Putting the facts in artifacts: How the Neville Museum transformed itself into a space for social change

GREEN BAY - It's easy to imagine what glories await a Green Bay Packers player in Titletown, but it might surprise diehard fans to learn that not even the prestige of being a Packers player can protect them against racial injustices. 

In a summer 2019 exhibition called "Delay of Game," the Neville Public Museum shed light on the ugliness endured by Black players such as former Packers linebacker Dave Robinson and former wide receive Bob Mann as they navigated success despite a prejudiced world.

"Delay of Game" offered a perspective that's often overshadowed by glimmering fame, and it also came at a turning point in the Neville Museum's mission to do more to represent all the communities across northeast Wisconsin.

That mission is not simply to collect artifacts, what Executive Director Beth Kowalski calls the "passive collecting process," but to use the credibility of a museum space to bring the facts of a community into stark relief.

"We've systematically tried to make calls for collecting our contemporary pieces," Kowalski said. "Because when we (the museum staff) are long gone, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years from now, what's here is going to be the collection that stands."

The museum's role as a hub of acquisition is changing. Since 2021, it's espoused the collections principle IDEA, which stands for inclusion, diversity, empathy and action, according to Louise Pfotenhauer, collections manager at the Neville.

Back in the day, 19th-century wedding gowns and German Bibles appealed to the public museum, but the Neville has both in spades. Today, it seeks things such as megaphones used in Black Lives Matter protests, boots worn while wading through the heavily contaminated Fox River, or a baati dress worn by a Somali woman living in Green Bay.

"We want to reach out to more cultures. People have a lot of stuff, but they don't know that it would be valuable for our collecting," Pfotenhauer said. "They might not recognize that we actually want to tell their stories. We want them to be part of our museum community."

On the side of education, placards discuss the impacts of climate change on bees and other pollinators, the severity of COVID-19 across the span of recorded pandemics, the growing Hispanic community in the region with exhibitions such as Estamos Aquí ("We are here" in Spanish) and more. The museum also won a funding award for its promotion of COVID-19 vaccine confidence in October 2021.

"The best exhibits tell stories," Pfotenhauer said. "If community members have more historic items, and they're from groups that we don't normally collect from, their stories of how they or their relatives came to our community are a little different from the Eurocentric view. That's of particular interest."

Museums can champion social change

Staff at the Neville Museum walked the Press-Gazette through its expansive, climate-controlled archives on the top floor, an area off limits to the general public. The temperatures cooled depending on the collecting quarters to better preserve artifacts.

Antique dolls stood sentinel straight next to turn-of-the-century clowns smiling from their perches. Rows of Civil War-era rifles and World War I grenades lined the shelves one room over from taxidermy birds.

There was, of course, lots of green and gold memorabilia. 

But the Neville, as an exhibiting institution with a mission to be more inclusive, is increasingly collecting work to reflect the demographics. With over 20% of residents in Brown County identifying as people of color, education through collections is key.

But it's also about representation and access, Pfotenhauer said. People enjoy seeing reflections of themselves and their cultures at institutions. It's that sense of recognition that makes inclusion all the more crucial to storytelling.

"When people can say 'I had that … I got that … My parents had that,' it can really speak for their culture," Pfotenhauer said. "That's where our whole collecting initiative is — we want to reach out to more cultures and take it all into consideration." 

Dennis Rosloniec, media technician at the Neville, said it was a TEDTalk by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that inspired him to see a museum's potential as a venue for social change. Museums, he said, are not neutral spaces; they can present unique opportunities to speak the truth, even if that truth runs counter to mainstream thought.

"Museums are one of the most trusted sources of information," Rosloniec said. "They have a burden in this way, but also a benefit, which is that people will actually listen to you if you have something on display at a museum. We go to really great lengths to make sure we've crossed all our T's and dotted all of our i's in primary sources." 

Neville Museum and the power of local partnerships

Stacks of domestic violence shelter brochures colored an exhibition wall at the Neville Museum as visitors to the HerStory exhibit traveled across the gallery, learning about local women who had defied the odds.

The sobering realities of abuse that often trailed women from a distant era are still writ large in today's landscape. In Brown County alone, about 900 victims of domestic violence reported their crimes to law enforcement officers, based on the most recent year of data collection from 2018. 

The Neville, in celebrating women, wants to help change the cycle of abuse.

Ahead of Easter Sunday, volunteers with Golden House, a domestic abuse shelter and victims advocacy group, stuffed free Neville admissions tickets into 16 families' Easter baskets.

After difficult ordeals, a trip to the museum can stand as a neutral space, but it can also dissolve access barriers that have historically existed at museums and other cultural institutions. 

Kowalski explained that the design of the Neville creates a "passive information exchange." It can be a low-stakes, choose-your-own adventure experience or a space for much-needed quiet. 

Being able to offer free passes to people in need is part of the museum's commitment to community outreach. 

"You're not necessarily escaping or avoiding life," Kowalski said. "You're just getting a chance to be in a different place and be able to be surrounded by educational and fun hands-on things without the worry."

Beth Hudak, director of community engagement at House of Hope, an emergency shelter for young parents and children, said its partnership with Neville has been important for the House of Hope clients. She emphasized access and the safety such a space can provide unaccompanied youth, meaning kids under 18 who are unsheltered and don't have the support of a parent or guardian.

"Access to things like history and culture is so important because it's a privilege and, really, access to these kinds of resources should be a right to anyone who lives in this community," Hudak said. "These spaces were built as community spaces, but the barriers have traditionally been very high."

Every November, the Neville participates in House of Hope's program "Youths on the Move" which runs in concert with National Runaway and Homeless Youth Prevention month. On the pathway and doors of the Neville, the nonprofit will paint green footprints, to indicate a space is safe and free to access.

"Traditionally, museums tend to discourage loitering teenagers, right? And then here the Neville is saying they will absolutely be a safe space for these young people during open hours," Hudak said.

Pfotenhauer said that for recent and forthcoming exhibits, it's been important to ask about representation and what that representation can do for inviting in all of a region's people — not just one portion. 

Up next, the Neville will partner with community stakeholders from the LGBTQ community on an upcoming LGBTQ-themed exhibition in 2024. And, in 2025, the Neville will invite visitors to an exhibit that considers where dinosaurs fit in Darwin's theory of biological evolution.

"It's up to us to be proactive about getting the information to you," Kowalski said. "It's our responsibility to capture as much information about our community as possible, to keep it safe, preserve it. Ultimately, the education is why we do what we do best."

Natalie Eilbert is a government watchdog reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert.