Who made these things, and why? Who used them, and who loved them? How did they work? Who were the people whose day-to-day lives intersected with the histories important enough to be described on gallery walls? Unless I encountered the right kind of docent, I would have to speculate.Ĭollege afforded me the opportunity to study the history of museums, and my desire to play with these spaces increased. The art and artifacts in museums fired my imagination, but I often felt like I needed to sneak past the “official” narrative to get to the heart of what excited me. Why did the names of collectors, the materials used to make the art, and even the taxonomy of specimens get pride of place when so much was left unexplored and under-explained? I did not understand why museums spent valuable space relaying details about what I later came to understand as provenance. What I didn’t treasure so much were the labels. I treasured weekend excursions on New Jersey Transit to New York City to visit the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We communicate that change through storytelling.Īs a child, I knew that museums were special places where time could move more slowly. The change worth celebrating is that what-and who-museums value has expanded. This axiom at the heart of museum practice hasn’t changed. People look to museums to determine what is valuable while at the same time hoping that museums will value what they treasure. Storytelling in museums can be a tool of liberation. Ethics, Standards, and Professional Practices.Ethics, Standards and Professional Practices.Facing Change: Advancing Board Diversity.COVID-19 Resources & Information for the Museum Field.Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion.
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