Building Museums

Building Museums
Author: Robert Herskovitz
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2012
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 087351856X

An indispensable tool for renovating and building small and midsized museums, written for those who preserve and interpret our cultural heritage.

Registration Methods for the Small Museum

Registration Methods for the Small Museum
Author: Daniel B. Reibel
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1997
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780761989059

The definitive guide to registration methodology for smaller institutions and beginning or part-time registrars. This is a completely new and updated version of the original classic; included is a discussion of computer technology and its uses and implications for the small museum. Also provided: sample manuals and forms for immediate use.

The Participatory Museum

The Participatory Museum
Author: Nina Simon
Publisher: Museum 2.0
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2010
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0615346502

Visitor participation is a hot topic in the contemporary world of museums, art galleries, science centers, libraries and cultural organizations. How can your institution do it and do it well? The Participatory Museum is a practical guide to working with community members and visitors to make cultural institutions more dynamic, relevant, essential places. Museum consultant and exhibit designer Nina Simon weaves together innovative design techniques and case studies to make a powerful case for participatory practice. "Nina Simon's new book is essential for museum directors interested in experimenting with audience participation on the one hand and cautious about upending the tradition museum model on the other. In concentrating on the practical, this book makes implementation possible in most museums. More importantly, in describing the philosophy and rationale behind participatory activity, it makes clear that action does not always require new technology or machinery. Museums need to change, are changing, and will change further in the future. This book is a helpful and thoughtful road map for speeding such transformation." -Elaine Heumann Gurian, international museum consultant and author of Civilizing the Museum "This book is an extraordinary resource. Nina has assembled the collective wisdom of the field, and has given it her own brilliant spin. She shows us all how to walk the talk. Her book will make you want to go right out and start experimenting with participatory projects." -Kathleen McLean, participatory museum designer and author of Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions "I predict that in the future this book will be a classic work of museology." --Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums

So You Want to Work in a Museum?

So You Want to Work in a Museum?
Author: Tara Young
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2019-08-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1538124106

A One-Stop Guide to Museum Careers People who love art, are fascinated by archaeology, or are history buffs may have considered the idea of working in a museum. But experience as a museum visitor reveals only the public-facing side of the museum, and not its complex, dynamic internal structure. So You Want to Work in A Museum? helps to demystify museums as institutions and to prepare prospective museum staff to explore the field further. After reading this book, readers will be able to: Understand how non-profit museums are governed, funded, and staffed, and how they define and meet their missions. Explore museum divisions and departments and specific roles within them—not just prominent roles like directors and curators, but also less visible ones like registrars, preparators, development officers, conservators, and more. Consider the contemporary function of museums, and how yesterday’s cabinets of curiosity have evolved into today’s community catalysts. Examine how the contemporary function of museums has affected the types of positions available and the work museum staff do on a daily basis. Look at the skills required for different types of positions, and how readers aspiring to work in those positions can best prepare themselves to land their dream jobs and be successful in them. Understand the benefits and potential challenges of working in a museum, and Access a wealth of resources that will inspire further study of the field, and outline next steps to pursue a museum career.

Collections Management

Collections Management
Author: Anne Fahy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2005-07-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134830513

Collections Management brings together leading papers exploring some of the major issues affecting collections management. Providing information about initiatives and issues for anyone involved in collections management, Fahy identifies the main issues relating to collecting and disposal of collections and discusses why museums should develop appropriate documentation systems. Examining the status of research within museums, the various sources of advice relating to security and addresses the basics of insurance and indemnity, Collections Management is an invaluable and very practical introduction to this topic for students of museum studies and museum professionals.

Starting Right

Starting Right
Author: Gerald W. George
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2004
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780759105577

Here in this second edition, updating the original by Gerald George and Cindy Sherrell-Leo, you will find out in straightforward language what a museum is--philosophically and historically--some pros and cons of establishing your museum, up-to-date resource lists, and good basic advice on all aspects of museums from the choice of a building through collections care, registration, exhibitions, conservation, staffing, financial management, and fund raising.

Wilson Duff

Wilson Duff
Author: Robin Fisher
Publisher: Harbour Publishing
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2022-05-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1550179764

The fascinating origin story of Wilson Duff, the pioneering BC anthropologist and museologist remembered for his contributions to research on First Nations cultures of the Northwest Coast. Wilson Duff was born in 1925 in the city of Vancouver and his turbulent early years were shaped by the Great Depression and the Second World War. An intelligent child, he quickly progressed in school. After one year at the University of British Columbia, he signed up for the Air Force. An analytic thinker, Duff excelled as a navigator on a Liberator bomber based in India. However, these years carried their own traumas—the omnipresent terror of war and the specter of death. On his return from India, Duff recommenced his studies at UBC. There he began a love affair with anthropology and museum studies. As provincial anthropologist at the BC Provincial Museum from 1950 to 1965 and then at the University of British Columbia, he helped to shape Canadian and British Columbian understanding of First Nations’ cultures. Forging relationships with Indigenous Peoples during field work, Duff was particularly interested in the Northwest Coast cultures and art, and authored important books including Arts of the Raven: Masterworks by the Northwest Coast Indian and Images Stone B.C.: Thirty Centuries of Northwest Coast Indian Sculpture. Hundreds of students left his classes with a greater understanding of Indigenous cultures and the consequences of settler colonialism in British Columbia. He devoted his life to understanding Indigenous people and cultures and communicating that understanding to newcomers, a subject of continued relevance today. Duff struggled with depression for much of his life and died by suicide at age 51. In the end, he claimed he did not fear death because “the end is the beginning.” He believed in reincarnation: that he would be coming back. In tracing the story of Wilson Duff, biographer Robin Fisher reveals the evolution of anthropological studies, the history of a time and place—Vancouver during the Great Depression and war years—and the more recent changes taking place in museum and anthropology studies. Told with insight, and attention to the controversies and complexities of Duff’s life, this story will fascinate anyone engaged in BC history.

Museums 101

Museums 101
Author: Mark Walhimer
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2015-05-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1442230193

Looking for an A-Z, one-stop, comprehensive book on museums? Wish you were able to have one of the world’s leading museum consultants spend a couple of days with you, talking you through how to start a museum, how museums work, how to set up an exhibit, and more? If so, Museums 101 is the answer to your wishes. In one short volume, Mark Walhimer covers: • Essential Background, such as what is a museum, a quick history of museums, and 10 steps to starting a museum • Operational Basics, such as branding, marketing, strategic planning, governance, accessibility, and day-to-day operations • What goes on behind the scenes in a museum, ranging from finances to fundraising to art handling, exhibit management, and research • The Visitor Experience, planning a museum, designing exhibits for visitors, programming, and exhibit evaluation. Features that even the most experienced museum professionals will find useful include a community outreach checklist, a fundraising checklist, a questionnaire for people considering starting a new museum, and an exhaustive, well-organized list of online resources for museum operations. The book’s contents were overseen by a six-member international advisory board. Valuable appendixes you’ll use every day include a museum toolbox full of useful forms, checklists, and worksheets, and a glossary of essential museum-related terms. In addition to the printed book, Museums 101 also features a companion website exclusively for readers of the book. The website— museums101.com—features: • links to essential online resources in the museum world, • downloadable sample documents, • a glossary, • a bibliography of sources for further reading, and • photographs of more than 75 museums of all types. Museums 101 Advisory Board • Jim DeMersman, Executive Director, Museum on Main, Pleasanton, California, United States of America • David L. Godfrey, C.P.A., Allison & Godfrey, Certified Public Accountants, Norwalk, Connecticut, United States of America • Van A. Romans, President, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth, Texas, and Board of Trustees, American Alliance of Museums, United States of America • Sergey Solovyev, Ph.D., Department of Greek & Roman Antiquities, The State Hermitage Museum, Russia • Alison Spence, Exhibitions and Loans Registrar, National Museum of Australia, Canberra ACT, Australia • Audrey Vermette, Director of Programs and Public Affairs, Canadian Museums Association, Ontario, Canada