Allestire e comunicare il patrimonio storico-educativo, tra Public History of Education e Cultural Accessibility: il caso del nuovo MUDESC di Macerata

Abstract

Public history is defined as “the communication of history outside of the academic environment” (AIPH 2018). From this perspective, a university museum can communicate history in various ways, including participatory history projects, public exhibitions, history festivals, lifelong learning activities, campaigns of crowdsourcing, and so on. Equally crucial, however, is the establishment of exhibition spaces capable of narrating history through simple and intuitive, yet scientifically grounded modes of communication. The ‘Paolo and Ornella Ricca’ School Museum, which was enlarged, renovated, and reopened in December 2022, has completely revolutionised its exhibiting and communicating logic to translate historical content into a new layout. The latter has been enhanced with new technological, communicative, and narrative solutions that provide a light, accessible narrative. In addition, these solutions have made objects and historical knowledge meaningful and ‘relevant’ to many contemporary audiences. The essay outlines the criteria that guided the authors – respectively the museum’s director and deputy director during the renovation years – in designing the new exhibits, with a focus on public history approach.