Natural History Dioramas Sue Dale Tunnicliffe • Annette Scheersoi Editors Natural History Dioramas History, Construction and Educational Role 1 3 Editors Sue Dale Tunnicliffe Annette Scheersoi University of London University of Bonn London Bonn United Kingdom Germany ISBN 978-94-017-9495-4 ISBN 978-94-017-9496-1(eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9496-1 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London Library of Congress Control Number: 2014954826 © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents 1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Annette Scheersoi Part I History and Features of Natural History Dioramas 2 History of Dioramas ................................................................................... 7 Claudia Kamcke and Rainer Hutterer 3 Habitat Dioramas as Historical Documents: A Case Study ................... 23 Rainer Hutterer 4 A Window on the World—Wildlife Dioramas ......................................... 33 Pat Morris 5 Dioramas as Constructs of Reality: Art, Photography, and the Discursive Space ........................................................................... 39 Geraldine Howie 6 James Perry Wilson: Shifting Paradigms of Natural History Diorama Background Painting ................................................................. 67 Michael Anderson Part II Resurrection and Modern Dioramas 7 Dioramas in Natural History Museum—Tools for Nature Conservation ............................................................................................... 81 John J. Borg v vi Contents 8 Using Technology to Deepen and Extend Visitors’ Interactions with Dioramas ..................................................................... 87 Mark Loveland, Barbara C. Buckley and Edys S. Quellmalz 9 Displaying Eco-Scenes with Techniques of Diorama Representation ..................................................................... 105 Ximin Kang 10 Conservative Restoration and Reconstruction of Historical Natural History Dioramas ................................................ 115 Mareike Munsch, Hartmut Schmiese, Aleksandra Angelov, Gunnar Riedel and Jörn Köhler Part III L earning at Dioramas 11 D ioramas as Important Tools in Biological Education ......................... 133 Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Annette Scheersoi 12 Catching the Visitor’s Interest ................................................................ 145 Annette Scheersoi 13 Naming and Narratives at Natural History Dioramas ......................... 161 Sue Dale Tunnicliffe 14 The Evolution of the Narrative at Natural History Dioramas ............. 187 Alix Cotumaccio 15 Imaginary Places: Museum Visitor Perceptions of Habitat Dioramas ................................................................................ 195 Phaedra Livingstone 16 Habitat Dioramas and Sense of Place: Factors Linked to Visitors’ Feelings About the Natural Places Portrayed in Dioramas............................................................................................... 209 Cecilia Garibay and Eric Gyllenhaal 17 Relics of the Past + People of the Past = Innovation for the Future: Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s Enactor Program .... 227 Kate Tinworth 18 Storytelling and Performance in Diorama Galleries ............................ 243 Keith Dunmall 19 The Diorama as a Means for Biodiversity Education ........................... 251 Martha Marandino, Marianne Achiam and Adriano Dias de Oliveira Contents vii 20 Interpreting Through Drawings ............................................................. 267 Edward Mifsud Part IV Conclusion 21 T he Cultural History and Learning Affordances of Natural History Dioramas .................................................................. 279 Michael J. Reiss Contributors Marianne Achiam University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark Michael Anderson Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, Yale, US Aleksandra Angelov Objekt-Gestaltung, Mönchengladbach, Germany John J. Borg National Museum of Natural History, Mdina, Malta Barbara C. Buckley WestEd, San Franciso, US Alix Cotumaccio American Museum of Natural History, New York, US Keith Dunmall Powell Cotton Museum, Quex Park, Birchington on Sea, UK Cecilia Garibay Garibay Group, Chicago, USA Eric Gyllenhaal Museum educator, freelance researcher and evaluator, Chicago, USA Geraldine Howie Gloucestershire, UK Rainer Hutterer Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany Jörn Köhler Abteilung Zoologie, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany Claudia Kamcke Staatliches Naturhistorisches Museum Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany Ximin Kang Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, Zhejiang, China Phaedra Livingstone University of Oregon, Oregon, US Mark Loveland WestEd, San Franciso, US ix x Contributors Martha Marandino University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Edward Mifsud University of Malta Junior College, Malta, MT EU Pat Morris West Mains, Ascot, London Road, UK Mareike Munsch Abteilung Zoologie, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany Adriano Dias de Oliveira Museum of Microbiology—Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil Edys S. Quellmalz WestEd, San Franciso, US Michael J. Reiss Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK Gunnar Riedel Abteilung Zoologie, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany Annette Scheersoi University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany Hartmut Schmiese Objekt-Gestaltung, Mönchengladbach, Germany Kate Tinworth ExposeYourMuseum, Durham, North Carolina, USA Sue Dale Tunnicliffe Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK Chapter 1 Introduction Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Annette Scheersoi In the second half of the twentieth century, natural history dioramas went out of fashion and many were dismantled and even demolished. However, their renais- sance has started. Some are carefully restored and new dioramas are being con- structed with techniques to augment reality. This book celebrates dioramas as unique and essential learning tools for bio- logical education for all. It provides information about their historical development, demise, and more recent renaissance, past and the modern developments in their construction, the technique of taxidermy, as well as aspects of interpretation and educational research about learning processes including different methods to en- gage audiences, such as performance and storytelling. We describe the journey of dioramas from their inception through subsequent developments to visions of their future. We also present a complementary journey of the visitors to dioramas, their individual sense-making and construction of their understanding from their own starting points and cultural context, often as they interact with others (e.g. teachers, peers, parents) and media (e.g. labels). The book consists of three parts: the past, the present as well as future trends together with visitors’ interaction with natural history dioramas. Contributors from different countries, from the west coast of the USA across Europe to China, and from different professional backgrounds demonstrate the different ways is which they use and observe dioramas. The concept of the habitat diorama was developed at the end of the nineteenth century in Europe and North America and also included aspects of nature conserva- tion. Diorama exhibits contain animals and plants with their characteristic features, and enable visitors to be able to classify the organisms and recognise the ‘exhibit furniture’ which creates the context in which to view the plants and animals. This S. D. Tunnicliffe () Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK e-mail: [email protected] A. Scheersoi University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 1 S. D. Tunnicliffe, A. Scheersoi (eds.), Natural History Dioramas, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-9496-1_1