging illustrations of bygone days. The book positions the Powerhouse Museum as an innovative educational institution providing a window on cutting-edge technological advances, bringing the world of technology to the everyday visitor. The history of the museum is dealt with in sufficient detail to ensure the general reader gains a comprehensive understanding of the vision, struggles and triumphs of this pioneering institution. Contributors range from museum staff to academic historians, providing diverse approaches to the history of the museum. While, however, it is often stimulating to be presented with differing perspectives, in this instance the multiplicity of views and approaches fragment the end product. There is a lack of connectedness and continuity between the chapters. Perhaps this is unavoidable in a collection such as this given the diversity of the museum's exhibitions over the years. But the wide range of styles that appear in Yesterday's Tomorrows is also problematic. The book is at times too academic for the general reader and yet insufficiently critical for the student or scholar. I am left wondering for whom exactly was the book intended. The numerous colourful plates and 'pop' interludes between the chapters might suggest cultural tourists. But the price-$54.95-and size-almost 300 pages-would make this seem a rather large and expensive souvenir. The impressive line-up of historians as contributors suggests a more academic audience. But academic interest in the book may well stem from the public historian's interest in the way in which major public cultural institutions such as museums control, construct and present themselves. In T

Journal of American History, 2013

Journal of American History, 2006

The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Tourism, 2017

A murdered schoolgirl, baby farmers, a poisoner, the oyster-selling wife of a bushranger, abortio... more A murdered schoolgirl, baby farmers, a poisoner, the oyster-selling wife of a bushranger, abortionists, the victim of a botched abortion, and a university secretary murdered by the “Brownout” serial killer; these are a cross section of the women whose stories one encounters in the Old Melbourne Gaol. Women in prison have long been the fodder for pulp novels and soap operas and, at first blush, this cast of characters is ripe for the same treatment. What emerges within the Old Melbourne Gaol, however, is less a lurid vision of life behind bars, and more a gendered picture of the turn-of-the-century urban environment beyond the prison walls. The exhibitions displayed within the Old Melbourne Gaol, and curated through the National Trust, depict a prison and inmates intrinsically intertwined with the city.

The Public Historian, Vol 36, No. 2 pp. 8-25, Nov 2014

Australian Journal of American Studies, Vol. 32, No.1, Jul 2013

Public History Review, 2006

Journal of American History, 2013

Journal of American History, 2006

The Palgrave Handbook of Prison Tourism, 2017

Narratives of Vulnerability in Museums, 2019

Journal of Australian Studies, 2016

Phrenology is going through a resurgence, in interest, if not (thankfully) in practice. The suppo... more Phrenology is going through a resurgence, in interest, if not (thankfully) in practice. The supposed ability to assess character and propensity towards deviance though the physical qualities of the skull was a nineteenth-century phenomenon; one of a variety of pseudo-scientific practices that emerged, flourished briefly and disappeared. Unlike many of these experimental knowledge systems, however, its adherents left behind a range of material culture objects including plaster death masks, porcelain heads and human skulls. Having sat on the back shelves of museum collections for over a century, phrenology objects are returning to display across a host of institutions. In the past 12 months alone, phrenological death masks appeared in “Sideshow Alley” at the National Portrait Gallery (Australia), cases at the Old Melbourne Gaol, “My Learned Object” at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, “The Crime Museum Uncovered” at the Museum of London, and a case on phrenology at the Science Museum (UK)...

Narratives of Vulnerability in Museums, 2019

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recent report on ... more The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recent report on the relationship between culture and urban sustainability proposes that museums contribute to the larger civic project by “representing multicultural societies and giving minorities space within national narratives.”1 If, as the report suggests, cities rely on their cultural institutions such as museums to enable integration through narrative, then it is vital to consider how, and how well, this is actually being achieved. The American urban homeless of the 1930s present a viable case study as to the integration—or lack thereof—of one particular historical minority. Examining the interpretation of this select group allows us to then assess the forces at play in museum-based cultural and civic inclusion to draw some conclusions about the realities of this goal.

Narratives of Vulnerability in Museums

The Public Historian, 2014