This document provides guidance on designing effective history fair exhibits. It explains that exhibits should tell a clear story through well-researched content and compelling visual design. The introduction should establish context, thesis, and significance. Sections should be organized with subtitles and labels that develop the interpretation using primary and secondary sources as evidence. Design elements like colors, fonts, and layout should reinforce and complement the academic work. Overall, an exhibit functions like a mini-museum to effectively communicate the curator's historical interpretation.

1. Exhibiting History
It’s More Than a Display Board!
Chicago Metro History Education Center

2. Think of the
History Fair exhibit
as a mini-museum.

3. In a museum
visitors are
greeted with a
panel that
announces the
main idea of the
exhibit and sets
the stage for what
will follow.

4. The exhibit designer creates a space that uses eye-
catching graphics that reflect the theme, time period
and topic. Colors, shapes and other visual cues
organize different sections of the exhibit.

5. Subtitles and different shapes and sizes of
labels also act as visual cues. The labels tell
the story.

6. Each segment (or
section) of the
exhibit tells a
different part of the
story.

7. A variety of
visually engaging
and relevant
primary sources
show what the
text tells.

8. History Fair exhibits
function the same way.

9. When you do
a History Fair
exhibit, you
are museum
curators and
designers.

10. What do curators do?
• conduct historical
research
• form an interpretation or
thesis
• develop a story
• write the label text
• select potential primary
sources and artifacts

11. What do designers do?
The designers show
the story the curators
want to tell by
creating a well-
organized and
imaginative exhibit
design that
reflects and
reinforces the
curators’ interpretation.

12. Before Design Begins
• Make an outline,
write text, and do a
layout before one
finger touches an
exhibit board!
• Show your draft to
others to make sure
it is logical to them.

13. A Title
An introduction
and a
conclusion Labels: The
Students’
Interpretation
Primary
Sources
as
Evidence
Subtitles
Secondary Sources as
Evidence
PARTS OF AN
EXHIBIT:

14. The first elements the
visitor sees are:
1. Overall design
2. Title
3. Introduction

15. Exhibit Design
• The maximum
dimensions for an
exhibit are 72” tall
by 40” wide by 30”
deep.
• The three-panel
exhibit is the most
common form but it
is not required.

16. Like a museum, the
goal of a History
Fair exhibit is to
effectively
communicate the
curator’s
interpretation. That
takes organization
and imagination.

17. The design reflects the topic
of the project…

18. …and is visually interesting.

19. Design delivers the message
• Choose colors that
reflect the topic of the
exhibit. This exhibit is
about child labor. Why
did the students select
these colors? Review
the earlier exhibits
presented here. Do the
colors fit the topic?
• Notice different color
mats for different parts
of the exhibit.

20. What topics could these
colors symbolize?

21. Fonts reflect the story too
Select fonts that
reflect the topic too.
Use 3 different font
sizes based on the
importance of text:
consider the larger
fonts (36+) for the
subtitles and title.
• History Fair
• History Fair
• History Fair
• History Fair
• History Fair
• History Fair

22. Always use
readable
styles and
black type for
labels: 16-24
font size
Look at the
actual sizes in
different styles.
Which is more
readable?
• Always use readable styles
and black type for labels:
16-24 font size
• Always use readable
styles and black type
for labels: 16-24 font
size

23. Avoid too few or too
many words--neither
communicates
effectively

24. Remember:
the products of research,
analysis, and writing
are what count the most in
your exhibit.

25. Superior
design is the
supporting
partner of
superior
academic
work.

26. The title sends your message
Make the title
snappy and
informative, and
hint at the
argument
viewers will find
in the exhibit.

27. Why do some titles
communicate more effectively
than others?
• Impact and
Influence of Lemont
on the Civil War
• The Memorial Day
Massacre
• The War Comes Home:
How Small Towns
Fought the Civil War
• “They Shot Us in Our
Backs”: How the
Memorial Day
Massacre Galvanized
the Labor Movement

28. The
introduction is
the road map
to the exhibit.

29. The introduction establishes:
• context
• change
• significance or impact
and contains your thesis statement.

30. The largest label on the exhibit, the
introduction will consist of
approximately 100 words.

31. There is no need to
write “Thesis” or
“Introduction” if
the design makes it
apparent. Consider
using a different
color matting, font
size, or shape.

32. A strong thesis statement:
• Makes a specific argument or
interpretation
• Has a narrow focus
• Based on & can be “proven” with
evidence
• Can be communicated in one or two
sentences

33. FOR EXAMPLE:
After the 1919 riot the means of
enforcing segregation became
more accepted, more formal,
often more violent, and
completely legal.

34. Identify the elements of an introduction:
CONTEXT CHANGE SIGNIFICANCE/IMPACT THESIS
The race riot of 1919 was a cataclysmic event in
Chicago. After five days of rioting, 38 white and black
citizens were killed and 537 were injured. The riot itself
was the product of nearly two decades of conflict
between whites and blacks over housing, jobs, and
political representation. Before the riot, the black
community was pressed into separate areas of the
city by informal and extralegal means. After the riot
the means of enforcing segregation became more
accepted, more formal, often more violent, and
completely legal. In this way the 1919 riot was a
turning point for the city Martin Luther King, Jr. called
the “most segregated in the nation.”

35. • CONTEXT: The race riot of 1919 was a cataclysmic
event in Chicago. After five days of rioting, 38 white
and black citizens were killed and 537 were injured.
The riot itself was the product of nearly two decades
of conflict between whites and blacks over housing,
jobs, and political representation.
• CHANGE: Before the riot, the black community was
pressed into separate areas of the city by informal
and extralegal means.
• THESIS: After the riot the means of enforcing
segregation became more accepted, more formal,
often more violent, and completely legal.
• IMPACT: In this way the riot of 1919 was a turning
point for the city Martin Luther King, Jr. called the
“most segregated in the nation.”

36. The exhibit layout
is organized by sections,
or segments, which present
the interpretation.

37. Most segments contain:
Subtitle
Label(s)
Primary
Sources
Secondary
Sources

38. Segments are like sections in a
museum or paragraphs of a paper
The subtitle,
interpretive label(s)
and a variety of
sources all connect
to tell the story.

39. Subtitles are Guideposts
Subtitles guide
the viewer
through the
exhibit and
establish the main
points of the
argument.

40. Labels tell the story
• Labels consist of
50-75 words that
develop the
interpretation in
organized clusters
of claims and
evidence.
• Each label
communicates one
main idea.
Revolutionary thinkers,
affirming the right to childhood,
denounced child labor as
exploitation. Settlement
workers promoted childhood as
a unique stage in life in which
an individual’s personality could
be developed through creative
play, introduction to the arts,
and a proper education.
Muckrakers, pioneering
doctors, and labor union
organizers publicized the evils
of child labor.

41. Strong labels:
• Focus on one idea
• Use active verbs
• Provide explanation and
analysis of the primary
sources
• Move the story forward

42. In each
segment
of the
exhibit,
the
sources
directly
relate to
the label
text.

43. How do the following sources
relate to this label?
Revolutionary thinkers, affirming the right to
childhood, denounced child labor as exploitation.
Settlement workers promoted childhood as a
unique stage in life in which an individual’s
personality could be developed through creative
play, introduction to the arts, and a proper
education. Muckrakers, pioneering doctors, and
labor union organizers publicized the evils of child
labor.

44. Reports &
Government
Documents
Investigative reports,
hearings, laws,
executive orders not
only make sound
evidence, but they also
help place your story in
the larger national
context.

45. Posters and
Flyers….
Publications from the
time reveal much
about the past: the
people who were
trying to
communicate, the
audience they tried to
reach, and the
message they wanted
to deliver.

46. … Editorial Cartoons

47. Newspapers &
Newsletters
To be more than a
visual image, sources
with a lot of text either
need an inset quotation
to highlight the most
important words, or be
reflected in the label.

48. Photographs
Photographs are more than pictures--they
are evidence for the interpretation.
What can be found in these photos?

49. Quotations
“Many women
keep their
children from
school to run
the factory and
to help with the
homework. In
order to earn
anything and
provide food for
themselves….”
Reverend Dunne, 1897
• Quotes from primary
sources bring the
actual “voices” from
the past and can be
powerful sources of
evidence.
• From secondary
sources they
reinforce or add to
your argument.

50. Charts, Maps,
Graphs, Tables
These sources help
organize and display
a lot of information
better than text could
do. They also add to
the visual quality of
the exhibit.

51. Now, write a subtitle & label
for the following sources:
Label text
Subtitle

52. “The 1903 Illinois child labor law is a curse
instead of a blessing to those compelled to earn
bread by the sweat of their brow…”
Affiliated Workers School, 1903

53. Writing Analysis
Research
Sources
Labels Subtitles
Design
Put them all together…

54. …and you have a mini-museum!

55. A successful exhibit
is the product of:
• in-depth research,
• a clear interpretation,
• interesting and relevant sources,
• a compelling story,
• and a visual design and layout
that reinforces the message.

56. Visit our website
www.uic.edu/orgs/cmhec
For more
creative and
practical
exhibit design
tips and
worksheets.

57. For more support
on research,
writing, thesis
development, and
exhibit rules.
Visit our website
www.uic.edu/orgs/cmhec

58. Thanks to all the students whose work
made this presentation possible!
Thanks to the Chicago Historical Society for permitting use of
images from their exhibit “Teen Chicago.”

59. Produced by Chicago Metro History
Education Center for individual or
classroom use.
2005
This presentation may NOT be used
for any commercial purpose.