Behind the Scenes of Hamilton: The Exhibit
Join the National Constitution Center’s exhibit development team for a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of their latest exhibit, Hamilton: The Constitutional Clashes That Shaped a Nation. Elena Popchock, the lead exhibition developer for the project, will explain her curatorial approach to telling Hamilton’s story through a constitutional lens. In addition to providing an overview of the exhibit content and the design process, she will discuss how the team discovered and selected 45 artifacts to feature from numerous museums and archives.
Elena Popchock has been working as an Exhibition Developer at the National Constitution Center since 2016, overseeing exhibit content from conception through installation. She has been involved in several exhibits at the Center, serving as the lead developer for Philadelphia 1787 and Hamilton: The Constitutional Clashes That Shaped a Nation. Before joining the Center’s exhibits team, she worked with the National Park Service in their collections facility outside Washington, D.C. She also assisted with the development of exhibits at Ford’s Theatre, The President Woodrow Wilson House, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture. Her background is in American history and exhibition development, having earned Museum Studies degrees at Juniata College in Pennsylvania and The George Washington University in D.C.
Sarah Winski is the Manager of Exhibition Development at the National Constitution Center, having worked there since its 2003 opening. Over the last 15 years, she has been involved with every aspect of the museum’s educational programming and exhibitions. In her current role, Sarah leads the exhibit development process and manages the Center’s in-house exhibition projects. This includes setting interpretive goals, coordinating with curators, scholars, and designers, and script writing. She has served as the lead developer for four major feature exhibitions—Ancient Rome & America, Art of the American Soldier, American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, and the 2016 version of Headed to the White House—as well as a number of projects within the Center’s permanent galleries. Both American Soldier and American Spirits have earned her American Alliance of Museums Excellence in Label Writing awards.