From Collection to Exhibit

For the past few months, we have been working to translate the W&M Hip Hop Collection into an exhibit titled Re-Mixing the Old Dominion: 35 Years of Virginia Hip Hop History and Culture. In addition to selecting the “stuff” to showcase the collection and the history of Virginia hip-hop, a completely different set of skills are also needed to create a successful exhibit. The process of creating an exhibit entails a level of organization, public writing, and display techniques that are different from curating and archiving a collection.

For me, the most difficult part of the exhibit process was limiting the number of items for the display cases. The hip-hop collection has so many great items that it was hard for me to not include everything. Just like editing a text, a judicious selection of items will provide clarity of meaning for an exhibit.

Left: Photo of the overstuffed Travel and Migration case. Right: Photo of the Travel and Migration case on template paper.

What in the world was going on in that first picture?! Thankfully, Burger Archives Specialist Jennie Davy helped reorganize the items to be included.

In addition to carefully choosing an exhibit’s items, object descriptions and labels need to be just as carefully considered. There are a variety of label types that are used in an exhibit, each serving a specific function and providing specific information, including title and introductory labels, item group labels, and individual item labels. The challenge of writing each of these labels lies in economy of words and precision of meaning.

Exhibits provide the context for a collection’s existence and serve as an important point of contact between archives and collections, and the public; exhibits tell a story. The difficulty, and fun, of curating an exhibit is the constant revision of items and words in the effort to create the most compelling and straightforward narrative possible.

We’re looking forward to February 4, 2015, when SCRC will host an open house for everyone to come and experience Re-Mixing the Old Dominion: 35 Years of Virginia Hip Hop History and Culture.

Kevin Kosanovich is a Special Collections Instructor and Research Associate and the Founder of the William & Mary Hip Hop Collection.