MARCH 2024

We are putting a temporary pause on accepting donations to the museum collection. We will resume accepting donations after the staff completes an accreditation review with the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). The AAM accreditation process involves all staff and receiving accreditation means that the Wisconsin Veterans Museum adheres to the highest of standards and ethics in the museum profession.

We hope you understand the need for this pause and why donating to an accredited museum is important. We expect to resume collecting on March 1, 2024.

Visitors will not get more then five feet into the museum before they will feel the work of Kevin Hampton, WVM’s Curator of History. He describes his work as a life-long passion. It’s true. Hampton’s affinity for Wisconsin veterans began with an elementary school field trip to WVM.

He explains, “I bought a postcard of the Antietam diorama and pinned it to my bulletin board in my room at home. I looked at that postcard every day growing up until I left for college.”

Hampton began volunteering at WVM in 2004 and joined the ranks of paid staff 12 years ago. His job encompasses studying the history of people, places, and events, interpreting that history, and distilling it into relevant chunks of information visitors will find engaging, both in the galleries and beyond the museum proper.

Hampton approaches his work with the fundamental belief that history is the ”Why” and not the “What” as we are often taught in school.

He says, “To truly understand and learn from history, you must realize that it’s really a matter of understanding people, humanity, and society more than memorizing facts, statistics, and famous names. In most cases, in the stories that we deal with the ‘what’ and ‘how’ are essentially either the resulting consequences of choices made by humans or are outside factors that influence those choices. Regardless, it’s the choice itself that provides the relevancy to an audience no matter how many years removed from the subject.”

To engage visitors, he considers more than presenting artifacts in a case. Curators pay attention to the vibe they want their visitors to feel. The answer to the visitor question of “why should I care” must be self-evident. That “so what” is conveyed broadly through gallery layouts and line of sight and through choice of background colors, fonts, audio tracks, etc.

And yet, Hampton certainly doesn’t want this work to stand out, and explains, “I truly believe that if you remember our names instead of the names of those veterans whose story we tell, we’ve done it wrong. Our goal should always be ensuring that the memory of those service members' stories entrusted to our care are never forgotten.”

Readers should also note that Hampton’s office functions as the staff snack cupboard. His well stocked space ensures he has many peckish visitors. It’s a subtle and much appreciated team-building activity as he fuels staff to accomplish the goal of showing the humanity behind the history.

By: Jennifer Stevenson Marketing Manager