Timelines in Exhibitions

Abstract

Timelines serve as the organizing structure for many exhibitions. This essay explores the use of the timeline in museums in an attempt to understand its appeal and its meaning. The article considers the nature of narrative, and of chronology specifically, as well as the history of the timeline and of its use in museum exhibitions. Raising questions about the message sent by chronological ordering, the essay encourages exhibition developers to consider how exhibits might move beyond the timeline to provide visitors with a more nuanced historical understanding and a more active relationship to the past. If we stop taking the timeline for granted, we might find ways to complicate chronology while still taking advantage of its power.

How do we integrate skills and content in classics? An inquiry into students’ use of sources

“…The chronological approach of the existing module, particularly when teaching historical events, may have hindered students in making effective use of multiple ancient source types in a single essay. In a museum education context, Lubar (2013: 169) argued that a chronological understanding of history directs a certain narrative which represents history as purely a route to the present. A chronological narrative can limit discussion by contributing to an inflexible view of the past which shuts down rather than opens up multiple interpretations.…”

Perspective Chapter: The Integration Narrative of Media and Space in Museum

“…Before narrative theories were formally introduced as the organization forms or means of the exhibit display, museum exhibitions, particularly thematic exhibitions with the timeline sequence, implied "narrative budding" [2]. For example, Steven Lubar pointed out in the article Timelines in Exhibitions that timeline is a natural and intuitive way to present and understand the past, and is highly capable of staging the historical narratives [3]. Edward Bedno, an American scholar, also stated in his article Museum Exhibitions: Past Imperfect, Future Tense: "Many thematic exhibitions have basic narrative clues.…”

“The oil adventure”. A timeline exhibition at the Norwegian Petroleum Museum

“…The timeline seeks to present historical events chronologically and "as they really were" and it is up to the audience to work the spaces between the events (Lubar 2013:170, Witcomb 2015. The timeline stages affective encounters through parataxis, and it offers visitors help to work out meaning between events.…”

“…4 Entering the exhibition, visitors first encounter the petroleum industry, and as they move through the exhibit, oil and gas disappear while wind power continues, as 1984, 1986Propp 1990;Butler 2003;Pettitt 2013). In this paper, museum researchers Steven Lubar's and Andrea Witcomb's discussions on, respectively, timelines and use of juxtaposed elements (parataxis) in museum conveyance will also be drawn upon, and references to research on climate change exhibitions and energy humanities will be made (Lubar 2013;Cameron & Neilson 2015;Witcomb 2015;Newell, Robin & Wehner 2017;Szeman & Boyer 2017). The first section elaborates on a relational approach for studying petroleum within a display.…”