“Only the Most Morbid Among the Rich Will Find It Entertaining”: Interpreting 1930s Urban Homelessness in Museums

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recent report on the relationship between culture and urban sustainability proposes that museums contribute to the larger civic project by “representing multicultural societies and giving minorities space within national narratives.” 1 If, as the report suggests, cities rely on their cultural institutions such as museums to enable integration through narrative, then it is vital to consider how, and how well, this is actually being achieved. The American urban homeless of the 1930s present a viable case study as to the integration—or lack thereof—of one particular historical minority. Examining the interpretation of this select group allows us to then assess the forces at play in museum-based cultural and civic inclusion to draw some conclusions about the realities of this goal.