The Origin Story of an Exhibition

Modupe Labode, Assistant Professor, History and Museum Studies & Public Scholar of African American History and Museums 

Usually professors don’t explain how and why they come up with the assignments that they give students, but in this case, the events that resulted years later in Split But Not Separated,\ deserve some discussion.

Several years ago, my colleague, IUPUI anthropology professor Susan B. Hyatt, mentioned the possibility of collaborating on a project. Students in the community research class were beginning a new project. They were going to collect oral histories from residents of the Near Southside, a community about which many Indianapolis residents knew little (it barely appears in standard texts of the city’s history), and the students would focus on the experiences of Sephardic Jews and African Americans.  Sue knew that I was going to teach Museum Methods, and she wondered if students in this class could create an exhibition based on the work of the anthropology students.  I was excited about the possibility of the students in this class—most of whom are undergraduates in the Museum Studies certificate program—doing something that had a real world application and immediately agreed.  By the end of the spring semester of 2010, the Museum Studies students had created a series of exhibit panels featuring major themes of the Near Southside’s past, such as businesses, religion, immigration, and Interstate 70.  We debuted the panels at a reception and the community greeted them with enthusiasm.  As successful as these panels were, however, they didn’t add up to an exhibition.

Over the years I watched from the sidelines as Sue Hyatt’s students continued their research and as the community members shared their memories. I was inspired by the collaborative nature of the research, the students’ investment in the project, and the generosity of the elders. I was moved by the genuine joy at the 2012 book-launch of The Neighborhood of Saturdays: Memories of a Multi-Ethnic Community on Indianapolis’ South Side. (In the introduction of this book, Sue Hyatt provides more background about the development of this innovative project: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/NoS?show=extra_3  )  As I read the book and reflected on the meetings and receptions I had intended, I thought that it was time to revisit the idea of an exhibition.  I was convinced that with the support provided by the book—and Sue Hyatt—the Museum Methods students could create an exhibit that will not only showcase their talents, but also the important story of the Near Southside residents.

This spring, the students in Museum Methods have been applying the theory they have learned in this and other classes as they designed the exhibition, wrote label text, selected images, planned the educational programs, among other tasks. Appropriately, Split but Not Separated will open at the Concord Neighborhood Center, an organization with deep roots in the Near Southside. Ms. Niki Girls, the executive director of the Concord Center, was immediately open to the idea of hosting an exhibition in the gymnasium, a prospect that not every busy community leader would welcome.  After three weeks at the Concord Center, the exhibition will travel to South Calvary Missionary Baptist Church and then to Etz Chaim Sephardic Synagogue. In this way, we hope that that the legacy of the residents of the Near Southside will reach new audiences.

For more information, see: 

·         “The Neighborhood of Saturdays” collection on the IUPUI University website: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/NoS

·         IUPUI Museum Studies Program: http://liberalarts.iupui.edu/mstd/