In article <l03010d02b02742eeae78@[207.34.220.116]>, Janet Thompson
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Can anyone suggest particular European or North American Museums which have
>used decorative arts material (as opposed to folk or traditional material)
>to discuss daily life and its evolution over time?
>

At Buckinghamshire County Museum, in our main galleries, we used
material from all the departments (Archaeology, Art, Natural History and
Social History - the last including Costume and Ethnology, and the first
including Egyptology), in a no-holds-barred kind of way.

So, for example, in a display which looks at animal husbandry, there is
a painting, the wildlife which particular pasture-management techniques
encourage, and the usual butter-pats and smock which one would expect in
a 'Rural Life' gallery.  In a display discussing how Jewellery reflects
status, we include things which imitate higher class jewellery (from
Roman to the Aspreys wannabe piece bought from a local shop).  In a
display inviting the visitor to associate woods as habitats with wood as
products, we show a saxon ladder, a badger, a chinoiserie cabinet, and a
cricket bat.

We don't tell a time-line story of Buckinghamshire, but we do encourage
vistors to compare things over time (we use images of modern day things,
and modern day things themselves, as well as putting archaeological
material with social history material).

Please do visit!
--
Pat Reynolds
[log in to unmask] (at home)
[log in to unmask] (at work)
Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum
   "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Prattchet)