When you’re working on a dissertation, it’s easy to fall into the trap of regarding it as your magnum opus. After all, you’ve put so much time and effort into it, shouldn’t it be perfect?
For me, the answer is a resounding no. Professors, archivists, and others have reminded me that the dissertation is not the end of your research. It’s just another step in your journey as a researcher and thinker. This mindset enabled me to finish the dissertation 3 years after getting my prospectus approved. Yes, I wanted to make it good. But I also knew that any projects that develop out of it will look different.
Beginning this month, then, I’m introducing a temporary monthly feature where I’ll tell you about some of the projects I’ve envisioned potentially growing out of the dissertation. I wrote these before the defense, so my perspectives will have changed when I finally revisit it next year. But in the meantime, I think there are some ideas here worth sharing.
Today, let’s take a look at what a potential book on outreach exhibitions might look like.
Two Possible Books
A few months ago I started wondering whether the dissertation might work better as two books. On the one hand, my dissertation considers how museums attempt to foster communities by mobilizing their collections. It’s also trying to critically consider one of the largest art distribution networks in the history of the United States. Either project is more than enough material for a book-length research endeavor.
I get why I have the dissertation addressing both topics, and after my defense I’ve been reconsidering keeping them together. Thanks to my years in Roswell, I did a lot of research on CACs before I started the dissertation. Understandably, I didn’t want to discard all that work. And let’s be clear, CACs absolutely intersects with museums, even if their objectives aren’t exactly the same. Ultimately, however, the CAC initiative was a government endeavor, not a museum one. Its scale was so massive, moreover, that it feels unfair to cram it together with another project concentrating on museums.
So I see two possible books developing out of the dissertation. One would focus on the CACs, and the other would concentrate on museums. This month, we’ll imagine the museum book.
Outreach Exhibitions: The Book, Version 1
In one hypothetical book on museum-organized outreach exhibitions, I’d change my chronological format to a thematic one. I’d have separate chapters focusing on the spaces of outreach exhibitions, the contents of shows, how and where they traveled, partnering organizations, and audience responses. Instead of dedicating each chapter to a single case study, I’d discuss all my case studies thematically, comparing and contrasting how each one addressed questions of space or transit.
Outreach Exhibitions: The Book, Version 2
After one of my committee members encouraged me to maintain a chronological organization, I’ve started imagining a book that follows a similar format to the dissertation. The main difference is that I’d either expand my case studies chronologically. The dissertation focuses largely on the first half of the twentieth century, with a consideration of contemporary efforts in the end. If I were to expand this into a book, I’d seek out examples from the second half of the twentieth century to offer a more comprehensive overview. Alternatively, I could zero in on a specific case study, say the VMFA Artmobile, and follow that through time.
A Potential Second Book
When I imagine the outreach exhibition project, I don’t picture one book. I actually envision two, or at the very least a book and an article, not including what I’d do with the CAC material.
As a follow-up to this first book, I’d plan a secondary project that examines how museums used photography and other virtual collections engagement methods to cultivate community and professional networks during the twentieth century. Expanding on the research I conducted for Chapter 1 of the dissertation, this project would consider how museums have engaged visitors with their collections through virtual forms of access such as photography, television, and the Internet. Whereas my proposed book on outreach exhibitions considers the significance of mobilizing physical collections to the development of community relationships, this book would consider how museums have navigated virtual forms of collections engagement from slide libraries to online repositories and exhibitions.
Further Changes
To be clear, all of this is hypothetical. I thought of these ideas before the defense, when I was close to the material. When I finally revisit the dissertation in 2025, I know my perspectives will have changed, and I might want to go in a completely different direction. Still, thinking about a potential book is a useful exercise, both for demonstrating the versatility of my research and for transitioning more smoothly into my postgraduate life.
So that’s the potential museum-focused book. Next month, we’ll look at a CAC-centric project.