Justine's Trip to Mill City Museum

More exhibits from Mill City Museum!  One thing I that occurred to me while I was there is that the criteria for an effective exhibit and signage at a history museum might be different from at a science museum. For example, the use of first hand accounts and period multimedia is more important at a history museum (in my opinion.) One exhibit I really like played a bunch of old commercials on several TV screens.  However, a video clip would be less effective as part of a science museum exhibit.

My favorite exhibit for both signage and engagement was in the Water Lab.  Britt mentioned a sign from it in her post.

Child playing with model Falls.  Can you spot the model engineered structures?

Visitors could build dams, spin turbines, and run logs down the river on several models of St. Anthony Falls, just like occurred on the Falls throughout their history. The moving water and many tools to interact with it invited visitors to touch.  It was fairly intuitive to use.  Even just placing your hands in the water gave you a better understanding of how the water moves on the river.

Overhead signage.  One explains and the other instructs.

Signage was just enough to encourage deeper understanding without overwhelming the visitor with information or structure.  The amount of words was concise. Size of the words was easy to read and approachable.

Do these signs at playing level seem to extend learning from the overhead signs?

I especially appreciated the creative placement of the signage, both high and low.  The signs that hang from the ceiling guide initial engagement, while the ones on the exhibit encourage prolonged engagement.  My one complaint is that the ceiling signs might be easy to miss.


Another exhibit/signage that I liked demonstrated how a water-powered turbine turned a grain elevator in a pulley system.  The visitor gets to turn the turbine, simulating the action of the power.  Then you can see all the other parts move.

The exhibit had many moving parts to catch the eye. Can you spot all the signage?

The coolest part of the exhibit for me was the placement of the signage.  It was placed at all different angles on different parts of the machine, so that you could read it while observing the part in action.  The signs followed the path that your eyes naturally took in exploring the machine.  As in the Water Lab exhibits the writing was concise and approachable.  This exhibit also had a more lengthy explanation off to the side for those interested in learning more.

The exhibit invites you to look up.

While the combination of signage and moving parts did keep me engaged, this exhibit did not encourage active prolonged engagement.  There wasn't actually much to do and there was only one way to interact with the exhibit.  Still, this was a step up from the normal history museum exhibit encased in glass.

Information direct from the source.

Other strategies I saw that I might consider using for my exhibit were the use of direct quotes from a primary source (ie. William Kamkwamba from The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind) and questions.  Just like in a nonfiction book, these leads engage the reader and make them want to read more.

A question and fun fact wrapped into one!

Mill City Museum Exhibit 2

Museum Exhibit #2

This is an exhibit at Mill City entitled 'Design a Cereal Box'. I like the layout of the exhibit. It's a big circle with lots of stools around it and 8 felt boxes one can design on. It's easy to interact with it by yourself or with a friend. The are felt pieces scattered all over the table with common cereal phrases and pictures that can be placed onto your felt cereal box. One of us was clearly engaged in this exhibit and one was not. I think the exhibit had kind of been forgotten about. The pieces were old and worn and there weren't a lot of choices. But you could interact with it in anyway you wanted, there was no correct cereal box design. I think with more updated felt pieces and a wider variety of choices this exhibit could have interested me a little more.

*author's note: I realize I wrote two lackluster reviews of Mill City Exhibits, but don't let this detour you! It really is a great place! They have a flour tower where you ride up and down a tower and learn how the flour mill worked, a mini movie about the city of minneapolis by local Kvein Kling. There are people playing historical figures that you can talk to and interact with, a baking lab, a water lab. It has lots of history about minneapolis and the flour mills and its all inside the ruins of a flour mill. The views from the top are awesome.

Mill City Museum Exhibit 1

Museum Exhibit 1

This is an exhibit from Mill City, it is a giant 3d block puzzle of the state of Minnesota. We had fun making the puzzle, but found it a bit one dimensional (ha!). We enjoyed manipulating the giant blocks and figuring out the puzzle (although there was a picture of the completed puzzle right in front of us). We had a picture of the puzzle to guide us and while I do enjoy looking at maps, I did not find this one that interesting nor did I feel I gained any new or fun information while doing it. I take that back, we did learn from one of the museum attendants that a group of children had started it before us and gave up after a minute. This definitely did not have prolonged active engagement for those children. There was only one puzzle to work with and its not an exhibit that can be easily reset.

Mill City Museum Sign 2

Museum Sign #2

This is a sign from a Mill City exhibit about the role water played in the flour mills. It sits on the edge of water table filled with flowing water, a dam, moveable wooden blocks, and a wooden city/flour mill. To get a better idea of what is going on, I've included a picture of the whole exhibit at the end. I think this sign is effective because it addresses the ideals from APE. It presents a challenge, keeps the words to an absolute minimum and entices the visitor to jump right into the hands on portion. The sign is very small though and can easily be missed. Of course, one could ask, is the sign really necessary? When children see water and wooden blocks they don't need a sign to tell them to play with it. If the exhibit is intuitive and enticing on its own, what is the purpose of the sign?

Mill City Museum Sign 1

Museum Sign #1

This sign is from a Mill City Museum exhibit about the history of the city of Minneapolis. I thought this was an effective sign for several reasons. It has large readable font, a variety of colors, but not a color explosion. I also think it's successful because it is creative in its presentation. This museum is about the flour mills and so it ties in flour by making it look like a recipe card. It tells the steps to making a good city on each card. There are 5 cards in total, so it is not overwhelming. I think they did a good job editing themselves as well, I'm sure there was a lot more information they could have included, but they made smart choices in keeping it short and too the point.

While this photo is not the greatest I felt this sign was appropriate for the exhibit. This sign was able to draw in visitors to the other signs of information about the Tigers. The sign also is up high in a location where people can see where the exhibit is located. Finally the sign does not give out information that is not needed.

This photo was taken outside the Grizzly Bear entrance. I really enjoyed this sign and opening to the exhibit because it is bright colors and big letters. The information on this sign is also kept to a minimum. There is enough information to engage a visitor without having them become bored reading information. Having the sign with texture also benefited visitor engagement because everyone wants to touch everything.