David McKenzie

David McKenzie works on on-site exhibitions and digital history projects for Ford’s Theatre Society in Washington, D.C., USA.

Before coming to Ford’s in October 2013, he worked on interpretive programs at resources at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and as an exhibition developer for The Design Minds, Inc. He holds a B.A. in History and Political Science, with concentration in Latin American Studies, from the University of Pittsburgh; a M.A. in Museum Studies from The George Washington University; and recently finished his Ph.D. in History, with a minor field in digital history, from George Mason University.

MuseumNext Digital Exhibitions Summit
Wednesday, 8 December 2021

Testing On-Site Exhibit Ideas on the Web

How can a historic site use the Web to test new on-site exhibition ideas? When redoing their website, Ford’s Theatre staff decided against reflecting on-site exhibition content on the Web but, rather, planned interpretive content from scratch. Instead of a chronological telling of the presidency and assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, staff decided the website should start with the assassination and explore deeper questions from that starting point. Learn how rethinking content for the website led Ford’s Theatre to rethinking the on-site experience. Explore questions about translating a historic site to the Web and vice versa.

Find the full schedule here