Micromuseology - An Analysis of Small Independent Museums

How would our understanding of museums change if we used the Vintage Wireless Museum or the Museum of Witchcraft as examples - rather than the British Museum or the Louvre? Although there are thousands of small, independent, single-subject museums in the UK, Europe and North America, the field of museum studies remains focused almost exclusively on major institutions.In this ground-breaking new book, Fiona Candlin reveals how micromuseums challenge preconceived ideas about what museums are and how they operate. Based on extensive fieldwork and analysis of more than fifty micromuseums, she shows how they offer dramatically different models of curation, interpretation and visitor experience, and how their analysis generates new perspectives on subjects such as display, objects, collections, architecture, and the public sphere. The first-ever book dedicated to the subject, M omuseology provides a platform for radically rethinking key debates within museum studies. Destined to transform the field, it is essential reading for students and researchers in museum studies, anthropology, material culture studies, and visual culture.>

List of contents

Micromuseology: An Introduction
1. Open House: Rethinking the 'Public' Museum
2. Vital Objects: How to Keep Museum Exhibits Alive
3. Partisans Reviewed: The Problematic Ethics of Multi-Perspectival Exhibitions
4. Caring for the Dead: Small-Scale Philanthropy and its Motivations
5. Choosing Clutter: Curiosity and the History of Museums
6. Other Worlds: The Distinct Traits of Micromuseums
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Fiona Candlin

Product details

• Authors: Fiona Candlin, Fiona (Birkbeck Candlin, Candlin Fiona
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.05.2017
• EAN: 9781350040106
• ISBN: 978-1-350-04010-6
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > General, dictionaries; Cultural Studies, Conservation, restoration & care of artworks, Social & cultural history, ART / Museum Studies, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Museum Administration & Museology, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, c 1970 to c 1979, c 1980 to c 1989, Museology & heritage studies, Museology and heritage studies