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Exhibitions.
For decades, Pilgrim Hall worked around the restrictions
resulting from the building’s inflexible granite to interpret the
Pilgrim story through exhibits and educational programs, but up-to-date
museum standards ruled out further stopgap measures.
The exhibition, although presented to the best of our ability,
did justice neither to the Pilgrim story nor the artifacts
that illuminate it.
Yet, if the Hall was
to continue to fulfill its mission of preserving and communicating the
story of the Mayflower Pilgrims and their influence in American
history to future audiences, it was imperative that the permanent
exhibition have the advantage of modern exhibit design.
Gifts
made to The Campaign for Pilgrim Hall Museum allowed a reinstallation of the permanent exhibition, incorporating new
interpretive media and exhibit techniques to present both the history of
the Pilgrims and the evolution of their role in American culture.
The designs, which enhance visitor involvement and
understanding, were the result of a 2-year planning process (funded by
the National Endowment for the Humanities), involving scholars,
educators, and a professional exhibit design firm.
The
Main Hall, with its magnificent high ceilings, continues to
celebrate the significance of the Pilgrim story throughout American
history. With walls painted
a deep red, Pilgrim Hall
Museum’s collection of historic paintings are dramatically
showcased. The exhibits in the Main Hall detail key story elements
– the Mayflower Compact, the Landing, the First Thanksgiving – and
show how these stories appear in the context of later centuries. While a
goal of the exhibition is to reveal the layers of interpretation
that have evolved around the core Pilgrim story, one essential theme
reverberates: the story of the Pilgrims has been a fundamental force in
the development of American culture.
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