On Thu, 9 Feb 1995 21:03:44 -0500,
Kathryn C Boelter  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 2 Feb 1995 12:24:36 -0500 (EST)
>From: Kathryn C Boelter <kcbF90@hamp>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: history of art museum education programs
>
 
>My first of many questions to come is this:  I've been researching the
>history of education programs in public museums in the U.S.  However,
>I'm finding more information about the history of museums' philosophies
>about education than about the history of museums' educational
>practices. Can anyone suggest sources dealing with the actual practices?
>I'm interested in areas such as when specifically education-oriented staff
>began to be hired, when programs (tours and otherwise) for children were first
>designed, what such early programs intended to teach, etc.
>
>Also, I could use info about finding current ideas about the educational
>goals of art museums--what should be taught and how (broad questions, I
>know) kinda thing.  Much of the literature I'm finding is from the 1970s,
>and I'd like to see how much has changed.
 
You might want to check out the bibliography in my chapter on "Museum
Education" in Michael S. Shapiro, ed., The Museum: A Reference Guide
(Greenwood Press, 1990).  I also could not tell whether you were aware of
Barbara Newsom and Adele Z. Silver, eds., The Art Museum as Educator (U.
of Cal. Press (1978), and either Susan Nichols, Mary Alexander, and Ken
Yellis, eds., The Museum Education Anthology (Museum Education Roundtable,
1984) or its successor volume, Susan Nichols, ed., Patterns in Practice (MER
1993?), or the Journal of Museum Education or its precursor, Roundtable
Reports.  Anyway, if you're not aware of those, they'll get you started.
>Katy Boelter
>Hampshire College
>Amherst, MA 01002
>[log in to unmask]
>
 
Ken Yellis
Assistant Director for Public Programs
Peabody Museum of Natural History
170 Whitney Avenue
Box 208118
New Haven, CT 06520-8118
[log in to unmask]
(203) 432-9891/9816(fax)