CHAMPAIGN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

This regional history museum comes with ample square footage and a bounty of artifacts. The challenge comes with how to hone and focus the intent and stories of Champaign County in a manner that engages modern audiences in a way that not just conveys the history but gets people to want to engage with and conserve it. The interpretive intent began to come into focus around the idea that the region has been a hub for many national and international movements. Be it the movement of bison herds, Simon Kenton’s actions creating a human migration pattern into Ohio or the fact that the landscape lent itself to being a staging point and recruiting ground for numerous military endeavors in our nation’s history…Champaign County has found itself as an important juncture along many stories path. The interpretive plan itself came with a multitude of fairly substantial parameters; lots of square footage but some inefficiencies in how it is laid out, more artifacts than can be effectively displayed in an exhibit which implies significant archival storage needs, and a push by the organization to gain greater financial support from the community in the form of a levy. These requirements, coupled with a full-site evaluation and the intent to provide a fresh approach to storytelling in the CCHS, helped shape an approach that embraced bringing the community voice as an integral part of the historical society experience.