Family Means Resilience: A museum exhibit proposal demonstrating family survival across historical North America

Family Means Resilience (FMR) is a comprehensive proposal for an interactive museum exhibit that demonstrates the many faces of familial strength across space and time in North America. The exhibit proposal transports visitors into the stories of four families striving to overcome the challenges of their environments. Visitors will find themselves welcomed into historically-accurate homes of the following families: An Inuit family weathers a harsh winter on Igloolik Island, c. 1830's. A Hohokam family battles severe drought and heat at Pueblo Grande, c. 1000 CE. A nuclear family in suburban Wisconsin copes with fears of the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. A black family struggles for equality during the Harlem Renaissance, c. 1920's. These four stories are woven together in a handmade 1:36 scale diorama that models the layout of FMR. The proposal is complete with descriptions of interactive elements such as immersive soundscapes, climate effects, and children-oriented activities designed to engage visiting families. Family Means Resilience is an opportunity for families to better understand those who came before them and to better appreciate the impact they have on their own relatives.