The exciting news around here is that we’ve just wrapped up round 1 of exhibit planning and have eight renderings that show preliminary plans for the History Hub. They include panels that show Durham “then” and “now” as you look out the windows of the Hub, a map and interactive timeline, a story booth to gather personal memories of Durham’s past, a space for rotating exhibits on themes in Durham history (e.g. heath & medicine, food & farming, transportation), and an area we’re calling the family room–a hands-on space where kids and adults can learn about Durham History through games and dress-up, as wells as books and DVDs. (See image below for a sneak peak at the family room). We hope that these initial plans reflect several of our goals: to connect Durham’s past and present, to show different perspectives on history, to help people to personally connect to the past, and to allow the community participate in the process.

Speaking of participating in the process, on July 20th we are asking for it! We’re putting these plans on display in the Hub, opening the doors, and asking two dead-simple questions: What do you like? What do you not like? We’re handing out post-it notes at the event so you can respond right then and there. This kicks off a phase of gathering community input before we move forward. We want to be a museum that responds to the needs of the community; we want to hear from you about what you appreciate most about Durham history, what you’d like to learn about, and how we can facilitate that.

So do come! And if you can’t make it on the 20th, there will be other opportunities. We will post the plans online in the weeks to come, and we will be organizing focus groups and a group of community advisers as well.

In the meantime, check out “the family room” below!