It takes an incredible amount of work to organize a museum exhibit. Peek behind the curtain here.
THE EXHIBIT THAT ALMOST WASN’T
Conceptualizing the Show
At the end of the APSU Spring 2015 semester, we had an idea. After discovering a wonderful collection of period women’s clothing, we all decided that the pieces were a fantastic way to teach students about the social status and experiences of American women in the periods between 1812 and 1930. This time frame in particular is quite significant in terms of women’s history because it covers the transition of femininity from the Pre-Victorian Era until roughly the end of the first wave of feminism. Since both Alex Poppendorf and Courtney Beard have a passion for curatorial work, and Deanna Carter is an avid cultural historian, we were all excited to begin creation of this exhibit. Thus, What Women Wore was born, yet the show almost ended before it began.
Making it Happen
When we were denied a research grant at the beginning of the summer, we were all disheartened. Deanna, however, fought hard to keep our show from falling apart. With the full support of the Austin Peay History Department and Department Chair Dr. John Steinberg, we were able to put the exhibit back on track. Without the support of our department, we would never have been able to create What Women Wore.
CONSTRUCTING THE SHOW
We began by numbering and photographing the original pieces. Here are some photos from our meeting.
We then researched the pieces, created signs, and mounted them.
After all that, we put it all together.
THE SEARCH FOR DUMMIES
When we first decided to work on creating this exhibit, we didn’t think about one essential fact-we need mannequins! Once we realized this, we began our search. Many hard hours were spent chasing mannequin leads via email and phone inquiries (we would like to thank Susan Wilson for her help in this). However, none of these leads panned out. Eventually, our fearless leader Deanna Carter gained inspiration from the worlds foremost DIY website: Pintrest. She decided to create a duct tape army of mini me’s. With the help of her dedicated husband, Deanna created an array of mannequins. Without her work, we couldn’t have put this show together.
Deanna poses as her mini me creation begins.
The end result has been fabulous, despite the fact that our mannequin adventure began as a Pintrest project. 🙂
What Women Wore 