| Exhibition Review | The Journal of American History, 93.1

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| Exhibition Review | The Journal of American History, 93.1 | The History Cooperative

Exhibition Reviews

"The Public Vaults," National Archives and Records Administration, Constitution Ave. between 7th and 9th Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20408.

Permanent exhibition, opened Nov. 12, 2004. Day after Labor Day–March 31, 10–5:30, April–Friday before Memorial Day, 10–7; Memorial Day weekend–Labor Day, 10–9. Free. 9,000 sq. ft. Marvin Pinkert, project director; Christina Rudy Smith, head of exhibitions; Bruce Bustard, lead researcher; Ray Ruskin, in-house designer; Gallagher & Associates, exhibition designer.

The Public Vaults Unlocked: Discovering American History in the National Archives. (Washington: Foundation for the National Archives, 176 pp. Cloth, $40.00, ISBN 1-904832-17-2. Paper, $25.00, ISBN 0-9758601-1-9.)

Democracy Starts Here (video); 11 mins.

Internet: exhibition description, text, photographs, news and events, and membership information <http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/visit/public_vaults.html> (March 2, 2006).

The short video at the entrance to "The Public Vaults" begins with a hushed sweep through the rotunda in which the nation's founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights) are again available for public viewing after a renovation completed in 2003. After a brief pan of this solemn space of marble columns and ceremonial splendor, the video changes tone. An up-tempo beat hastens the pulse, soundtrack to a rapidly changing pastiche of the less lofty stuff of archival collections—a glimpse not only of more mundane documents and records but also of book carts, compact storage shelving, and rows of Hollinger boxes. No voiceover is required to make the point. The National Archives are much more than the charter documents, and this exhibition is an exploration of a dynamic process—the preservation of the past through its documents and the vigorous use of those public records. An eleven-minute introductory film, shown in the William G. McGowan Theater, elucidates this message: records ought never to grow stale; the power of documents lies in the uses to which we put them.

The exhibition is one section of the National Archives Experience, which also includes a theater, a changing exhibits gallery, and a shop. "The Public Vaults" displays over 1,000 records as original or in facsimile—letters, memos, photographs, maps, drawings, film and audio clips—drawn from the collections of the National Archives. Examples ranging from treaties and acts of Congress to industrial films and presidential correspondence are displayed along a central corridor from which thematic sections branch off. Innovatively exhibited, the records are also brought to life by interactive elements that use appropriate technologies to invite entertaining and educational immersion into the materials. The overarching concept of the exhibition is more sophisticated than the idea that documents reveal a nation's past. At its core, this exhibition is about the power to interpret history, to understand and reconsider the past as it has been presented, with the records in the National Archives featured as seminal primary sources in this dynamic process. "The Public Vaults" asserts a direct correlation between public records and democracy. According to the introductory panel, "Records matter. They allow us to claim our individual rights, to hold our Government accountable, and to understand our history as the American people." The tagline for the National Archives claims, "Democracy Starts Here."

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