May 31, 2006
Cable Natural History Museum Chosen to Host Smithsonian Exhibition

The Cable Natural History Museum is one of six Wisconsin organizations recently selected to host the Smithsonian Institution’s Museums On Main Street exhibition, Between Fences. The exhibition will open in Wisconsin in the fall of 2007 and spend six weeks in each of the host communities. The Cable Natural History Museum will host the exhibition from May 31 – July 12, 2008.

Between Fences is an exhibition designed by the Smithsonian Institution specifically for small, rural communities. The exhibition explores themes of boundaries, place, and space using objects and images including fences, tools, photographs, and publications such as product literature, journals, postcards, and posters.

The Wisconsin Humanities Council (WHC) will coordinate the tour, as part of the Museums on Main Street program, working closely with the Cable Natural History Museum and Wisconsin’s five other host organizations and communities to plan public programs on the many themes of the exhibition, such as land use, defining public and private space in terms of home, farm, and factory, the settling of the United States, and the boundaries and borders of human relationships.

“I was really impressed by the applications we received,” said Jessica Becker, Program Officer at the WHC and coordinator for the Between Fences tour. “Clearly these issues are extremely relevant in Wisconsin today and the exhibition tour is a wonderful opportunity for communities throughout the state to explore their history, celebrate their unique stories, and break down fences that are no longer needed.”

Applications came from organizations in every corner of the state, all with populations under 10,000 people. A panel of WHC board members and humanities scholars selected the sites based on geographic distribution, strength of proposed ideas for complementary programs, commitment from the community, and the physical display space.

More information about the Smithsonian Museum On Main Street program, and the Between Fences exhibition, can be found at www.museumonmainstreet.org.