Museum Practice

MUSEUM PR ACTICE Edited by CONAL MCCARTHY

Museum Practice covers the professional work carried out in museums and art galleries of all types, including the core functions of management, collections, exhibitions, and programs. Some forms of museum practice are familiar to visitors, yet within these diverse and complex institutions many practices are hidden from view, such as creating marketing campaigns, curating and designing exhibitions, developing fundraising and sponsorship plans, crafting mission statements, handling repatriation claims, dealing with digital media, and more.

Focused on what actually occurs in everyday museum work, this volume offers contributions from experienced professionals and academics that cover a wide range of subjects including policy frameworks, ethical guidelines, approaches to conservation, collection care and management, exhibition development and public programs. From internal processes such as leadership, governance and strategic planning, to public facing roles in interpretation, visitor research and community engagement and learning, each essential component of contemporary museum practice is thoroughly discussed.

CONAL McCARTHY is Professor and Director of the Museum and Heritage Studies program at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Conal has worked in galleries and museums in a variety of professional roles, sits on the boards and advisory groups of a number of institutions, and has published widely on museum practice.

List of Illustrations ix

Editor xiii

General Editors xiv

Contributors xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Editors’Preface to Museum Practice and the International Handbooks of Museum Studies xix

Introduction: Grounding Museum Studies: Introducing Practice xxvii
Conal McCarthy

Part I Priorities 1

1. The Essence of the Museum: Mission, Values, Vision 3
David Fleming

2. Governance: Guiding the Museum in Trust 27
Barry Lord, with Case Study by Rina Gerson

3. Policies, Frameworks, and Legislation: The Conditions Under Which English Museums Operate 43
Sara Selwood and Stuart Davies

4. Reconceptualizing Museum Ethics for the Twenty‐First Century: A View from the Field 69
Janet Marstine, Jocelyn Dodd, and Ceri Jones

5. Museum Measurement: Questions of Value 97
Carol A. Scott

6. Developing Audiences for the Twenty‐First‐Century Museum 123
Graham Black

Part II Resources 153

7. Balancing Mission and Money: Critical Issues in Museum Economics 155
Ted Silberberg and Gail Lord

8. Tate and BP – Oil and Gas as the New Tobacco?: Arts Sponsorship, Branding, and Marketing 179
Derrick Chong

9. From Idiosyncratic to Integrated: Strategic Planning for Collections 203
James B. Gardner

10. Collection Care and Management: History, Theory, and Practice 221
John E. Simmons

11. The Future of Collecting in “Disciplinary” Museums: Interpretive, Thematic, Relational 249
Nick Merriman

12. Managing Collections or Managing Content?: The Evolution of Museum Collections Management Systems 267
Malcolm Chapman

13. Conservation Theory and Practice: Materials, Values, and People in Heritage Conservation 293
Dean Sully

Part III Processes 315

14. From Caring to Creating: Curators Change Their Spots 317
Ken Arnold

15. The Pendulum Swing: Curatorial Theory Past and Present 341
Halona Norton‐Westbrook

16. Planning for Success: Project Management for Museum Exhibitions 357
David K. Dean

17. Museum Exhibition Tradecraft: Not an Art, but an Art to It 379
Dan Spock

18. Museum Exhibition Practice: Recent Developments in Europe, Canada, and Australia 403
Linda Young, with Anne Whitelaw and Rosmarie Beier‐de Haan

19. A Critique of Museum Restitution and Repatriation Practices 431
Piotr Bienkowski

20. Rewards and Frustrations: Repatriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ancestral Remains by the National Museum of Australia 455
Michael Pickering

Part IV Publics 479

21. The “Active Museum”: How Concern with Community Transformed the Museum 481
Elizabeth Crooke

22. Visitor Studies: Toward a Culture of Reflective Practice and Critical Museology for the Visitor‐Centered Museum 503
Lee Davidson

23. Translating Museum Meanings: A Case for Interpretation 529
Kerry Jimson

24. Learning, Education, and Public Programs in Museums and Galleries 551
John Reeve and Vicky Woollard

25. Reviewing the Digital Heritage Landscape: The Intersection of Digital Media and Museum Practice 577
Shannon Wellington and Gillian Oliver

Afterword: The Continuing Struggle for Diversity and Equality 599
Eithne Nightingale

Museum Practice and Mediation: An Afterword 613
Anthony Alan Shelton

Index 635

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