“The Twenty-Four-Inch Box in Your Living Room is Not a Museum” – Early Experiments in Museum Television

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the early 1950s television was the hot new broadcast media. The post-war economic boom meant that more and more American households were purchasing televisions, and television programming was growing to meet demand. The moment was rife with the potential to reach more and more people through the dazzling allure of television. Many American museums saw the potential to expand their audiences beyond their building to reach people who had never stepped foot inside a museum, effectively expanding the reaching of the museum into American living rooms. This idea was not without controversy. In fact, larger debates circulated at the time about whether or not television could be educational as well as entertaining. This essay examines three museum television programs that debuted in 1951–1952 and were amongst the first television program produced by museums. Produced by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Penn Museum, and The Museum of Modern Art, each program reveals individual approaches to the use of emerging technology for educational purposes. This essay considers the value of history in understanding and responding to contemporary debates about technology and change.