Big News for a Little Museum

A big pivot for a small, local history museum, brings international acclaim with a Candid Look at Covid-19.

Museum followers don’t normally see the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff (IL) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY) mentioned in the same context. Nor do they see a small community history museum’s work discussed on an international stage. When the History Center’s Executive Director Carol Summerfield heard that her museum’s crowdsourced pandemic project had made the Museum + Heritage’s shortlist for best use of digital international, she felt a huge sense of gratitude for the community members who made it possible.

About the competition—words from Museum + Heritage (located in England):

“By any standards 2020 has been momentous. The pandemic crisis has been all-consuming and has stretched individuals and organisations in previously unimaginable ways. But against the most challenging of backdrops, it has been truly inspiring to witness a collective energy to not only ride out the storm but to seize opportunities, to transform and to challenge.”

The 2021 Museums + Heritage Awards, sponsored by Chargeurs Creative Collection, have therefore been adapted to reflect these extraordinary times and to provide a high-profile platform for the hard work of so many to be rewarded and celebrated. A range of new categories have been introduced which focus on the unique challenges of the pandemic: Closed but still open? Pivoting boldly? Responding rapidly? These seven categories look specifically at the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. They sit alongside ten other categories, some of which align with previous editions of the Museums + Heritage Awards and others which have been tailored to reflect these times. As well as new and different categories, the entry process has been simplified and moved online, making it easier for everyone to enter.”

How was the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff able to compete in an international digital category?

The museum’s team of the executive director, curator and marketing manager, used an innovative digital platform called Pass It Down, to create a crowdsourced online exhibit about the early days of the pandemic. The team used daily social media and digital marketing to solicit ongoing, personal contributions from the public. They named their digital exhibit “300 Photos, 30 Days: A Candid Look at Covid-19.”

What made the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff’s use of digital marketing stand out?

This was the History Center’s first effort to build an entirely crowdsourced exhibit. While they had been able to accept public submissions to their digital platform for a few years, they were always tied to narratives the museum had written and core imagery which they had provided. This exhibit was completely structured as a representation of the public experience, with no curatorial narrative. While the curator screened images to ensure appropriateness (and age permissions to protect privacy of minors), the goal was to see the experience from the viewpoint of the public. All images are now archived at the museum.

No time to spare.

For the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff, 2020 began with events that brought more than 100 people into their small museum every week. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit and like museums around the world, they completely shut down. By March 15 their staff of six, part-time people was working remotely. Yet in a very quick pivot of less than one week, they managed to bring all of their exhibits online and begin an initiative to collect photos and stories of how the coronavirus was impacting their community in real-time. Luckily their digital platform allowed for community contributions. So they began campaigning to the public to participate in the new exhibit. The goal was to create a permanent digital record of the pandemic by gathering 300 images in 30 days.

User-generated content encouraged others to contribute.

The History Center used its email list, Facebook following and newly launched Instagram account to solicit images. The target of 300 images was ambitious but they knew that people in their communities wanted to find a way to stay connected, express their creativity and document how dramatically their lives had changed. They also knew that many of the mundane aspects of the pandemic would be forgotten over time: things like drive-by birthday parades; spontaneous public art that was popping up all over the villages; homemade bread and at-home haircuts, and the never-ending struggle to find groceries. While the news covered some of this, much was left out of the narrative. By creating an online resource, the History Center could invite the public in to contribute what they thought was most important to remember about this unique window of time.

They reached 300 photos in less than 4 weeks and realized that they had something that mattered to the community, so they kept the exhibit going, collecting images for another two months. They also received video submissions which became an offshoot (Covideos) and answers to journal prompts about life during quarantine which provided more stories and context for the History Center’s digital archive. The continual stream of submissions lasted for about 10 weeks. They highlighted this user-generated content daily in social media, which kept the exhibit top of mind to the public.

An outcome beyond their wildest dreams.

300 Photos, 30 Days: A Candid Look at Covid-19 exceeded the History Center’s expectations. They had worried that it was too ambitious a timeline and target number. But they wanted to create a sense of urgency and set the public expectation that this wasn't going to a "best of" photo competition. The focus was on the everyday--not the monumental. By creating a marketing campaign that made people realize that their cell phone photos would do just fine, they unleashed a wave of contributions. And once people saw the types of photos that were making the exhibit, they realized they could contribute too. Without the community's enthusiasm and daily contributions their goal would not have been met. The History Center presented its project at one of the early summer Zoom meetings for the Illinois museums, and had other institutions then follow suit in collecting their own communities' images. The ripple effect helped to build a valuable collective archive of images and materials that will help historians explore this window of time for generations.

Because of the success of the crowdsourcing, The History Center followed this digital exhibit with two other public exhibits that pulled content from the community: Facing School 2020 (the return to learning, either remote or hybrid), and The Holiday Collection, gathering both historical and current images of celebrations of the season.

All at no additional cost to the organization.

The History Center’s marketing budget was cut immediately upon closing the museum. The goal was to shut down all expenses, and try to maintain staff salaries for as long as possible. Fortunately, the museum’s digital platform had already been paid for and they were able to push out email and social media messaging entirely organically. Not a dime was allocated to this project.

Words of congratulations from Museum + Heritage Awards:

Huge congratulations to our shortlistees who have made it onto this year’s coveted list! A record number of entries were submitted for the 2021 Museums + Heritage Awards, sponsored by Chargeurs Creative Collection, making competition tougher than ever before and, of course, all against the most challenging of backdrops.

The Shortlist for Best Use of Digital:

· Untitled Workers Club on behalf of Visit Flanders The Stay At Home Museum

· History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff 300 Photos in 30 Days: A Candid Look at Covid-19

· National Museums Liverpool with National Heritage Board, British Council Singapore and Agency for Integrated Care House of Memories Singapore

· National Museum of Korea SNMK (Smart National Museum of Korea) Project

· The Metropolitan Museum of Art Met Stories

The winners will be revealed in an online ceremony at 7pm on July 1, 2021