New Approaches in Informal Learning: Teaching Nature and Culture through Interdisciplinary Museum Exhibitions

This poster explores ways in which museums with ethnographic collections can integrate environmental and cultural content through exhibitions, using a project currently under development at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles as a case study. A suite of two galleries and an accompanying ethnobotanical garden, slated to open in September 2016, has a focus on past and present relationships between California’s indigenous communities and the environment. This poster provides an overview of interpretive themes and collection items selected for the project and describes methods of content development, including consulting with cultural advisors from tribes across the state of California. This project can potentially serve as a model for other institutions with ethnographic collections from Native North America to teach both material culture and traditional ecological knowledge through a more interdisciplinary approach.