Dear Milton,
This is absolutely terrific. Excellent research and very helpful.
John McAvity
----- Original Message -----
From: "Milton Bloch" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 1:07 PM
Subject: Re: Definition of MUSEUM
To everyone,
Here is a list of museum definitions and some related commentary that I
assembled for use in my Museum Studies college class. Some are predictable
and others may add to range of thinking.
Milton Bloch
Hamilton College
Museum Studies
DEFINITIONS OF MUSEUMS
Various Sources
1. International Council of Museums (ICOM), 2002
A museum is a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of
society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires,
conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study,
education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and their environment.
The above definition of a museum shall be applied without any limitation
arising from the nature of the governing body, the territorial character,
the functional structure or the orientation of the collections of the
institution concerned.
In addition the following institutions may also be designated as 'museums:'
· natural, archaeological and ethnographic monuments and sites and
historical monuments and sites of a museum nature that acquire, conserve and
communicate material evidence of people and their environment;
· institutions holding collections of and displaying live specimens of
plants and animals, such as botanical and zoological gardens, aquaria and
vivacia;
· science centers and planetaria;
· non-profit art exhibition galleries; conservation institutes and
exhibition galleries permanently maintained by libraries and archives
centers.
· nature reserves;
· non-profit institutions or organizations undertaking conservation,
research, education, training, documentation and other activities relating
to museums and museology;
· cultural centers and other entities that facilitate the preservation,
continuation and management of tangible or intangible heritage resources
(living heritage and digital creative activity;
· such other institutions as the Executive Council considers as having
some or all of the characteristics of a museum.
The evolution of ICOM definitions of a museum is outlined below:
2. ICOM, 1979 - 2001
A museum is a permanent non-profit institution in the service of society and
its development, which collects, conserves, researches, and interprets for
purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and
their environment.
ICOM also recognizes as falling within the definition of a museum in respect
of their roles in relation to the physical heritage a wide range of related
institutions including: historic monuments, historic and natural sites and
parks, zoological and botanic gardens, science centers and planetaria,
archive and conservation laboratories, etc.
3. ICOM, 1969
Any permanent institution which conserves and displays, for purposes of
study, education and enjoyment, collections of objects of cultural or
scientific significance. Within this definition shall fall: exhibition
galleries maintained by public libraries and collections of archives;
historical monuments and parts of historical monuments or their
dependencies, such as cathedral treasuries, historical, archaeological and
natural sites, which are officially open to the public, botanical and
zoological gardens, aquaria, vivacia, and other institutions which display
living animal and nature reserves.
4. ICOM, 1951
Any permanent establishment, administered in the general interest, for the
purpose of preserving, studying and enhancing by various means and, in
particular, of exhibiting to the public for its delectation and instruction,
groups of objects and specimens of cultural value: artistic, historic,
scientific and technological collections, botanic and zoological gardens and
aquariums. Public libraries and public archival institutions maintaining
permanent exhibition rooms shall be considered to be museums.
5. ICOM, 1946
The word 'museum' includes all collections open to the public of artistic,
technical, scientific, historical or archaeological material, including
zoos and botanic gardens, but excluding libraries, except insofar as they
present exhibitions.
6. American Association of Museums (AAM), current
A non-profit, permanent, established institution, not existing primarily for
the purpose of conducting temporary exhibitions, exempt from federal and
state income taxes, open to the public and administered in the public
interest, for the purpose of conserving and preserving, studying,
interpreting, assembling, and exhibiting to the public for its instruction
and enjoyment objects and specimens of educational and cultural value,
including artistic, scientific (whether animate or inanimate), historical
and technological material. Museums thus defined shall include botanical
gardens, zoological parks, aquaria, planetaria, historical societies, and
historic houses and sites which meet the requirements set forth in the
preceding sentence.
7. AAM Accreditation Program, current
A museum must be a legally organized not-for-profit institution or part of a
not-for-profit institution or government entity; be essentially educational
in nature; have a formally stated mission; have one full-time paid
professional staff member who has museum knowledge and experience and is
delegated authority and allocated financial resources sufficient to operate
the museum effectively; present regularly scheduled programs and exhibits
that use and interpret objects for the public according to accepted
standards; have a formal and appropriate program of documentation, care, and
use of collections and/or tangible objects; and have a formal and
appropriate program of presentation and maintenance of exhibits.
8. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) uses this definition
as the basis for eligibility to receive federal funds:
A museum must be organized as a public or private nonprofit institution that
exists on a permanent basis for essentially educational or aesthetic
reasons, care for and own or use tangible objects, whether animate or
inanimate, and exhibit these objects on a regular basis through facilities
that it owns or operates; have at least one professional staff member or the
full-time equivalent, whether paid or unpaid, whose primary responsibility
is the acquisition, care, or exhibition to the public of objects owned or
used by the museum; and be open and providing museum services to the general
public for at least 120 days a year.
9. Illinois State Board of Education, Schools Without Walls, Museum Online
Resources Grant Program, current
An Institution, building or room for preserving and exhibiting artistic,
historical or scientific objects.
10. The Canadian Museums Association, current
A non-profit, permanent establishment, exempt from federal and provincial
income taxes, open to the public at regular hours, and administered in the
public interest for the purpose of collecting and preserving, studying,
interpreting, assembling and exhibiting to the public for its instruction
arid enjoyment, objects and specimens of educational and cultural value,
including artistic, scientific (whether animate or inanimate), historical
and technological material.
11. The Museums Association (United Kingdom), 2002
Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and
enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make
accessible artifacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.
Society can expect museums to:
· hold collections in trust on behalf of society
· focus on public service
· encourage people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and
enjoyment
· consult and involve communities
· acquire items honestly and responsibly
· safeguard the long-term public interest in the collections
· recognize the interests of people who made, used, owned, collected or
gave items in the collections
· support the protection of the natural and human environments
· research, share and interpret information related to collections,
reflecting diverse views
12. City University Arts and Museum Policy Statement (United Kingdom) also
used by the Museums and Galleries Commission.
A museum is an institution that collects, documents, preserves, exhibits and
interprets material evidence and associated information for the public
benefit.
13. Southwest Museums Council (united Kingdom), current
A museum enables people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and
enjoyment. It is an institution that collects, safeguards and makes
accessible artefacts and specimens which it holds in trust for society.
14. National Motor Museum of England, Thomas De Wit
Museums are about collecting appropriate historic objects, conserving them,
and then, where possible, exhibiting and interpreting them in the most
appropriate way. I sometimes jokingly remark that the museum is a "super
garage."
15. French Law regarding Musees de France, current
Any permanent collection comprising goods, of which the conservation and
presentation take on a public interest; the collection must be organized
with the aim of public knowledge, education and enjoyment. The museums of
France have as their permanent mission to:
· conserve, restore, research and enrich their collections
· make their collections accessible to as large a public as possible
· conceive and execute plans and actions for education and diffusion of
culture with equal access to all.
· contribute to the progress of knowledge and research as well as their
diffusion
16. Museums Australia, 2002
A museum helps people understand the world by using objects and ideas to
interpret the past and present and explore the future. A museum preserves
and researches collections, and makes objects and information accessible in
actual and virtual environments. Museums are established in the public
interest as permanent, not-for-profit organizations that contribute
long-term value to communities. Museums Australia recognizes that museums
of science, history and art may be designated by many other names (including
gallery and Keeping Place). In addition, the following may qualify as
museums for the purposes of this definition: (a) natural, archaeological and
ethnographic monuments and sites and historical monuments and sites of a
museum nature that acquire, conserve and communicate material evidence of
people and their environment; (b) institutions holding collections of and
displaying specimens of plants and animals, such as botanical and zoological
gardens, herbaria, aquaria and vivacia; (c) science centers; (d) cultural
centers and other entities that facilitate the preservation, continuation
and management of tangible or intangible heritage resources (living heritage
and digital creative activity); (e) such other institutions as the Council
considers as having some or all of the characteristics of a museum.
17. South Korea's Legal Definition of a Museum and Art Museum, current
A museum is an institution which collects, conserves, and exhibits materials
for mankind, history, archaeology, ethnic customs, arts, animal life, plant
life, mineral, science, technology, and industry, thus probes and researches
these for purposes of being contributive to the development of culture,
arts, and studies, and to the social education of the general public.
18. Finish Museums Association, current
A museum is a non-profit institution which collects, analyses, preserves and
presents objects belonging to cultural and natural heritage in order to
increase the amount and quality of knowledge. A museum should entertain its
visitors and help them to relax. Using scientific arguments and modern
language, it should assist people to understand the experience of the past.
In its mutual relationship with its users, it should find in past experience
the wisdom necessary for the present and the future.
19. The Irish Heritage Council, current
A museum is a not-for-profit institution that collects, safeguards, holds in
trust, researches, develops and interprets collections of original objects
and original objects on loan, for the public benefit. It functions publicly
as a place where people learn from and find inspiration and enjoyment
through the display and research of original objects.
ALTERNATIVE DEFINITIONS
20. Claudia Pratt, Instructor, Introduction to Museum Work, N. Dakota State
U.
A place that preserves and shares cultural objects and information as well
as a place that inspires and responds to its diverse communities. ("My
definition is different from the standard - collect, preserve and
interpret - because museums are more than their functions, they are places
that have a soul and meaning and should be safe places for dialogue to take
place for diverse communities.")
21. Director, the Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, New Jersey, 1975
An organization that presents objects of cultural importance in such a way
as to provide the visitor with a museum experience - the unique educational
experience derived only from meeting of a real person with authentic object
face-to-face.
22. Georgia-Henri Riviera, 1985. "The Ecomuseum, an Evolutive Definition"
An ecomuseum is an instrument conceived, fashioned and operated jointly by a
public [e.g.. local] authority and its local population. The public
authority's involvement is through the experts it provides; the local
population's involvement depends on its aspirations, knowledge and
individual approach. It is a mirror for the local population to discover
its own image, and in which it seeks an explanation of the territory to
which it is attached and of the populations that have preceded it. It is a
mirror that the local population holds up to its visitors to be better
understood and so that its industry, customs and identity may command
respect. It is an expression of humankind and nature. It places humanity
in its natural environment.
23. N. Fuller, "The Museum as a Vehicle for Community Empowerment," 1992
An ecomuseum recognizes the importance of culture in the development of
self-identity and its role in helping a community adjust to rapid change.
The ecomuseum thus becomes a tool for the economic, social and p0ltical
growth and development of the society from which it springs.
24. Hugues de Varine on Nouvelles Museologies, 1986
A few simple principles: the objective is the service of humankind and not
the reverse; time and space do not imprison themselves behind doors and
walls and art is not the sole cultural expression of humanity. The museum
professional is a social being, an actor for change, a servant of the
community. The visitor is not a docile consumer, regarded as an idiot, but a
creator who can and should participate in the building of the future - the
museum's research.
25. About the "New Museology"
This idea is linked to the changing role of museums in education and in
society at large. Mills and Grove first introduced it in the United States
in 1958. In their view current museum practices are essentially obsolete
and the profession is urged to renew itself as part of a new social
commitment. In 1980 the idea phrase appeared again when French museologist
Andre Desvallees wrote an article on museology for the Encyclopedia
Universalle (France). In 1989 the term was used as the title of a book
edited by Peter Vergo (United Kingdom). It is the French concept of
'museology nouvelle' that gradually gained a small but ardent following
abroad.
26. The Microsoft Corporation
A Virtual Museum is a collection of electronic artifacts and information
resources. It may include paintings, diagrams, graphs, audio and video
recordings, print articles, transcripts or interview, data bases and
virtually anything that can be digitized
A SAMPLING OF OTHER DEFINITIONS, DESCRIPTIONS AND COMMENTS
27. An institution devoted to the procurement , care and display of objects
of lasting interest or value; also: a place where objects are exhibited.
Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, Tenth Ed.
28. Its castle, for example, was amongst the most remarkable of English
ruins. Several rusty iron objects and a larger number of mugs, baskets and
pin cushions inscribed as 'Presents from Treby' formed a Museum which anyone
was at liberty to enter at the small price of sixpence. In short, every
inducement was offered to patients who combined gout with antiquarianism*.or
a general decay of the vital processes with a tendency to purchase
superfluous small wares and make inexpensive presents.
Felix Holt, Describing the English historic town of "Treby," 1832
29. We are obliged to know what o'clock it is, for the safety of our ships,
and therefore we pay for an observatory; and allow ourselves, in the person
of our Parliament, to be annually tormented into doing something in a
slovenly way, for the British Museum; sullenly apprehending that to be a
place for keeping stuffed birds to amuse our children.
John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
30. The first function of a museum is to give examples of perfect order and
perfect elegance, in the true sense of the word, to the rude and disorderly
populace. Everything in its own place, everything looking its best because
there is nothing crowded, nothing unnecessary, nothing puzzling. Therefore,
after a room has once been arranged there must be no change in it. For new
possessions there must be new rooms.
Sesame and Lilies, 1871
31. Any national collection must to a considerable extent function as a
reference library, a repository of the forgotten, the neglected, the arcane
and the almost utterly negligible, Iike the rarely opened pages of an
encyclopedia.
Brian Sewers, art critic,
on the Tate Gallery's new exhibits, 1995
32. This museum is a torpedo moving through time, its head the
ever-advancing present, its tail the ever-receding past of 50 to 100 years
ago.
Alfred Barr, Director of Collections, Museum of Modern Art, N.Y., 1964
33. Our business here is revelation*to reveal those objects Americans have
kept on purpose in ways that permit them to be freshly perceived.
Roger Kennedy, Director
National Museum of American History, 1984
34. Art inherited from the old religion the power of consecrating things and
endowing them with a sort of eternity: museums are our temples and the
objects displayed in them are beyond history.
Octavio Paz, Mexican poet,
1914
35. It is veneer, rouge, aestheticism, art museums, new theaters, etc. that
make America impotent. The good things are football, kindness and jazz
bands.
George Santayana (1863-1952)
36. Individually, museums are fine institutions, dedicated to the high
values of preservation, education and truth; Collectively, their growth in
numbers points to the imaginative death of this country.
Robert Hewison, British
cultural historian,1987
37. Museums are just a lot of lies, and the people who make art their
business are mostly imposters*. We have infected the pictures in museums
with all our stupidities, all our mistakes, all our poverty of spirit. We
have turned them into petty and ridiculous things.
Pablo Picasso, 1935
38. Museums, museums, museums, object-lessons rigged out to illustrate the
unsound theories of archaeologists. Crazy attempt to co-ordinate and get
into a fixed order that which has no fixed order and will not be
coordinated. Why must all experience be systematized?... A museum is not a
first-hand contact; it is an illustrated lecture.
D.H. Lawrence, 1932
39. Instead of stubbornly attempting to use surrealism for purposes of
subversion, it is necessary to try to make of surrealism something as solid,
complete and classic as the works of museums.
Salvator Dali, 1948
40. The heaping together of paintings by Old Masters in museums is a
catastrophe; likewise, a collection of a hundred Great Brains makes one big
fathead.
Carl Jung
41. Museums, in the broadest sense, are institutions which hold their
possessions in trust for humankind and for the future welfare of the (human)
race. Their value is in direct proportion to the service they render the
emotional and intellectual life of the people.
AAM Code of Ethics for Museum Workers 1925
42. The people's museum should be much more than a house full of specimens
in glass cases. It should be a house full of ideas, arranged with the
strictest attention to system.
George B Goode, American Association for State And Local History (AASLH),
1983
43. The fundamental role of the museum in assembling objects and maintaining
them within a specific intellectual environment emphasizes that museums are
storehouses of knowledge as well as storehouses of objects and the whole
exercise is liable to be futile unless the accumulation of objects is
strictly rational.
Cannon-Brookes, Manual of
Curatorship, 1984
44. We're serious, but not solemn, about potatoes here.
Thomas Hughes, founder
The Potato Museum,
Washington, D.C.
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