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Engaging today's youth at house museums: forging a vision for the Gamble House

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Engaging today's youth at house museums: forging a vision for the Gamble House

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ENGAGING TODAY’S YOUTH AT HOUSE MUSEUMS:
FORGING A VISION FOR THE GAMBLE HOUSE

by

Melissa Ann Jones

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION

August 2015

Copyright 2015 Melissa Ann Jones

i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to take this opportunity to first offer my gratitude to my thesis committee
members, Trudi Sandmeier, Director of Graduate Programs in Heritage Conservation and
Associate Professor of Practice in Architecture; Edward “Ted” Bosley, James N Gamble Director
of The Gamble House; and Cynthia Campoy Brophy, Founder and Executive Director of
ArtworxLA, for their many hours of review and valuable insight as heritage conservation and
informal education professionals that they contributed to the writing of this thesis. I also want
to formally thank both my husband and mother for their unwavering support of me following
my dreams. It has taken me four years to complete my coursework while working full-time, and
during this time, my better half has been a sounding board, videographer, fieldwork assistant,
and companion on many house tours. For this, I am eternally grateful and only wish that I could
add my husband’s name to my diploma as this life achievement is as much his as it is mine.

ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………i
LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..…..iii
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...iv

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….1

CHAPTER 1: CURRENT STATE OF THE MUSEUM FIELD AND ENGAGING YOUTH…………………….…..6

CHAPTER 2: BEST PRACTICES FOR DEVELOPING PROGRAMS TO ENGAGE TODAY’S YOUTH...…..16

CHAPTER 3: LONG-TERM YOUTH PROGRAM CASE STUDIES……………………………………………………..33
Case Study: Junior and Senior High Summer Docent Program,
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium………………………………………………………………………….33
Case Study: MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program,
Museum of Contemporary Art.………………………………………………………………...38
Case Study: Hempsted House Reinterpretation Project,
Connecticut Landmarks....………………………………………………………..……………….45

CHAPTER 4: ENGAGING YOUTH AT THE GAMBLE HOUSE………………………….……………………………..51

CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………62

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...66

iii
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Graph showing that each generation is becoming more ethnically diverse than
the preceding one.………………………………………………………………………………………………….11

Figure 2.1: Falk and Dierking’s Contextual Model of Learning.……………………..………………………….22

Figure 2.2: Example of a developmental framework.……………………………………………………………….25

Figure 3.1: Example of a room in the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s Exhibit Hall……………….…….….36

Figure 3.2: Spirit vessels under construction as part of the MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young
Arts Program.……………………………………………………………………..……………………...….…..….41

Figure 3.3: Participant in the MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program poses with his
spirit vessel.…………………………………………………………………..……………………………………….42

Figure 3.4: Joshua Hempsted House, Connecticut Landmarks………………………………………………….46

iv
ABSTRACT

Leading up to the twenty-first century and continuing on to present day, scholars and
practitioners have debated the sustainability of the traditional business model of historic house
museums. Emerging from the various conversations is that house museums need to evaluate
their current practices to ensure that they are responding to the needs of their visitors,
engaging with their community, and broadening their appeal to more diverse audiences. While
much research and focus has been on the role of community engagement in the sustainability
of historic sites for the future, scholars have not fully acknowledged the importance of engaging
the most vital sector of the community—today’s youth.

Similar to many historic house museums around the country that have to balance conservation
and public programming, The Gamble House in Pasadena, California, has not prioritized
engaging with children and teens. While they do engage youth through a junior docent program
and school tours, these are based on outdated business models from the Industrial Age of the
twentieth century. Without developing youth programs that engage more diverse audiences
and are in line with practices of the Knowledge Age within which we currently live, The Gamble
House’s future sustainability and relevance comes into question.

Currently, The Gamble House is in the beginning stages of assessing their interpretive programs
and developing a strategy to incorporate new scholarship within a revised interpretation of the
site. So far, work has been done to assess the overall visitor experience, but little attention has
been given to their current youth education programming. Towards this effort, this thesis
provides an overview of the current state of the museum field with regards to engaging youth,
analyzes best practices for developing youth programs, and examines three successful long-
term youth programs which can serve as models for The Gamble House, as well as other
historic house museums. Finally, based on the findings of this study, several recommendations
for youth programming at The Gamble House are outlined with a view of their sustainability in
the twenty-first century and beyond.

1

Introduction

In 2002 and 2007, more than thirty national organizations associated with historic sites
convened at Kykuit: The Rockefeller Estate to discuss the sustainability and relevance of historic
house museums and historic sites in the United States today. In acknowledgement of the
decline of attendance at historic sites across the country, financial instability, and a generalized
view that historic sites are “irrelevant and unresponsive to the societal changes around them,”
the conversation culminated in a national call for historic sites to change some of their
traditional business models and practices. One of the considerable recommendations was that,
“Historic sites must no longer think of the ‘velvet rope tour’ as their ‘basic bread and butter’
program and…must reaffirm the importance of these places for our nation's future and
redefine our mission in terms of that future rather than the past.”
1
Since this time, scholars and
professionals have been engaging in debates around the findings assembled by conference
attendees.

One significant conclusion stemming from the Kykuit conference was that historic house
museums’ focus on being a heritage tourism destination is unsustainable and that they should
instead engage their local community and look to serving their needs. It was widely agreed
upon by conference attendees that this is the pathway toward the sustainability and relevance
of these sites. However, a significant factor to this conversation is the change in demographics
that is currently underway across the nation whereby the previous Caucasian majority
population is now becoming the minority. The question then is, how can historic house
museums, which tend to represent the lives of wealthy, Caucasian men, remain relevant and
sustainable amidst the changing populations in communities today and into the future.

After nearly a decade following the last Kykuit conference, there is a general consensus
emerging from the field that house museums need to evaluate their current practices to ensure
that they are responding to the needs of their visitors, engaging with their community, and
broadening their appeal to more diverse audiences. Nevertheless, while much research and

1
James Vaughn, “Introduction: The Call for a National Conversation,” Forum Journal 22, no. 3 (2008): p7.

2
focus has been on the role of community engagement in the sustainability of historic sites for
the future, scholars have not fully acknowledged the importance of engaging the most vital
sector of the community—today’s youth. Critical to remaining sustainable into the future is that
youth in the communities surrounding historic house museums understand why the site is
important, why they should care about it, and why they should help ensure that the site is
conserved into the future. Exploring this premise further, The Gamble House in Pasadena,
California, serves as an ideal historic house museum study model and is the focal point of this
thesis.

Importance of Engaging Local Youth
Generally speaking, historic house museums are not seen as welcoming to youth and traditional
guided tours, which are based on an outdated, twentieth century business model, do not
engage young people today. However, studies have shown that people who visit and get
involved in museums and arts organizations during their youth, are more likely to continue their
involvement as adults. In the words of Frank E. Sanchis III, Director of United States Programs at
World Monuments Fund: “Ways must be found to increase exposure of young people to house
museums, on a regular and repeated basis as their formal education progresses and they are
able to appreciate the ever more complex information that house museums offer.”
2
For those
youth who participate in museum programs there is hope that they will take with them into
adulthood relevant and meaningful experiences at historic house museums and advocate for
the conservation of such sites for future generations.

Traditionally, historic sites, including The Gamble House, have engaged with youth primarily
through school tour programs. In fact, much research and discussion in the field concentrates
on the historically symbiotic museum-school relationship, with some scholars even referring to
the two institutions as “true partners.” However, recently there have been substantial declines
in field trips to historic sites due to school budget cuts and an increased focus on standardized
curriculum and accountability in the formal education sector. In light of these factors, it may be

2
Frank E. Sanchis III, “Looking Back or Looking Forward? House Museums in the 21st Century” (presentation,
American House Museums, an Athenaeum of Philadelphia Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, December 4-5, 1998).

3
time for historic house museums to question their current relationship with schools and explore
other, perhaps more suitable, models for engaging youth. A pivotal question to ask is: How do
one-time school field trips and the extensive resources expended on the part of historic sites
play into their sustainability for the twenty-first century and beyond?

In looking towards an alternative model to engage youth and a more sustainable future for
house museums, this study aims to respond to the questions: What are the best practices for
engaging today’s youth in informal education environments and how can historic house
museums, such as The Gamble House, integrate these concepts into their programming?

Developing Long-term Museum Programs to Engage Youth
Despite traditional museum practices, school tours are not the only means to engage with
youth and according to Stacey L. Shelnut, “Long-term programs have been extremely effective
in creating greater access to museums for adolescents.”
3
As such, this thesis examines three
case study models of successful long-term, youth programs at different types of cultural
institutions. These programs include the Junior and Senior High Summer Docent Program at
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium; MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program at Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Art; and the Connecticut Landmarks’ Joshua Hempsted House
Reinterpretation Project. Taking into consideration the best practices for developing youth
programs, which include focusing on the distinct interests, learning needs, and capabilities of
children and teens, these case studies will serve as the basis for recommendations for engaging
youth at The Gamble House.

Current Youth Engagement at The Gamble House
The Gamble House was constructed between 1908 and 1909 by Charles and Henry Greene and
stands today as a National Historical Landmark, a testament to it being considered a premier
example of early twentieth century Arts and Crafts-era architecture in the United States. Under
stewardship of the USC School of Architecture, The Gamble House opened to the public as a

3
Stacey L. Shelnut, “Long-Term Museum Programs for Youth,” The Journal of Museum Education 19, no. 3 (1994):
p11.

4
museum in 1966. Since then, the overall tour experience and story that visitors receive have
largely remained static. The institutional focus, for at least the past fifteen years, has been on
creating and sustaining a stable financial foundation through the conservation of the entire
museum collection, including the house itself. At present, The Gamble House is also in the
midst of preparing to restore the original landscape designed by Greene and Greene.

With regards to youth engagement, The Gamble House currently has two primary programs,
although they are co-dependent. These consist of a junior docent program that was initiated in
1981 and a school tour program involving third grade students from Pasadena Unified School
District that is associated with the district-wide arts curriculum, My Masterpieces: Discovering
Art in My Community which started in 2007. It is significant to mention that participants in the
junior docent program are seventh graders who are a part of Pasadena Unified School District’s
Gifted and Talented Education initiative. Between these two programs, in addition to occasional
group tours and perhaps a few youth who accompany their parents on public tours,
children and teens makeup significantly less than ten percent of The Gamble House’s
annual visitorship. As such, one must ask, why are more youth not visiting The Gamble House?
Is The Gamble House perceived as not being relevant to young people?

Over recent years, with a decline in tour revenue and donations, it has become apparent that
The Gamble House should divert their attention to establishing a more sustainable operating
model. In working towards this effort, the museum is in the beginning stages of developing a
plan to reinterpret the site to coincide with new research that has come to light pertaining to
the social history of the site. The goal is that the findings outlined in this thesis will serve as
recommendations to be considered for The Gamble House’s youth programming under the new
interpretive plan. Given the changing populations occurring in Pasadena and other areas across
the nation, it will be critical that The Gamble House assess how their site can remain relevant
among more diverse audiences now and into the future. One essential question to be answered
is, what are the larger themes at The Gamble House that children and teens can connect to
their own lives?

5
Definitions
There are several terms used throughout this study which warrant clarification on their
intended meaning. Firstly, ‘youth’ within the context of this thesis refers to both children and
teens, from ages six to seventeen. Age six corresponds to the age of those who are currently
the youngest members of Generation Z and age seventeen is when most people are entering
their last year of high school as well as the cutoff before being considered a legal adult, at least
in the United States.

Also, ‘engagement,’ encapsulates the definition of Gretchen Jennings, museum administrator,
educator, and current Editor for Exhibitionist, the journal of American Alliance of Museums’
professional network on exhibition: “...crafting of visitor interactions with exhibits and with
each other that engage both mind and body, relate to prior knowledge and experience, and are
more suited to the informal spaces of museums.”
4
This definition is meant to contradict the
traditional museum practice of creating experiences that follow the education model set by
schools, namely didactical guided tours and standardized curricula.

4
Gretchen Jennings, “The Changing Role of Museum Educators: A Conversation,” Museum Commons (Blog), August
2, 2014, http://www.museumcommons.com/2014/08/doshould-museum-educators-conversation.html.

6
CHAPTER 1
Current State of the Museum Field and Engaging Youth

“Although the [Mount Vernon Ladies] Association has continued to do a first-class job of
restoring and protecting the historic structures, grounds and collections, we have sometimes
been so steeped in tradition, so inclined to look almost exclusively at the past rather than the
future, that we have lost touch with the needs of our visitors.”
5
While this specific observation
is a reflection on practices at Mount Vernon, it is relevant to the situation that many historic
sites and house museums across the country face today. This chapter examines the current
state of the museum field relative to the twentieth century, and aims to evaluate historic house
museums within this context. Furthermore, it argues that for historic house museums to remain
sustainable and relevant in the twenty-first century, a fundamental shift in ideology and
practice is essential, particularly with regards to engaging local youth.

The museum field in the United States is currently in the midst of a paradigm shift propelled by
economic and social changes that represent a departure from the ideals of the twentieth
century, referred to as the Industrial Age. The most influential of these changes is the transition
to a knowledge-based economy whereby “...services, ideas, and increasingly experiences are
the products of choice.”
6
The near-constant access to abounding information, global
interconnectivity, and a desire for learning in this new Knowledge Age has greatly affected the
needs and expectations of society. Also, there is a dramatic change in demographics that is
sweeping the nation whereby the previously conceived majority Caucasian population is
becoming the minority. Furthermore, current trends in formal education point towards an
increased focus on accountability standards and prescribed curricula, and as a result, less time
and money are being allocated for field trips to museums and historic sites.

5
James C. Rees, “Forever the Same, Forever Changing: The Dilemma Facing Historic Houses” (presentation,
American House Museums, an Athenaeum of Philadelphia Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, December 4-5, 1998).
6
John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, Lessons without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming
Education (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002), p3.

7
These are all changes that are happening now in the twenty-first century and are important
factors to consider for programming and reaching audiences at historic sites. The most
important of these audiences today are youth—the children and teens within the local
community. In following the trends of other types of museums, the majority of youth who visit
historic house museums are likely part of school tour groups.
7
However, given the increasing
decline in school field trips and diversification of communities across the country, in order to
remain relevant it may be time for historic house museums to rethink their model for engaging
younger generations. A fundamental question is, does the story being told at a particular house
museum resonate with a changing, more diverse youth population and if not, why should they
care that the site continues to be conserved into the future?

Museums in the Twentieth Century
When the first museum opened in America in the late eighteenth century, it was the height of
the Industrial Revolution during which the economy shifted from predominantly being based on
agriculture to a reliance on manufacturing and industry. Echoing the mechanization of the
factories that ran the country up through the twentieth century, this era, referred to as the
Industrial Age, is often associated with efficiency, mass-production, mass-marketing, and a
“one-size-fits-all” approach to business and education. From the standpoint of cultural
institutions, Falk and Sheppard describe this as the “build it and they will come” business model
through which, “ideas flow from the head of the organization (director and curators) down to
the consumers (both general public and scholarly peers).”
8
In other words, within this model
that still prevails amongst many museums and historic sites today, the focus is inwards toward
the institution and success is measured by the quantity of visitors rather than by quality of the
experience, as judged by museum-goers. The assumption within this top-down model being,
“...that high visitor attendance indicates that something good is happening.”
9
While this may

7
Although it is beyond the scope of this thesis to survey all historic house museums across the country about the
number of youth who visit their site as part of school groups versus visiting with family or friends, this statement is
made on the basis of the traditional museum-school relationship.
8
John Falk and Beverly Sheppard, “Creating a New Business Model,” in Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving
Conversation on the Paradigm Shift, ed. Gail Anderson (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press, 2012), p382-83.
9
Ibid, p385.

8
have been a suitable measure of success in the Industrial Age, visitors in the Knowledge Age
today have expressed significantly different expectations.

Historic house museums in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were not aligned with
traditional museums and their practices. In fact, the first house museum in the country, the
Hasbrouck House in Newburgh, New York, was not established until 1850, nearly a century
after the founding of the United States’ earliest museum.
10
The models for many of the house
museums founded across the nation came about through the opening of Mount Vernon in 1860
and Colonial Williamsburg in the late 1920s. It was not until the mid-twentieth century, with
the emergence of professional museum training programs, that historic house museums
became more closely associated with the broader museum field. However, it can be argued
that house museums today still have not fully integrated traditional museum practices and
remain outliers within the field.

Transition into the Twenty-First Century
In the preceding decades and continuing into the early part of the twenty-first century, there
have been many changes that have shifted the needs and expectations of society. The most
influential of these has been the entrance into the Knowledge Age, referring to the
transformation from an industry-based economy to one based on information and knowledge.
Other factors include the rapid advancement of technology and a focus on user-generated
material. Arguably, these shifts are still occurring, but nevertheless they have brought about
many societal changes. For instance, individuals are no longer satisfied with mass-produced
goods, but instead have come to expect services that are personalized, innovative, and offer
multiple options.

Furthermore, society has placed an increased value on learning, not only in school and for
work, but also during leisure time. Falk and Dierking refer to this type of learning as “free-
choice learning,” or in other words, “...the learning people do when they get to control what to

10
Patrick H. Butler III, “Past, Present, and Future: The Place of the House Museum in the Museum
Community,” in Interpreting Historic House Museums, ed. Jessica Foy Donnelly (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press,
2002), p19-20.

9
learn, when to learn, where to learn, and with whom to learn.”
11
According to Falk and
Dierking, everyone participates in free-choice learning and, “...they do so through various
media–television, books, radio, museum exhibitions, through conversations with friends and
family, and in ever-increasing numbers on the Internet.”
12
Given their widespread growth in the
past few years, social media, streaming video, and smartphone applications can also be added
to this continuously expanding list. While the general premise of free-choice learning is not a
novel idea, within the current age, youth and others are spending an increasing amount of time
engaging in such activities. Contrary to popular belief, learning is not an activity that strictly
occurs in the classroom and in fact, youth only spend approximately ten percent of their waking
hours at school over the course of a day.
13
During the remaining ninety percent of their time is
when free-choice learning, or learning beyond academics, takes place.

Straddling between being a preservation organization and providing public access, historic
house museums are more affected by the sweeping changes occurring in society than other
types of museums. According to a survey conducted by the American Association of Museums
in 2009, when compared to other types of informal learning institutions, history museums
proved to have the lowest number of attendees. On average, their annual visitorship amounted
to only three percent of attendance at science museums and eight percent of those who visit
children’s museums.
14
Given these statistics, one must ask, what is it that other types of
museums are doing differently from historic sites that appeals to museum-goers? In providing
insight into one possible answer, Rees observed that, “...most art museums, science centers,
aquariums and zoos are far ahead of historic sites in terms of living up to the high expectations
of visitors.” To this, he added, “Today people expect to be challenged, to be offered a chance to
actively experience a place and time.”
15
The question of how house museums can satisfy this

11
John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, Lessons without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming
Education (Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002), p6.
12
Ibid.
13
Lynn D. Dierking and John H. Falk, “Optimizing out-of-school time: The role of free-choice learning,” New
Directions for Youth Development 97 (2003).
14
Lisa A. Anderson, “A New Day for Local History: No Longer an Island,” History News 66, no. 4 (2011): p21.
15
James C. Rees, “Forever the Same, Forever Changing: The Dilemma Facing Historic Houses,” (presentation,
American House Museums, an Athenaeum of Philadelphia Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, December 4-5, 1998).

10
expectation is worth further investigation and perhaps a place to start is to look at program
models utilized at other types of institutions.

Changing Demographics
In addition to the above-mentioned changes, the United States is currently undergoing a
dramatic demographic shift that is already having a significant effect on the makeup of the
general population and younger prospective museum audiences. As stated by the California
Association of Museums Foresight Committee, “With every census the US is showing more
diversity and moving away from a white majority and a major increase in foreign-born
citizens...”
16
In fact, minority births in America now outnumber white births and due to this, the
white, non-Hispanic population is projected to be a minority by 2050.
17
However, a recent study
estimates that, “[the] preschool population will cross this threshold in 2021.”
18
Supporting this
claim, the same study adds: “Already, racial and ethnic minorities represent 44 percent of U.S.
residents under the age of 15, and make up a majority of that age group in 31 of the nation’s
100 largest metro areas.”
19
Within less than a decade, the newest generation of youth will be
noticeably more diverse than the current population. (Figure 1.1).

16
Frank Cassidy, Ariel Feinberg Berson, et.al, “Foresight Research Report: Expanding Access & Changing
Demographics,” California Association of Museums, 2012, p11, available from
https://www.calmuseums.org/_data/n_0001/resources/live/Baseline_ChangingDemographics_2013.09.26.pdf,
accessed May 25, 2015.
17
Jeffrey S. Passel, Gretchen Livingston, and D’Vera Cohn, “Explaining Why Minority Births Outnumber White
Births,” Pew Research Center: Social & Demographic Trends, May 17, 2012, available from
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/05/17/explaining-why-minority-births-now-outnumber-white-births/,
accessed May 25, 2015.
18
William H. Frey, Alan Berube, Audrey Singer, and Jill H. Wilson, “Getting Current: Recent Demographic Trends in
Metropolitan America,” The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, 2009, available from
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2009/3/metro-demographic-
trends/03_metro_demographic_trends.pdf, accessed May 25, 2015.
19
Ibid.

11

Figure 1.1: Graph showing that each generation is becoming more ethnically diverse than the preceding one.
Illustration from William H. Frey, Alan Berube, Audrey Singer, and Jill H. Wilson, “Getting Current: Recent
Demographic Trends in Metropolitan America,” The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, 2009, p6,
available from http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2009/3/metro-demographic-
trends/03_metro_demographic_trends.pdf, accessed May 25, 2015.

A major contributor to this phenomenon is the significant increase in immigration over the past
couple of decades. When compared to the 1990 United States census which estimated that the
foreign born population was 19.8 million, according to the 2010 American Community Survey,
this number doubled to 39.9 million.
20
While this population represents individuals from
various different countries of origin, Hispanics or Latinos make up the largest minority group
within the total population of the United States. Currently, Hispanics represent fifteen percent

20
“Nativity and Citizenship, 1990-2000,”CensusScope, accessed March 15, 2015,
http://www.censusscope.org/us/chart_nativity.html; U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics
Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, The Foreign-Born Population in the United States: 2010: American Community
Survey Reports, by Elizabeth M. Grieco, Yesenia Acosta, et. al., ACS-19 (Washington, D.C.: United States
Government Printing Office, 2012), available from
http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2012/acs/acs-19.pdf, accessed May 25, 2015.

12
of the population, but that number is projected to increase to nearly thirty percent by 2050.
21

Will house museums be able to maintain relevance amongst this changing population?

Historically, house museum visitors predominantly consist of non-Hispanic Caucasians. In a
study conducted by Reach Advisors, they found that only twelve percent of the core audience
of historic house museums identified themselves as a minority.
22
This is significant because the
number of people who have traditionally visited and supported historic sites are likely to
continue to diminish over the coming decades, and house museums will become increasingly
less relevant to their communities. How can house museums appeal to more diverse audiences,
particularly youth?

Museum-School Relationship
Museums and schools have had a symbiotic relationship dating back to the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. In fact, for some museums, school groups make up the majority of
their annual visitorship. However, over recent years there has been an overall decline in school
field trips to museums across the country. An article in The New York Times revealed that
several museums had faced a twenty to thirty percent drop in school visits within the previous
few years.
23
A major component to this decline are cuts to public school budgets which were
profoundly affected by the latest economic recession and are still suffering from lasting effects.
Another contributing factor are schools’ new accountability standards. With the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001 and the recent nation-wide launch of the Common Core Standards, schools
are under increasing scrutiny with regards to performance measures and are placing more of an
emphasis on testing. As such, administrators are demanding that students spend less time away
from the classroom and that any field trips relate to curriculum content standards. According to

21
Betty Farrell and Maria Medvedeva, Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums (Washington, D.C.:
AAM Press, 2010), available from http://www.aam-us.org/docs/center-for-the-future-of-
museums/demotransaam2010.pdf, accessed May 25, 2015.
22
Reach Advisors, “Who's Coming to Your Museum? Demographics by Museum Type,” Museum Audience Insight:
Audience research, trends, observations from Reach Advisors and friends (blog), April 21, 2010,
http://reachadvisors.typepad.com/museum_audience_insight/2010/04/whos-coming-to-your-museum-
demographics-by-museum-type.html.
23
Tamar Lewin, “Museums Take Their Lessons to the Schools,” NYTimes.com, April 21, 2010,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/us/22fieldtrips.html?_r=0.

13
the 2012 Foresight Research Report: Expanding Access & Changing Demographics, these trends
in declining school field trips are likely to continue.
24
The question then is, what does this mean
for house museums?

In addition to the decline in field trips, another consideration for house museums is the current
operating model and state of the formal education system. As Ben Garcia observes, “...the
public education system in this country is broken...the well of formal education in the areas of
constructivism, free-choice learning, and intrinsic motivation—for all the good work of
progressive and alternative educators—have largely been poisoned.”
25
While numerous
reasons such as standardized testing, prescribed curricula, and didactical teaching methods can
be cited, the main point is that schools are still operating on a twentieth century model which is
not functional within the current age. Museums generally try to align their school programs
with content standards and goals of prescribed curricula to encourage schools to visit, but as a
result some museums feel as though they have, as Garcia reflects,”...sold out [their] collections
in the process.”
26
Should museums continue to closely align themselves and support the goals
of a system that is obviously failing to meet the needs of today’s youth?

Given the economic and societal changes that have been under way over the past couple of
decades and continuing into present day, museums’ relationships with schools are now being
brought into question. As Cutler states, “the question of what is to be done regarding learning
in cultural institutions comes at a time when fundamental questions are being asked about the
ways in which we organise our learning systems more broadly.”
27
Both museums and schools
are in a period of flux and are in the midst of re-negotiating their relationship for the future.
Museums are desperately seeking out other pathways to reach youth. According to one
museum administrator who responded to the Annual Condition of Museums in the Economy

24
Cassidy, Berson, et.al, “Foresight Research Report,” 2012.
25
Ben Garcia, “What We Do Best: Making the Case for the Museum Learning in its Own Right.” Journal of Museum
Education 37, no. 2 (2012): p49.
26
Ibid, p48.
27
Anna Cutler, “What Is to Be Done, Sandra?: Learning in Cultural Institutions of the 21st Century,” in Reinventing
the Museum: The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift, ed. Gail Anderson (Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press,
2012), p361.

14
2012 survey, “The schools have lost funding for field trips and we will have to explore how to
bring [our museum] to the school...which will at least [keep our museum] on the minds of the
teachers with hope of a better economy and field trips.”
28
Despite the fact that schools are
currently the primary avenue that museums utilize to reach children and teens, are there other
means through which museums can engage youth?

Alternative Means to Engaging Youth
Similar to other museums, historic sites traditionally have engaged with youth predominantly
by way of school field trips and they invest many of their resources toward this effort. However,
in the current age, are one-time school field trips lasting one to two hours mutually beneficial
for both youth and house museums? Within the twenty-first century, the paramount objective
is to build long-term and quality visitor engagements. However, how many youth who visit an
historic site on a one-time field trip ever return, either with their parents or with friends? Are
all of the resources, including financial and staff-time, that house museums expend on school
visits worth it in the long run? With field trips in decline, now is an opportune time for historic
sites to rethink the manner in which they reach youth, perhaps their most important audience.

Research substantiates the importance of engaging youth at historic sites and other museums.
According to a National Endowment for the Arts survey, people who visit museums as children
are three to four times more likely to be museum-goers as adults.
29
Reaching out to more
diverse youth audiences may be even more critical for the future of historic sites based on the
results of a study conducted by Reach Advisors which estimated that nearly forty percent of
minority adult museum-goers recalled visiting museums as youth.
30
However, does that mean if
children visit an historic site once on a school field trip, they will value the contribution of the

28
American Association of Museums, Museums and the American Economy in 2011: A Report from the American
Association of Museums, April 2012, available from http://www.aam-us.org/docs/research/acme12-final.pdf,
accessed May 15, 2015.
29
“Surprising Findings in Three New NEA Reports on the Arts: Exploration into who participates and why, as well as
the arts as an economic engine,” News, January 12, 2015, http://arts.gov/news/2015/surprising-findings-three-
new-nea-reports-arts.
30
Reach Advisors, “Pathways to Adult Engagement with Museums: The Importance of Field Trips,” Museum
Audience Insight: Audience research, trends, observations from Reach Advisors and friends(blog), May 5, 2010,
http://reachadvisors.typepad.com/museum_audience_insight/2010/05/pathways-to-adult-engagement-with-
museums-the-importance-of-field-trips.html.

15
site in their community as adults? Will they become advocates for the site’s conservation and
potential supporters of historic sites in the future? While no research was located from this
perspective, it is commonly known that value builds with time. As such, there is an
underrecognized opportunity to take advantage of the increased time that youth are spending
engaged in free-choice learning as opposed to the brief encounter that youth receive during
most school tours. Three successful long-term youth programs which could potentially serve as
models for house museums to engage youth beyond the one-time field trip are explored in
chapter three of this thesis.

Concluding Thoughts
As Neil Kotler observes, “Many years ago, a museum visit was prized for aesthetics,
visualization, and education.”
31
However, in the twenty-first century world that we live in today
where individuals have more leisure time and an increasing number of options for how they
spend it, historic house museums must be willing to respond to the needs and expectations of
their audiences, which within this context, are youth. Stereotypically, historic sites have a
tendency to resist change and many do not keep up with the latest educational practices and
theories as well as other trends that directly affect them. Nevertheless, it is imperative for
house museums to realize that the changes described in the preceding paragraphs are
happening right now and are not simply providing a foresight of the future. The words of John
H. Falk and Beverly Sheppard cannot be emphasized enough: “The recent pattern of declining
attendance is the strongest possible signal that bold and daring change is needed.”
32
In order to
remain relevant, house museums must engage children and teens in their local communities,
reflect on whether the stories being told at the site resonate with more diverse populations,
and consider alternative engagement models beyond the one-time school field trip.

31
Neil Kotler, 2012, “New Ways of Experiencing Culture: The Role of Museums and Marketing Implications,” in
Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift, ed. Gail Anderson (Lanham, MD:
AltaMira Press, 2012), p388.
32
John H. Falk and Beverly Sheppard, Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other
Cultural Institutions (Lanham, MD: Altamira Press, 2006), p76.

16
CHAPTER 2
Best Practices for Developing Programs to Engage Today’s Youth

A significant part of the problem with contemporary education is that it aims to
teach 21st-century learners by combining a 20th-century curriculum with a 19th-
century structure. The result is an equation that does not function and an
education system long past its use-by date.
33

The museum field in general is operating on an outdated, twentieth century model for engaging
with youth that echoes that of today’s formal education system. Namely, the stereotypical
model of a teacher at the front of the room lecturing to students parallels the traditional
docent-led tour that has been replicated at house museums across the country. As mentioned
in the previous chapter, if cultural institutions such as these are to remain relevant in the
Knowledge Age it is necessary to embrace a model that responds to the needs and interests of
visitors, with particular attention to children and teens. When developing interpretive programs
traditionally, museums have not considered youth as individuals, but instead thought of them
as part of families and school groups. In thinking of their future, historic house museums must
recognize that youth have individual needs, interests, and abilities. This chapter argues that the
traditional, educator-centric interpretive program model utilized at many historic house
museums is not an effective means of engaging today’s youth and developing a model focused
on the visitor is essential.

Regarding history museums, McRainey and Russick state, "We tend to justify why kids are not a
fit for history exhibitions rather than exploring ways to make them feel welcome; we blame
schools for giving history its bad reputation of being boring rather than taking a hard look at
how our approach to interpreting history in exhibitions might engage younger audiences.”
34
For
many historic house museums, children and teens are often considered a challenge and they
unintentionally (or perhaps intentionally) create barriers to engaging with this audience group.

33
Mark McCrindle and Emily Wolfinger, The ABC of XYZ Understanding the Global Generations (Sydney, Australia:
UNSW Press, 2009), p108.
34
D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions (Walnut Creek, CA: Left
Coast Press, 2010), p28.

17
One of the most prominent hurdles is that youth do not feel welcome and that historic sites
and house museums are not for them. In the words of McRainey and Russick, “Our spaces are
typically formal, our voice is usually authoritative, and our content loaded with ideas unfamiliar
to most kids.”
35
Although perhaps it is not the intention, the environment, staff interaction, and
other non-verbal communication often speak the loudest in terms of what messages audiences
receive. For example, in reference to an art museum, teens commented, “The building looked
rich and high class”; “I imagined there was a barrier between youth and art.”
36
The perception
that youth have about a museum is a significant factor for sites to take into consideration when
engaging with this audience.

In seeking a more visitor-centric model, it is useful to examine the following foundational best
practices for developing effective youth engagement programs:
 Reach Out to Youth and Raise Awareness;
 Understand Twenty-First Century Youth;
 Become Familiar with How Youth Learn (Learning Theory);
 Comprehend Capabilities of Youth (Age and Stage of Development);
 Incorporate Effective Strategies (Theory to Practice)

Reach Out to Youth and Raise Awareness
Especially true today with the strong influence of the internet and social media, a visitor’s
experience with an institution typically begins before their visit and continues beyond their
time spent at the site. Further, there may be a general assumption on the part of the institution
that youth in the community are aware of their particular museum, the importance of their
resources, and the opportunities that they offer. However, this may not be the case; or perhaps
children and teens know about the institution, but do not feel that they are welcome. The
fundamental question is, how do you get children and teens to care about a house museum and
its collection? An initial step towards engaging youth is conducting outreach to raise awareness

35
McRainey and Russick, Connecting Kids to History, p23.
36
Krista Dahl Kusuma and Gabrielle Wyrick, “Real Teens, Real Tours: Teen Engagement Strategies for the One-Time
Visit,” Journal of Museum Education 39, no. 3 (2014): p280-281.

18
of the site, dispel any stigmas that may exist in the community, invest children and teens in the
museum before they visit, and brainstorm within the organization about how the site can
better articulate its relevancy to youth. In order to reach youth and create a point of entry for
those who may not have had previous exposure to museums, a critical component is the
development of partnerships with organizations who have existing links to this audience group.

An example of an effective strategy to gain the investment of youth in an institution is the
“ladder” model utilized by ArtworxLA, a non-profit arts organization in Los Angeles, California.
ArtworxLA, “combats the epidemic high school dropout crisis by engaging students in a long-
term, sequential arts program offering a pursuable life path that inspires them to stay in school,
evolve as unique individuals and flourish as creative adults.”
37
The underlying principle of
ArtworxLA’s strategy is that teens’ level of engagement with an institution gradually deepens as
they climb each of the four rungs on the ladder. For instance, the first level involves teens in an
eleven-week arts education workshop at their school that culminates in a presentation at a
partner cultural institution. The second level invites teens to participate in an after-school arts
program on-site at the cultural institution with other youth from ArtworxLA. Then, level three
provides participants with the opportunity to attend weekend and summer arts programs
hosted by the cultural institution with other high school students from across the country.
Lastly, to encourage further involvement of youth in the arts and cultural institutions, level four
offers teens individualized support and mentorship as well as internship opportunities. While in
this model, ArtworxLA serves as the link between youth and the cultural institution, this could
be a strategy that historic house museums could adapt to reach children and teens in their
communities, particularly more diverse youth audiences.

Understand Twenty-First Century Youth
This quote from a teenager reflecting on the perspective of his generation with regards to
learning about the past allows one to gain a better understanding of youth today:

37
ArtworxLA, “Vision and Mission,” ArtworxLA website, Accessed June 4, 2015, http://artworxla.org/vision-and-
mission/.

19
My generation has a hard time relating to history. We regularly complain about
history class. The conventional “wisdom” of my generation is to question why we
need to be concerned about what happened way back when. But who can blame
us when humanity is making so many advancements that seemingly have very
little connection to the past? We have been raised in an epoch where walking on
the moon is old news. Via the internet, we have millions of encyclopedias at our
fingertips. Scientists are announcing the possibility of a multiverse. We are
moving forward so fast who would want to look backwards?
38

The generation of youth today have multiple labels such as ‘iGeneration,’ ‘Plurals,’ ‘Generation
Wii,’ and ‘Generation Z.’ Whichever name given, this group encompasses those born between
1995 and 2009, which today, in 2015, means that the youngest of this generation is age six and
the oldest is twenty. Although the characteristics associated with each generation are greatly
generalized and may seem trivial, knowledge of generational attributes can provide great
insight into how to effectively engage with youth.

It is significant to note that many of today’s youth were born into this world at the beginning of
the twenty-first century or what many refer to as the ‘digital age.’ While it is no surprise, kids
today, generally speaking, are growing up surrounded by technology and do not know a life in
which they are not constantly connected to their peers and others around the globe. Also,
much of the world that today’s youth live in is user-generated and they are able to access
information wherever and whenever they want. According to McCrindle, “They value visual and
interactive communication with quick and easy access to information.”
39
McCrindle also adds
that youth are more interested in process, or how, rather than what, which within the context
of history museums can be taken to mean that they are less interested in historical facts and
figures. Additionally, they care about their experience within a given setting and prefer to
participate as opposed to being a passive audience member. This is distinctly different from
previous generations and based on this, it makes sense that young people today have a
different manner of communicating and learning.

38
Will Wilkes, “Teens in Museums: Part 2,” Views from the Porch (blog), January 10, 2015,
http://blogs.aaslh.org/teens-in-museums-part-2/.
39
McCrindle and Wolfinger, The ABC of XYZ Understanding the Global Generations.

20
Become Familiar with How Youth Learn (Learning Theory)
To effectively engage with youth, programs should be founded upon learning theory principles
which inform how children and teens “perceive and construct meaning about the world.”
40

While there are various schools of thought, the museum field as a whole tends to align their
practices with constructivist approaches. At the basic level, constructivism as a theory of
learning, “...understands knowledge as unique to each individual [and is] based on [their] prior
knowledge, interests, cultural experiences, and other factors.”
41
There are several well-
regarded learning theorists who follow this line of thought and who have been influential
within the museum field; these include John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Howard
Gardner. The following paragraphs extract some of the key ideas from these constructivists and
also present Falk and Dierking’s Contextual Model of Learning, which provides a framework for
understanding how the theoretical concepts influence learning, specifically in museums.

Active Engagement
As suggested by American educational philosopher John Dewey and the phrase learning by
doing that is most often associated with him, young people best gain knowledge through active
engagement with the world around them.
42
This can be compared to the more traditional
passive approach that focuses on listening and memorization of facts. Dewey also supports a
learner-centered approach based on youth’s interests and aptitudes.
43
Similar to Dewey, Jean
Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, also believes that children are active learners, but that they come
to understand the world and best learn through their five senses—sight, sound, taste, touch,
and smell.
44

40
Sharon Shaffer, “Valuing Kids. Never Too Young to Connect to History: Cognitive Development and Learning,” in
Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA:
Left Coast Press, 2010), p31.
41
Sharon Shaffer, Engaging Young Children in Museums (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2015), p50.
42
Shaffer, “Valuing Kids,” p35.
43
Ibid.
44
Shaffer, Engaging Young Children, p57.

21
Social Interaction
Lev Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, suggests that, “all learning comes from social experience
where individuals, young and old alike, develop meaning through language and
culture.”
45
Vygotsky also “recognizes the benefits of learning in social settings and suggests that
learning is fostered by the support (or what Vygotsky terms scaffolding)” that comes from social
interaction with more knowledgeable adults or peers.
46
It is important to note that the term
‘scaffolding’ here does not imply an educator-directed experience, but rather a facilitated
learning experience. This is an important distinction as house museums think about the visitor
experience and engaging youth.

Multiple Ways of Learning
According to the theories of Howard Gardner, an American developmental psychologist, “there
are myriad ways of knowing and processing information and...education should celebrate and
embrace diverse learners by respecting the different ways of learning.”
47
In other words, as
opposed to a “one size fits all” model, educational programs should be based on the ways
through which youth learn most effectively. Gardner suggests that there are eight to ten
different ways of knowing, or what he refers to as “multiple intelligences,” that include
intrapersonal; interpersonal; logical-mathematical; naturalist; spatial; bodily-kinesthetic;
linguistic; musical; naturalistic; and existential.
48
These are not learning styles, but instead are
cognitive abilities and while everyone has these abilities, for some people certain intelligences
may be stronger than others.
49

45
Ibid, p55.
46
Sharon Shaffer, “Valuing Kids. Never Too Young to Connect to History: Cognitive Development and Learning,” in
Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA:
Left Coast Press, 2010), p35.
47
Ibid, p39.
48
In-depth information about Howard Gardner’s theory and explanations about his “multiple intelligences” can be
found online at http://multipleintelligencesoasis.org/ and also in his book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple
Intelligences.
49
Valerie Strauss, “Howard Gardner: ‘Multiple intelligences’ are not ‘learning styles,’” Washington Post, October
16, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/16/howard-gardner-multiple-
intelligences-are-not-learning-styles/?tid=auto_complete.

22
The Contextual Model of Learning
Developed by John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, the Contextual Model of Learning combines
the concepts discussed above into a framework for understanding how individuals learn that
can be applied to museums. According to Falk and Dierking, “Meaningful learning is constructed
by each person at the confluence of these three streams—the contexts of the individual, the
society and culture of the individual, and the physical environment in which the individual
resides.”
50
More generally, these three contexts are referred to as personal, social, and physical
contexts.

Figure 2.1: Falk and Dierking’s Contextual Model of Learning.
Image from John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, The Museum Experience Revisited (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast
Press, 2013), p26.

The context of the individual, or what Falk and Dierking call the ‘personal context,’ implies that,
“Learning is strongly influenced by each individual learner’s interests and motivations, and by
prior experience, knowledge, and the unique learning preferences, capacities, and styles of the
learner.”
51

50
John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, Lessons without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming Education
(Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2002), p36-37.
51
Falk and Dierking, Lessons without Limit, p38.

23

On the other hand, the ‘social context’ takes into consideration the social aspect of learning and
how people, “...utilize each other as vehicles for deciphering information, for reinforcing shared
beliefs, [and] for making meaning.”
52
Falk and Dierking also incorporate into their model
Vygotsky’s concept of ‘scaffolding’ through facilitated learning experiences to highlight its
potential for affecting learning.

Through their model Falk and Dierking also suggest that the physical environment plays a
significant role in the learning process. When applied to museums, this not only includes the
building, but also the design of exhibitions and programs as well as the experiences that
individuals have prior to and after their visit.

Comprehend Capabilities of Youth (Age and Stage of Development)
When building engagement programs, it is critical to take into consideration the age and stage
of development of youth. Youth can be at diverse stages in their biological, cognitive, and
physical development and thus have distinct learning capabilities. For example, between the
ages of seven and twelve, children are at a significant point in their development during which
they are beginning to move beyond concrete reasoning. They also have a tenacious curiosity
about “how things work, how to make things happen, [and] how to create new and different
things in the world.”
53
On the other hand, throughout the teenage years youth want the
opportunity to explore, experiment, and be independent towards developing their own identity
and a stronger sense of self. However, unlike children, teenagers have the capacity for abstract
concepts such as time and a growing awareness of the larger world around them.
54
Although
they are becoming more adult-like as they get older, children and teens do not have the same
intellectual capabilities.

52
John H. Falk and Lynn D. Dierking, Learning from Museums, Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning
(Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2000), p155.
53
Falk and Dierking, Lessons without Limit, p77.
54
Falk and Dierking, Lessons without Limit.

24
Based on the idea that knowledge is gained through prior life experiences, it makes sense that
children and teens have varying points of reference in understanding the past and present.
According to research conducted by Elizabeth Reich Rawson, youth begin to start
understanding the concept of the past and have a broader sense of place around age six to
seven, but only within their frame of reference that includes the present, family, school, and
their neighborhood. It is not until age ten to twelve that children typically are able to
completely grasp the concept of the past.
55
However, in order to fully comprehend the so-
called “ages and stages” of youth, Rawson recommends utilizing a developmental framework as
the basis for developing programs and activities. Through an outline of stages of social,
cognitive, and physical development at certain ages, this framework can provide, “...a focused
understanding of kids: who they are, their needs and interests, and their readiness to engage
with the proposed subject.”
56
(Figure 2.2).

55
Sharon Shaffer, “Valuing Kids. Never Too Young to Connect to History: Cognitive Development and Learning,” in
Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA:
Left Coast Press, 2010).
56
Elizabeth Reich Rawson, “It's About Them: Using Developmental Frameworks to Create Exhibitions for Children
(and Their Grown-Ups),” in Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John
Russick (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010), p51.

25

DEVELOPMENTAL FRAMEWORK: YOUTH CAPABILITIES
Ages 6-8 Ages 9-11 Ages 12-14 Ages 15-17
Physical
Capabilities
 Mastering physical
skills
 Very active and
energetic
 Rapid changes in
physical appearance
 Concerned about
body image
Social
Capabilities
 More aware of
peers and their
opinions
 Family oriented
 Follow rules out of
respect for authority
 Prefer group work
 Solve problems
through negotiation
and compromise
 Look more to peers
than parents
 Seek acceptance
and trust
 Question authority
and family values
 Make commitments
 Desire respect
 Want adult
leadership roles
 Can commit to
follow through
Emotional
Capabilities
 Seek fairness as
being nice to others
so others will be
nice to them
 Seek parental/adult
approval
 Tendency to behave
in ways to avoid
punishment
 Accept
parent/family beliefs
 Admire and imitate
older youth
 Developing decision-
making skills
 Beginning to
question authority
 Find comparisons
with others difficult
to process
 Compare
themselves to
others
 See themselves as
center of attention
 Concerned about
social graces,
friends, being liked,
etc.
 Strive for
independence, yet
want/need adult
approval
 Seek privacy
 Look for confidence
of others in their
decisions
 Can see self from
viewpoint of others
 Take fewer risks
 Can carry out and
initiate tasks
without supervision
 Search for career
possibilities
Intellectual
Capabilities
 Base thinking in
reality and accuracy
 Learning to
categorize things
 Beginning to
develop sense of
cause and effect
 Academic abilities
vary greatly
 Increased attention
span, but changing
interests
 Learning to use
good judgement
 Judge ideas as right
or wrong and not
much tolerance for
middle ground
 Developing logic
skills
 Can solve problems
with multiple
variables
 Ready for in-depth,
long-term
experiences
 Want to explore the
world beyond their
own community
 Mastering abstract
thinking
 Like to demonstrate
acquired
knowledge
 Can consider many
perspectives of a
given issue
 Impatient with
meaningless activity

Figure 2.2: Example of a developmental framework.
Data excerpted from Janelle Stewart, “6- to 8-year-olds: Ages and Stages of Youth Development,” Michigan State
University Extension, January 4, 2013,
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/6_to_8_year_olds_ages_and_stages_of_youth_development; Janelle Stewart, “9-
to 11-year-olds: Ages and Stages of Youth Development,” Michigan State University Extension, January 7, 2013,
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/9_to_11_year_olds_ages_and_stages_of_youth_development; Janelle Stewart,
“12- to 14-year-olds: Ages and Stages of Youth Development,” Michigan State University Extension, January 9,
2013, http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/12_to_14_year_olds_ages_and_stages_of_youth_development; Janelle
Stewart, “15- to 17-year-olds: Ages and Stages of Youth Development,” Michigan State University Extension,
January 11, 2013, http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/15_to_17_year_olds_ages_and_stages_of_youth_development.

26
Incorporate Effective Strategies (Theory to Practice)
In 1994, Nina Jensen of the Bank Street College of Education conducted a study with thirty nine
to ten year olds from a local school in New York City to gain insight into children’s perceptions
of museum experiences. From Jensen’s study it was revealed that a child’s previous experience
with places significantly influenced their perception.
57
More to the point that the visitor
experience is an important aspect that should be considered when developing programs and
activities for youth. As stated by Benjamin Filene, “If the goal is to encourage students to adopt
a way of thinking about the world, teaching in the museum depends more on engaging the
learner than on assembling an airtight body of information.”
58
Rather than informational tours
and fact-driven programs, museum programs should be active and captivating in a manner
suitable to the audience’s capabilities and needs, such as the examples discussed in the
preceding section.

Certainly, when children and teens visit a museum, they are probably not entering with the
intention to learn, but instead are motivated by personal interests and their idea of ‘fun’.
Nevertheless, ideally they exit a museum having learned something. As Anway and Mayer point
out, “...as kids go about the business of having fun, they will encounter information and
experiences that related to them personally—answering questions they might have asked,
making sense of a subject from a kid-centered perspective.”
59
The goal is to integrate fun and
learning as well as to connect content to youth’s lives today. With a basis in constructivist
learning theory, the following are examples of effective strategies and techniques for
developing museum education programs and activities to engage youth.

57
Nina Jensen. “Children’s Perceptions of Their Museum Experiences: A Contextual Perspective.” Children’s
Environment 11, no. 4 (1994): p308.
58
Benjamin Filene, “Are We There Yet?: Children, History, and the Power of Place,” in Connecting Kids to History
with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010), p178.
59
Andy Anway and Neal Mayer, “Creating History Exhibitions for Kids, Shaping the Space: Designing for Kids,” in
Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA:
Left Coast Press, 2010), p209.

27
Involve Youth
When developing programs for youth, who better to ask than children and teens themselves?
Youth are experts at thinking like and being youth. They know what aspects of a program or
project will appeal to them as well as what strategies will keep them engaged. A fundamental
element of a youth program is to connect the historical content to the ideas, people, events,
and things that interest youth. But, what do children and teens like? What are the subjects or
topics to which they can most relate? Towards answering these questions, several suggestions
are to develop a survey to get their feedback, engage children and teens in a focus group, or
build evaluation into a fun activity. As an example, in order to gain input about which pieces of
furniture interested children for an upcoming exhibit, The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
Michigan asked a group of fifth and sixth grade students. Museum staff showed the students
photos of various items of furniture in the collection and recorded their comments and
opinions. Through this process they found that some of the pieces that most interested the
students were ones that they would not have otherwise thought to include in their exhibition.
Youth can provide valuable input on content development.

To take program development a step further than just receiving feedback from youth, how
about co-creating programs and activities with them? Youth today live in a user-generated
world and want control over what and how they learn. This idea is backed by Nina Jensen’s
study which showed that young people value autonomy during their museum visits.
60
Museums
can offer this opportunity and at the same time, deepen their relationship with children and
teens in their communities. A couple of strategies for accomplishing this are through the
establishment of a youth council, or a developing a collaborative project. The National Building
Museum in Washington, D.C. serves to illustrate the potential of such a relationship.

Since 1996, the National Building Museum has been collaborating with local teens during a five
week program over the summer to explore, document, and interpret the built environment
across D.C. neighborhoods. This project called, Investigating Where We Live, encourages middle

60
Nina Jensen. “Children’s Perceptions of Their Museum Experiences: A Contextual Perspective.” Children’s
Environment 11, no. 4 (1994): p321.

28
and high school students to use photography, creative writing, and exhibition design to learn
the history and express their feelings about their communities. The culmination of the project is
an exhibition that is planned and created by teens around the theme chosen for that particular
year. Once it is completed, the exhibition is displayed at the National Building Museum for up
to eleven months. In 2014, participants in the program explored Washington D.C.’s cultural
landscape, diversity, and how the development of the city has changed over time. With support
and guidance from museum staff, Investigating Where We Live allows youth to have a voice and
engages them in meaningful work that follows the mission of the institution.

Make Experiences Personal and Relevant
Historic house museums and historic sites are unique environments and do not naturally
portray relevance to youth or relate to their interests. In line with this is a comment overheard
at a conference: “Their characteristic ‘period rooms, guided tours, and don’t touch
environments,’ in one participant’s words, ‘[seem] tired and antiquated,’ disconnected both
from current issues and from their own communities.”
61
It is important to connect collections
and programs to contemporary times and events. As highlighted by Benjamin Filene, “...young
people care more about the past if they can link it to their own lives and the places they call
their own.”
62
It is important to provide youth with a relatable point of reference in order to
demonstrate how history is relevant to them today.

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York City, New York offers several youth
programs that exemplify how museums can link themes and content from the past to make
them relevant to children and teens within a contemporary context. One such program is the
walking tour, Foods of the Lower East Side, which asks students, “How has immigration shaped
American food culture?”
63
To answer this question, youth are guided through the
neighborhood surrounding the museum and are invited to taste local treats that represent the
history of the area, while at the same time they learn about food ways of various immigrant

61
Gerald George, “Historic House Museum Malaise: A Conference Considers What’s Wrong,” History News 57, no. 4
(2002): p22.
62
Filene, “Are We There Yet?,” p180.
63
“School Groups,” Tenement Museum, Accessed June 4, 2015, http://www.tenement.org/groups-school.php.

29
cultures in America. Another unique program is Shared Journeys, a series of six English for
Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) workshops for high school students. These workshops not
only serve to teach the teens English, but also to engage them in current issues related to their
own immigrant experiences within the context of those of the former tenement residents. The
foundation of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s programs consist of themes or
subjects—food and the immigrant experience in the two examples here—that traverse the past
and present, enabling today’s youth to relate to them.

Engage the Senses
Following the theories of Dewey and Piaget it is evident that youth, in particular those under
the age of twelve, make meaning through actively interacting with objects around them. The
primary way that they do this is exploring the world through their senses—see, smell, hear,
taste, and touch. That said, it is important to remember from the perspective of children, the
past is an unknown entity and context is required to help situate the experience in place and
time. According to McRainey, “The senses create a depth and a dimension to the past that
opens a child’s eyes (ears, nose, hands, and mouth) to imagine what a particular place might
have been like at a particular moment in time…The past now has colors, aromas, noises,
textures, and flavors…”
64
Of particular significance is the sense of touch as it enriches the
learning experience and enables a deeper connection with the facts and information being
presented.
65

Discoveries from Jensen’s research study supports the idea of multisensory learning
environments in museums. One of the child participants specifically referenced an interactive
exhibit that he favored which involved enhancing the visitor experience through both sight and
sound. However, it is important to note that sensory experiences should further the story being
told in some way that is educative, relevant, and engaging to the audience. As Shaffer notes,

64
D. Lynn McRainey, “A Sense of the Past,” in Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn
McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010), p161.
65
Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and Education: Purpose, Pedagogy, Performance (London: Routledge, 2007);
Leslie Bedford, “Connecting Kids to History. Finding the Story in History,” in Connecting Kids to History with
Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010), p102.

30
“Simply creating an exhibit that allows the visitor to open and close panels to read text and find
answers misses the point…”
66

One museum that incorporates opportunities for multi-sensory interaction with their exhibits is
the Chicago History Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Originally named the Chicago Historical
Society, the Museum was founded in 1856. Unfortunately, the Museum lost most of their
original collection in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, but through extensive efforts they were
able to rebuild it and open a museum in 1932. Today, the Chicago History Museum has twenty-
two million artifacts and documents in their collection. Through their Sensing Chicago
exhibition, the Museum invites children to utilize all of their five senses to explore the history of
Chicago, including the Great Chicago Fire. For example, children can smell the fire through a
“Smell Map” of the city and also hear the fire when they step on floor sensors that recreate
sounds from the past. In addition, through interactive technology youth can see themselves in
history and learn about Chicago’s iconic skyline and run the Chicago Marathon. Through their
senses, children are able to immerse themselves in and make connections to Chicago’s past.

Incorporate Play
Contrary to what many people may think, play is not only for young children, but is embraced
across the ages. As Dyson highlights, “Children’s interest in pretend play peaks around ages four
to six, but it never truly disappears, as adults’ continued enthusiasm for historical reenactments
makes evident.”
67
There exist opportunities to include play in programs and activities within all
museums and it can be an appealing way to engage youth in learning. Anway and Mayer point
out that, “Play is the way in which young children learn and older children engage subject
matter best.”
68
Rather than passively consuming facts, “Learning happens through the activity
and the involvement it demands; through experience which becomes personally meaningful
when structured to be relevant and enjoyable for the learner.”
69

66
Shaffer, “Valuing Kids,” p44.
67
Jon-Paul C. Dyson, “Playing with the Past,” in Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn
McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010), p149.
68
Anway and Mayer, “Creating History Exhibitions for Kids,” p209.
69
Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and education,” p188.

31

Play takes many forms, such as imaginative play and storytelling. According to Daniel Spock,
“…children must actively rely on the imagination to make sense of the world around them, and
this is a natural point of engagement for a child.”
70
This proves to hold more truth within the
context of house museums since one must imagine what the past was like for those who lived
during a certain prior era. Although it may be difficult to implement due to its time-consuming
nature, children, “are naturally predisposed to engage with the kinds of places that stimulate
imaginative thinking.”
71

An example of how play can be integrated into a museum experience is the Touch-it Room at
the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Wilmington, Delaware. The former home of
DuPont Company heir, Henry Francis du Pont, this historic site has been open to the public
since 1951 and is renowned for its extensive collection of American decorative arts that are
displayed throughout a 175-room house museum. On the first floor of the museum is the
Touch-it Room that consists of various spaces inspired by eighteenth and early nineteenth
century American ways of life and includes a general store, parlor room, kitchen, baskets of
wooden toys, and dress-up clothes. The goal, according to Winterthur’s website, “…is to help
children appreciate handcrafted objects as well as the skills that were needed to produce and
decorate them in the past.”
72
Utilizing the props in the Touch-it Room, youth are able to
imagine what it was like to live during a different era.

Concluding Thoughts
Children and teens have different interests and learning needs that correspond to their age and
stage of development, and even varies based on their generation. Along these lines, to quote
Freeman Tilden, an influential figure in heritage interpretation, “Interpretation addressed to
children (say up to the age of twelve) should not be a dilution of the presentation to adults but

70
Daniel Spock, “Imagination, a Child's Gateway to Engagement with the Past in Connecting Kids to History with
Museum Exhibitions, ed. D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010), p118.
71
Ibid, p123.
72
“Touch-It Room,” Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Accessed May 20, 2015,
http://www.winterthur.org/?p=706.

32
should follow a fundamentally different approach.”
73
Thus, as a best practice, interpretive
programs should respond to and be developed on the basis of how children and teens best
learn, while at the same time, making the past relevant and meaningful to their lives today.
While the suggestions and example strategies presented here are not inclusive, they serve to
provide a basic framework and direction for historic house museums to better engage youth in
their local communities.

73
Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 4th ed., expanded and updated (Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 2007), p47.

33
CHAPTER 3
Long-Term Youth Program Case Studies

The aim of this chapter is to analyze three long-term museum programs that have successfully
engaged youth beyond the one-time school field trip. As it happens, these programs are within
distinct types of institutions–an aquarium, a contemporary art museum, and an historic site.
They all differ from more traditional programs in that they allow children and teens to have a
voice and feel welcome as valuable members of the museum community. At the most basic
level, these programs appeal to youth by utilizing many of the strategies and best practices
discussed in the previous chapter. On that basis, the following three case studies can all serve
as models for historic house museums to develop interactive, relevant, and meaningful
programs that engage children and teens today.

Junior and Senior High Summer Docent Program, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
Getting its start with a few displays of shell collections in the abandoned Cabrillo Beach
Bathhouse in San Pedro, California, the Cabrillo Marine Museum opened to the public in 1935.
Nearly fifty years later, in 1981, the Museum moved into its own building, a facility designed by
Frank Gehry, and in 1993 changed its name to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium to reflect the
addition of living marine life to its collection.
74
Today, with approximately 100 staff members,
split between full and part-time, and over 500 volunteers, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
welcomes 300,000 visitors annually. Of these, 150,000 are school children. The mission of the
aquarium is, “to engage all visitors in education, recreation and research to promote
knowledge, appreciation and conservation of the marine life of Southern California.”
75
In
carrying out this mission, they offer many different programs for schools groups and individuals
ranging from age two to adult. These include hands-on activities, guided walks, docent-led
tours, art classes, and workshops.

74
Mike Schaadt, Ed Mastro, and Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, San Pedro's Cabrillo Beach (San Francisco, CA: Arcadia
Publishing, 2008).
75
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, “Support,” Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, Accessed March 31, 2015,
http://www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/support.asp.

34
As the aquarium is a facility of the Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks, staff
salaries are paid under the city’s departmental budget of $154.3 million, a portion of which is
funded by revenue from the Port of Los Angeles.
76
However, the majority of the aquarium’s
funding for programs comes from grants and fundraising efforts by the associated non-profit
organization, Friends of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. In 2013, the Friends of Cabrillo Marine
Aquarium’s revenue was $981,000 and their expenses totaled $984,000.
77
A hallmark of the
aquarium is to offer free or low-cost programs for school groups and the general public. Despite
the fact that the aquarium operates on a relatively meager program budget, they live up to the
claim on their website that they are “recognized as one of the best teaching aquariums in the
world” by offering a wide variety of high-quality and engaging activities and opportunities for
youth of all ages.

One of the multitude of the aquarium’s programs is the annual Junior and Senior High Summer
Docent Program (Program). This Program has been active for fifty years and was selected to be
highlighted as a case study due to its proven success as a model for engaging youth in the work
and mission of the aquarium. Each year, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium accepts 140 out of
approximately 200 teens who apply to participate in their Junior and Senior High Summer
Docent Program. Of these, more than fifty-percent re-apply to take part in the Program over
subsequent years. In fact, Floyd Anderson, Volunteer Coordinator at the aquarium,
communicated that there are youth who choose to be docents for all six years, completing
three years as a junior high docent and three years in the senior high program.
78
Among some
of the reasons that teens stay in the Program is that it is a good way for them to meet friends
and the experience is both fun and educational. A few youth docents also expressed an interest
in the program continuing throughout the school year.
79
Although there is not a formal

76
City of Los Angeles, “City of Los Angeles Budget for the Fiscal Year 2014-15 as Presented by Mayor Eric Garcetti,”
April 2014, available from http://cao.lacity.org/budget14-15/2014-15Proposed_Budget.pdf, accessed May 12,
2015.
77
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from
Income Tax: Friends of Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, 2013, retrieved from the National Center for Charitable
Statistics database.
78
Floyd Anderson (volunteer coordinator at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium), in discussion with the author, March 28,
2015.
79
Ibid.

35
program, a few of the youth docents occasionally volunteer on weekends during other parts of
the year.

The Program is competitive and requires the submission of a completed application form,
resume, teacher recommendation letter, hand-written essay, and an in-person interview.
Participants are recruited primarily through local schools, but as the Program has a positive
reputation, many youth hear about the Program by word-of-mouth. Approximately sixty
percent of participants are from the South Bay area, with the majority being residents of San
Pedro. According to Floyd Anderson, the youth docents at the aquarium represent a diverse
group of individuals, both economically and ethnically, with each race being represented.
80
To
help cover some of the expenses, participants are asked to pay $150 for the Junior and Senior
High Program. For those individuals who cannot afford the fee, the aquarium has established a
scholarship fund to provide financial assistance. In addition to receiving a t-shirt and name
badge and taking several field trips over the course of the summer, another motivating factor
for youth to participate in the program is that they accrue volunteer hours to satisfy their
schools’ service-learning requirements.

The primary focus of the summer docent program is for youth to provide tours of the main
exhibit hall at the aquarium, which is usually done by adult volunteers during the rest of the
year. (Figure 3.1). Training and touring as part of Program are split into two six-week sessions,
with the junior high participants in grades seven to nine starting at the end of June. The senior
high docents in grades ten to twelve train and conduct tours throughout the second half of the
summer, from the end of July until the last week of August. For both groups, there is a
mandatory week-long training which consists of team-building exercises, touring technique
activities, and informational sessions on the various exhibits in each room of the exhibit hall.
There is no training manual or script; the youth docents are split into small groups and hear a
five minute talk about each room which they are expected to memorize. When giving tours,
they are asked to pick out two to three things in each room to talk about with visitors.

80
Floyd Anderson (volunteer coordinator at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium), in discussion with the author, March 28,
2015.

36
Surprisingly, by the end of the first week the teens have absorbed the information and are
prepared to starting giving tours.

Figure 3.1: Example of a room in the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s Exhibit Hall.
Photograph by Jllm06, “Sea birds display at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium,” Wikimedia Commons,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sea_birds_display_at_the_Cabrillo_Marine_Aquarium.JPG, distributed
under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported license.

Over the remaining weeks in the program, the teens are scheduled to conduct two one-hour
tours per day with various groups of ten to fifteen that range from day camps and day cares to
senior citizen outings. During the summer, between 100 and 200 children visit the aquarium
each day on guided tours. To manage these groups, aquarium staff schedule between twenty
and thirty youth docents daily and ask each docent to volunteer up to two days per week. For
those teen docents who are new to the program or are not quite ready to lead groups on their
own, aquarium staff pair them with a more-experienced youth docent who serves as a mentor.

37
Like all of the aquarium’s other programs, the foundation of the Junior and Senior High Summer
Docent Program is based on John Olguin, Director Emeritus of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s,
infamous teaching methodology, “Do it! Do it!” Olguin first developed this methodology in 1951
to make learning interactive and entertaining for children and to this day all volunteers,
including the summer teen docents, are taught to utilize this technique during their tours. The
premise behind Olguin’s methodology is that, “When you READ something, you remember
10%; when you HEAR something, you remember 20%; and when you DO something, you
remember 80%.”
81
In an attempt to describe the strategy of “Do it! Do it!,” a Los Angeles Times
article reported, “Olguin had the children use their hands to mimic the movements of the
animals they studied, from jellyfish to sharks.” To this, the article added, “He developed
exhibits that featured a hands-on approach that became so popular that children, brought by
their teachers, flocked to the facility.”
82
This interactive technique makes tours engaging and
enjoyable for both the youth docents and aquarium visitors.

In contributing to the social and fun aspects of the program, both the junior and senior high
groups have the option of going on three different field trips, which in previous years have
included SeaWorld, Avalon, Two Harbors, and whale watching. Additionally, at the end of each
program there is a celebratory gathering at the aquarium. Junior high docents are invited to a
potluck with their family and the senior high participants enjoy an end of summer party just for
them. Although there are not any volunteer awards specifically for the teen docents, in the past
those who have gone above and beyond have received a special honor at the annual awards
dinner held for the adult docents.

Unfortunately, no formal evaluation process is in place at this time to gain a well-documented
sense of the effectiveness of the youth docent program at the aquarium. However, the short-
term success of the program is demonstrated by the number of youth who continue to
participate in the program each year. Furthermore, the positive long-term effects of the

81
Floyd Anderson, e-mail message to author, April 1, 2015.
82
Pete Thomas, “Outdoors: Discovering a New World: Over Last 60 Years, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Has Developed
into Place Where Children Gaze in Wonderment at Creatures From the Sea,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1995,
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-02-08/sports/sp-29418_1_cabrillo-marine-aquarium/2.

38
program are clearly evidenced through the approximately twenty staff members and numerous
adult volunteers at the aquarium who are former teen docents. While the aquarium does not
have an immediate financial benefit from the Program, their monetary and time expenditures
are worthwhile because the youth docents become invested in the work of the institution and
continue their advocacy of the aquarium’s mission into adulthood.

MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Founded in 1979, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (LA MOCA) is the only
museum in Los Angeles devoted entirely to contemporary art—defined as works produced
from 1940 onwards—and is committed to collecting, presenting, interpreting, and preserving
these for generations to come. Over the years, the museum has expanded and it now operates
between three distinct facilities that include MOCA Grand Avenue, The Geffen Contemporary at
MOCA, and MOCA Pacific Design Center. Across these facilities, LA MOCA has approximately
205 staff members, 104 volunteers, and in 2012, the museum’s total revenue topped nearly
$19 million.
83
Furthermore, LA MOCA welcomes an estimated 236,000 visitors annually, of
which sixty-percent are from the Los Angeles area.
84

In support of its mission, “to be the defining museum of contemporary art,” LA MOCA provides
various educational activities ranging from one-time events to ongoing programs that aim to
enable participants to have a better understanding of contemporary art works. A significant
portion of LA MOCA’s educational initiatives aim to reach youth through both family and school
programs. Perhaps the longest running and most expansive of these is Contemporary Art Start,
a curriculum-based art education program for grades three to twelve that was developed in
collaboration with Los Angeles Unified School District. In addition, LA MOCA has an innovative
academic year-long internship specifically for teens that provides a more in-depth arts program
outside of the classroom and serves as one of the three case studies being examined.

83
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from
Income Tax: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2012, retrieved from the National Center for Charitable
Statistics database.
84
Jori Finkel, “Attendance at L.A. Museums Lags Behind,” Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2011,
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/30/entertainment/la-et-museum-attendance-2-20110329.

39
Rebranded as the MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program in 2013, this year-long
internship program originally called the MOCA Apprenticeship Program first began in 1992 and
is one of the oldest teen museum programs in the country. Each year, through a highly
competitive application and interview process, LA MOCA selects a diverse group of no more
than twenty junior and senior high school students from the Los Angeles area to participate in
their program.
85
Although the program only lasts for one academic year, twenty-five to thirty
percent of participants are offered the opportunity to take part in the internship for a second
year. One unique attribute that perhaps significantly contributes to the success of the program
is that the teen participants are paid a minimum wage salary and are treated as staff members
of the museum. LA MOCA also provides the interns with bus passes and meals during their
working hours. Furthermore, teens are directly involved in the work of LA MOCA, making the
museum and its mission relevant and meaningful.

The Young Arts Program, which is particularly geared towards those interested in arts and
museums, offers teens a fully immersive and hands-on work experience in the art world. Two
key components of the program are collaborative work projects, which vary from year to year,
and sustained, weekly engagement. Throughout the school year, interns are required to attend
a two-hour meeting every Thursday night, and some weekends, during which time they work
on team-building activities, meet with museum professionals for advice on their current art
projects or career paths, view and discuss art, and plan the museum’s largest annual youth
outreach initiative, Teen Night. As appropriate, program participants also work alongside LA
MOCA teaching staff to host museum education events such as Sunday Studio, where they
greet visitors, take photos, and provide assistance with art projects. Paralleling a real-world
work experience, interns have a mid-year evaluation meeting with museum staff through which
they are given support to maximize their personal development and growth— a concept that is
at the heart of the museum’s desired outcomes. In fact, this type of reflective practice is one of

85
Although LA MOCA has experimented with larger groups, up to thirty, they have determined that the optimal
number of participants is between fifteen and twenty, which allows youth to form close, community bonds. For
additional information about group structure, see Jo Freeman. "The Tyranny of Structurelessness." WSQ: Women's
Studies Quarterly 41, no 3 (2013): p231-246.

40
the key components of the Young Arts Program, in addition to the use of a student-centered
curriculum.

As mentioned, one of the major undertakings of the interns is designing and carrying out Teen
Night, which is a completely free evening event specifically for teens that has been taking place
at LA MOCA since 2003. Although the museum reserves the right for final approval, the LA
MOCA interns are responsible for every detail of the event, from deciding on the theme, to
ordering snacks, inviting entertainers, organizing art making activities for guests, and coming up
with an advertising strategy. At last year’s event that was called, “Let’s Talk About Disobeying:
MOCA Teen Night 2014,” there was a diverse lineup of live music performances, teens were
served popcorn and cupcakes, attendees received silk screened t-shirts, and buttons could be
made at any one of the several button press stations available. With the goal of building an
interest in and appreciation for contemporary art works, the event also featured an exhibition
curated by the LA MOCA interns as well as the opportunity for attendees to tour the museum’s
collections. As evidenced by the over 900 high school students from across Southern California
who attended the 2014 event, Teen Night is a successful means for LA MOCA to engage with
local youth.
86
The event also serves as outreach for getting the interns’ art work known as well
as an opportunity for the museum to recruit future interns.

Another significant part of the Young Arts Program is a unique, collaborative work project with
a performance artist, which varies from year to year. The aim is for interns to learn about what
it is like to be a professional artist as well as to gain collaboration skills. One example of a
previous project is an exhibition that was developed in conjunction with Los Angeles-based
contemporary artist, Marnie Weber. Through this collaboration, LA MOCA interns worked over
a three month period to create spirit vessels, sculptures inspired by their personal identities,
constructed with such materials as piñatas, paint, papier-mâché, masks, and various random
objects. These art works were displayed at that year’s Teen Night event as well as being
exhibited at LA MOCA. (Figures 3.2 and 3.3).

86
Mike Kelley, “The Insane Radness of Teen Night,” The Curve (blog), May 1, 2014, http://sites.moca.org/the-
curve/2014/05/01/the-insane-radness-of-teen-night/.

41

Figure 3.2: Spirit vessels under construction as part of the MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program.
Image: Brigid McCaffrey, Still from “Making Spirit Vessels,” April 10, 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwxldIRchSg.

42

Figure 3.3: Participant in the MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program poses with his spirit vessel.
Photo by Sean MacGillivray, “Let’s Talk about Disobeying: MOCA Teen Night 2014,” The Curve (blog), April 1, 2014,
http://sites.moca.org/the-curve/2014/04/01/lets-talk-about-disobeying-moca-teen-night-2014.

When deciding on who to accept into the program, museum staff attempt to select those teens
who will benefit the most from their participation. As such, each group of interns is quite
diverse in terms of their economic background and ethnicity, as well as the area of Los Angeles
in which they live.
87
The diverse nature of the program is seen as one of its strongest assets and
with such a small group of interns, the teens form a strong bond with each other and the
museum. As reflected by Catherine Arias, Director of Education & Visitor Experience at LA
MOCA, “[The interns] see MOCA as their museum, and they want to open it up for others, to
contribute their programming ideas, to make the public feel comfortable, and to be active
advocates for art.”
88
This community spirit continues after the interns finish the program by
way of an active alumni network which LA MOCA utilizes to sustain engagement with past

87
Madison Brookshire (education coordinator at LA MOCA) in discussion with the author, April 2, 2015.
88
Catherine Arias, response to “Why Museums Don’t Suck: The Current State of Teen Engagement,” Art Museum
Teaching: a forum for reflecting on practice (blog), October 25, 2013 (4:30pm),
http://artmuseumteaching.com/2012/10/28/why-museums-dont-suck/.

43
participants, such as inviting them to speak at museum events. This group also connects at an
annual potluck organized by the museum that new interns are also encouraged to attend to
meet alumni.

The MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program was selected to be a case study based on its
longevity, proven success, and groundbreaking innovation with regards to youth engagement in
a cultural institution. While the positive short-term influence of the program is evident, LA
MOCA is currently in the last year of a three-year collaborative project with the Whitney
Museum of American Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston to evaluate the long-term impact of teen programs.
89
In
response to a survey conducted as part of the collaborative evaluation project, ninety-five
percent of adult alumni of teen programs considered their participation, “a very good
experience,” and nearly fifty-five percent claimed it as being “one of the most important
experiences I’ve had.” Also of interest are the program features which alumni stated had either
had the most impact or were found to be linked to specific long-term outcomes. These included
peer diversity, supportive museum staff, sustained engagement, authentic work, and exposure
to contemporary art and artists. Another significant finding of the evaluation project is that
many of the past participants remain actively involved with museums and other arts-related
institutions as adults. Nearly eighty percent of alumni have held a professional position in the
arts community and within the last two years, approximately ninety five percent had visited an
art museum and eighty percent had visited another type of museum. This can be compared to a
national average of twenty percent.
90
These initial results of the teen program evaluation serve
to further substantiate the MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program as a solid model for
engaging today’s youth.

At the heart of LA MOCA’s internship program is the short-term goal of increasing and
broadening youth engagement with their institution. However, with the continued questioning

89
The final results of this project are due to be publically released in fall 2015 through a report by the Whitney
Museum of American Art who has been the lead partner in this initiative.
90
Kai Flores-Emnace and Madison Brookshire, “Digging In: Measuring the Deep Impact of Teen Programs”
(presentation, annual meeting of the California Association of Museums, San Diego, CA, February 19, 2015).

44
of the relevance and sustainability of museums in the twenty-first century, LA MOCA is looking
towards the long-term impact of their activities. A few of the longer term goals for the MOCA
and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program are to diversify the museum; for teens to have a positive
influence on the museum; for teens to develop skills for lifelong learning; and for teens to
continue active engagement in the arts.
91
Based on the results of the recent evaluation project,
it would seem that the internship program has been successful in achieving many of these
expected outcomes, particularly those that are related to the development of the interns
themselves. Furthermore, over the more than twenty years that LA MOCA has been operating
the internship program, teen participants have also had a positive effect on the museum and
staff. As expressed by Vas Prabhu, Former Director of Education at LA MOCA, “Museum staff, I
think, learned a lot… [Some] were afraid of teenagers, certainly afraid of teenagers of color.
They put teenagers in a box the way the media put teenagers in a box.”
92
From the Young Arts
Program, staff attained a more positive perception of teens and the value that they contribute
to the museum.

In expressing the educational philosophy of LA MOCA, Denise Gray, former Senior Education
Program Manager at the museum, commented, “We want to engage people in a dialogue, not
just teach what we think, but we want to hear what you think. And we start with what you
think, what you believe, your experience—because only in that way will we make those
connections and you will learn.”
93
These concepts echo the current conversations in the
museum field with respect to turning institutions’ focus toward the visitor and building
relevance to museum collections based on the experience that the visitor brings with them. LA
MOCA was an early adopter of this point of view and it seems to have led them to
programmatic success both in the short-term as well as over the longer term, as the outcomes
of the recent initiative to evaluate their teen program can attest. The effectiveness of the
Young Arts Program is also made apparent by the many alumni who remain engaged with the

91
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, MOCA and Louis Vuitton Young Arts Program (LVYAP) Logic Model,
unpublished.
92
Flores-Emnace and Brookshire, “Digging In.”
93
Kelly Nosari, “From the DS Archives: MOCA Education Department,” DailyServing: An International Publication for
Contemporary Art, July 25, 2010, http://dailyserving.com/2010/07/from-the-ds-archives-moca-education-
department.

45
museum through volunteering as well as the few interns who are either current or former staff
members. Based on this demonstrated evidence, in addition to the preliminary data from LA
MOCA’s collaborative evaluation project with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New
York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, it
would seem that LA MOCA is on the right track with their teen internship program and historic
house museums should consider adapting it for their own institutions.

Joshua Hempsted House Reinterpretation Project, Connecticut Landmarks
In 1936, a group of New London, Connecticut residents formed the Antiquarian & Landmarks
Society to document and preserve significant contributions to the built environment within
their local community for future generations. Changing its name in 2007 to Connecticut
Landmarks, today this former grassroots preservation organization is the largest statewide
heritage museum organization in Connecticut and owns twelve properties that are open to the
public. According to their website, the mission of Connecticut Landmarks is, “to inspire interest
and encourage learning about the American past by preserving selected historic properties,
collections and stories and presenting programs that meaningfully engage the public and our
communities.” Despite only being in operation during part of the year, May to October, in 2014,
Connecticut Landmarks welcomed over 100,000 visitors to their properties.
94

One of the properties that is owned by Connecticut Landmarks is the Joshua Hempsted House,
a seventeenth century, colonial residence. (Figure 3.4). As one of New England’s oldest and
most well-documented dwellings, the Hempsted House was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1970 due to its locally significant architecture and social history. Much of the
information that is known about the house and its residents, including an African-American
slave by the name of Adam Jackson, is from the diary of Joshua Hempsted that he kept over a
fifty-year period. The content within this valuable primary resource underlies the interpretative
activities of the Hempsted residence today that include themed tours and various hands-on
activities for youth and school groups, such as rope-making, assembling a diary, and hearth

94
Connecticut Landmarks, Homepage, Accessed March 31, 2015, http://www.ctlandmarks.org/.

46
cooking. As such, the story that has been told to visitors is centered on the life of Joshua
Hempsted and his family as a representation of what it was like to live in colonial America.

Figure 3.4: Joshua Hempsted House, Connecticut Landmarks.
Photograph by Jerry & Roy Kotz, MD, “Joshua Hempstead House, New London County,” Wikimedia Commons,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJOSHUA_HEMPSTEAD_HOUSE%2C_NEW_LONDON_COUNTY.jpg,
distributed under CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

Recently, new research has come to light at the Hempsted House that has provided Connecticut
Landmarks with the opportunity to reinterpret the site and connect to more contemporary
issues around slavery, civil rights, and race relations. With funding from an Institute of Museum
and Library Services (IMLS) grant that they received in 2012, Connecticut Landmarks is currently
in the midst of a multi-year project to develop an interpretive plan that aims to renew vitality at
the Hempsted House and invigorate engagement with the diverse local community, particularly
children and teens. It is significant to mention here that up until this point, the New London
community, of which a majority are African American, in general had a very negative opinion of
the house museum and many did not visit because it was associated with slave owners. In fact,
when local neighborhood youth were asked about the Hempsted House, they replied that it

47
was for “old people,” “ghosts,” and “historians.”
95
They did not feel that the house was
welcoming to children and teens.

A unique aspect of the reinterpretation project, and the reason for it being included here as a
case study, has to do with one of the research phases through which Connecticut Landmarks
underwent to investigate ways to get youth to visit the house museum, by working directly with
local teenagers. This initiative stemmed from the results of a 2008 statewide Connecticut
Cultural Consumers Study conducted by Reach Advisors in conjunction with Connecticut
Landmarks which found that while a majority of museum visitors do not enjoy guided tours,
youth were much less likely to enjoy them.
96
From this point Connecticut Landmarks started
down the path to transform the visitor experience at the Hempsted House to make it more
appealing to younger generations, and what better way to accomplish this than by involving
youth themselves.

Over the summer of 2013, Connecticut Landmarks partnered with a local non-profit
organization, Writer’s Block Ink, whose mission is, “To arm young voices with the power of pen
and prose, reinforcing teamwork, accountability, and responsibility; igniting social change on
the page and stage.”
97
In conjunction with this organization, as well as consultants from Reach
Advisors and RKExhibits, Connecticut Landmarks employed twenty-eight New London
teenagers over eight-weeks to reinterpret the Joshua Hempsted House in a format that they
thought would engage their peers, families, and other members of the community. As an
additional component, the youth, ages eleven to sixteen, were tasked with developing and
performing an original production based on the work that they conducted at the Hempsted
House. The summer project culminated in an event whereby groups of teens shared stories,
each in different rooms of the Hempsted House, with the public through skits—a combination
of first-person interpretation and museum theatre. The teens also performed a series of

95
Sheryl Hack and Robert Kiihne, Keynote address at Small Museum Association’s 2014 conference, Ocean City,
MD, February 17, 2014, Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud2_qz8N8RI, accessed May 15, 2015.
96
“Connecticut Landmarks Awarded $149,643 IMLS Grant,” The Chamber of Commerce, Inc., Windham Region,
Accessed April 4, 2015, https://windhamchamber.com/component/content/article/41-chamber-news/736-
connecticut-landmarks-awarded-149643-imls-grant.
97
“Who We Are,” Writer’s Block Ink, Accessed April 4, 2015, http://www.writersblockink.org/who_we_are.php.

48
original songs, dance routines, and spoken word poetry which collectively was entitled, “The
Slave inside Me.”

In working towards these two end goals, the teens spent two days per week with the project
consultants, Susie Wilkening and Robert Kiihne, studying the relevant history of New London
and stories of the Joshua Hempsted House, participating in various workshops such as
exhibition design and museum theatre, and visiting other museums. While at the museums the
teens were given cameras and journals to record their experiences and reflect on what most
interested them. Apart from these outings, one particular activity of interest was a three-hour
session during which the teens were asked to develop an exhibit of their choice for the
Hempsted House. Some of the exhibits included board games, a comic book, model houses, and
a poster display. Even though they were told that it was an option, it is interesting to note that
none of the teens included technology in their exhibits. Additionally, the content was not
presented in a linear fashion; as Kiihne noted, “Neat and clean both physically and intellectually
is just boring for them, and, maybe lacks authenticity.”
98
The purpose of the workshops and
museum field trips was two-pronged in that they were meant to give the teens the tools they
needed to accomplish the goals of the project, but at the same time, they served to provide
insight into the types of exhibits, content, and other aspects of museums that were most
appealing to youth.
99

One of the major takeaways that came from this phase of the reinterpretation project was that
youth are most engaged when they are able to have control over their own experience and are
given a choice. In reflecting on the teens’ museum visits, Kiihne highlighted that, “Every time
that the students could not exercise choice they lost interest and moved on.”
100
Additionally, on

98
Robert Kiihne, “Student Exhibit Prototypes,” Finding Community: Engaging diverse audiences in a historic house
(blog), Tuesday, September 17, 2013, http://findingcommunityengagingaudiences.blogspot.com/2013/09/student-
exhibit-prototypes.html.
99
Additional information about Connecticut Landmarks’ collaborative project with the teens from Writer’s Block
Ink is available through the blog, Finding Community: Engaging diverse audiences in a historic house at
http://findingcommunityengagingaudiences.blogspot.com/.
100
Robert Kiihne, “25 Students Visit the Mashantucket Pequot Museum,” Finding Community: Engaging diverse
audiences in a historic house (blog), Thursday, July 18, 2013,
http://findingcommunityengagingaudiences.blogspot.com/2013/07/25-students-visit-mashantucket-pequot.html.

49
multiple occasions it became evident that youth had a preference for highly immersive and
multi-sensory environments that were more substantive than the typical hands-on activities
developed for young children. Another important point that emerged over the course of the
summer was that the stories and experiences at the Hempsted House had to be relevant and
meaningful in order to engage the teens. At the beginning of their two month journey, many of
the youth who participated in the reinterpretation project questioned why they should care
about the stories about slavery that emerged from a three hundred year old house. However,
by the end of the summer, several teens came to realize that the Hempsted House represented
their community and when they could relate to a certain story, especially on an emotional level,
they found the house to be meaningful to them personally. The key is creating a connection
between history and teens’ lives today.

Concluding Thoughts
In reflecting on the experience of working with teens at the Joshua Hempsted House, Susie
Wilkening wrote, “Over the course of the summer, it was extremely gratifying to watch the
students, most of them minorities, take ownership of the Joshua Hempsted House...in their
minds, it became less of a sterile historic house museum experience and more the home of
people they had grown to care about.”
101
As the majority of the youth who took part in the
project were African American, the fact that these teens came to see the house of a former
slave owner as meaningful to them and their community carries with it strong significance.

If there is one major overarching theme that continues across each of the three case studies, it
is that youth make valuable contributions to cultural institutions and it is a worthwhile
investment to actively engage with them. It is imperative that museums welcome them and
learn to share authority. Youth know far better than museum staff what will appeal to and
engage youth, thus gaining their input on programming for children and teens is crucial.
Furthermore, as suggested by the experiences with all of the programs discussed here, to be

101
Susie Wilkening, “From “Scary” to Hide-and-Seek: Youth and Historic House Museums, Part 2,” Finding
Community: Engaging diverse audiences in a historic house (blog), Tuesday, October 29, 2013,
http://findingcommunityengagingaudiences.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html.

50
successful in engaging youth, one fundamental component is involving them directly in the
work of the institution.

51
CHAPTER 4
Engaging Youth at The Gamble House

In 2016, The Gamble House will reach its fiftieth anniversary operating as an historic house
museum. At the present time, The Gamble House is preparing to launch a year-long interpretive
planning project to investigate ways to reach broader, more diverse audiences in the
surrounding communities and better engage younger generations. This initiative coincides with
a recent discovery of new primary source material pertaining to the social history of The
Gamble House and is an opportune time to evaluate the interpretive programming for youth.

The following will serve to provide a brief overview of The Gamble House and its youth
programs, as well as to recommend a direction for activities to further engage children and
teens within the local community. These recommendations are based on best practices
discussed in chapter two, along with the fundamental elements of several successful youth
program case studies.

Background on The Gamble House
Constructed between 1908 and 1909, The Gamble House and most of its original interior
furnishings were designed by renowned local architects Charles and Henry Greene for David
and Mary Gamble, heirs to the Procter & Gamble fortune. In 1966, the House was deeded to
the City of Pasadena in a joint agreement with the USC School of Architecture to preserve it in
perpetuity. Today, The Gamble House stands as a landmark historic site in Pasadena, California
and is operated by the USC School of Architecture as a house museum. As the only Greene and
Greene home that is open for public viewing, The Gamble House has the overall mission, “to
inspire the public’s appreciation and understanding of fine historic architecture through the
example of The Gamble House, the most complete and best-preserved work of American Arts
and Crafts architects Charles and Henry Greene.”
102

102
“Mission Statement,” The Gamble House, Accessed April 19, 2015, http://gamblehouse.org/mission-statement/.

52
The Gamble House is recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a National Historic
Landmark, the highest level of federal designation for cultural properties. The historic site
welcomes nearly 25,000 visitors annually through various activities that include general public
and specialized group tours, off-site architectural study tours, lectures, exhibitions, symposia,
and concerts. In addition, approximately 1,400 elementary-school children tour the house every
year. The house is open five days a week and provides 1,664 regularly scheduled tours and
approximately 150 private or group tours each year. With an annual operating budget of
$600,000 and only seven staff members, The Gamble House relies greatly on a dedicated cadre
of over two hundred adult volunteers who are responsible for such activities as conducting
public and private group tours, managing the Junior Docent Program, helping operate the
bookstore, and assisting with special events. While The Gamble House is operated by the
University of Southern California, financial support comes mainly through tour-ticket sales,
endowment income, an annual giving campaign, and fundraising efforts by the Friends of The
Gamble House, a membership organization under the umbrella of the University of Southern
California.

Overview of Youth Programs at The Gamble House
Since the initiation of a school program in October 1968, The Gamble House has encouraged
local, Pasadena-area students to visit the historic site. In 1972, a program specifically for
elementary school classes was brought to fruition with the development of a kit of materials
that was to be used by teachers to prepare classes for visiting The Gamble House. This kit
contained slides with accompanying commentary, historical data, recommended readings, and
other pertinent materials. At this time, each sixth grade class in the Pasadena Unified School
District visited the house every year. In 1974, school tours were only scheduled contingent
upon teachers using the school kit to prepare their classes for a visit to The Gamble House.
Later, in 1981, the school program changed focus with the introduction of the Junior Docent
Program, the result of a partnership between the Gifted and Talented Office of Pasadena
Unified School District (PUSD), Pasadena Arts Council, and the Docent Council of The Gamble
House. Through this program, seventh and eighth grade students representing each of the

53
schools in the district took part in a four-session course to prepare them to conduct tours of
The Gamble House with fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.

The Junior Docent Program continues today, but training has expanded to between six and
seven weeks and approximately twenty-five to thirty middle schoolers participate in the
program annually. These students, who are chosen by their individual schools, come to The
Gamble House after school one afternoon per week for two hours from September to
November. During the first week of training youth are given a manual, consisting of excerpts
from the adult docent training guide, and are asked to write down three goals that they would
like to accomplish while in the program. The students are split into groups of three to five and
each group is assigned an adult teacher who remains with them for the duration of the training
and is responsible for preparing them for touring. At the end of the training, the students’
accomplishments are celebrated with a graduation ceremony where they are presented with a
certificate and a small keepsake. In addition to successfully completing the six to seven week
training course, in order to graduate, each junior docent must attend one general public tour of
The Gamble House and participate in Family Day, usually a date in November when students
invite their family to the house for their first official tour. Once graduated from training, the
junior docents are assigned to conduct two to three guided tours with local third-grade
students, which typically take place on Friday mornings from December to May. For their
participation in the program the students receive volunteer hours that are counted towards
many of their schools’ community service requirements.

At the present time, the Junior Docent Program serves to support The Gamble House’s
participation in a broader arts enrichment initiative through PUSD called My Masterpieces:
Discovering Art in My Community.
103
The Gamble House is part of the third grade curriculum,
which also includes two standards-based classroom lessons and a four-hour, hands-on

103
My Masterpieces is a standards-based curriculum that was first developed in 2007 by the Pasadena Unified
School District in conjunction with staff at ten local museums and arts organizations. The program is funded by the
Pasadena Educational Foundation and serves students, from Kindergarten through sixth grade, in all elementary
schools in the Pasadena Unified School District. Through complementary classroom lessons, field trips, teacher
training, and family free days at partner cultural institutions, My Masterpieces aims to provide students the
opportunity to participate in valuable arts learning experiences that they might not have otherwise.

54
woodworking workshop with Side Street Projects’ Alternate Routes program. The final part of
the curriculum is a guided tour of The Gamble House conducted by participants in the Junior
Docent Program. The premise of PUSD’s third grade curriculum is such that,
Having a hands on woodworking experience gives the students a deeper
appreciation of the craftsmanship and labor that went into building and designing
the Gamble House...when students see the Gamble House in person and learn
about how it was made, they are able to make deeper connections. The field trip
that the Jr. Docents lead also connects these students to the place they live, and
encourages pride in their hometown and community engagement.
104

In total, the third grade students are on-site at The Gamble House between thirty minutes and
one-hour. However, one must ask, is this sufficient time to fully engage with this group? From
this brief encounter are they taking away what is expected from their visit?

While The Gamble House organizes occasional, one-off programs for youth such as a recent
Bigshot camera workshop for local school children, The Junior Docent and My Masterpieces
programs are the primary means through which the site reaches youth. Are these two
programs meeting what children and teens want and expect from The Gamble House? While
the answer to this question may not be able to be answered within the scope of this thesis, one
place to start is to obtain an overall sense of the youth population within the Pasadena-area
communities.

Profile of Pasadena-Area Community and Youth
Perhaps stemming from an association with the abundance of lavish historic homes and their
original owners, from an outsider’s perspective Pasadena is viewed as a wealthy, primarily
Caucasian community. However, in reality, over the years the city has become quite culturally,
ethnically, and economically diverse. Distressingly, a significant number of its residents are also
impoverished due to the steadily increasing costs of living.
105
Despite the fact that the median
income of families residing within its service area is $62,202, sixteen of Pasadena Unified School

104
Jamie Powell, “Full Circle at the Gamble House,” Pasadena Educational Foundation, Accessed April 12, 2015,
http://www.pasedfoundation.org/mymasterpieces/stories/full-circle-at-the-gamble-house.htm.
105
Mark Maier and Peter Dreier, “Pasadena’s Tale of Two Cities: 2014 Edition,” Pasadena Weekly, December 4,
2014, http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/pasadena_s_tale_of_two_cities_2014_edition/13889/.

55
District’s eighteen elementary schools are Title I schools, signifying that they have a high
percentage of students from low-income families.
106
In fact, during the 2010-2011 school year,
sixty-eight percent of enrolled students received free or reduced lunch plans.
107
It is possible
that because of their family’s financial situation a significant number of local pre-teens and
teens feel like they need to work. Of the Pasadena-area youth ages eleven to eighteen who
responded to the city’s 2013 Youth Master Plan Survey, forty-five percent reported that they
were employed or were looking for a job.
108
When planning programs it is important to
consider the value this age group places on paid opportunities as this could influence their
motivation to participate.

Pasadena and its surrounding communities are also currently undergoing a change of
demographics, reflecting the phenomena that is occurring across the country as discussed in
chapter one. In 2010, it was reported that more than 202,000 people resided within the
boundaries of the Pasadena Unified School District and of these, fifty-six percent were white,
twelve percent black, twelve percent Asian, and more than thirty-one percent of individuals
were of Hispanic origin.
109
It is significant to note that within Pasadena alone the percentage of
Latinos and Asians is increasing substantially compared to the Caucasian population. According
to the United States Census Bureau, from 2000 to 2010 in Pasadena the Latino population
increased more than three percent and Asians increased by forty-four percent, while the
Caucasian population increased by only one-and-a-half percent.
110
This trend is already

106
“Programs: Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies (Title I, Part A),” U.S. Department
of Education, Accessed April 14, 2015, http://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html; Davis Demographics
& Planning, Inc., 2012, “Pasadena Unified School District: Student Population Projections by Residence, Fall
2011/2012 Report,” 2012, Available from
http://www.pusd.us/files/_3NDRa_/7945c17ad0d7fd253745a49013852ec4/Pasadena_USD_Final_Report_SY1112.
pdf, accessed April 12, 2015; Pasadena Educational Foundation, My Masterpieces Evaluation Report 2012-2013,
unpublished.
107
Pasadena Unified School District, “At a Glance 2011-2012,” April 19, 2015, Available from
http://pasadenausd.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/917180/File/At%20a%20Glance%202011-
2012%281%29.pdf, accessed April 12, 2015.
108
City of Pasadena, Public Health Department, Youth Master Plan Survey Findings, by Eric G. Walsh, Matthew
Feaster, Geraldine Perry-Williams, et. al., December 2013, Available from
http://cityofpasadena.net/Publichealth/Records_Reports/, accessed April 12, 2015.
109
Ibid.
110
U.S. Census Bureau, “2010 Demographic Profile Data,” Accessed August 10, 2014,
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_DP_DPDP1; U.S

56
reflected in Pasadena Unified School District where over sixty-percent of students are Hispanic
or Latino, nearly seventeen percent are African American, and just over thirteen percent are
Caucasian.
111
Also of note is that almost twenty-two percent of students enrolled in Pasadena
Unified School District are English Learners, meaning that they are learning English as a second
language; of these, ninety-percent speak Spanish as their primary language.
112
A significant
number of school-age youth within the Pasadena-area community are from culturally and
ethnically diverse backgrounds and for many, English is not their first language.

In 2010 more than 33,000 youth between the ages of five to nineteen were residing within the
boundary of the PUSD, which extends beyond Pasadena to parts of Altadena, Sierra Madre, and
La Cañada Flintridge.
113
It is interesting to highlight that during the 2011-2012 school year, just
over 18,500 students, or fifty-six percent of these school-age residents, were enrolled in the
Pasadena Unified School District.
114
Whereas, approximately thirty-percent of the Pasadena-
area youth attended one of the more than fifty private schools within the PUSD boundaries.
115

Presumably the remaining fifteen percent attend school within the Los Angeles Unified School
District or another neighboring district. The children and teens who either attend private school
or a school outside of PUSD represent roughly half of the school-age population in the
Pasadena-area that is not being reached by the My Masterpieces program. Given the current
circumstances, it is critical for The Gamble House to evaluate how the story being told at the
site is relevant and meaningful to diverse audiences in their changing community.

Census Bureau, “Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000,” Accessed August 10, 2014,
http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_00_SF1_DP1.
111
Pasadena Unified School District, “At a Glance 2011-2012,”Available from
http://pasadenausd.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/917180/File/At%20a%20Glance%202011-
2012%281%29.pdf, accessed April 19, 2015.
112
“Academics,” Pasadena Unified School District, Accessed April 19, 2015,
http://pasadenausd.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=113667#English_Learners.
113
Pasadena Unified School District, Student Population Projections by Residence, Fall 2011/2012 Report, by Davis
Demographics & Planning, Inc., March 8, 2012, available from
http://www.pusd.us/files/_3NDRa_/7945c17ad0d7fd253745a49013852ec4/Pasadena_USD_Final_Report_SY1112.
pdf, accessed April 12, 2015.
114
Ibid.
115
City of Pasadena, Youth Master Plan.

57
Recommendations for Youth Programs
In today’s world, valuable experiences carry more weight with audiences and thus the focus of
programming at historic houses should be on depth rather than breadth. No longer is it just
about the number of one-time visitors, but instead, more value is placed on the formation of
longer term relationships with a smaller number of individuals. With regards to youth, The
Gamble House in many ways is ahead of other historic house museums in that they have been
offering school tours for nearly fifty years and have had a Junior Docent Program for over thirty
years. While the effectiveness of the current programming has not been fully assessed, there is
a potential to deepen the engagement level with children and teens in the community that has
already been initiated. The following paragraphs outline some recommendations for working
towards this effort that go beyond the one-time school tour conducted as part of the My
Masterpieces curriculum.

Junior Docent Program
From a very basic survey of programs at other historic sites in the Pasadena area, it does not
seem like many have junior docents; however, it is a great way to actively engage youth as
evidenced by the success of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s program. The Junior Docent
Program at The Gamble House began in 1981 and since then it seems to have remained fairly
static as far as its content and operation. Yet to be ascertained is whether the current program
is appealing to youth and truly effective in engaging them. In using the aquarium’s Junior and
Senior High Summer Docent Program as a model, as well as some of the components of the Los
Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s young arts program, The Gamble House may be able to
enhance the experience for its own junior docents.

According to Michael Murray, a long time docent at The Gamble House and member of the
Junior Docent Program committee, each year a few of the junior docents express an interest in
participating in the program for a second year.
116
Currently, this opportunity is not made
available, but as demonstrated by the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, it could be a successful way of

116
Michael Murray (member of the Junior Docent Program committee), in discussion with the author, April 18,
2015.

58
keeping youth engaged. A couple of suggestions are to have the more experienced junior
docents serve as mentors for the incoming participants and to expand touring opportunities for
highly motivated individuals into the summer, even if it entails leading groups of adults. Having
students as tour guides during the summer could also have the added benefit of helping with
the increased influx of visitors. As a goal that one of the students wanted to achieve as part of
the Junior Docent Program, they indicated that they wanted to earn more volunteer hours.
117

Enabling students to volunteer beyond the two to three tours that they conduct during an
academic year could be beneficial for both the junior docents and The Gamble House.

Another comment received from participants in the Junior Docent Program, as expressed by
Murray, is that the middle school students detest the current training manual. The present
version consists of text heavy excerpts from the adult docent guide that is riddled with complex
architectural terminology and few images. In recognizing that this is an ineffectual tool for
youth who are between twelve and thirteen years old, the director of The Gamble House has
authorized development of a new training guide which will be more interactive and visually
oriented. As an additional element, The Gamble House may also want to include suggestions for
active audience engagement, such as the interactive “Do it!, Do it!” technique employed at the
Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

Historically, The Gamble House has depended on schools in the PUSD to select the students
who participate in the Junior Docent Program each year. As such, The Gamble House never
knows far enough in advance how many participants they may have in a given year nor do they
know anything about the prospective students until the first day of training. To play more of an
active role in the selection process and avoid this conundrum, The Gamble House may want to
consider implementing an application process that parallels that of the adult docent program.
Both the Cabrillo Museum Aquarium and Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (LA MOCA)
have a rigorous process for potential participants in their youth programs that includes an
application, essay, teacher recommendation, and an interview.

117
The Gamble House, “Junior Docent Class 2014-2015,” September 24, 2014, unpublished.

59
The Gamble House may also want to investigate a means of better leveraging continued
engagement with past junior docents, such as through an alumni network. An example is the
annual potluck that the LA MOCA organizes for previous and current participants in its Young
Arts Program.

Youth Advisory Council
118

Presently, The Gamble House has a Docent Council and Board of Overseers, both of which have
an all-adult membership; the missing voice to advise on programming direction at the site is
that of youth. To quote Marti Mayo, former executive director of the Contemporary Arts
Museum Houston, regarding youth programs: “You and I can sit here and come up with 800
different programs that we think are going to appeal to adolescents, and I will guarantee you
that in 799 cases, we would be dead wrong. But they [teens] hit it every time.”
119
In order to
know what youth want and what will motivate them to participate, the best way forward is to
involve youth themselves, which is the basis of LA MOCA’s Young Arts Program and the Joshua
Hempsted House Reinterpretation project model. As discussed in the previous chapter,
participants in the Young Arts Program provide the museum with a direct link to the local youth
community and advise on events and activities that the museum hosts for teens. One of the
keystones of this type of program, which makes it successful, is that youth are given real,
meaningful work and are also made a stakeholder in the institution. There is potential for this
model to be adapted for The Gamble House, perhaps as an extension of the Junior Docent
Program for those who seek a deeper engagement with the site. Alternatively, the council could
be made up of prior junior docents.

Partnerships
In addition to the Junior Docent Program and My Masterpieces, The Gamble House should
consider expanding their youth programs and exploring partnership opportunities with local

118
Additional information on the Youth Advisory Council model and a toolkit for establishing a youth council is
available at http://www.generationon.org/files/resources/game_changers_yac_toolkit.pdf.
119
Marti Mayo as quoted in Kai Flores-Emnace and Madison Brookshire, “Digging In: Measuring the Deep Impact of
Teen Programs” (presentation, annual meeting of the California Association of Museums, San Diego, CA, February
19, 2015).

60
youth organizations. At present time, PUSD is The Gamble House’s foundational partner for
their youth programs. However, similar to other public education institutions across the
country, PUSD finds itself in an unstable financial situation. Over the past few years, PUSD has
had annual spending deficits and laid off a significant number of teachers, in addition to making
other concessions.
120
Furthermore, the school district is facing decreasing enrollment numbers
which is projected to continue into the future and this ultimately affects the budget.
121
Given
the current state of the public education sector, should The Gamble House rely so heavily on a
partnership with local schools to reach youth?

As evidenced by Connecticut Landmarks and their project to reinterpret their Joshua Hempsted
House, schools are not the only option for reaching local youth. After conducting a brief
internet search, a number of youth organizations in the Pasadena-area emerged which could be
potential partners for The Gamble House. These include scouting groups, Boys and Girls clubs,
YMCAs, the City of Pasadena Ambassador Youth Program, Pasadena Youth Council, the
Collective Voices Foundation, as well as the Sequoya School, a private institution that values
place-based education. In following the model set at the Hempsted House, a local youth
organization could be a meaningful partner in the reinterpretation planning project that The
Gamble House is looking to initiate. A first step should be for The Gamble House to think about
what they would like to achieve with regards to their youth programming and then work
backward in developing a strategy for forming partnerships.

Concluding Thoughts
In order to be sustainable as an historic house museum into the future, it is important for The
Gamble House to better engage youth. In the short term, one critical question to be answered
is, what are the bigger themes at The Gamble House to which today’s youth can relate? Also,
how can The Gamble House remain relevant in a changing and diverse community? The

120
Joe Piasecki, “Despite State Budget Revise, Pasadena Unified Lays Off 96 Educators,” McClatchy - Tribune
Business News (Chicago, IL), May 16, 2013.
121
Brian McDonald, “Pasadena School District Smaller, Leaner with Fewer Kids: Brian McDonald,” Pasadena Star-
News, April 3, 2015, http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinion/20150403/pasadena-school-district-smaller-
leaner-with-fewer-kids-brian-mcdonald.

61
potential long-term effects of involving children and teens at The Gamble House has already
become evident. As an example, after participating in the Junior Docent Program as a child, one
individual now sits on the Board of Overseers at The Gamble House. Based on her meaningful
experiences at the site as a child, this person became an advocate for conserving their
community’s history and a long-term supporter of The Gamble House. If an initial investment in
terms of time, money, and other resources has already been made to train Junior Docents,
would it not be beneficial to open doors to those youth who want to continue engaging with
the site?

62
Conclusion

They [historic buildings] are not ours. They belong partly to those who built
them, and partly to all the generations of mankind who are to follow us. The
dead have still their right in them: that which they laboured for, the praise of
achievement or the expression of religious feeling, or whatsoever else it might
be which in those buildings they intended to be permanent, we have no right to
obliterate. What we have ourselves built, we are at liberty to throw down; but
what other men gave their strength and wealth and life to accomplish, their right
over does not pass away with their death; still less is the right to the use of what
they have left vested in us only. It belongs to all their successors.
122

Although these wise words were written by John Ruskin in the mid-nineteenth century, they
stand to encapsulate the sentiment intended by the author of this thesis. House museums, such
as The Gamble House, are a significant part of the historic fabric of our communities today and
it is critical that this be imparted to the younger generations. Within the context of Southern
California, The Gamble House in particular tells a unique story of the Los Angeles region that is
important to be passed down as it provides a sense of pride of place to local youth. Several
themes specific to The Gamble House include Greene and Greene’s development of a specific
architectural style adapted for the local climate; the integration of Asian design elements,
reflecting the strong influence of the east that continues today; and innovative methods for
cooling the house during the height of summertime heatwaves before the advent of central air-
conditioning. As emphasized throughout this thesis, in order for youth to care about a site, they
have to be able to relate it to something that matters to them in their own lives. These
examples can perhaps serve to initiate the development of a list of other relevant themes that
connect youth to The Gamble House.

It is true that some house museums do engage with youth, programs are generally limited to
school tours and do not typically involve teenagers. However, the fact brought to light here is
that this traditional model utilized by many house museums across the country, which
originated from the twentieth century, does not welcome or engage twenty-first century youth.

122
John Ruskin, “The Seven Lamps of Architecture,” in The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings, ed.
John D. Rosenberg, (New York: George Braziller, 1963), p137.

63
To further bring into question this model are the recent declines in school field trips to historic
sites and the formal education sector’s increased focus on accountability standards. Along
these same lines is the comment by Gretchen Jennings, author of the Museum Commons blog
and current editor of the National Association for Museum Exhibition’s journal, Exhibitionist,
which reflects similar discussions in the field: “As the school system narrows what it considers
to be success (eliminating art, drama, music, field trips, etc.) museums should ponder the
wisdom of squeezing themselves into ever smaller curricular slots in order to attract and serve
school groups.”
123
That said, it is not the intention of this thesis to debase museums’
relationships with schools. The aim, instead, is to provoke historic house museums to evaluate
their programs in terms of their sustainability for the present into the future. Given the
sweeping changes in population demographics currently in motion across the country, it is
imperative that house museums, including The Gamble House, assess whether the stories being
told at their site are relevant and meaningful to more diverse audiences. Also, it is important to
work with youth to discover the common themes and intersections that will create relevance.

It should speak for itself that the majority of the case study examples and models cited
throughout this thesis stem from successful youth programs at art museums and aquariums,
not house museums. Towards the beginning of this thesis, the question was raised in terms of
what these other institutions are doing differently from historic house museums that appeals
more to children and teens today. In reflecting back on this, some possible answers are laid out
under the best practices for developing youth programs discussed in chapter two, as well as the
three long- term youth programs explored in the third chapter. The underlying principle is that
successful youth programs are focused on the individual and enabling them to be involved
directly in the work of the institution rather than operating on a top-down model. Children and
teens today are part of Generation Z and thanks to the influence of technology, social media,
and the Internet, they have largely grown up in a world with information at their fingertips.
These youth are also accustomed to having a multitude of options, personalized services, as
well as the opportunity to create their own content and media. As such, members of

123
Gretchen Jennings, “Museum Educators’ Unrealized Potential,” Museum Commons (blog), October 22, 2014,
http://www.museumcommons.com/2014/10/museum-educators-unrealized-potential.html.

64
Generation Z have different expectations as consumers than previous generations. Keeping this
mind in relation to historic house museums, Crosson points out that, “These audiences, these
people, are in fact the reason that we are here, and it is about time that we gave them the
attention they deserve. If we do not, they have a right to say that we don’t matter, and then it
will be too late for us to care.”
124

Recommendations for Further Research
This thesis is not meant to be an inclusive guide to engaging teens and children at historic
sites, but instead to add to the conversation about the sustainability of historic house
museums. A primary goal is also to develop some initial recommendations for The Gamble
House as they evaluate their youth programs. As such, there are opportunities to expand on the
work presented here as well as additional studies that could provide relevant insight to benefit
the field. Below are a few thoughts on further research that come immediately to mind.

Firstly, it is important to recognize that while the significant influence that technology has on
shaping today’s youth was briefly touched upon in this thesis, the role of technology in
interpretation at historic house museums was not discussed. Although there have been a
couple of studies completed involving this topic, because technology advances so rapidly,
further research is needed to evaluate a practical and cost effective way of integrating more
technical tools. Since children and teens are adept at using technology from a young age and
perhaps expect such devices to be utilized at house museums and other cultural institutions,
technology may play a more significant role in the relevancy of museums in the future.
Nevertheless, the role of technology in engaging youth definitely warrants more investigation.

Secondly, with regards to The Gamble House, there is no formal evaluation mechanism in place
for any of their initiatives, including the Junior Docent Program. Given this, it would be
beneficial to develop a survey or form a focus group with current and former junior docents to

124
David Crosson, “AASLH 2006 Annual Meeting: Ingsoc, Dog Food, and Holy Water: The Three Greatest Challenges
Facing American Historical Organizations in the Twenty-First Century,” History News 62, no. 1 (2007): p15.

65
gain insight into their thoughts about the program. It would also be worthwhile to observe and
speak with the third graders who tour The Gamble House as part of My Masterpieces in order
to discover what interests them the most in the house. Furthermore, a general survey of local
youth could be interesting to get a sense of how many actually know of The Gamble House and
to reveal their perceptions of the institution.

Lastly, the relationship between historic house museums and the broader museum field is a
topic of some debate. Because these institutions straddle both the areas of heritage
conservation and museums, there are questions regarding standards and practices that house
museums should utilize. While house museums do have collections of objects, they are not
displayed or treated in the same manner as other types of museums. On that note, further
research may want to be done into whether historic house museums should fully integrate
standards and practices of museums or develop their own completely. This is particularly
relevant to informal learning programs and interpretation at historic sites.

Final Thoughts
To impart final words that historic house museums should take to heart in thinking about their
sustainability now and into the future, Vaughn aptly cautions, “ Meticulously preserved
buildings, beautifully restored landscapes, carefully researched period rooms and dutifully
catalogued collections will not ensure a site’s survival if no one visits. In the end, we will fail as
stewards of these sites if the public isn’t as passionate about their survival as we are.”
125

125
James Vaughn, “Introduction: The Call for a National Conversation,” Forum Journal 22, no. 3 (2008).

66
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Asset Metadata

Creator Jones, Melissa Ann (author)

Core Title Engaging today's youth at house museums: forging a vision for the Gamble House

School School of Architecture

Degree Master of Heritage Conservation

Degree Program Heritage Conservation

Publication Date 07/21/2015

Defense Date 07/21/2015

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Children,heritage education,house museums,informal education,interpretation,interpretive programs,museum education,OAI-PMH Harvest,teens,youth,youth engagement

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Sandmeier, Trudi (committee chair), Bosley, Edward R. (committee member), Campoy Brophy, Cynthia (committee member)

Creator Email mcnear@usc.edu,mel.mcnear@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-601557

Unique identifier UC11302094

Identifier etd-JonesMelis-3665.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-601557 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-JonesMelis-3665.pdf

Dmrecord 601557

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Jones, Melissa Ann

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA