Lane County Historical Museum

In December 2002, the directors of 18 museums located throughout Europe and the United States issued the Declaration of the Importance and Value of Universal Museums. The declaration is an attempt, by the directors of major Western museums, to defend against demands for restitution of museum objects by defining themselves as “universal museums” which are of value to all of humanity. This document fails as a convincing defence against restitution claims for several reasons. First, it dismisses circumstances of older acquisitions without considering the ethics or legality of surrounding the acquisition. Second, while it pronounces these museums “universal,” it approaches this from a distinctly Western perspective and perpetuates colonial and imperialist ideas. Finally, it ignores important debates that are occurring between and within scholarly, professional, and activist communities.

Memorial museums, in contrast to the “generic history museum which provides a container for a wide variety of topics” [Williams, 221], usually entwines intimately with its events

Positioned alongside Central Park in the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museum, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a certain set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within the museum. Brent Plate in Religion, Art, and Visual Culture argues that “objects obtain different meanings in different locations and historical settings.”An object placed on display behind a glass case inside a museum would hold a vastly different meaning if it was put on sale by a street vendor, like the ones who set up their tables in close proximity to the Met. The different meanings that objects are able to obtain is attributed to the relationships that are established between the object itself and the environment that surrounds it. These relationships often involve the kind of audience that a museum attracts, where the work is exhibited, and how the exhibits within a museum is planned out. Museums subsequently have the ability to control how these relationships are established which influences the way a viewer is able to construct meaning. When a visitor observes an object on display at the Met, they instinctively construct a certain set of

The Dallas Museum is a renowned art museum established in 1903 and is located in Dallas, Texas (Neumann et al. 19). The Dallas Museum of art is one of the largest art museums in the United States of America containing more than 24,000 collections of art ranging from the ancient to the modern ones (MacDonald & Brettell 112). There are numerous things inside the museum, such as the pieces of art, museum visitors, and the architecture, that relate to the understanding of the world outside the museum in terms of the day to day life and the human society. My goal in this essay is to think outside the box and describe the observations I made inside the museum and explain how they relate to my everyday life, the wider world, or the human society.

In the Robyn Autry article, it mainly focuses on the national conflict of museums mainly focusing towards African American. The author travel to 15 museums around the United States that focuses towards African American. She mainly talks about how the African American were facing numerous hardships in the U.S and how the museum represents those issues to the general public. She believes the way to tell the hardship of African Americans is by exhibiting through a museum. When traveling through these museums she focused towards “centered on three traumatic episodes: capture and displacement from Africa, enslavement, and racial segregation” (Autry 64). The author of the articles wants to show that over time that museums meanings has changed over

For my Museum visit I chose to go to the Atlantic County Historical Society in Somers Point, NJ. When I originally had gone I didn’t know what to expect exactly. I thought for the most part they would talk to me about the history of Atlantic county which they did however they had amazing objects and memorabilia that date back centuries. They had everything from old toys made of amazing wood to guns that were heavier then I had originally anticipated. While I was there the staff told me stories about everything from famous spots in Atlantic City to Margate even some things about my hometown of Absecon.

Early Saturday morning, I attended the Historic Brownsville Museum. I remembered visiting before to utilize the restroom since it was the only building close to the cemetery where I was volunteering. The restrooms were awesome because of their antiquity therefore I attended one more time for this project. As I entered for the second time, I saw shelves of merchandise or souvenirs from the museum. The lady up front charged my friend and I two dollars and gave us directions of the different halls and what types of exhibits we would encounter. We then proceeded to the first exhibits on the right of the entrance. I was ready for this adventure!

The field trip to the Clark County Museum was a hot, but enlightening experience. Different aspects of Nevada, especially the Clark county region, were presented through technological advancements and the evolutions in the culture of those who lived in the area. The most interesting part of the tour was going through the homes on Heritage Street. It was very intriguing to see how the era heavily influenced the houses and the way of life during the time. The time was reflected on the different aesthetic and functional aspects of the houses.

There are different types of exhibits, current, traveling, and online. Current exhibits are part of the museum that will never change or move, may be improved but will always be there. Traveling exhibits could stay at any museum for about a month and move to another. Some examples would be The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936, which is currently in the Holocaust Museum d.c Online exhibits are articles/information on a specific topic that you can find online.(free) The greatness about all it is that all leave a lasting informative

However, the DHM manipulates the “Picture Archive Collection” to show an airy light-heartedness instead of a realistic view. This is especially true in particular pieces from World War II. The photographs are monochromatic just as the ones from the Bell County Museum are; however, they are taken of the community in a lens that shows fewer shadows. The images are of people smiling joyfully and of structures intact under halos of light. This exhibition of bliss is extremely ironic given the circumstances in which these pictures were taken. I can’t help but to call out the DHM and their deliberate evasion of realism: these photographs completely exclude a gargantuan amount of vital history. Regardless of how the events of WWII and the Holocaust make Germany look, it is still imperative to include all aspects of the past in a historical museum, not just the highlighted fragments. This contriving misconception of Germanic antiquity is put on display to manipulate the public into thinking that the Holocaust wasn’t as horrifying as the rest of the world makes it out to

Recently I have interacted with public history issues common in an archival and museum settings such as the interpretation of objects and historical displays. Regarding previous coursework, in Historical Methodology, I learned that the interpretation of exhibits could provide a special atmosphere on a subject in history that can influence an audience’s opinions on an event. At the historical society, I came across this issue when setting up an exhibit describing the Los Alamos community during the Manhattan Project. Such artifacts as the original iron gate to the laboratory’s processing building in Santa Fe during World War II provides tourists with a sense of heritage allowing them to form their questions and views of the community’s history. With the presentation of the gate and several other objects allowed those that visited the historical society’s museum with a connection to the past. Regarding this, I encountered questions about the community’s connection to the Manhattan Project and opinions on the use of the bombs on Japan by the museum’s visitors. Also, I have experienced how interactive exhibits have taken the place of actual objects. The new addition of the museum features several interactive displays on the Cold War. Though

In Autry article, she stated that “how national histories marred by racial conflict can be translated into narratives of group identity formation” (Autry, 57). Autry is trying to say that museums is a sacred place of memory and trauma. When traveling through these museums the author notice that the most common themes were “capture and displacement from Africa, enslavement, and racial segregation” (Autry 64). When she notices that these were the three main topics being shown to the public then it’s a major problem. She felt that the museums had too much power because they were choosing certain information to be displayed about the struggles of African Americans. The author wants to show that over time that a museum can change and can interpret things in a new way in order to attract

Handler and Gable begin their book, The New History in an Old Museum, by stating that “the basic intention of [their] research project was to study the production and consumption of museum messages in relation to the institutional context” (Handler & Gable 10). They primarily explore the corporate structure of Colonial Williamsburg, the social history changes on the ground, as well as the frontline staff and their opinions of the museum and its executives. The authors argue that the goal of the museum is to teach the public their history and explore social changes, however Colonial Williamsburg is failing in their attempts.

In our modern world, we often neglect the cultural importance of art. Large collections of traditional artifacts are present in museums across the world, but the number of annual visitors shrinks every decade. Because of the decreasing demand of live works of art, those who manage museums must choose every exhibit and display case wisely to ensure maximum appeal to the general public. Important decisions regarding museum structure change museums every few years, similar to how “Peale’s Museum . . . grew from a small sampling of curiosities . . . to a large and impressive collection of scientifically classified specimens in the 1820s” (Source B). In order to consistently modify museums, the management must consider what pieces of

A greater number of educators are looking to museums to help them attain their educational objectives. Howard Gardner has identified Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood as the perfect environment for stimulating the natural curiosity of a child. Furthermore, in response to demands for new educational approaches, older children are using museums to develop their critical facilities in art and design (Campbell, 1992).