Location Activity

Katelyn Broda

Mass Communications 102

Location Activity

Neville Museum


I visited the Neville Museum, http://nevillepublicmuseum.org/exhibits/on-the-edge-of-the-inland-sea for one of my location activities to view their exhibit, “On the Edge of the Inland Sea.” The Neville Museum was very interested because it displayed the history of Wisconsin and Brown County.

While walking through the museum, I stopped looking at the material that was displayed and started focusing on how mass communication was represented. When entering the “On the Edge of the Inland Sea” display, I was met with a glacier like tunnel that visitors have to walk through in order to enter the exhibit. While walking through the tunnel, there were sounds of melting water to create the idea that I were actually walking underneath an actual glacier. These sounds were recorded, produced and played through forms of mass communication. The sights and sounds created the idea of a realistic glacier atmosphere. Additional audio sounds could be heard throughout the entire exhibit of rushing water, birds and wild animals as they related to the displays. Below is a photograph of the ‘glacier’ where mass communication was used through the form of audio.

As I continued through the exhibit, I noticed the artifacts that were accompanied by narratives that were printed on the walls in order to describe the history or actual purpose of the item. By seeing the actual artifact and then reading about it, museum visitors are able to discover new ideas and develop a understanding about the history of Wisconsin and Brown County. Pictured below is an example of this that I took while touring the exhibit.

Another form of mass communications appeared in the exhibit through recorded visuals. This form was used with the display of ice harvesting and showed a video on the methods that ice is harvested, marketed and sold, both in the past and today. Reading the history of ice harvesting was not as effective as a video in this display because, the museum does not have enough room to display the actual size of the ice blocks and horse drawn wagons that were used during this production. By having a video, visitors were able to see and hear the production of ice harvesting in Wisconsin.

If a museum was created without the help of mass communication in the forms of audio, print or visuals the displays would not be as effective in education its visitors. Without mass communications, museum would only consist of the artifacts and visitors would not be able to understand what and where these items were from. Therefore the museum would not achieve its primary purpose of educating visitors about the history of Wisconsin and Brown County.

I am glad that I was able to visit the Neville Museum because I learned about another location that mass communication is present but often taken for granted. While looking at the “On the Edge of the Inland Sea,” I found myself viewing the exhibit in a completely different way and left the museum with a deeper appreciation of how important mass communication is.