Reinventing the Museum

Reinventing the Museum gathers 35 seminal articles reflecting over 100 years of dialogue within the museum community about what it means to be a high-quality, relevant institution. Important reading for museum professionals, students, and anyone interested in museums and their development.

Gail Anderson has been active in the museum field for over twenty-five years. Formerly deputy director of The Mexican Museum, vice president of Museum Management Consultants, Chair of the Department of Museum Studies at John F. Kennedy University, Anderson is now a museum consultant in private practice. Throughout her career, she has been active in professional organizations as a board member of the American Association of Museums (AAM), as a member of the national committee that produced Excellence & Equity: Education and the Public Dimension of Museums, and as a long-time board member and past president of the Western Museums Association Board of Directors. She is the editor and a contributing author to Museum Mission Statements: Building A Distinct Identity, published by AAM. She is working on her next publication for AltaMira, a comprehensive introductory museum studies text to accompany Reinventing the Museum.

Part 1 Preface with Acknowledgments Part 2 Introduction: Reinventing the Museum Part 3 Part I: The Role of the Museum in Society: The Challenge to Remain Relevant Chapter 4 Introduction Chapter 5 The Gloom of the Museum (1917) Chapter 6 What is a Museum? (1942) Chapter 7 A Twelve Point Program for Museum Renewal (1970) Chapter 8 The Museum, a Temple or the Forum (1971) Chapter 9 Rethinking the Museum: An Emerging New Paradigm (1990) Chapter 10 Museums in the Age of Deconstruction (1992) Chapter 11 The Real Multiculturalism: A Struggle for Authority and Power (1992) Chapter 12 Hey! That's Mine: Thoughts on Pluralism and America (1992) Chapter 13 An Agenda for Museums in the Twenty-First Century (1992) Chapter 14 Additional Recommended Reading Part 15 Part II: The Role of the Public: The Need to Understand the Visitor's Perspective Chapter 16 Introduction Chapter 17 United States: A Science in the Making (1993) Chapter 18 Staying Away: Why People Choose Not to Visit Museums (1983) Chapter 19 The Contextual Model of Learning (2000) Chapter 20 The Museum's Role in a Multicultural Society (1992) Chapter 21 Visitor's Bill of Rights (2000) Chapter 22 Can Museums Be All Things to All People? (2000) Chapter 23 Additional Recommended Reading Part 24 Part III: The Role of Public Service: The Evolution of Exhibitions and Programs Chapter 25 Introduction Chapter 26 Museum Exhibitions and the Dynamics of Dialogue (1999) Chapter 27 Changing Practices in Interpretation (1997) Chapter 28 Making Meaning Together: Lessons from the Field of American History (1993) Chapter 29 Is There Method in Our Madness? Improvisation in the Practice of Museum Education (1999) Chapter 30 Mining the Museum: An Installation Confronting History (1993) Chapter 31 Evaluating the Ethics and Consciences of Museums (1994) Chapter 32 Additional Recommended Reading Part 33 Part IV: The Role of the Object: The Obligation of Stewardship and Cultural Responsibility Chapter 34 Introduction Chapter 35 What is the Object of this Exercise? (1999) Chapter 36 Collecting Then, Collecting Today (2002) Chapter 37 Collections Planning: Pinning Down a Strategy (2002) Chapter 38 Who Cares? Conservation in a Contemporary Context (1999) Chapter 39 A Philosophical Perspective on the Ethics and Resolution of Cultural Properties Issues (1999) Chapter 40 Deft Deliberations (1991) Chapter 41 Deaccessioning: The American Perspective (1991) Chapter 42 Additional Recommended Reading Part 43 Part V: The Role of Leadership: The Essential Ingredient Chapter 44 Introduction Chapter 45 Creampuffs and Hardball: Are You Really Worth What You Cost or Just Merely Worthwhile? (1995) Chapter 46 The Well-Managed Museum (1990) Chapter 47 Museum Accountability: Laws, Rules, Ethics, and Accreditation (1991) Chapter 48 Governance as Unique Management (1997) Chapter 49 Toward a New Governance (1997) Chapter 50 Institution-wide Change in Museums (2000) Chapter 51 Persistent Paradoxes (1997) Chapter 52 Additional Recommended Reading Part 53 Bibliography Part 54 About the Editor