Each Friday morning you will meet with Sharlot Hall Museum curators George Fuller, Mick Woodcock, and Sandra Lynch to sketch a plan for a traveling exhibit about Aldo Leopold. Fuller is one of the state’s most respected exhibit designers; Woodcock is chief curator, responsible for the content of exhibits and public programs; and Lynch is curator of anthropology. 

The institute’s 25 professors, having studied with some of the most respected scholars writing and teaching about Aldo Leopold, offer Sharlot Hall Museum perhaps the best curatorial service available. For you, the activity is extremely transferable to the classroom. Asking participants to sketch the content for a public exhibit requires that they be able to conceptualize, synthesize, and present their ideas in a clear and understandable format, thus aiding their understanding and appreciation of the subject, and ultimately their teaching. Also, some of you may find the exercise to be one you can adapt to your own classroom activities, since asking students to create an exhibit is a healthy learning tool that requires a solid understanding of the subject.

Leopold is an appropriate subject for the museum, since he did work in Prescott National Forest and Arizona’s northern plateau, which is in the museum’s mission area. In his letters and journals, Leopold refers to his Prescott travels. It is also fitting for Sharlot Hall Museum to design a traveling exhibit, since the topic is relevant to other communities, and also because the museum often designs interpretive displays that travel throughout the region. Also, Sharlot Hall Museum regularly develops exhibits, publishes books, and plans public events that tell the story of the human-land dynamic, because the region is defined by its natural and historic environments. A current Sharlot Hall Museum exhibit touring the Southwest, for example, tells the story of early tourism at the Grand Canyon.

Just as the institute’s curriculum travels through history, ecology, philosophy, and culture, the planning sessions for the exhibit will incorporate these perspectives, each building on the preceding discussions. At the conclusion of each Friday discussion, a summary will be archived on the institute’s Blackboard site, so that both the participants and faculty, including those not in Prescott, can consult and respond to it regularly. Faculty who join the institute later will be encouraged to visit the Blackboard site so they are familiar with the group’s progress before arriving in Prescott. Faculty who have already taught will also be kept apprised of the participants’ planning, and their feedback will be invited.

The first three Fridays the group will meet in the morning for several hours, to outline the story and possible design. The last Thursday and Friday participants will complete plans, which will be presented by museum director John Langellier at the final public event Friday. During the final Thursday planning, in addition to McGregor and Shilling, core faculty member Scott Sanders will be available to consult with the group, as will historian Susan Flader, who keynotes the Friday public meeting. This outline and presentation will most likely be completed on PowerPoint or a similar application. To aid the research, the museum’s classroom and breakout rooms are equipped with computers and PowerPoint projectors, as well as internet access.

The goal of the planning, and the purpose of the public presentation, is to outline a plan for a traveling exhibit that uncovers and tells Leopold’s story through history and biography; the evolution of his Land Ethic, placing him in intellectual history; his contribution to contemporary notions of environmental ethics and sustainability; and the artistry of his writings. The final presentation will be, as much as possible, a panel-by-panel review that invites comments from other museum staff and educators. To encourage additional feedback, at the institute’s conclusion a working model of the exhibit will be placed on the IHR website and linked to other Leopold sites.