Museums, objects, and collections: A cultural study (Leicester Museum Studies) - Hardcover

Susan M. Pearce

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0718513320 ISBN 13: 9780718513320

Publisher: Leicester University Press, 1992

Synopsis

This book examines the historical context of museums, their collections, the objects that form them, and the meaning interpreted from them. Pearce probes the reasons people collect and identifies three methods of collecting. The author considers how museum professionals set policies of collection management; acquire, study, and exhibit objects; and make meaning of the objects in their care.

About this title

About the Author

Susan M. Pearce is professor of museum studies and director of the department of museum studies at the University of Leicester. She is the editor of Museum Studies in Material Culture (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992), and the author of Archaeological Curatorship (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990) and On Collecting (1995).

Review

“Dense and rewarding. Through this study the author intends to explore the philosophies and cultural traditions which underlie museums, their collections, and the objects which make them up, and to see how meaning is created amongst them.”—Arlis-Newssheet

“Profoundly rewarding . . . [Museums, Objects, and Collections] offers one of the most extensive and penetrating analyses of museums you are likely to find anywhere.”—Curator

Edition details

• Publisher: Leicester University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0718513320
• ISBN 13: 9780718513320
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296