Interpreting Science at Museums and Historic Sites

Debra A. Reid, PhD, is curator of agriculture and the environment at The Henry Ford (THF). She has experience with AASLH’s “Interpreting History” series, as author of Interpreting Agriculture at Museums and Historic Sites (2017) and co-author with David D. Vail of Interpreting the Environment at Museums and Historic Sites (2019). She is a fellow of the Agricultural History Society, and has received numerous additional awards for her teaching, research, and service. Her books include Reaping a Greater Harvest: African Americans, Rural Reform and the Texas Extension Service (2007), Beyond Forty Acres and a Mule: African American Landowning Families since Reconstruction (co-edited with Evan P. Bennett, 2012), and essays in anthologies including Companion to U.S. Agricultural History (forthcoming 2022), Science as Service: Establishing and Reformulating American Land-Grant Universities, 1865-1930 (2015), the Routledge History of Rural America (2016), and Arkansas Women: Their Lives and Times (2018). Karen-Beth G. Scholthof, PhD, is professor of plant pathology and microbiology at Texas A&M University. She earned her undergraduate B.S. in Botany (and a minor in philosophy) at Montana State University, an M.S. in plant pathology (virology) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a PhD in plant pathology (virology) at the University of Kentucky. Her course “Pathogens, the Environment and Society” reflects her keen interest in bringing plant pathology, public health, environmental sciences and the humanities to students in science majors. She has published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters on molecular plant virology and host-virus interactions. She is an elected fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, the American Society for Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. David D. Vail, PhD, has training in environmental history, science and technology, earning a PhD at Kansas State University. He is associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Vail has worked with universities and humanities councils to spread the word about the intersection of policy, science, and agricultural production. He serves as book reviews editor for The Public Historian (National Council on Public History), conference selection committee for the American Society for Environmental History, and the editorial committee of Agricultural History. His award-winning book, Chemical Lands: Pesticides, Aerial Spraying, and Health in North America’s Grasslands since 1945 (2018), is part of the University of Alabama Press’ NEXUS Series: New Histories of Science, Technology, the Environment, Agriculture, and Medicine.

Contents



Foreword

Jill Tiefenthaler, Chief Executive Officer, National Geographic Society

Preface by Karen-Beth G. Scholthof

Acknowledgments

Part I - Science, the Public Historian and Museum Collections

Introduction

Chapter 1: Communicating Climate Change with Archives of Nature and Archives of

Societies by Sam White

Chapter 2: Creating Public Space for Complex Conversations by Melanie Armstrong

Chapter 3: (Re)constructing the Past: Research and Science Interpretation in Experimental

Archeological Open-Air Museums by Claus Kropp

Chapter 4: Local Weather, Distant Connections: Interpreting Meteorological

Instruments and Data by Roger Turner

Chapter 5: Medical Science Archives: Closer and More Accessible Than They Might

Appear by April White and David D. Vail

Part II - Science and the Human Experience

Introduction

Chapter 6: From Farm to Table: A One-Health Scenario by Karen-Beth G. Scholthof

Chapter 7: Seeing the Museum in the Garden: Using Living History Museums to

Teach the History of Plant Introductions by Emily Pawley

Chapter 8: The Outdoor Life: Seeking the “Cure” in New Mexico by Karen-Beth G.

Scholthof

Chapter 9: “…In the Interest of the Health Conservation of the American Negro”:

National Negro Health Week, 1915-1951 by Cherisse Jones-Branch

Chapter 10: Irrigation History: Moving Water from Colorado Mountain Peaks to

Fruited Plain by Patricia Rettig

Chapter 11: Exporting the “Wonders of Modern Science”: Thinking Scientifically

About Food Aid and Foreign Policy by Kristin Ahlberg

Part III - Science: A Culture of Doubt? A Culture of Questioning

Introduction

Chapter 12: Reflecting on Uncomfortable Science by Aimee Slaughter

Chapter 13: For Our Own Protection: On Black Gay Males and HIV/AIDS Activism by

Jajuan S. Johnson

Chapter 14: Becoming a Scientist: Untangling the Roles of Chemistry Sets

by Debra A. Reid

Chapter 15: The “Gene Gun” and Genetic Engineering: Unpacking the Science by Karen-

Beth G. Scholthof and Debra A. Reid

Chapter 16: Know your analyst, know your food? by Benjamin R. Cohen

Chapter 17: Science and Progress in the Kitchen: Forks, Eggbeaters, and Sporks by

Karen-Beth G. Scholthof and Debra A. Reid

Part IV - Science and History Museum Education

Introduction

Chapter 18: Integrating Art and Science to Effectively Share Knowledge by Bethann

Garramon Merkle

Chapter 19: School Gardens and Edible Education by Debra A. Reid

Chapter 20: A Yearbook of Science for the Public Good by David D. Vail

Chapter 21: Interpreting Scientists: An Interview with Storyteller Brian “Fox” Ellis

Chapter 22: Design, Science, and Driven to Win: A History Museum Addresses the

Innovation Opportunity Gap by Robert Oleary and Matt Anderson

Chapter 23: Exploring Science with Young Naturalists by Debra A. Reid

Conclusion

IDEAS: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access to Science by Karen-Beth G. Scholthof

Selected Readings

Timeline

Contributors

Index