Dr. Sanrda Harmon

Dr. Sandra Harmon, Emeritus Professor of History and former Interim Director of Women’s Studies, worked with the McLean County Museum of History to assemble an exhibit commemorating the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Depression. Journey through the Great Depression takes visitors on a “road trip” the through the 1930s and illustrates what it was like to live during a period of uncertainty and hardship. During the 3-year project, Harmon worked with Curator of Collections and Exhibits Susan Hartzold to research and develop the project, identify over 370 artifacts and 200 images from the period, and interview 25 local residents who survived the Depression. “This was a fascinating project for me,” Harmon said. “I learned so much about the people of McLean County during the Depression and I learned how to do history with a minimum amount of text, letting artifacts and images carry the story.”

The gallery showcases artifacts from every-day life during the Depression, including a kitchen vignette featuring household items and a store-front window featuring a broad variety of goods available during the 30s. On display are kitchen items, clothing, laundry materials, furniture, entertainment, sports equipment, among other artifacts. Each artifact is woven into the story of the exhibit, which connects visitors with the people who lived through the Depression.

Interested in illustrating the “real experience of real people,” Hartzold and Harmon recruited ISU Bone Scholar and History major Kelly LeJeune to interview 25 local people who lived through the Depression, producing hours of tape that were transcribed by museum volunteers.  Excerpts from these personal narratives and pictures from the survivors are included in the exhibit. Emeritus Professor of English Bill Linnemann, one of the oral history participants, and others will discuss their experiences at special panel discussions sponsored by the museum—“Spectrums of Experience” on March 9, “Entertainment” on March 11, and “Women and Home Life” on March 16.

The interactive exhibit encourages visitors to take on a Depression “persona” to begin the journey. Visitors pick up an identity card at the door (which is a composite-created person) and live through that identity while they tour the exhibit. The card identifies the visitor’s “new” name, family make up, employment, income, and expenses. Included with the identity are “scrip” (make-shift money printed by the Chamber of Congress during the Depression when actual dollar bills were scarce) and “barter cards” (used to trade products and services among community members). At different points along the path of the exhibit, visitors are asked to make decisions common to those faced by people during the Depression—pay fees/fines, contribute to charity, place earnings in bank accounts, visit the doctor, hire a mechanic—and each decision involves some sort of exchange. These “detours” allow visitors to experience what everyday-life was life during the Depression.

”This exhibit is an exemplary illustration of the results of collaborations between ISU and the museum,” explained Greg Koos, Museum Executive Director and a member of the College’s Community Advisory Board. “It is a fine testament of how the University community can reach out to the Bloomington-Normal community in a true partnership.”

The exhibit will show until August 2007.