The Art of Curation - Bringing people together through history 🏫 Jason Steinhauer, History Club

Bringing people together through history 🏫 Jason Steinhauer, History Club

01/25/22 • 32 min

“Sometimes in the Jewish imagination, but definitely in the broader public imagination, people reduce all of Jewish history to the Holocaust. And so I think one of the responsibilities that curators have is to show the rich panoply of Jewish experience beyond just 1939-1945...and to create access points to those histories.” — Jason Steinhauer

History Club founder Jason Steinhauer is a curator with such deep and varied experience that it’s hard to know where to start. Do we begin with the popular Clubhouse conversations he hosts on Thursday nights? His new book about how social media and the Web have changed the past? Or with any one of the curatorial/archivist roles he’s had at places like the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Museum of Chinese in America?

Instead, the conversation begins with a curatorial experience centered on a topic core to his identity, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors, Jason was part of the team behind an award-winning exhibition about American Jews in the Second World War. He brings a perspective to history — and how we experience stories from the past — that incorporates media, tech, culture and his own Jewish faith.

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

Growing up a “museum nerd”
Unique pressures of curating for a Holocaust museum
How one begins to curate Jewish stories
What curators of Jewish history need to consider that other curators do not
What makes a good historian and how that is different from what makes a good curator of history
Care for physical objects in a digital world
Inside his book, “History, Disrupted”
Consuming accurate, high-quality historical content on the Internet (and does Instagram count?)
Founding History Club and curating conversations there
What inspires his Clubhouse conversations
The through-line of his career
How history might judge the current day
Speed round: Jason’s culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Jason.
💡Follow History Club on Flipboard.
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Jason’s favorite books, movies, and other cultural picks.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

Growing up a “museum nerd”
Unique pressures of curating for a Holocaust museum
How one begins to curate Jewish stories
What curators of Jewish history need to consider that other curators do not
What makes a good historian and how that is different from what makes a good curator of history
Care for physical objects in a digital world
Inside his book, “History, Disrupted”
Consuming accurate, high-quality historical content on the Internet (and does Instagram count?)
Founding History Club and curating conversations there
What inspires his Clubhouse conversations
The through-line of his career
How history might judge the current day
Speed round: Jason’s culture picks

Previous Episode

Curating a library from scratch 📚 Heavy Manners Library

“The moment we opened our doors, the project belonged to everybody else who's interacting with it. It’s [now] about serving those people and their engagement with things. A lot of curation is also about listening and continuing to change your perspective and accept things that you didn't know or understand before you started on the journey you're on.” — Matthew James-Wilson, Heavy Manners Library

Imagine wanting to create a library and then building it from scratch. What books would you include? Why would you choose them? What would you leave out? How would you serve your community and respond to how they are reacting to your creation?

These are the questions facing Matthew James-Wilson and Molly Soda of Heavy Manners Library, a new space in Los Angeles with a to-be-launched online component. The library seeks to archive and distribute self and independently published artists' books, zines, and more. It’s hoped that this will create a place where people without a formal art education can access that media outside of an institutional setting such as a university or a traditional library or gallery.

This episode shows what it’s like curating something from the ground up and how two creative people can collaborate to do what they do best while serving the project as a whole.

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

Origins of the name “Heavy Manners Library”
What makes the cut for the library
How they ensure the selection lives up to their mission
Filling in the gaps
How the online membership will work
Collaborating with your co-curator
How to balance your tastes with what the community wants
What they hope people feel when they come into the space
Advice to artists on how to get noticed
How the NFT trend impacts what they’re building
How they find inspiration and track ideas
Where to find up-and-coming artists
Generational approaches to collecting
Matthew and Molly's culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Matthew and Molly.

🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode itself, plus the media/expression that inspired the library’s name and a few of Matthew and Molly’s culture picks.

➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more

Next Episode

Personal finance voyeurism at its best 💸 Hannah Rimm, Refinery29

“I’ve learned how to choose the people who have the most interesting voices and stories and not just the ones that make $500,000 a year...I've really learned to mine for story and interesting tidbits and different kinds of people.” — Hannah Rimm

If you’ve ever read a Money Diary on Refinery29, you know they’re fascinating and a little bit addictive. Initially, it’s the scenario that draws you in; headlines like “I'm 25, I make $28,000 & I'm A Cowgirl For A Living” or “I'm 37, I Have A Joint Income Of $1.3 Million & I'm Shopping For A Second Home.” But quickly you’ll find yourself immersed in the juicy details of a stranger’s life — with the added benefit of picking up some personal finance insights along the way. It’s the same kind of pleasure as watching (smart) reality TV.

In this episode, we get to know Money Diaries editor Hannah Rimm. As the franchise’s only curator, Hannah sifts through more than 30 submissions per week in order to feed an ambitious publishing schedule of three weekly diaries. How she creates a column with such a rabid fan base — and a high-quality comment section, no less — is at the heart of this conversation.

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

“Money Diaries” for the uninitiated
The psychology of why “Money Diaries” is so interesting
How she goes about deciding whom to feature
The tie between emotions and spending
How she ensures entries are truthful and sound
What’s important in someone’s money story
How she cultivates such a high-quality comment section
The best way for a reader to make use of a Refinery29 money diary
What changes she’s made to her own financial habits after editing this column
On being a credit card points wizard
How trends in the marketplace are influencing the stories being told
How to manage “frivolous” spending (and the guilt that comes with it)
What kinds of conversations she had about money growing up
Her favorite money diaries
What she learned about the art of curation from this job
Hannah’s culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Hannah.
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Hannah’s favorite shows, podcasts, games and more.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests.

Learn more