Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Taking Science Museums To The Edge: How Science Museums Can Advocate For Social Justice, Education And Inclusivity Through Their Exhibits, Sasha C. Naples

Museum Studies Theses

Science museums have often associated affluent populations and quality education with access to scientific material and content. While these institutions have become more accessible in many ways, they can and should increase their efforts to include BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities and individuals. As the need grows for diversity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields so does the demand for science museums to include these communities’ needs and wants. This thesis discusses the need for and importance of BIPOC representation in science museums and what museums have already done to include them in their programming and …

The Red Jacket Peace Medal And Ethics Of Repatriation, Nicholas J. Oconnor

Museum Studies Theses

The Red Jacket Peace Medal and Ethics of Repatriation

Native Americans have had a long and arduous past. Many generations of tribal nations within the geographical and political context of the United States have experienced genocide, forced relocation, had their land seized, and cultural artifacts and remains stolen since the fifteenth century. Museums have become the primary institutions now owning the majority of variously acquired artifacts of Native American cultural heritage and displaying them in pursuit of scientific study. For the long overdue injustices done to Native Americans, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was established in …

Visual Representation Of Black Individuals At The Forefront Of Underground Railroad Interpretation, Alison Spongr

Museum Studies Theses

This thesis is grounded in a reflection and analysis of the building of an institution whose foundation and visuals position the narratives of Black individuals at the forefront of Underground Railroad interpretation. In 2018, the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center opened to the public after decades in the making. Its permanent exhibition, One More River to Cross, set in motion a shift in power – of whose stories are represented and shared – generated by visual activism.

“Between the American Revolution in 1776 and the end of the Civil War in 1865, thousands of freedom seekers escaped slavery …

The Rise And False Of Confederate Monuments, Julia M. Hamilton

Museum Studies Theses

Removing Confederate monuments in the United States has caused a racist, violent, and deadly backlash. Those who are against removing Confederate monuments make claims that doing so is erasing history and culture. This thesis argues that removing these monuments corrects history because Confederate monuments are not historically accurate. Factual historic evidence is provided as well as literature to support this claim. Case studies are provided that explore different institutional responses to racist Confederate monuments and problematic museum displays. This paper explores the responsibility that historic public spaces must ensure accurate information is available to the American public.

Creating The Experience: Engaging Millennials In Museums With A Focus On Jewish Millennials And Museums, Sarah G. Drozda

Museum Studies Theses

In this research, I explore two main ideas: The relationship that millennials have with museums and what programming excites them into coming back to the museum. To do this, I did a background review of the motivations and passions of the millennial generation, as well as various programming that have engaged millennials in museums. As someone who is a millennial and passionate about Jewish museums and Jewish engagement, I focused my research on how museums can help to bring Jewish millennials closer to their heritage, culture, and Jewish identity. A good segment of Jewish millennials is not drawn to traditional …

Proof Positive: Applications Of Chemical Analysis Techniques In Art Forgery Detection, Joseph Fryc

Museum Studies Theses

In response to the subjective nature of older forgery detection techniques, modern forgery detection methods rely heavily on chemical analysis of the materials utilized in a given piece of work in order to make authenticity determinations. Chemical methods of detection at their core provide an objective determination of facts regarding the composition of materials utilized in contested pieces and provide a relative date of production for those materials. In this way, chemical analysis helps service the field of modern forgery detection as a direct compliment to traditional stylistic analysis, by providing extra data on the piece that can often be …

Museums & Environmental Sustainability: Are They Doing Enough?, Alexandra M. Dwyer

Museum Studies Theses

As the world continues to be affected by the rapid rates of climate change, institutions from every sector are transitioning to become more sustainable by reducing or eliminating their harmful habits on the ecosystem. Whether by their own accord or external pressure from current legislative action to cut carbon emissions, institutions are shifting towards a sustainable future. For museums there are additional unique reasons to adopt sustainability into various aspects with their institution. The most influential reason is that museums have a responsibility as community leaders and change makers. However, looming questions remain: Are museums doing enough? Are these cultural …

Accessibility For All: Digitization In Museums, Shayna Diamond

Museum Studies Theses

The role museums have in society is an ever-changing one. As institutions of knowledge, culture, and humanity, they are subject to the same evolutions as the people they represent, educate, and serve. Thus, as digitization movements have swept the world, efforts to bring museums into the digital age have increased. This paper discusses digitization in the museum context, addresses the digitization of collections and exhibitions, and examines how digitization tools open those resources for public access – in particular for people with disabilities. The aim of this topic is to demonstrate how said digitization can best be utilized for the …

Remembering Why: Finding Direction In The Face Of Unsustainable Collections Practices, Megan Barr

Museum Studies Theses

Shifts in the philosophy and practices that guide museums have changed the way we collect and what we collect. However, professional standards and expectations related to the management and use of those collections have largely remained unaltered. Museum professionals are repeatedly confronted by the impracticality and near impossibility of achieving accepted professional standards when managing collections. It is clear that the profession needs to rethink the practices and policies that shape our daily work assumptions, but where do we begin? Using Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle as a guide, we will rearticulate our purpose and reexamine the practices that get in …

Aiming To Reenact: The Efficacy Of Military Living History As A Learning Tool, Leah T. Glenn

Museum Studies Theses

People around the world have been fascinated with recreating the past since antiquity. Over the past century, however, the presentation of historical information using various forms of human interaction and animation has gained increasing attention, at least in the historic site community if not largely accepted among academic historians. Utilizing a number of non-traditional tools to create a multisensory experience for visitors, this “living” history aims at entertaining the public while providing insights into the past not easily gained through more academic means. Further, there have been many sites, particularly those with a military theme, that have chosen to utilize …

More Than A Museum: Museums' Past, Current, And Future Involvement With Racial Issues, Madeline B. Friedler

Museum Studies Theses

The year 2020 has been universally acknowledged as an extraordinary point in activist history. The Black Lives Matter organization has spearheaded a new wave of activism comparable to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 70s. By evaluating how cultural learning centers such as museums have presented racial history in the past, an effective plan can be made on how museums should interpret this present-day history. Museums should not only recognize #BlackLivesMatter as an important part of history in an academic sense, but they should also actively promote positive racial change in the communities they serve. Research shows that …

A Museum’S Guide To Queer Inclusivity, Ashtin O. Ashbrook

Museum Studies Theses

LGBT+ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, also called queer) people have always existed. The history of queer people has been repressed and destroyed. As culture changes and becomes more accepting of these identities, queer people are living more openly, and history is being well recorded. Museums are institutions that are responsible for representing and perpetuating cultural views, and therefore have a responsibility to include a diverse variety of people. One strategy to normalize queerness is to integrate it into museums. This guide will explore queer inclusion, with an emphasis on transgender inclusion, in all different types of museums. The following …

Dinosaur Representation In Museums: How The Struggle Between Scientific Accuracy And Pop Culture Affects The Public Perception Of Mesozoic Non-Avian Dinosaurs In Museums, Carla A. Feller

Museum Studies Theses

This thesis examines the struggle of museums to keep up with swiftly advancing scientific discoveries relating to the study and display of Mesozoic (approximately 250 million years to 65 million years ago) non-avian dinosaurs. The paper will explore the history of dinosaur discoveries, their display methodologies in museums, and how pop culture, including movies and video games, have influenced museum displays and public perception over time. The lack of updated dinosaur exhibits in smaller local museums leads to disbelief, or an outright denial, of new information such as feathered dinosaurs. Entertainment, such as movies and video games that have non-avian …

Online Interpretation Guideline For Historic House Museums, Olivia A. Weixlmann

Museum Studies Theses

What does it mean to be a museum in 2020? How do cultural institutions, charged with preserving our history, navigate the challenges of the modern world? Technological advances including the internet, quickly produce an abundance of media outlets baiting attention that impact the sociopolitical climate driving civil unrest, and ideological division. The surplus of competing information from technology driven outlets result in audiences being overwhelmed and left questioning if the information they're receiving is from a reliable source.

Lost And Found: Onöndowa’Ga:’Gawenoh As An Anchor To Identity And Sovereignty, Brittney N. Jimerson

Museum Studies Theses

This author presents a study of the Onöndowa’ga:’, an Indigenous group located in Western New York, who are more commonly known as the Seneca. Onöndowa’ga:’Gawenoh[1]to the Onöndowa’ga:’, like all Indigenous people, is a form of intangible history, history that is interconnected with who they are and where they come from. The history of who the Onöndowa’ga:’ were and still are, as well as what their language means to their culture, is the groundwork for understanding how devastating US policies became for them. While many areas of culture were impacted by those policies, the largest target was on Indigenous languages. It …

Exhibiting Prejudice: How Twentieth-Century Museums Promoted The Eugenics Movement, Anna Wachtel

Museum Studies Theses

This research illustrates the impact museums have on social, political, and educational systems through the exploration of the eugenics movement in American museums. Museum professionals promoted racial hierarchies and eugenic ideologies at World’s Fairs through the exploitation of “exotic” peoples and contests designed to judge and categorize racial differences based on an individual’s physical and mental characteristics.

Following World’s Fairs, museums began displaying eugenic themed exhibits. Prominent museum professionals and government officials of the early twentieth century used their position of authority to promote the eugenics movement in National and regional American museums through educational exhibits using approachable science-based exhibit …

Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years Of History & Membership, Jessica E. Nantka

Museum Studies Projects

The purpose of this master’s thesis project is to examine the formidable globalized service organization, Zonta International (ZI), which has impacted women around the world for 100 years. I utilized essential practices in the Museum Studies Master of Arts program at SUNY Buffalo State to create this project in association with an exhibit, Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years of History & Membership, presented at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum from November 5 – November 23, 2019. The use of digitized images, documents, and artifacts within the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection owned by The Buffalo History Museum, have been …

Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years Of History & Membership, Jessica E. Nantka

Museum Studies Projects

The purpose of this master’s thesis project is to examine the formidable globalized service organization, Zonta International (ZI), which has impacted women around the world for 100 years. I utilized essential practices in the Museum Studies Master of Arts program at SUNY Buffalo State to create this project in association with an exhibit, Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years of History & Membership, presented at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum from November 5 – November 23, 2019. The use of digitized images, documents, and artifacts within the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection owned by The Buffalo History Museum, have been …

Cultural Heritage Destruction In Middle Eastern Museums: Problems And Causes, Evan A. Wright

Museum Studies Theses

Destruction of cultural heritage sites and museums in the Middle East has become increasingly prevalent in the recent decades. This thesis aims to unravel the causes for these violent acts. It uses a socio-historical perspective of how culture, religion, and politics have polarized people and contributed to the ruination. Three museums are examined through a scope of progressive violence: The Kuwait National Museum, The National Museum of Iraq and the National Museum of Afghanistan. This thesis shows that both secular and religious factors have contributed to this destruction, and faults by international governing agencies and of investment of mitigation strategies …

Making The Grade: Do Art Museums Have An Impact On Student Achievement Within Low Socio-Economic Communities?, Alison M. Rebmann

Museum Studies Theses

This thesis evaluates the connections between art museums across the country with their communities. With many of the country’s museums located in city centers, there is a large population of children who live within the vicinity of art museums. Many of these children also come from low socio-economic backgrounds. They may not have access to the resources needed to gain access to art museums. This thesis examines what art museums are doing to ensure all community members can experience what they have to offer. Four main categories are examined in this research: (1) the price of entry to the museum, …

Portraits With A Posthumous Voice: Reinforcing And Contesting Social Norms In The Heterotopic Museum And Cemetery, Matthew J. Crissey

Museum Studies Theses

Abstract

The following paper qualitatively analyzes and documents over 500 memorial-photographs/etched portraits on tombstones in ten Western New York cemeteries. This paper covers fourteen topics, ranging from religion to gang-violence. A juxtaposition of portraits exhibited within the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery with memorial-portraits on tombstones revealed heterotopic environments creating a public forum enabling the reinforcing or contestation of social ideologies. In other words, the author observed the similarities of identities and social norms publicly expressed on tombstones and gallery portraits.

A Social Constructionist approach enabled the study to examine how one social phenomenon contributes to the shaping of a culture. …

Thanatourism To Dark Tourism: The Transition Of The Religious Sacred To Secular Sacred, Kelsey Reed

Museum Studies Theses

The study of tourism shows a trend in the growing popularity of visiting sites associated with death, called Dark Tourism. While the term Dark Tourism is a modern construct, the practice of visiting sites associated with death is not. At the same time these sites of Dark Tourism (like Auschwitz) hold a place of importance in modern culture to multiple groups, placing them on a level of sacredness. Dark Tourism comes from the practice of Thanatourim (Death Tourism) and transitioned over time to follow the guideline of Dark Tourism. The connection to the aspect of the sacred can also be …

Picturing Buffalo: The Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection, A Master’S Project To Prepare And Exhibit Images And Artifacts From The Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection, Kimberly A. Bruckman

Museum Studies Projects

The purpose of this Master’s Thesis Project is to implement essential practices in the museum profession in relation to the stabilization, digitization, and exhibition of the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection. Through skills learned in the Museum Studies MA program, negatives from the Beach Collection were systematically chosen, digitized, and researched. This process resulted in an exhibition titled Picturing Buffalo: The Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection, which was on display from February 4-27, 2018 at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, in Buffalo, New York.

Portraits, Preservation & Pedigrees: An Introduction To Photographic Portraiture, Photographs As A Means Of Genealogical Research, And A Preservation Case Study Of The Howard D. Beach Studio Collection Of Glass Plate Negatives, Kirsten Feigel

Museum Studies Theses

Photography is an established art form that combines the knowledge of chemistry, light, and optics to render an image. Initially, the image is captured on a flat surface coated with emulsion and combined with an exposure to sunlight or another illuminating source. Today, images are captured by digital methods. Artistically, the photograph may reveal sceneries of landscapes, of treasured belongings and of people, as they are seen to the human eye. Photographic portraiture is the oldest style of photography next to landscape imagery, due to commercial photographers setting up studios and experimenting with photography’s many cameras, plates, and emulsions. In …

Aura Of Authenticity: The Impact Of Original Objects In The Museum Guest Experience, Alyssa Frijey

Museum Studies Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to defend the maintenance of original object-based collections in museums with the argument that they provide profound, unique, and irreplaceable experiences for museum guests. Authenticity of an artifact carries with it an aura of importance which is a highly valuable means of connection within museums. Such meaning is the direct result of the manner in which human beings interpret material culture. Keeping in mind that this value can only be fully experienced through that which is original, it is crucial that original objects should be maintained in these institutions.

Museological Cinema: An Ideal Approach To A Modern Art Form, Steven Groff

Museum Studies Theses

Abstract:

This paper is dedicated to finding a way to better incorporate cinema into museums. The answer as to how came through a number of ways that some museums currently operate that could be adopted by others, a few new ideas, as well as an expansion in the number of museum theatres. A key theme of this is to expand the limited selection of films typically found in museums and galleries to include more popular fare, which would better attract visitors with frequency. I also endorse the idea of constructing new theatres for museums that do not already possess one, …

Controversy In 20th Century Museum Exhibits: A 21st Century Perspective, Jennifer K. Weber

Museum Studies Theses

This paper examines how museums can be impacted by public responses to their exhibits. This is accomplished by studying two specific contexts from the late 20^th century: first, observing the changes and influences that occurred over a relatively short period of time involving the National Endowment for the Arts funding in the late 1980s, and another compares the social responses to the same exhibition, “Sensation” as shown in two different countries. The social and political responses to museum exhibits can play a huge role in how the exhibits, the museums, and the artists are viewed. This can have long-lasting …

Northwest Coast Native American Art: The Relationship Between Museums, Native Americans And Artists, Karrie E. Myers

Museum Studies Theses

Museums today have many responsibilities, including protecting and understanding objects in their care. Many also have relationships with groups of people whose items or artworks are housed within their institutions. This paper explores the relationship between museums and Northwest Coast Native Americans and their artists. Participating museums include those in and out of the Northwest Coast region, such as the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the Burke Museum, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Museum. Museum professionals who conducted research for some of these museums included Franz Boas, …

Struggle For Survival: The History And Ethics Of Living Collections, Emily Simms

Museum Studies Theses

This thesis explores the ethics involved with institutions caring for living collections worldwide such as zoos, national parks, and aquariums. There are several main concerns that these institutions are currently facing: poaching, keeper negligence, euthanasia within zoos themselves, and public opinion. The moral issues engrained can help guide keepers of these collections to take better care of the animals for which they are responsible. It also explores specific cases in the past in which living collections have managed serious issues and how they resolved these issues.

Accommodating Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Museums, William S. Tyler

History Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the question of how current museum access programs meet the needs of individuals with Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD is an umbrella classification that presents many challenges for individuals in terms of social development and academic growth. It is important that all individuals are given the opportunity to experience the museum setting to their full ability. With this population of individuals at the forefront, an analysis will be done to examine what needs are present and how museum programming serves them. There are a variety of strategies and accommodations that museums can …