REVISING THE ICOM DEFINITION OF MUSEUM

I much appreciate the way this discussion has sprung into life since Gary
Edson's first call for involvement (which also shows how ICOM-L can still
be well-used, and have a sudden, revived value when the circumstances are
right; it can involve anyone at all who is intensely interested, way beyond
the more restricted formal structures of ICOM when it convenes its
organisational parts physically).

Reconsidering the ICOM definition of a museum was always considered an
important task to get back to, through the whole ICOM Reform process of
1998-2001.  However we had other, pressing organizational tasks to turn to
in the first instance, and in fear that we would slow ourselves down in
semantic arguments we left some of these fundamental questions as tasks for
a more flexibly working ICOM to pick up later, after the first-phase Reform
opened up some better working methods, involving more people's contributions.

That time is now.  The Executive Council has authorised continuing work on
the improvement of ICOM's key documents (called for in the ICOM Reform
Recommendations in Barcelona).  The Statutes of ICOM are being worked on by
a dedicated group of members - hopefully to propose them in a much simpler
form and content, easier to read and operate.  And Geoffrey Lewis has
chaired through a thorough review and reorganisation of the 'Code of Ethics
for Museums' by ICOM's Ethics Committee, which he has recently put out for
wider comment and reaction on ICOM-L, before bringing the proposed new
format (through the Executive Council and Advisory Committee) to the
General Assembly at Seoul in 2004.  It is worth noting that the Ethics
Committee had no mandate itself to deal with the crucial question of
definition of a museum, since this definition is lodged in the ICOM
Statutes, and we all have to work out from that place.  Gary Edson is
leading us to do this work now.

I deeply hope we can get ourselves free of the old, existing definition
(the very last one - Suggestion 8 - on Gary Edson's list in his recent
email - although he does not include the long list of types of museums in
the ICOM Statutes that come after the definition.)

I do not mean that we would want to throw out all that the existing ICOM
definition is seeking to say.  However it has a particular, and quite
bureaucratically shaped history.  Phrases were changed, or added, to
correct problems of earlier definition, exclusion, or new application over
many years.  The result is a very unappealing statement, like an awkwardly
assembled railway train of differently designed carriages, surviving from
different eras.   The definition cannot lift anyone's heart to read
it.  And it has very little capacity to arouse the interest or expectation
of the 'society' museums are supposed to serve.   The things the current
definition is trying to say and defend need to be 'lifted up', freed from
successive historical moorings, reorganised and more subtly nuanced, then
set down again in a shorter form.

We need a rhetorically well shaped statement, in a voice of the present,
more suitably sitting on the social foundations of today.  We need a
flexible and inclusive statement, defending the most important things about
museums and what they seek to do and care about.  But we must not fall back
into internal theoretical distinctions and details about different types of
museums and different kinds of work - that is where we always tend to go
with this discussion, splitting hairs and protecting the differences within
our professional work, rather than securing the commonality of our social
contract on behalf of knowledge, memory and human heritage.

Above all, we need a simple statement (inclusive but not
technical-sounding) that is easy to follow, and directed towards the large
readership and speech communities of society world-wide (those who have
most at stake in museums).  A statement that could be placed in a daily
newspaper and be generally understood.

I am writing a lot of words here, I realise, but to argue finally for warm
readability and simplicity, as well as integrity.  I thought I should try
to offer a definition that serves what I am arguing for  --- so Gary, would
you mind including this one also in your list.  I prefer pluralising
straight away, as it starts out more inclusively.  And never using 'or'
which splits things up, cutting a desired whole into alternative parts.

My suggestion:
"Museums are permanent institutions that conserve and communicate knowledge
of the natural world and the cultural inheritance of humanity through
collections, records, memories, images, and sites they care for and
interpret, in public trust, for present and future generations."
The above approach focuses on stating what museums do.  After the ICOM
statutory definition, when we finally agree on one, can be attached a list
of cases or examples to which such a definition would apply.  (We should
remember to avoid the frequent confusion arising in these discussions over
the years between defining MUSEUMS and defining eligibility for MEMBERSHIP
OF ICOM - which are two different objectives.)


The reasoning behind the definition offered here (if anyone is interested
to read further) follows:

'conserve' -- covers the accumulation of both knowledge and objects - as
well as the specific technical activities of museum conservation;

'permanent institutions' -- 'permanent', not limited life; 'institutions'
implies 'civil society' and enduring public presence in a particular
community or nation of people;  I prefer 'institution' to 'organisation' -
which is far broader and does not imply permanency;

'communicate' is to ensure active responsibility to project collections or
knowledge out to society, rather than passively holding things for a
museum's or researchers' benefit alone;  'communicate' is an active,
transitive verb here, and covers all the activities implied by 'education';
'communicate' also covers the whole range of activities and public
programming associated with exhibitions;

'natural world' covers the range of activities from zoos and botanical
gardens to natural history museums, whereas pure research and experimental
science could be covered by the 'cultural inheritance of humanity', since
the results of research science do not reach human minds without involving
some socio-cultural interpretation and history of scientific understanding;

'collections, records, memories, images, and sites':    'collections' is
there right up front, to secure the main history of museums and the
still-primary presence and importance of collections; 'records' can include
archives  - but the emphasis elsewhere in the definition on 'communicating'
and 'interpreting' implies active public programming, not simply 'holding'
things;

'memories, images' carries a movement towards the intangible, and an
emphasis on the human and living  -  this can include socially performative
acts (music, drama, dance) and 'living national treasure' concepts;

'sites' brings in the actuality of place - the museum itself, a natural
site or eco-system (forest, wilderness), a cultural landscape, an historic
house, an actual public place/location that might include a monument, or a
memorial site (ICOM now has a new International Committee concerned with
crimes against humanity); 'site' can also move comfortably to embrace
another important new presence and pressure in museum definitions: the
'virtual site' for born-digital cultural material, an Internet or
electronic presence of human works/artefacts, maintained and communicated;
'site' can also include intangible, psychological and culturally specific
phenomena;

'care for and interpret, in public trust': caring for things, in public
trust, is a way to encompass a lot of things in the name of 'public good'
and is better than mentioning a 'non-profit' institution, since we all
agree that museums can make a financial profit (and many indeed work hard
to do so) through their activities - but the 'profit' is not for any
private benefit or interests, but to return resources to the institution
and serve its public mission;

'interpret'  is an important small word, moving further than
'communicating' for it covers the agency involved in communicating -- that
is, acts of interpretation (including 'displays'), partial acts, and open
to argument and counter-interpretation, by which we signal that museums are
not simply repositories, but discursive human institutions, historically,
spatially, culturally (and linguistically) situated;

'for present and future generations' - covers the idea introduced in the
ICOM definition since 1972: 'in the service of society and its
development';  the inclusion of 'present generations' ensures a commitment
to social activity right now, not deferral of benefits to some future time
(no excuse for delaying our social responsibility).

The above definition is also designed to be able to include 'keeping
places' in indigenous cultural contexts, where the term 'museum' is not
favoured in any title because it has an alienating history.  For the same
reasons 'open to the public' - in ICOM's existing definition - is not easy
to maintain so prescriptively, both for the case of some museums that have
necessarily restricted access (medical or scientific research collections,
for example, or collections of objects or art works in high-level
governmental buildings that can only be seen by appointment);  or
indigenous (perhaps secret-sacred) sites or collections.   It is widely
agreed and well understood publicly, however, that museums are for public
access and benefit in the majority of cases.

For reasons of the terrible history of collecting human remains, and the
bad faith that this has caused world-wide, I would prefer that we avoid use
of the word 'specimens' in ICOM's definition - this term inevitably
reactivates auditory memory of the huge heritage of instrumental research
as a result of colonisation, and use of others' culture and bodies for the
benefit of an appropriating kind of knowledge that alienated people from
their own dignity, autonomy and agency.  (I know 'specimen'  is a harmless
word in many scientific laboratories, but let's avoid it in our central
definition.)

Final apologies for such a long message!
Bernice Murphy





At 9/10/2003 05:17 AM, you wrote:
>ICOM Colleagues,
>
>Following are recently proposed definitions of a "museum." Your comments are
>most welcome. I find this a very interesting exchange of ideas that
>demonstrates the diverse nature of the museum profession. Please share your
>ideas about these suggestions, or offer another suggestion.
>
>Gary Edson
>
>Suggestion 1:
>A museum is a cultural institution that serves society by preserving,
>researching and divulgating scientific, cultural and/or natural heritage
>through the use of collections.
>
>Suggestion 2:
>A museum is an educational organization that serves the public by
>researching and interpreting scientific, cultural and/or natural heritage
>through the use of a physical environment and often objects. Museums that
>hold collections care for them as a public trust and preserve them for the
>future.
>
>Suggestion 3:
>A museum is an educational organization that serves the public by
>interpreting scientific, cultural and/or natural heritage through the use of
>a physical environment and often objects. Museums that hold collections care
>for them as a public trust and preserve them for the future.
>
>Suggestion 4:
>Museum: A knowledge base of the tangible and intangible evidence of the
>cultural and natural inheritance of humanity.  Such a collection, normally
>in the form of objects or specimens, preserves, promotes and presents this
>heritage for the benefit of society and its development on a non-profit,
>permanent basis. A museum is also a place, real or virtual, to which the
>public have access to benefit from such activities.
>
>Suggestion 5:
>A museum acquires, accumulates, permanently preserves, keeps records of,
>and provides expert treatment of products of nature or human creations, it
>ensures public utilization thereof, studies the environment from which the
>products of nature or human creations are acquired and provides
>educational services for scientific and study purposes.
>
>Suggestion 6:
>A museum preserves and presents the objects, specimens, images, or practices
>of humankind to benefit society, promote education, advocate human dignity,
>and protect the environment.
>
>Suggestion 7:
>A museum is an organization that serves society by exhibiting, maintaining,
>or protecting the tangible and intangible evidence of humankind and the
>environment for the purpose of cultural enhancement, education, enjoyment,
>preservation, or research.
>
>Suggestion 8:
>A museums is a non-profit making institution in the service of society and
>of its development, and open to the public which acquires, conserves,
>researches, communicates and/or exhibits, for the purposes of study,
>education or enjoyment, the cultural, natural or scientific evidence of
>people and their environment.
>
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Bernice L Murphy
Vice-President, International Council of Museums [ICOM-Paris]
Contact details:
PO Box 1269, Potts Point [Sydney], Australia 2011
Fax:[+61-2] 9357 2159.  <[log in to unmask]>

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