The Future of Museums: A Review of the Literature

Week three focused on the future of museums.  There wasn’t much assigned to read.  Each student was instructed to select an article from a journal entitled Museums and Cultural Policy put out by Museum International to discuss.  We were also asked to explore the Center for the Future of Museums and to read an article titled Museums, national, post-national and trans-cultural identities.

Sharon Macdonald’s article on the changing landscape of museums and what constitutes a country’s cultural and cultural heritage.  She details the attempts of an exhibit in Bradford, England to promote the trans-cultural South Asian population of Bradford and its influences on the area.

I decided to read “The Changing Contribution of Cultural Heritage” by Cornelius Holtorf.  Holtorf talks about how the concept of Cultural Heritage has changed and how it can contribute to a 21s century society.  He argues that cultural heritage has begun to change from the model in the 19th and first half of the 20th century due to our increasingly global society  and diverse populations.  According to him, the cultural heritage of a nation is not longer based solely off of the “nation-state” model.

He disscusses the different kinds of sites that can be become cultural heritage sites in today’s world, inlcuding those in pop culutre such as one’s mentioned in The Da Vinci code and other popular books.  One site he talks about, a picture of which is included, is a car cemetary in Sweeden, and how that shows us our past.

Holtorf makes an excelelnt point about the changing meanings behind cultural heritage in todays world.  He gives support for his arugment and disscusses several “modern” interpretations of cultural hertiage around the world.  I found the article very interesting and thought provoking.

References

Holtorf, C.  (2012).  The changing contribution of cultural heritage.  Museums International, 63, 1-2, 8-16.

Macdonald, S. ().Museums, national, postnational and transcultural identities. In B. Carbonell (Eds.), Museum studies: An anthology of contexts. (p. 273-286). Malden, Massachusetts, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.*

*I do not know if this citation is correct.  We were not given all the information, the text of the article was just posted on the class website.  I took the citation from a classmates discussion board post.

Gaming in Libraries

Gaming in libraries is a relatively new concept.  Gaming has become increasingly popular over the last 30 years since the introduction of Nintendo in the late ’80s.  While I never had a Nintendo, Sony’s Play Station, or  a Sega system growing up, I knew several who did.  Video games have become part of our culture, there is no denying it.  They are more popular today then ever before it seems between consule games, massive multi-player online roleplaying games (MMORPGs), and even games for our smart phones and other devices.  They are increasingly popular with children and teens.  So it was only a matter of time before libraries got on the bandwagon so to speak.

Libraries are no longer just places to hold books, for years they have had movies, DVDs, and CDs.  So why not gaming programs?  In an effort to appeal to the next generation of library users.  Supported by the American Library Association, and it’s affiliate the Young Adult Library Services Association, libraries across the country are getting into gaming.  The Pasco County’s Regency Park Library has a Tween game called Rock N’ Games on June 22 and has had several other gaming events for tweens and teens.  The New Port Richey Library has several Summer Game Days this summer on various days.  I like to think this change is due in part to the next generation of librarians, many of whom are like myself and have chosen librarianship as their career choice and therefore gone to library school immediately after college.  Gaming is here to stay, so having video games sessions in libraries is a great way to grab younger patrons and provide a safe place for them to get together with their friends and hang out having fun.

My friend at Tampa Bay Quill and Quirk wrote a great article on the subject.  Please check out her other articles, two of which feature yours truly.

Florida Holocaust Museum: A Bit of WWII History in Downtown St. Pete

My history museum is on the Florida Holocaust Museum.  I do not have pictures to accompany this report, but I don’t think it needs them anyway.

Florida Holocaust Museum

55 5th St South

St. Petersburg, FL 33701

Location

The Florida Holocaust Museum is located in downtown St. Petersburg on the corner of First Avenue South and 5^th Street.  It is one of many attractions in the downtown area.  Mirror Lake, Tropicana Field, The Dali Museum, the St. Pete Museum of History, The Vinoy, the historic open air post office, and the Morean Arts Center, as well as the Center’s Chilhuly Exhibit, are all nearby. The FHM and several of the other nearby attractions can be accessed by taking the Trolley, or Looper, which gives the rider a great tour of the downtown area and the driver points out all points of interest, and at 50 cents a ride, you can’t beat the tour it gives!  This

Website

http://www.flholocaustmuseum.org/

The website has an “In the News” section, a link to information on the featured exhibition, and links to resources for visitors and teachers on its home page.  It also has a navigation bar/tabs a across the top which will take visitors to information on their exhibits and collections, their tours and educational trunks, education resources for students and teachers, museum events, a membership tab with how to join, a tab that gives directions, a shop tab, and finally and about tab.  There are a lot of resources on the website that supplement the collections and exhibits at the museum including a history of the museum and the ability to search the museum library catalog.

Partnerships

From their website: “We work collaboratively with other Museums, and organizations such as Yad Vashem, Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Association of Holocaust Organizations, University of South Florida, University of Tampa and Eckerd College, the Anti-Defamation League, and many others. We also provide presentations at state, national and international conferences.”

Other partnerships listed under Educational Partners are: Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, Carl Wilkens, Task Force on Holocaust Information, and Sally Becker – “The Angel of Mostar”.  I also noticed that USF students are admitted to the museum for free and are allowed to check out resources from the museum’s library.  Despite the partnerships also listing The University of Tampa and Eckerd College, this privilege does not extend their students.  They receive a college student discount with a school ID, but cannot check out library materials.  I found this odd, especially since I am a UT alumnus, given that they are both listed as educational partners.  I’ve come across this before, where USF students are admitted for free, but UT students are not.

Accreditation Status

According to a pamphlet I picked up on Education and Group Tours, the museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums.

Publications

I did not find any publications except a few informational pamphlets available at the door on membership and education and school tours.

Adult Life Long Learning

It appears to me, that most of the student resources are for K-12 students.  The website says that they work to educate students about the Holocaust.  I did not find anything forbidding the public from visiting and utilizing the library resources, however only USF students and museum members can check out materials and take then home.  I did not find any programs specific to adult lifelong learning.

Connection with Libraries      

As I mentioned above, the museum has its own library.  They are partnered with the USF Tampa library.

Cultural Heritage

The museum website states that:  “The Florida Holocaust Museum honors the memory of millions of innocent men, women and children who suffered or died in the Holocaust.  The Museum is dedicated to teaching the members of all races and cultures the inherent worth and dignity of human life in order to prevent future genocides.”   In this way, the museum preserves one of the worst periods in history so that every generation may learn from what happened.  They also preserve Jewish Heritage of the community since many members and artifacts were donated by survivors and their families that live locally.

Reactions and Observations

The collection was not what I was expecting.  I don’t know quite what I was expecting to see, but it wasn’t what I saw.  The history of Jewish persecution, timeline of Hitler’s rise to power, and other information were all things that I had learned in school.  I have also read and seen several books and movies set in this era on my own, so again, I knew a lot of the information presented already.  There were no horrific images that I could see.  There was one shot of men in the bunks of one of the camps that showed how skinny they were, but again, that was something I’ve seen at least once in school.  They only shot I remember seeing of any bodies was one the bodies of those who died en route to the camps piled in a coal car, but you could only see a little of the top of the pile.  These might impact children, but it did not affect me as much as it might have had I not seen images of dead bodies and such from the camps in the past.

The exhibit that I did not know anything about was the temporary exhibit on the second floor titled Courage and Compassion: The Legacy of the Bielski Brothers which is on display until September 30th.  The brothers Tuvia, Asael, and Zus Bielski refused to become victims and chose to fight back during the Nazi occupation of Belarus.  Together with their families and over 1,200 other Jews they hid in the forests of Belarus were they survived the war.  The website’s description of the exhibit is:  “The exhibition outlines the rescue of thousands of Jews from the surrounding area and ghettos, the story of the longest escape tunnel ever built, the group’s establishment of a small community in the forest, and their courageous acts of sabotage against the Nazis.”  Their story is chronicled in the 2008 movie Defiance starring Daniel Craig which I now plan to see.  This exhibit impressed me with the strength and perseverance these people possessed.  Their courage is indeed admirable.  The exhibit of this family helps reinforce Kyvig and Mary’s statement that “A history of the American Revolution, World War II, or the Iraq War may give an excellent picture of the general issues and overall pattern of the developing conflict without revealing anything about what a particular community, family, or individual experienced at the time.”  This exhibit helps tell the story of the Bielski family, the community they helped to create, and their experiences during the war in a part of the world not typically discussed in connection with WWII.

The most impactful item on display, however, was the boxcar imported from Poland.  It is one of the few remaining cars used by the Nazis.  Boxcar #113 069-5 is placed on a piece of track taken from Treblinka Killing Center.  While cleaning it, the museum employees found a small, silver children’s ring that is on display.  The information accompanying the boxcar stated that they were used in WWI to transport either 8 horses (the Calvary was still utilized then), or 40 men.  The Nazi’s crammed up to 120 people inside.  This perspective made a normally large piece looks small.  Standing in front of it, it really made one feel small and it saddened me to know just how many people had been crammed in one like sardines.  I found myself hugging myself close.  This piece affected me more than the rest of the exhibit.

I have two criticisms; one is that that it was hard to listen to the audio tour.  I found it easier to read the display info and listen to the audio when I wanted more info, but the audio was more or less a restatement of the displayed info in my opinion.  This is not good.  I think they should complement one another.  The second is that the displays where hard to read due to the position of the lighting.  The displays had plexiglass on top of them and the lights shined down glaring off of them and at times making it hard to find a good angle to read them at.  The lighting was harsh and bright and I think a more subtle soft glow would have been better suited to the displays

All in all, it is an important museum to visit for young people studying the atrocities of the Holocaust.  The resources in the library are also an asset to the community and students of all ages studying the events surrounding the Holocaust.

Musems Today: A Review of the Literature

The second week we read from Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving Definition on the Paradigm Shift, a collection of essays on museums compiled and edited by Gail Anderson .

First up was Anderson’s Framework.  The Framework discussed how museums are changing in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Anderson discussed how we can reinvent the museum for a new age.  She advocates for a new kind of museum experience.  “The traditional communication ideology of the museum has been to see the museum as the holder of knowledge and truth with a responsibility to exercise one-way communication to the public.  In the reinvented museum, communication between museum and public is exemplified by the mutually respectful relationship; the ideology of two-way communication with the public creates a more responsive interchange of ideas and shared understandings supplanting the more traditional, paternal approach” (pp. 8).

Next was the the first essay, The Gloom of the Museum, from 1917 and written by John Cotton Dana.  It talked about how museums were then, and how they needed to change to be more accessible to the people.  Instead of being off somewhere in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees, they should be in city centers so that people can easily get to them.  He also suggested lending collections out to other museums so that people in other places could see the artifacts.  I think in the  almost 100 years since it’s writting, we’ve almost got it “right.”  Museums do tend to be in downtown areas of cities and do typically lend exhibits out or have them come to them.

The second essay from Reinventing the Museum was Culture and Museums in the Winds of Change by Douglas Worts.   Worts discusses the changing meaning behind culture and museums and how the meaning behind culture is always evolving.  Globalization’s effects on culture and what it means are also discussed.

Finally, from a list of resources on the subject I chose to explore the Journal of the History of Collections, which can be accessed through the USF libraries catalog.  The journal is full of articles on every kind of collection and museum.  I chose to read one of Isabella Stewart Gardner, a 19th Century collector of various objects who built a museum to house her vast collections and then donated it to the city of Boston.  “Her own philosopghy is stated clearly in her will in the bequest of the museum ‘for the education and enjoyment of the public forever’, thus fulfilling her ambition to enrich American cultural life and demonstrating one aspect of her role as collector to be truly philanthropic” (pp. 188).  Mattews explores what motivated the woman to collect to the amount that she did.  She argues that Gardner’s collecting was motivated by a series of losses as the start of a new collection and acquisition of items seemed to coincide with the death of her child, parent’s, in-laws, and other friends and family who died suddenly one after the other.  In today’s world, people we classify as “hoarders” are typically motivated by similar losses and emotional events.  I think this raises and interesting question about individuals who are collectors of various objects who perhaps don’t plan to eventually house them in a public museum, but instead keep them as “private” collections.

References*

Dana, J.C. (2012). The gloom of the museum. In G. Anderson (Eds.), Reinventing the museum. (pp.17-33). Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press.

Matthews, R. (2009).  Collectors and why they collect: Isabella stewart gardener and her museum of art.  Journal of the History of Collections, 21,2, 183-189.

Worts, D. (2012). Culture and museums in the winds of change. In G. Anderson (Eds.), Reinventing the museum. (pp.250-265). Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press.

* The Journal of the History of Collections is accessible through the USF Libraries databases.  However, I am unsure wheather Anderson’s book is available in e format through the databases.

The Idea of Cultural Heritage: A Review of the Literature

It kinda slipped my mind that I wanted to continue doing these little review posts on what I have to read for my class(es).  Thank the Force that book for last week was so good it made we want to write a review here!  The next three posts therefore will be a bit back to back to back.

The first week was on “The Idea of Cultural Heritage”.  We read the preface, introduction, seventh chapter of Open Conversations: Public Learning in Libraries and Museums by David Carr.  Carr’s book went over what Cultural Heritage was and how we can preserve it.  The seventh chapter disscussed provocatative texts and websites where we could find information and articles on different aspects of culture.

From The New Dictionary of the History of Ideas, I chose to read the article on Cultural History by Donald R. Kelley.  The article goes into the history of the world culture and the concepts and people behind it, then onto explaining the evolution of the definition of “Cultural History”.   The six volume set of History of Ideas has articles non numerous topics that one can explore.

References*

Carr, D. (2011). Open Conversations: Public learning in libraries and museums. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Kelley, D. R. (2005). New dictionary of the history of ideas. Vol. 2 pp. 513-516. New York, NY: Scribner & Sons.

*I accessed the History of Ideas as an e-book through USF Libraries web portal.  Carr’s book is also accessible that way.

Nearby History: A Review of the Literature

This week for Museums and Libraries as Cultural Heritage Institutions I had to read Nearby History: Preserving the Past Around you by David Kyvig and Myron A. Marty.  Published by the American Association for State and Local History, this little book is a great resource for libarians, historians, geneologists, archivists, researchers, and anyone else interested in history.

Clocking in at 256 pages and 12 chapters, this book has a wealth of knowledge in it.  It details how important local history is to a community and the importance of preserving it for future generations.  It not only goes over all the kinds of documents and other types of resources one can find historical information in, but how to record oral and writtien histories yourself.  The book is an invaluable resource for those in the field, or amatuer historians and geneologists looking to dig into the pasts of their family or area.  

The book is full of black and white photographs from the past, as well as documents like Al Capone’s draft registraton card.  Plus, vingettes on different places like Tampa’s Historic section of Ybor City are included as well.

I don’t think I can say enough good things about this book if you work in any field involving research, so what are you waiting for?  Go out and buy it!

Jaw Dropping Art at the Morean Arts Center’s Chihuly Exhibit

For Museums and Libraries as Cultural Heritage Institutions I have to visit three museums or cultural heritage institutions.  For Art or Science museum I went to the Morean Arts Center’s Chihuly Exhibit in Downton St. Petersburg.

Location

The Chihuly Collection and Exhibit is part of the Morean Arts Center and is located in Downtown St. Petersburg on Beach Drive facing the water.  The exhibit is just one of four locations owned and operated by the MAC in Downtown St. Pete.  A related location is the Morean Glass Studio and Hot Shop located on Central Avenue.  The Chihuly Exhibit, which is a permanent collection, is located on the near the Museum of Fine Arts, The Vinoy, The Dali Museum, and numerous other downtown attractions.  It is also connected to the other Morean facilities by the trolley system available downtown.

Website

Moreanartscenter.org

The website has a navigation bar on the left hand side that will take visitor to various informational links.  The links take you to pages for the Morean Galleries, the Chihuly Collection, Glass Studio and Hot Shop, the Center for Clay, classes and education, how to buy tickets, make a donation, become a member, events, contests, artist opportunities, job opportunities, group tours, group tours, facility rentals, volunteer oppurtunities, support and giving, media, and a link back to the home page.  The links for the various exhibits and collections will take you to subpages on information for each exhibit.

Partnerships

I did not find any formal partnerships listed on their website other than their sponsors: Bank of America, Renaissance Vinoy Resort, Culture Builds Florida, Raymond James, Tampa Bay Times, and the City of St. Petersburg.  However, the Center has outreach programs, mainly KidVentures and Word and Image.  These programs touch many young people, including at risk youth in the community.

Accreditation Status

I searched the site extensively, but found no evidence of any kind of Accreditation Status.  I called the center and was informed that they are not accredited with any museum organization.  This is most likely because they are an arts center and gallery.

Publications

No official ones that I could find. I found one two sided pamphlet,one side of which told about the collection, and the other  where each location in the Morean Arts Center was.

Adult Life Long Learning

Classes can be found on the following webpage: http://www.moreanartscenter.org/content.php?id=43

The Morean Arts Center offer classes in the following areas: clay, drawing, fiber arts, glass, jewelry, metal sculpture, mixed media, painting, photo/digital, and printmaking.  They also have youth, teen, and family classes as well as workshops.  These classes further their mission to bring art to the community.

Connection with Libraries

I found no connections with any libraries.  They may have a library of informational items for their classes, but I was unable to determine this.

Cultural Heritage

The mission of the Morean Arts Center is to connect people with art.  They aim to do this through innovative, community-oriented art and through art education.  They aim to bring out the artist inside everyone. By bringing locally, regionally, and nationally created art to the Tampa Bay area they promote cultural heritage through art.  The classes they offer also help promote the mission of bringing art to the people.  As Anderson says in the Framework in Reinventing the Museum, “All aspects of museum operations support each other and contribute to the advancement of the mission.”

Reactions and Observations

The Chihuly Collection is separate from the main gallery and features several pieces and large installations by Dale Chihuly and his team.  The collection is small, by jaw droopingly amazing.  A friend and fellow librarian who accompanied me said it was “brief, but mind blowing.”  The colors and scale of the items were just aweing.  How they assemble those large chandeliers and get them to look just like they did in the shop during design takes a skill and planning I can’t even imagine.  And it all looks like one big piece in the end.  The skill and craftsmanship is just awe inspiring.

My favorite piece was the Azul de Medianoche (Blue Midngight) chandelier.  A suspended blue glass piece made up of hundreds of smaller twisted glass tubes that all fit together just so.  The Parisan Sunset Wall was also very beautiful and definitely evoked a sunset.  At almost every piece I stepped back and went “Wow, that’s amazing!”, or “Wow, that’s beautiful!”.  I think I walked around with my mouth hanging open the whole time.  From the small, detailed vases to the giant marbles that made us afraid each one was about to fall out of that row boat and start a chain reaction to the flowers that looked like they were from an alien world, every piece made you appreciate the beauty, skill, and craftsmanship in the work.  I would definitely take visiting family to this if they had never seen Chihuly’s work.

There was also an educational video playing that talked about how Chihuly got started, the various installations around the world, the techniques used, and how he came up with some of the pieces.  It was quite long and we did not stay to finish it due to the fact that the parking meter had a two hour limit.  I believe we were there for about an hour and a half and we had not reached the end of the video, nor had we come in at the start of it.  However, it was quite educational and a great companion to the exhibit, especially since it showed pieces being made.  While you can go to the Hot Shop and studio on Central, that is an extra entrance fee, so getting to see it done in a video is a bonus, if not ideal.  This too wowed me and caused my draw to yet again drop.

Also featured, were several of his paintings.  I was not impressed with them, and neither was my friend.  They looked like a kid did them and that they were just paintings of his sculptures, and bad ones at that.  And after watching the video which showed him just slapping and pouring paint on the canvas I know why they looked the way they did.  I don’t know if they were supposed to be abstract or not, but it’s possible.  The sculptures themselves were far better than any painting there that looked like it depicted a sculpture.  That’s just an observation though.

All in all, it was a wonderful exhibit and I am glad I went.

References

Anderson, G. (2012). Reinventing the Museum: The evolving conversation on the paradigm shift. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

moreanarscenter.org