Museum Studies Commons^™

The Museum As Object Of Display: Experiencing The Ashmolean, Jack Z. Chen

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

Conventionally, museums are most often considered as a series of objects displayed, but I argue that the museum itself should be seen, first and foremost, as the object on display. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, built at the high tide of British Imperialism, is a very interesting case study. Interested in its engagement with its own past, I do not seek to investigate the actions it takes as an institution, for instance, as regards to the politics of repatriation. Instead, I want to explore the whole experience it facilitates as an object in its own right.

This experience begins with …

Acknowledging The Colonial Past: Display Methods Of Ethnographic Objects, Sarah Kraft

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Today, the word ‘colonialism’ brings to mind a dark page in Western history. In the nineteenth century, it was justified as a civilizing mission of the West, aimed at bringing culture, religion, and prosperity to the ‘primitive’ people of non-Western countries.

Many Western colonizers took objects from colonized peoples, bringing them back, first as curiosities, then as objects of study and wonder to be displayed in ethnographic museums. Ethnographic museums today exist in a post-colonial world, where people recognize that taking these objects in many cases was wrong and, in some cases, criminal. This raises the question of whether museums …

James Connolly's Bloodstained Vest: Mediating Death And Violence In Commemorative Exhibitions, Siobhan Doyle

Articles

The actions surrounding the display of images and artefacts in museums – collection, conservation, research and exhibition – are bound up with how the past is presented and remembered. These conditions and decisions relating to exhibitions are largely invisible to viewers who are confronted with the apparent completeness of an exhibition display. By conducting a historical and visual analysis of the bloodstained vest of political leader James Connolly, this article uncovers how this artefact has become a relic of historical violence due to the way in which particular aspects of its configuration, form and trajectory have been manipulated in order …

Making Do With What You've Got: Improving Your Collections Storage Now, Adam Stephen Guy Smith, Heather Hoagland

Library Services Publications

Don’t wait until that inventory grant money comes through, get started improving your collection storage today using things you have right now or can get without breaking the bank or begging the board! Come ready to share your ideas as well as learn from your presenters and colleagues in this informal discussion-style session. Attendees will leave the session with easily implemented and inexpensive ideas for storing, displaying, and rehousing objects of all shapes, sizes and materials.

Comunication With Islamic Material Culture: A Case Study Of The Room 34 In The British Museum, Mohamad Meqdad

Faculty & Staff Publications

Communication inside the museum comprises three active agents: curator, visitor, and material culture. The process of making meaning results from the interaction between these agents. Each one of them is independent and measuring the success of any exhibit depends on the degree of their engagement. Therefore, three meanings come up here, an organisational meaning, an interactional meaning, and a representational meaning. Each one of these meanings is tied to one agent, the organisational with the physicality of the exhibition, the interactional with the visitors, and the representational with the curators. The result of this triangular interaction is the communication or …