Traveling Smithsonian exhibit coming to RC in ?12

The Michigan Humanities Council recently notified the Presque Isle County Historical Museum that it is one of six nonprofit organizations in the state selected to host a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution. The Way We Worked exhibit is part of the Smithsonian?s ?Museum on Main Street? program. It will be in Rogers City from September 14 until October 29 of 2012. Rogers City is the only site in the northern portion of the lower peninsula that has been chosen to host the exhibit.

Ron Horrocks, president of the museum?s board of trustees said, ?We are very fortunate to have been chosen to host this outstanding exhibit. It fits in perfectly with the Calcite Centennial, which we will celebrate next year. That celebration is going to focus on the contributions made to the success of Calcite and the Bradley fleet by the men and women who have worked at the plant and on the boats over the years.? The Way We Worked explores the importance of work in American culture by tracing the many changes that have affected the workforce and work environments over the past 150 years.

The traveling exhibit is adapted from an original exhibition developed by the National Archives, drawing on the Archives? rich photographic collection to explore why, where, and how we do work. The exhibit consists of five free-standing sections, with video, audio, and interactive components, along with artifacts mounted in cases and exhibition banners. Through audio components and flipbooks, workers tell their own stories.

THE FIVE sections of the exhibit include: ?Where We Worked? explores the places Americans worked, from farms to factories, mines to restaurants, as well as how race and gender often determined roles and status. ?How We Worked? examines the effects of technology and automation on the workplace with images of people on assembly lines or using the tools of their trade. ?What We Wore to Work? looks at the way uniforms serve as badges of authority and status, and help to make occupations immediately identifiable.

?Conflict at

Work? looks back at not just the inevitable clashes between workers and managers over working conditions, wages, and hours, but also how social conflicts, such as segregation, have influenced the workplace. ?Dangerous or Unhealthy Work? features many of the photographs taken by social reformers hoping to ban child labor, reduce the length of the work day and expose unsanitary workplaces.

Spanning the years 1857-1987, the images in the exhibition cover the entire range of photographs on the topic in the National Archives holdings. The exhibition will also present a video showing a variety of workplaces.

Film clips follow workers into their workplaces. Interactive components introduce visitors to the experiences of multiple generations of families involved in the same work. A companion Web site allows host communities to create online exhibitions on their local work history and invite visitors to share their own work experiences. Local coordinator for the exhibit will be Mark Thompson, Executive Director and Curator of the museum. Gregory Parker of the Michigan Humanities Council is the exhibit?s program officer and John Beck of Michigan State University will serve as the State Exhibit Scholar.