Stephen,

I consider all television entertainment. TV shows are produced for drama to garner ratings. The course will not deal with that.

However - many museums and historic sites are approached by paranormal groups for investigations and many accept them as well as some having their own programs for the public. The public has a deep interest in ghosts and the paranormal, especially every October, and this can be significant source of revenue for many institutions.

I see no problem with this as long as the history of the site is portrayed with facts and is separate from Folklore and from what I call The History of Belief. Those are valid areas for both scholarship as well as popular programs. And yes, Belief encompasses Spirituality as well as Religion - and your "magical thinking".

I always strongly tell folks in the paranormal groups that what they do is not science, it make involve some technical instruments but it is much more a pursuit closer to journalism or anthropology in the sense that they correlate experiences to the readings and audio and video they collect. Again - it is not our place to characterize people's personal experiences - but we have to recognize that what we offer to visitors are personal experiences that are deeply shaped by their beliefs. History as well as art do the same thing. And art is not science either, unless you get into my side of it in conservation.

I just happen to think that there is a big wide world out there and that if people want to express their deep interest in history with the unexplained then that is not all together a bad thing. And if if brings interest, support, and income into a museum and historic site that that is also a good thing.

It has to be done responsibly, as any activity at a museum or historic site should. And that is what the course is about.

This is not for every institution, but there are many that are approached and consider it as something that they may want to pursue but want to learn more before they do.

I also see this as an opportunity to educate these paranormal groups about museums and historic sites. To raise their awareness for history that is well researched and in having awareness and respect for our institutions.

I don't judge museums or other groups by how they are represented on TV, and I think we should give other groups a chance to show us that they act responsibly.

After all, many museums and historic sites have everything from weddings to parties to concerts on their premises - and those aren't intellectual, academic, or scientific either.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator & Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA
www.CityOfAngelsConservation.weebly.com



On Fri, Sep 7, 2012 at 1:16 PM, Stephen Nowlin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


Perhaps this has been discussed here previously, my apologies if that is the case.

I've noticed a type of television show appearing over the last decade, the History Channel and others come to mind, in which subjects of dubious credibility -- ghosts, the paranormal, spirits, hauntings -- are approached in a so-called "scientific," reality-TV, manner. These are clearly entertainment shows, designed to attract the ratings and advertising potential of various magical belief systems existing in contemporary societies. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, except that these programs pose as being objective and scientific, documentary-like. They carefully navigate a middle-road course, never making too outrageous claims or drawing real conclusions, tiptoeing just far enough into the non-scientific to leave behind tantalizing inferences and implications -- and they include science, or sciencey methods,  in just enough proportion to act as a kind-of public relations voucher, an implied validation, for whatever extraordinary inferences or titillations the show deems necessary to attract and keep viewers.

Ok, so it's TV. I find it reprehensible that producers of these shows reinforce misconceptions about what science and scientific method actually is -- misconceptions that exploit un-critical beliefs and contribute to negative consequences for society that are real, but that's entertainment I guess.

Museums, it seems to me, are a different matter. The name "museum" in an organization implies intellectual and academic integrity, disciplined objectivity, and studied authority over the subjects it embraces. Engaging in a partnership with a paranormal group, it seems to me, might have a place in an entertainment theme park, but not in a museum. 

Stephen Nowlin
Director, Williamson Gallery
Art Center College of Design
http://www.williamsongallery.net/google



On 9/7/12 10:42 AM, "Brad Bredehoft" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

MS013: Paranormal Investigations in Museums and Historic Sites
Instructor: David Harvey
Price: $99
Dates: Sep 17 to Sep 21, 2012

Description:
Many museums and historic sites are being contacted by paranormal groups
for permission to conduct investigations on their sites. There has been
an explosion of interest in the paranormal in the past ten years with
over a thousand teams and groups in the USA. There are also millions who
follow this on television and other media. When a museum or historic
site manager is approached by these groups there are many concerns, but
there is also the potential for it to become a new marketing and income
generating activity for the organization. This course is designed to
give you the tools to have a constructive dialogue with these groups and
to be able to develop a policy / program that best benefits your
institution.

This short course will introduce you to Paranormal Groups. You will
learn how these groups investigate and explore, the pros and cons of
developing a policy and how to include them in your programs. The
Paranormal Groups also need to be educated about the perspectives and
mission of Museums and Historic Sites to appreciate how we operate.
There can be benefits in understanding and working with each other. We
will take you through the research, methods and equipment and approaches
to public outreach by the paranormal teams.

We will address their perspectives and concerns. We will also go through
the perspectives, equipment and policies of museums and our concerns.
Then we will go through the potential benefits for both sides and how
you can best take advantage of the public interest in this to develop
policies and programs that enhance your marketing and program efforts in
a way that protects your integrity and collections, yet brings more
people in your doors.

Logistics:
Participants in Paranormal Investigations in Museums and Historic Sites
will read literature and participate in two one-hour chats to discuss
Paranormal Investigations in Museums and Historic Sites. Each student
should read course materials and prepare questions or comments to share
with the other students in the chat. This is a mini-course and takes no
more than 10 hours of a student's time. This is an opportunity to
brain-storm with colleagues about what works and what doesn't work.

To reserve a spot in the course, pay at
http://www.collectioncare.org/tas/tas.html If you have trouble please
contact Helen Alten at [log in to unmask]

The Instructor:
Dave Harvey is currently a consultant to the producers of a new National
Geographic Television Series, America's Lost Treasures, set in museums
across the USA. David is also a senior conservator with Rosa Lowinger
and Associates - specializing in Objects, Architecture, and Sculpture.

He has thirty years of diverse experience in conservation,
archaeological fieldwork, and American living history museum craftwork
and interpretation. David was the archaeological conservator for the
James River Institute for Archaeology, The Yorktown Archaeological
trust, and the Virginia Company Foundation doing fieldwork, artifact
cataloguing, scientific analysis, and the conservation and stabilization
of diverse historical and prehistoric archaeological artifacts. He was
the lab manager for the Metals & Arms conservation lab at Colonial
Williamsburg. He was also responsible for the design and equipment
specifications for the new Metals &Arms laboratory, X-radiography
facility, and Analytical Laboratory in the DeWitt Wallace Collections &
Conservation Building on the Bruton Heights School Education Center
Campus. David was appointed Head of the Objects Conservation Department
at The Rocky Mountain Conservation Center at the University of Denver,
was the proprietor of his own professional conservation and consulting
company Artifacts, and was the Senior Associate Conservator for Griswold
Conservation Associates. David is a Professional Associate of The
American Institute for Conservation (AIC) and has served as the local
arrangements chair for the annual AIC meeting, program chair, chair, and
emeritus chair of the Objects specialty group and editor of the New
Materials and Research Column for the AIC News. David has pursued
educational outreach during his career in diverse media such as
scientific/technical journals, popular magazines and journals,
television, and audio-visual lectures & workshops.

--
Brad Bredehoft
Sales and Technology Manager
Northern States Conservation Center

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