Museums, libraries and communities · For museum directors, curators and exhibit staff
A museum touchscreen display that tells the rest of the story
A wall label has room for a title, a date and a few sentences. Put a touchscreen beside the case and visitors can open the full story: the photos, the letters and the people behind the object.
No account needed to start. Free to use. No payment details required.
What is a museum touchscreen display?
A museum touchscreen display is a screen placed beside an exhibit that lets visitors tap through more than a label can hold: stories, photos, scanned documents and the people connected to the objects. HistoryShowcase runs in the web browser on your own touchscreen, organizes stories into collections, and lets visitors search by name or word and filter by year.
Updated
- Made for
- Museum directors, curators and exhibit staff
- Where it goes
- Beside the case it describes, The gallery entrance, Your museum’s website
- Layouts
- Photo gallery, Profiles, Timeline
- Visitors can filter by
- Gallery, Year
- Cost
- Free to use. No payment details required.
The label is short. The story isn’t.
Every object in a case comes with more than fits on its label. There is the person who made it, the family who kept it, the letter that came with the donation and the photo of it in use. Curators know those stories. Visitors usually get a date, a material and a credit line, because a printed panel can only hold so much before nobody reads it.
A museum touchscreen display keeps the label short and puts the rest one tap away. Each object or person becomes a story with a summary, a longer write-up, photos and scanned documents. When a researcher corrects a date or a family sends a better photo, you edit the story and it goes live on the screen, with nothing to reprint.
How does a museum touchscreen display compare with printed wall labels?
| What matters | Printed wall labels and text panels | HistoryShowcase |
|---|---|---|
| Room for detail | A title, a date and a short paragraph | A summary, a longer write-up, photos and scans |
| Reading at a glance | Everyone in the room can read it at once | One or two visitors tap at a time |
| Fixing a mistake | Reprint and remount the panel | Edit the story and the change goes live |
| Finding a person or year | Read every panel in the room | Search by name or filter by year |
| Text size | Fixed when it was printed | Visitors can turn on larger text |
| Upkeep | Nothing once it’s mounted | A screen that needs power and someone to switch it on |
What to put on a museum touchscreen
The object’s full story
Who made it, who owned it and how it came to the museum, in a longer write-up below a label-length summary.
Photos of the object in use
Historic photos of the tool in the workshop or the dress at the wedding, captioned with the year.
Scanned documents
Donation letters, receipts, diaries and deeds. Convert a PDF into pages so visitors can read it on the screen.
Details the case hides
The back, the underside, the maker’s mark: close-up photos of what visitors can’t see through the glass.
The people connected to it
Makers, owners and donors as profiles, so one object leads to the family behind it.
Related objects in storage
Items not on view this season, photographed so visitors know they exist.
How to organize a gallery touchscreen
Mirror the room. One collection per case or section of the gallery lets a visitor standing at a case find its stories quickly.
Your siteExplore the Gallery
- Case by casePhoto gallery
A sub-collection per case, each object a story with photos and its full write-up.
- People of the galleryProfiles
Makers, owners and donors, with the objects they made or kept named in their stories.
- How it happenedTimeline
The events behind the exhibit in date order, for visitors who want context.
- From storagePhoto gallery
Objects not currently on view, photographed and captioned.
Visitors can narrow it by
- Gallery
- Year
How do you set up a museum touchscreen display?
Pick one exhibit to start
Choose a case visitors already linger at. Write a story for each object, starting with the label text and adding what didn’t fit.
Pair the screen from the editor
Use a one-time pairing code, two words and four digits used within ten minutes, then run the site full screen so it saves for offline use.
Watch a few visitors use it
Stand nearby for an afternoon. If people miss a story or can’t find a name, adjust the home screen and check it in Preview.
Where should a museum touchscreen go?
- Beside the case it describesClose enough that visitors can look up from the screen and find the object.
- The gallery entranceAn overview of the room’s stories before visitors walk through.
- Your museum’s websiteLink the live site so visitors can reread a story after they leave.
Museum touchscreen display questions
HistoryShowcase talks about schools. Does it work for a museum?
Yes. It was built for schools, so setup asks for a school name and colors. Enter your museum’s name and colors there instead. The editor, layouts and touchscreen work the same way.
Do we have to buy a particular screen?
No. HistoryShowcase doesn’t sell screens. Any touchscreen or kiosk that can open a website in a full-screen browser can run it.
Will it replace our wall labels?
It doesn’t have to. Most visitors read a label in passing, and that still works. The touchscreen is for the visitor who wants more, so keep labels short and point people to the screen.
What happens if the museum Wi-Fi drops?
Running full screen or as an installed app, the display saves the live site for offline use and keeps showing it. It picks up new edits when it reconnects.
Can visitors make the text bigger?
Yes. Visitors can turn on larger text and reduced motion on the touchscreen itself.
