Holocaust Museum Houston Week 1

Holocaust Museum Houston

Week 1: July 5-July 12

Roseliane Corona

July 5

First Day

    Today was eye-opening, (throwback to word of the day— if you’re not getting deja vu, you’re not reading this right). I had the chance to view two of the five galleries here at the museum. 

    The first gallery Bearing Witness displays the Holocaust timeline. It was built by Houston survivors who donated their belongings to ensure their stories were highlighted. 

    The Human Rights gallery was next, and this section answered my questions about how the Holocaust Museum relates to Latino History. The museum also teaches about human rights violations including the Mayan Genocide in Guatemala and the Bracero Program in the United States. By teaching these travesties, we can prevent these same events in the future, including those done against Latinos. The only way to do that is by sharing those stories to spread awareness.

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July 6
Exploring My Environment

    Most of today was touring and also self-led adventures throughout these galleries, including the ones from yesterday. This museum has so many interactive activities that despite its relatively small size, something new can be learned at every visit. 

    First was the Young Diaries Gallery, which allows visitors to read through teens' diaries from events such as the Holocaust or the Internment of Japanese Americans. 

    Next Laurie, my supervisor, walked me through the Samuel Bak Art Gallery which she specially curated. In a non-profit, many of the employees wear different hats when it comes to their tasks. Laurie is the perfect example of this because she usually works in education and the Latinx Initiative. 

    Lastly, I toured the Jewish Deli exhibit. Initially, I thought this was a themed cafeteria– it was not. This was the temporary exhibit featuring how Jewish immigration introduced a new type of cuisine to the United States. It also is a traveling exhibit borrowed from a museum in Los Angeles, a common practice with Smithsonian-affiliated museums. 

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July 7

Community Outreach

    Speak Now (Taylor's Version) came out today so I knew no matter what today would be a great day. The museum was visited by a college prep program and my job was sharing the visit on social media. So I followed different tour guides and took photos. 
    One of my favorite tours to listen in to was a docent volunteer, Hy's, tour of the Bearing Witness gallery. Hy is the descendant of Holocaust survivors and throughout the tour, he would tie sections into his own family's story. Afterward, he gave a presentation about the Holocaust experience of his mother, grandmother, and father. His mother and grandmother's story was the most surprising. Both were transported to different camps as laborers and escaped death so many times. His father, on the other hand, was hidden by local farmers. 

    Hy ended the presentation by telling the audience that now that they've seen this part of history both on a large scale and even on a personal one, they're now witnesses who can keep these stories alive. 

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July 11

Project Planning

    After learning the objectives of the museum, it was time to brainstorm project ideas. I decided to do an arts and crafts activity where students could create their own exhibit to build upon the idea of "upstanders" and character. While we just worked on proposals for Washington Week, the plan is to actually incorporate the activity before I leave. I'm excited mostly because this means I have an excuse to use the cardstock in the Education office's storage.

    On theme with project planning, I got invited downstairs to watch their new exhibit being built. I even got a chance to help put together the exhibit by installing the labels on the wall. 

    Something the project manager pointed out is that many curators don't take into account space support for multilingual labels. However, one solution is translated digital labels accessible through a QR code. This way, everyone has a chance to learn about imperative issues and events.

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July 12

Research & Reflection

    It's been a total of one week since I started here. I think it's safe to say I have an understanding of how my project fits into the museum's and YAP's mission. The focus of the activity is to teach kids more about being an "upstander." I mentioned this term yesterday but to elaborate, it's essentially a play-on to the word bystander. They teach children character and that whenever they choose to do nothing, they're just as guilty as the person doing something. 

    The goal is to have children start thinking about how they can make an impact while also connecting it to everyday people who have made an impact in history. It's a work in progress, but the idea is somewhat there. This concept is how the Education team teaches elementary school students without introducing the mature themes of genocide from the Holocaust. 

    However, for sixth grade and up, they go more in-depth as the children get older. In fact, there's a workshop tomorrow dedicated to giving teachers resources to teach this hard subject to high schoolers. I helped set up today by checking worksheets and their corresponding galleries. 

    No doubt, I'll have a lot to look forward to tomorrow.

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