Introduction

Migrant Mother

The twenty-first-century museum has a number of roles, but one of its most crucial is as a crafter of public discourse. This chapter introduces the interplay between museum-produced public narrative and the interpretation and understanding of vulnerability. It sets out the case study of the Great Depression, a period of sustained, multi-faceted vulnerability and the value of the 1930s as a means to examine museum interpretation of these themes. Additionally, this chapter introduces the sources, methodology, and theoretical and conceptual framework, and sketches out the book’s structure.