Museums, national resources, and the broader economic impacts of National Museum Wales

Curating the Future: Museums, Communities and Climate Change explores the way museums tackle the broad global issue of climate change. It explores the power of real objects and collections to stir hearts and minds, to engage communities affected by change. Museums work through exhibitions, events, and specific collection projects to reach different communities in different ways. The book emphasises the moral responsibilities of museums to address climate change, not just by communicating science but also by enabling people already affected by changes to find their own ways of living with global warming. There are museums of natural history, of art and of social history. The focus of this book is the museum communities, like those in the Pacific, who have to find new ways to express their culture in a new place. The book considers how collections in museums might help future generations stay in touch with their culture, even where they have left their place. It asks what should the people of the present be collecting for museums in a climate-changed future? The book is rich with practical museum experience and detailed projects, as well as critical and philosophical analyses about where a museum can intervene to speak to this great conundrum of our times. Curating the Future is essential reading for all those working in museums and grappling with how to talk about climate change. It also has academic applications in courses of museology and museum studies, cultural studies, heritage studies, digital humanities, design, anthropology, and environmental humanities.

Gordon John Howes 1938-2013 (Fish Systematist)

The purpose of the work is to model disproportions in development of regional economy of Russia and to determine perspectives and recommendations for overcoming them and achieving the balance of the economy. The applied methods are based on Popkova's methodology of calculation of “underdevelopment whirlpools,” which allows conducting dynamic modeling of disproportions in development of regional economy. The research is performed in three consecutive stages. At the first stage, the dynamic model of development of the Russia's regional economy is compiled with the help of the methodology of “underdevelopment whirlpools” in federal districts of the Russian Federation based on GDP per capita. At the second stage, the key factors of emergence of disproportions in development of the Russia's regional economy are determined and models of multiple regression of development of the Russia's regional economy are compiled. At the third stage, target parameters of the determined factors are set for reducing the “underdevelopment whirlpools” in the Russia's regional economy by automatized solution of the optimization task with application of the simplex method and recommendations for overcoming the disproportions in development of the Russia's regional economy are compiled. As a result, it is concluded that regional economy of Russia is not well-balanced, as it has deep structural disproportions. These disproportions are caused by insufficient attention to peculiarities of regional economic systems during development and implementation of regional strategies of state management of economy. For more precise accounting of the influence of the key factors of appearance of disproportions and highly-effective management of them for overcoming the “underdevelopment whirlpools,” the algorithm of overcoming the disproportions in development of the Russia's regional economy is developed by the authors, which envisages various managerial measures depending on peculiarities of each Russian region.

The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake revealed that one of the reasons for the lack of effective and timely action to rescue and restore natural history collections is that the organizational laws and policies are insufficient and inapplicable under extreme circumstances. Laws and policies for collections are primarily concerned with designation and registration, preservation and management, financial assistance, government involvement and public awareness. The Cultural Property Protection System and the Act on Cultural Properties Preservation prioritized the rescue and restoration of cultural assets, both nationally and regionally, however, attention to the state of natural history collections was delayed and was primarily fueled by volunteers (Mawatari 2015). Earlier in the Meiji era (1868~1912), national emphasis on cultural assets, represented by Japanese art, contributed to the formation and spread of nationalism (Kanayama 2011). Consequently, the laws and policies in question were enacted, focusing on attaching importance to and preservervation of cultural assets. After a few attempts at national discussion on whether science specimens (in natural history collections) should be covered by the law, the problem remain unsolved. In the few cases, where natural history collections were designated by the law, the focus tended to be centered on the value to humanity. It is clear from the laws and policies that decision-makers lack an understanding of the importance of natural history collections. Further narrowing down the scope, operational rules and regulations are often based on the handling and practices of cultural history objects within the public museums, and descriptions of natural history collections are lacking in many practice guidelines for museums and textbooks on museum studies. Other than the need for better law and policy, the 2011 disaster has also left curators of natural history collections with a renewed sense of the importance of establishing theories on conservation science and other practice standards for natural history collections through networking and cooperation, not only under extreme circumstances but also for daily management and practical utility. However, the current lack of curators with expertise in natural history collections, the few chances to participate in skill-share programs, and insufficient financial and official support for pioneering research, remain challenging. To address this, it may be possible to propose methodologies and gather individuals with similar interests to deepen the debate on the importance of research and establishment of standards to give curators more chances, support and recognition to carry on conservation science research. Therefore, increasing connections within the natural history museum community is a feasible step to take in the near term. There are some actions in progress such as cross-museum collaboration to establish research projects and the skill-share projects organized by the Natural History Museum Network of Western Japan. What about the non-natural history museums and natural history collections with few or without specialized curators? The natural history curator community in Japan is small. In 2020, there were 228 museums in Japan holding biological specimens (geological and paleontology specimens were not counted in the research), fewer than half of which were assigned to natural history curators. In the natural history museums, the average number of natural history curators was 2.49; that of science museums, history museums and regional museums was less than 1, indicating that the natural history curator community is a minority in the museum sector of Japan (Fig. 1, Japanese Association of Museums 1986). Even those where there were assignments of natural history curators, the curators' specialized field may not be a perfect match with the collections, ending up with cases such as a curator of entomology having to take care of botanical specimens. In some regions, in 2020, there were only one or two natural history curators, indicating the unevenness in curator assignments across regions of Japan (Fig. 2, Japanese Association of Museums 1986). This makes it even harder to find other curators who can help when encountering problems beyond one’s expertise. All of this underlines the importance of creating a strong national network of natural history museum curators to share experiences, expertise, methodologies, and standards of care.

This contribution traces the transition of Canada's national history museum from the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) to the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) due to open on 1 July 2017 in time for national celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. The article examines the very different approaches to museology and historical representation that became visible as the CMC's Canada Hall was demolished to make way for the CMH's Canadian History Hall. This significant change in the Canadian commemorative landscape was seen by many as part of a deliberate refashioning by the Conservative government and by others an as opportunity to tell new stories in new ways. The making of the new history hall is situated in the context of larger debates about history and memory, the role of museums in shaping national identity, and public perceptions about museums.

Travel and tourism are an integral part of people's lives. The displacement of people who have ever left their habitual environment has a strong impact on local, regional, national and international economies. As a branch of economy, tourism involves different kinds of economic costs and benefits. There are different problems of tourism development in different countries, but one of the important is to determine the economic benefits and costs of this industry. The purpose of the article is to consider various methods of estimation of economic benefits and expenses from travel and tourism, used in foreign practice. This review article discusses various approaches to estimating the economic benefits and costs of travel and tourism. The use of evaluation methods depends on the development of the tourism industry and the socio-economic characteristics of a region or country. Various methods are used to estimate the economic benefits and costs of travel and tourism, from simple guesses to complex mathematical models. The studies vary greatly in quality and accuracy, as well as in the included aspects of tourism. Having analyzed different methods, in our article we have stopped on the method of daily census and on the method of coefficients of «probability of use» as the most acceptable and simple in use. Such methods of scientific knowledge as analysis, synthesis, structuring, method of tables, induction, deduction, formalization, idealization, modeling were used in writing the article. The systematization of the data was obtained based on the study of scientific literature on a given topic. The relevance of the article lies in the fact that it is designed to help public authorities and businesses to assess the economic benefits and costs of new potential tourism facilities, to assess the economic feasibility of existing facilities and on this basis to develop public policy in the field of tourism.

Museum management is facing challenges due to both audience loss and revenue shortage. Therefore, museum audience research appears to be critical. Although progress had been made for the past 15 years, it is still in the infancy stage. Its past, present status and future trend need to be examined. This paper reviewed 73 articles published in major museum journals of Taiwan from 1992-2006, such as the Museology Quarterly and Technology Museum Review, with the intention to examine the research results and trends. The analytical results showed five themes: (1) evaluation of exhibits, (2) service quality and visitor satisfaction, (3) audience profile and market segmentation, (4) evaluation of educational programs, and (5) others. Two conclusions were drawn. (1) Museum audience research has great room for improvement in terms of quantity and quality. (2) Room for improvement also includes methods of data collection, research populations and settings. Two suggestions are made. (1) Considering the cross-disciplinary nature, a conceptual framework is proposed to enhance the content, quality and foundation of audience research. (2) The diversity of research approaches, topics, and study populations is recommended.

In the development process of the social era at that time, the concept of regional economic upgrading and development was in a very important position. Realizing the conversion of old and new kinetic energy to promote high-quality economic development is the focus of economic work at present and in the future. This study mainly discusses the upgrading and development of regional economy based on digital and intelligent innovation. Through the analysis of the influencing factors of the total economic volume and its growth rate, this study has a preliminary understanding of the development advantages and disadvantages of each district, county, and city in the process of regional economic upgrading. Through the comprehensive evaluation of the regional economic development of the province, it can obtain the distribution of the development degree of each district, county, and city and the comprehensive competitiveness of the regional economy. To sum up, a quantitative analysis has been carried out on the status quo of the provincial regional economic development. It uses a grayscale prediction model to predict the future of digital economic development, intelligent innovation, and regional economic development. The grey prediction model is a prediction method that establishes a mathematical model to make predictions through a small amount of incomplete information. Based on the past and present development laws of objective things, it uses scientific methods to describe and analyze future development trends and conditions and form scientific assumptions and judgments. The study found that province A ranked first in the comprehensive index of digital economy development. With its superior geographical location, it has become the vanguard of reform and opening up. It has been committed to the construction of the national digital economy innovation and development pilot zone and has achieved remarkable results, increasing from 0.6302 in 2017 to 1.317 in 2021. It ranks second in the comprehensive development index of economic growth. Province A increased from 0.4501 in 2017 to 0.8177. Province B ranks second in terms of the comprehensive digital economy development index, increasing from 0.5504 in 2017 to 1.1340 in 2021. Province B, with strong economic strength and prosperous trade, ranked first in the composite economic growth index, increasing from 0.4527 in 2017 to 0.8514. The upgrading of regional economic structure is an important way to achieve high-quality economic development in the new era. In the process of upgrading the regional economic structure, there are changes in factor allocation, resource consumption intensity, input-output efficiency, and environmental quality, which have a certain impact on economic development. This research will help to promote the process of regional economic upgrading and development.

The regional logistics industry is a very important mainstay industry of the regional economy, and it has an huge effect upon the regional economy development. According to the characteristics of region logistics system, the synergetic development significations of region logistics system are analyzed, and the synergetic development mechanism of regional logistics system is put forward based on the region economy convergency theory in order to effectively adjusting the regional logistics industry structure and accelerating the synergetic evolution of regional logistics system. Moreover, the synergy relation degree model between region logistics system and regional economy is built to find out the order parameter and development rules of region logistics system and guide the regional industry adjustment and economy development.

Museum crisisThe provincial museums and the National Museum at a time of changeSophus Müller (1846-1934) was one of the more controversial leaders in the Danish museum world. He was employed as a museum keeper at the Old Nordic Museum in 1885 in connection with the death of its renowned leader, J.J.A. Worsaae, who was succeeded by C.F. Herbst. The new keeper was entrusted with many administrative tasks, one of which was the handling of the relationship between the National Museum and the then seven provincial museums: Ribe (founded 1855), Århus (1860), Odense (1860), Viborg (1861), Aalborg (1865), Randers (1872), and Maribo (1879).The relation ship between the former museum leaders – C.J. Thomsen and Worsaae – and the provincial museums had been characterised by mutual respect and helpfulness, but with Sophus Müller the relations became strained and marked by conflicts (figs. 1-2).From 1885, the provincial museums applied annually for state subsidies on the grounds that they wanted to prevent the trade and export of artefacts. In April 1887, the Ministry for Ecclesiastical and Educational Affairs brought out a report stating the future rules for state subsidy for provincial museums. These rules were drawn up by Sophus Müller and discussed at a meeting in Aalborg in 1887 – the first joint meeting between museums of cultural history in the country. The representative of the provincial museums was Gustav Lotze from the muse um in Odense. He was especially concerned about the demand of state supervision with the provincial museums. Nevertheless, the museums were unprepared and so the outcome of the meeting was a bland letter to the ministry, which consequently paid no attention to the approach (fig. 3).Sophus Müller’s administration of the 1887-rules was strongly challenged by many provincial museums, who resented the lack of cooperation, the trammels concerning the right to carry out excavations and the duty to hand over important finds to the museum in Copenhagen. The last issue especially caused concern and frustration, but it never became a topic at the official meetings between the leaders of the National Museum and the provincial museums, which took place in Århus in 1894 and in Copenhagen in 1897. The frustration thus never led to any change in the conditions for the provincial museums, mainly because the museum leaders disagreed about the demands to be made on the National Museum. In 1912, the same negative destiny befell an excessive proposal from the museum in Randers (figs. 4-5).Sophus Miüller was a competent archaeologist, but his managerial style regarding administration was never popular with the provincial museum s nor with the National Museum staff Also, he was extremely unpopular with most of the antique dealers trading in artefacts allover the country. Of these and the farmhands that plundered the burial mounds he was an implacable enemy. Sophus Müller never learned how to tackle these people, nor did he ever understand their way of thinking. In this respect he had great support from the provincial museums and from the few private individuals that acted as the links between him and the population (figs. 6-7).The era when Sophus Müller was the leader of the Danish museum system was also one of great change in the Danish society. Industry was booming and about to bring new wealth to the country and both the formations of parties and the democratisation process were developing. Sophus Müller, who was a genuine Copenhagener and very conservative, found it difficult to keep up with these changes. The fact that the farmers were gaining power through ”venstre” (a Danish Liberal political party) troubled him (fig. 8). Another problem was his severe hardness of hearing, which contributed to isolating him from the social life. Consequently, he devoted him self to work and research.Sophus Müller continued his archaeological research for many years following his retirement in 1921. His last work, a treatise on the Iron Age, was published in 1933. He died a few months later, in February the following year.Niels Løgager NielsenGasmuseetTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

Stained Glass Windows from Grodziec. Part I The group of 14 stained glass windows from Grodziec (Groditzberg, Groditzburg) near Zlotoryja in the Lower Silesia provides an interesting illustration of Polish and Silesian monuments’ intricate fortunes after the end of World War II. In December 1945, one part of the group (8 panels) landed in Krakow. At first, it became the property of the Wawel State Art Collection. Then, it was transferred to the Jagiellonian University Museum, by which it is still owned. In 1966, the other part of the group (6 panels) was made over to the Silesian Museum, later called the National Museum in Wroclaw. The stained glass windows from Grodziec constitute also an example of interesting issues from the fields of art conservation studies, museology and restoration. The panels of stained glass from the beginning of the 15th century, representing Madonna and Child, Man of Sorrows, Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel, Apostles and Saints in architectural frames, became part of the decor of the castle in Grodziec, of a baroque palace situated at the feet of the castle hill and of one pavilion in the palace park. Gradually reconstructed from the beginning of the 19th century and then, in the years 1906–1908, rebuilt in the romantic style by B. Ebhard, the castle started being decorated with stained glass windows in the 1830s. Six sections from the group have already been exhibited in the rooms of the Krakow Jagiellonian University Museum for many years. In the course of historical research, it has turned out that presumably also other stained glass windows, currently belonging to the University Museum, come from Grodziec: twelve smaller sections representing the Passion and the scene of Saint Clare’s death, from ca. 1490, made in the Nuremberg workshop of Michael Wolgemut, and two Late Renaissance stained glass windows representing the figures of Saint Peter and Saint James, from a Rhineland workshop. The fourteen medieval stained glass windows of Austrian origins, coming from Grodziec and now belonging to the Krakow and Wroclaw museums’ collections, currently undergo physical and chemical analysis. Historical research is also being conducted thanks to the financial support of the National Science Centre. Three sections from the Wroclaw collection were already preserved and restored in 2013 thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, another three underwent conservation in the conservation studio of The Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the years 2013 and 2014.

oResumenPropósitoUna estrategia de conectividad del transporte es una parte crucial de un sistema de transporte turístico adaptable, congruente y sostenible, y es de interés para los países que se centran en el crecimiento de su economía turística. Un análisis de la configuración puede ayudar a comprender mejor la relación entre la conectividad del transporte y la economía del turismo.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueEste estudio utiliza el análisis comparativo cualitativo de conjuntos difusos (fsQCA) en una muestra de 153 ciudades de China para proporcionar una comprensión de los impactos de las estrategias de conectividad del transporte, con los factores coadyuvantes de la situación socioeconómica, la dotación de recursos turísticos y la capacidad de hospitalidad, en el desarrollo de las economías turísticas regionales.ConclusionesExisten múltiples vías que conducen al desarrollo económico del turismo regional (un alto nivel de llegadas de turistas o un alto nivel de ingresos por turismo). El ferrocarril de alta velocidad puede desempeñar un papel de apoyo, mientras que el transporte aéreo o el ferrocarril tradicional siguen siendo fundamentales para la economía turística. El estatus socioeconómico (es decir, el tamaño de la ciudad y el PIB de la ciudad) y la capacidad de hospitalidad se identifican como factores de influencia cruciales para el desarrollo de la economía del turismo.Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigaciónEste estudio confirma la validez de utilizar el análisis de configuración (basado en la teoría de la equifinalidad) para establecer la relación entre el transporte y la economía del turismo. El hallazgo de más de una configuración condujo a un nuevo consenso sobre cómo influyen los múltiples factores en la economía del turismo.Implicaciones practicesSe proporciona una tipología de estrategias de conectividad del transporte para diferentes regiones.Originalidad/valorEste estudio demuestra la necesidad de poner mayor énfasis en las configuraciones que conducen al desarrollo de la economía turística en lugar del efecto de un único modo de transporte.

The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the variation in, and systematics of, this species. We have been able to study 601 specimens of D. parvifrons . In addition to specimens in the Albert Schwartz Field Series (ASFS) we have borrowed pertinent material in the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), United Sta tes National Museum (USNM), American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (UMMZ), Carnegie Museum (CM), and the Senkenberg Museum (SMF).

Köögiruum ja köögikraam Eesti muuseumide tõlgenduses

Dioramas are at the crossroads of artistic, scientific and cultural practices. They bring together painters, sculptors, scientists, and collectors, thus providing an opportunity to reflect on the polyvalence of these actors and the definition of their expertise. In 1822, the painter and scientist Louis Daguerre coined the term “diorama” when describing his theater. The word diorama means literally “seeing through.” In accordance with this etymology, dioramas embody a sense of transparency and life-likeness. In addition to providing theatrical and visual experiences, dioramas are multidimensional installations that incorporate paintings, objects, stuffed animals or mannequins. Habitat groups mixing taxidermy and painted backgrounds were designed for natural history museums, while anthropological dioramas were disseminated all over Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century. They were usually life-sized and site specific but they could also be reduced to maquettes. To date, these installations have been studied by scholars from various disciplines, mainly as side topics. Media historians have considered them primarily as proto-cinematic, whereas within the fields of anthropology, museum studies and postcolonial studies, they are generally analyzed as displays that reflect political taxonomies and stereotyped representations. However, dioramas are not merely images or displays: they are also physical objects made of multiple materials, such as plaster, wood, paper, paint, glass, fur, wax, and metal. The discipline of art history thus provides us with the opportunity to approach the materiality of these installations. Indeed, dioramas are composite and hybrid things, created through cultural interaction and physical encounter. Multiple hands as well as various visions are involved in the process of their creation – and later on, during their conservation. Dioramas therefore allow for the study of contact zones and material exchanges between private and public spheres, as well as between Western and non-Western contexts. Finally, dioramas as objects of study within the field of art history enable us to address values such as authenticity and realism in various contexts.