Collecting, Displaying, and Interpreting Material Culture: Debates on the Purpose and Practices of Historical and Ethnographic Museums

Miller, Peter N. (Editor)/ Fisher, Annika

ISBN 10: 1941792162 / ISBN 13: 9781941792162

Published by Bard Graduate Center, 2018

About this Item

550 pages. 9.00x6.00x1.60 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __1941792162

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collecting, Displaying, and Interpreting Material Culture: Debates on the Purpose and Practices of Historical and Ethnographic Museums
• Publisher: Bard Graduate Center
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1941792162
• ISBN 13: 9781941792162
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.72 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

In early twentieth-century Berlin, Wilhelm von Bode sparked a controversy with his sweeping proposal to reorganize a group of the city’s museums. Debates about the role and structure of museums played out in 1907 and 1910 with two striking series of articles that appeared in the journal Museumskunde: Journal for the Administration and Technology of Public and Private Collections. The first was a six-part essay by Otto Lauffer on history museums, and the second was a ten-part piece by Oswald Richter regarding ethnographic museums. Together, they initiated a century of significant dialogue.

The Museum in the Cultural Sciences offers the first full English translations of these articles, which remain influential in conversations about the implications of art, historical, and ethnographic museums. They show how sophisticated the discussion of museums and museum display was in the early twentieth century and how much could be gained from revisiting these reflections today. Accompanied by short commentaries from museum professionals, these articles offer an intervention into and intensification of the current debate about the function and purpose of museums.

About the Author

Peter N. Miller is dean and professor at Bard Graduate Center.