Monuments, Memorials, and Mascots: What is the Museum’s Role?

Racist images pervade our public spaces and mental landscape  If you missed the live feed of the symposium, Mascots, Myths, Memorials, and Memory on Saturday, March 3, you can still find the agenda on the program’s Facebook page, and a number of recordings of the talks on YouTube.  There is also a great summary of the day…

Thoughts on Museum Neutrality: A Question of Balance?

I’m still gathering my thoughts on the fast and furious Twitter conversation of the week of December 18, 2017, sparked by Rebecca Herz’s post, Can Museums Be Neutral?  While I’m working on my response I’d like to add to the discussion by publishing the thoughts of Dan Spock (formerly Director of the Museum at the…

The Idea of Museum Neutrality: Where Did it Come From?

Where is Part 2? In a post written on March 2, 2017, Stayin’ Alive, Part 1: Advocacy, I described efforts by the American Alliance of Museums, on behalf of the larger US museum community, to advocate for continued government funding of museums and cultural institutions in the face of a proposed Trump budget.  As implied…

Museum Voices from India: Why I Want to Be a Science Museum Professional  

  I want to “be a part of place that doesn’t just spread knowledge  but pulls the string of science cord in everyone.”  Itisha Once again my colleague Karen Lee of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and I are teaching in the MT in Science Communication program for the National Council of Science…

Museum Educators Next, Part IV: Impact Where it Counts

This post, the fourth in a series on what’s next for museum educators, proposes the mastery of interpretive planning, a process that shapes what is still the central role of most museums – exhibition development and display. Interpretive Planning on the Institutional Level  “Interpretive planning” is a fairly elastic term in the museum context.  In…

Museum Educators Next, Part III: Incorporating Visitor Voices

In my first two posts regarding what’s next for museum educators (September 17 and October 1) I promised to take a look at some of the skills educators should be cultivating so that they can contribute more effectively to the museum’s role as an informal space for learning and engagement.  It happens that I’ve been talking with Allison Wickens, an energetic…