Project Title: Chicago: Crossroads Second City audio tour

Museum/ Institution: Chicago History Museum

Media Category: Audio tour 

Program Created: 2006

Program URL (if available):  
http://www.chicagohs.org/planavisit/exhibitions/chicago-crossroads-of-america-audio-tours

Project Image(s) and/or Video:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagohistory/3466817300/in/set-72157617102030695/ 

Media Source(s)/Credit(s): Chicago History Museum, posted to Flickr. All rights reserved.

Program Description: (150-250 words) 

This audio tour was developed for the permanent Chicago: Crossroads of America exhibition at the Chicago History Museum. It consists of 30 audio clips narrated by Second City actor Antoine McKay. The total length of the tour is 45 minutes and it is available in both English and Spanish. The tour can be accessed in the museum, and can also be downloaded for free from the museum’s website and played on an mp3 device. The program explores Chicago’s history, and includes interesting stories about the origin of the city's name and the lives of some of Chicago’s famous residents. The tour also celebrates the innovations and contributions of the city, and explores the significance of the tragedies and conflicts took place there. The tour touches upon a variety of topics, from early explorers to music, sports, gangsters, and businessmen and women. This variety serves to emphasize the city’s rich and diverse culture and history.

Firsthand or secondary review/critique: (150-250 words)  

Antoine McKay’s narration is a refreshing contrast to the dry, monotonous narrations of some museum audio tours. McKay utilizes his acting abilities well and delivers the content with enthusiasm. He explains Chicago’s history in a casual tone, which helps make the tour feel more like a friendly chat than a formal museum program. And even though the narration is casual, it is never muddled. Throughout the tour, McKay introduces the listener to a variety of vibrant characters. McKay converses with them, and these engaging exchanges provide greater insights into the diverse people that lived in and shaped the city of Chicago. Among the characters featured in this tour is William Washington, who discusses his life as a Pullman porter and member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and Clara Barck Welles, who invites McKay in for tea and a chat about her life as an artist, businesswoman, and suffragist. The content of the tour contains a good dose of unapologetically corny humor, yet is also balanced with the solemnity of the darker events in Chicago history. The high audio quality gives this tour a professional and clear sound. One problem with the tour is that the content jumps around chronologically, which compromises the listener’s ability to connect the events discussed to the dynamic economic, political, and cultural contexts that shaped Chicago’s history over time. Overall, however, the tour is a truly unique and captivating interpretation of Chicago, and well worth a listen.

Technologies incorporated:

Pre-recorded mp3 audio clips with narration and sound effects

Internally or externally produced: 

Externally

Entry Contributor and Date: Caitlin Markey, 2/09/2011

Related projects:  

The museum also offers In Our Own Words, a teen audio tour of the same exhibition. It is available at http://www.chicagohs.org/planavisit/exhibitions/chicago-crossroads-of-america-audio-tours.