Museum Services Research Articles

‘A developing sense of crisis’: a new look at university collections in the United Kingdom

A growing concern with the care and handling of some of the richest university museum collections in the world led to a nationwide review and sparked considerable new thinking in the United Kingdom. Kate Arnold‐Forster, formerly a practising curator, is a museum consultant specializing in collection surveys and reviews, and in strategic matters. She has been involved in five of the regional surveys of higher education collections in the United Kingdom: in London, the north of England, the south‐west, the Midlands and the South‐eastern Museum Service (Western Region). Other recent research projects include a review of British music museums (Museums of Music, HMSO/MGC, 1993), and collaboration in the museum sector (Collaboration Between Museums, MGC, 1998). She is a member of the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC) Museums Registration Panel and a fellow of the Museums Association.

Derek Howse (1919–98)

Commander Derek Howse, who has died aged 78, was a man of many talents which he used unstintingly in time of war, and in times of peace for the public benefit. After a distinguished career in the Royal Navy he joined the Museum service, and rose in it to become the leading authority on the history of the buildings, instruments and astronomical timekeepers of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, on the solution in the eighteenth century of the problem of determining the longitude at sea by lunar distance and by chronometer, and on the development and use of radar at sea.Derek was the son of a Captain of the Royal Navy, and at the age of thirteen and a half years followed his father into the Navy as a Naval Cadet. In HMS Britannia (then the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth) for the next three and a half years Derek was given a very broad – for those, even more for present times – education, for it was in the sciences and the humanities, in marine engineering and in seamanship, before going to sea as a midshipman in the 16″-gun battleship HMS Rodney for some two years. He then completed his sub-lieutenant's qualifying courses in navigation, gunnery, torpedoes, anti-submarine warfare and signals in 1939, as the Second World War broke out, when he again went to sea.

Museums as Leisure

Museums are shifting from a focus upon education alone towards an accommodation of leisure markets. The authors do not consider these concepts of education and leisure, often presented as oppositional, to be irreconcilable within museum practice. Nevertheless, it is apparent that museum practice is changing, in part as a response to the pressures and opportunities of becoming assimilated into leisure markets, predominantly, but not only, as touristic attractions and often as key resources in local economic development. Stakeholders such as users, citizens or governments appear to be unconcerned about these changes in emphasis, whilst some within professional museum practice (also stakeholders) do not wholeheartedly welcome the moves. The authors argue that, historically, museums have been attributed a role in 'entertaining' users and that, in part at least, this was accepted by practitioners where the primary orientation was acquisition and conservation within the project of modernity. In such circumstances, the consumption of museum services was seen as mainly for academic, or educational, utility. More recently, consumption of museums shows evidence of being at least equally associated with meaning as well as utility, i.e. that exhibitions contribute to the assembly of particular lifestyles associated with touristic behaviour.

From Stone to Textile: The Bacchus Mosaic at Stonesfield, Oxon., and the Stonesfield Embroidery

The Oxfordshire County Museum Service, with financial assistance from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund and the Stonesfield Embroidery Appeal, recently purchased the Stonesfield Embroidery, an early-18th-century needlework carpet using the design of the Roman Bacchus mosaic discovered in 1712 close to the village of Stonesfield (Oxon.). Research was subsequently undertaken to examine the many different images of the mosaic produced following its discovery in 1712, the correspondence of interested antiquaries of the day and its subsequent archaeological publication, and its wider diffusion into different aspects of 18th-century life, particularly decorative art and design.This article considers in detail the evidence for the embroidery's design and manufacture, and explores the technical aspects of it as a textile. The opportunity is also taken to reassess the original Bacchus mosaic and villa site in the context of recent research into the region and Roman Britain.

Catalogue of type and figured fossils at Clitheroe Castle Museum, Lancashire, UK

The material referred to in this catalogue is part of the collection housed at Clitheroe Castle Museum, which is curated by Lancashire County Museum Service. Stratigraphic terminology follows Riley (1990) and the localities are given as accurately as possible. 1. ECHINODERMATA: CRINOIDEA Euryocrinus rofei Springer FIGURED LANMS: 1983.123.1. Bellman Limestone Member, Clitheroe Limestone Formation, Chadian, Dinantian, Carboniferous. Bellman Quarry, Clitheroe, Lancashire [SD 762429]. Wright 1960, p. 333, pl. B, figs. 5, 6. Gilbertsocrinus bollandensis Wright HOLOTYPE LANCL: 246.1 Coplow Limestone Member, Clitheroe Limestone Formation, Chadian, Dinantian, Carboniferous. Coplow Quarry, Clitheroe, Lancashire [SD 750432]. Wright 1958, p. 324, pl. 76, figs. 16–18. Gilbertsocrinus bursa Phillips FIGURED LANCL: 246.3. Clitheroe Limestone Formation, Chadian, Dinantian, Carboniferous. Clitheroe, Lancashire. Wright 1958, p. 322, pl. 77, figs. 1–4. Gilbertsocrinus compactus Wright HOLOTYPE LANCL: 246.4. Clitheroe Limestone Formation, Chadian, Dinantian, Carboniferous. Clitheroe, Lancashire. Wright 1958, p. 323, pl. 78, figs. 11, 19–21. Gilbertsocrinus globosus Wright HOLOTYPE LANCL: 246.2. Clitheroe Limestone Formation, Chadian, Dinantian, Carboniferous. Clitheroe, Lancashire. Wright 1958, p. 325, pl. 76, figs. 22–25. 2. BRACHIOPODA Pugnax mesogonus (Phillips) FIGURED LANCL: 246.99. Clitheroe Limestone Formation, Chadian, Dinantian, Carboniferous. Withgill Quarry, Great Mitton, Clitheroe, Lancashire [SD 710411]. Parkinson 1954, fig. 2, no. 11. Acknowledgement. I acknowledge the earlier work of Neil Turner in collating much of the information which is presented here.

Institute of Museum and Library Services kicks-off grant-giving program

Institute of Museum and Library Services kicks-off grant-giving program

Privatizing Museum Services In Uk Local Authorities

This article investigates the extent to which ‘privatization’ has taken place in museum services provided by local authorities in Britain. Three aspects of privatization are examined: change in the legal status of museums to charitable trusts; contracting-in and buying-in private service providers for specific work; and market- and marketing-orientation. All of these have a resonance in new public management in general and are of increasing significance to the international museum community. In the empirical site chosen for this article, privatization has progressed in varying degrees in relation to the three areas concerned, but overall only to a limited extent despite central government's pressure promoting this policy. Reasons suggested for this gap between the political context and the findings are the distinctiveness in the institutional arrangement of policy and the nature of the service. A good understanding of a polrcy arena along these llnes is needed for effective policy application.

Reexamining Diversity: A Look at the Deaf Community in Museums

AbstractIn accordance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, museums serve their deaf visitors by offering assistance through accessibility programs designed specifically to provide access to the museum, its collections, and/or information in an exhibition or program that would otherwise be unattainable by a person with a disability. Accessibility provisions such as signed tours, TTYs, and subtitled audio information have helped deaf people experience and enjoy museums. While these programs and provisions are necessary museum services, they do not acknowledge the view of many Deaf people—that they are not disabled but rather members of a community that does not hear. Nor do accessibility programs generally include programs on the shared traditions, values, and language that make up the culture of the Deaf community.This paper seeks to introduce museum professionals to the Deaf cultural community and Deaf cultural exhibitions that celebrate the history, achievements, and tradition of Deaf people; it offers steps to follow in planning such exhibitions and provides some examples.

Demand functions for museum services

Museums Worldwide are facing financial exigencies and are being forced to rely on earned income, including admission fees, to finance their activities. Using data from the 1989 Museum Surveywe estimate demand functions for seven types of museums in the United States. Previous empirial evidence on the effects of admission fees on museum attendance have either been anecdotal or case study in nature. This study presents the first general empirical evidence on factors influencing the demand for museum services. Our results provide evidence that the demand for museum services is price inelastic and that museum quality has important effects on museum demand. We also argue that out results indicate that the adverse effects of admission charges on attendance are small and relatively easy to alleviate.

Policy Writing: A Blueprint for the Future

Expanding the boundaries of traditional museum services and functions requires both painstaking scrutiny of accepted practices and procedures and an imaginative look at the future. In Ontario, Canada, the City of Guelph’s museum complex, comprising the Guelph Civic Museum and McCrae House, undertook just this approach when it decided to recast its policies covering every aspect of museum work. The authors are curator, director and programme co‐ordinator respectively of Guelph Museums; they describe the time consuming but rewarding process that resulted in a new view of their museums’ place in society.

Namibia's Mobile Museum Service

A large country with a small population, mainly based in remote rural communities, Namibia has opted for an innovative method of linking schools and museums in a symbiotic educational environment.

Culture and the State in America

During 1989-1990 the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) underwent a fierce attack because it indirectly funded allegedly anti-Christian work by Andres Serrano and an exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe considered pornographic by some. In 1991 a revisionist, didactic display of western art at the National Museum of American Art (part of the Smithsonian Institution) aroused congressional ire. Yet that fracas now seems, in retrospect, fairly calm compared to the controversy generated in 1994-1995 by The Last Act, a long-planned exhibition concerning the end of World War II in the Pacific slated to appear in the National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian. It was cancelled by the secretary of the Smithsonian because of immense political pressure and adverse publicity emanating from veterans' organizations and from Capitol Hill. Throughout 1995 those who hoped to eliminate entirely the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the NEA, the Institute of Museum Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and to reduce support for the National Trust for Historic Preservation did not succeed, but they did achieve devastating budgetary cuts. Moreover, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich insisted in a twopage essay in Time magazine that removing cultural funding from the federal budget ultimately will improve the arts and the country.' These controversies and attacks, taken together, have had me wondering why it is that most nations in the world have a ministry of culture in some form, whereas the United States does not. Indeed, the very notion seems politically inconceivable in this country. It has been proposed from time to time, most notably in 1936-1938 (offered in Congress during Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term as the CoffeePepper bill), but each time abortively.2 It has been considered and rejected by several presidential administrations. Comparative investigation of State support for

An Eighteenth-Century House at 789, High Road Leyton, London E10

AbstractNewham Museum Service was commissioned by Hunting Gate Project Management Ltd to undertake an archaeological investigation of a site, consisting of various properties around 789 High Road Leyton (TQ 37978799), in advance of redevelopment. Number 789 itself was the office of Essex Builders Merchants and consisted of a dilapidated and partially altered eighteenth-century house. The development involved the complete demolition of the building as well as subsurface disturbance so an archaeological survey of the standing building and an evaluation of the archaeological deposits was required. This article reports on the results of the survey of the eighteenth-century building and its later alterations.

Montrose v. Dundee and the Jurisdiction of Parliament and Council over Fee and Heritage in the Mid‐Fifteenth century*

Parliamentary HistoryVolume 15, Issue 1 p. 33-53 Montrose v. Dundee and the Jurisdiction of Parliament and Council over Fee and Heritage in the Mid-Fifteenth century* ALAN BORTHWICK, ALAN BORTHWICK Scottish Record OfficeSearch for more papers by this author ALAN BORTHWICK, ALAN BORTHWICK Scottish Record OfficeSearch for more papers by this author First published: February 1996 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-0206.1996.tb00315.xCitations: 1 † *I am very grateful to Professor H. MacQueen for his comments on an earlier draft of this. Quotation from unpublished MSS. is made with the approval of the Director of Libraries and Museums Service, Angus District Council, and of the Archivist, Dundee District Archive and Record Centre. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume15, Issue1February 1996Pages 33-53 RelatedInformation

A history of museums in Peterhead, Grampian Region, Scotland

The geological collections of the Arbuthnot Museum, Peterhead, Grampian Region, have their origins in the private museum of Adam Arbuthnot (1775-1850) and the museum of the Peterhead Institute. The former was bequeathed to the town in 1850 and absorbed the latter in 1863. The present museum building was opened in 1893. The Arbuthnot Museum became part of North East of Scotland Museums Service in 1975; rationalisation across the Service saw geology displays concentrated instead at Banff Museum.

The ASTC Legacy and the Institute of Museum Services

ABSTRACTThe Association of Science‐Technology Centers (ASTC) represents 283 science‐technology centers in the United States and 89 centers around the world. Among its most significant accomplishments is the leadership role that it played in the passage of the legislation that created the Institute of Museum Services (IMS), the federal agency that provides general operating support for the nation's museums. Prior to the funding of the IMS, government support for individual projects in art and history museums had come from the NEA and NEH, but the science museums fell through the cracks. Science museums, were already represented in Washington by ASTC, and ASTC became the natural lobbying group to establish a separate agency for museums. Although ASTC was one of the major driving forces behind the creation of IMS, its members represent only a fraction of the beneficiaries of IMS grants. Since 1984, ASTC institutions have received only 10 to 16 percent of the total dollars awarded by IMS.

Standing on forgotten shoulders – who was Butler Wood?

The library services we provide today are built on the skill, energy and vision of earlier generations of librarians; yet most of these pioneers remain unknown. Examines the career of Butler Wood, librarian at Bradford for 50 years, 41 of them as chief librarian. In addition to the successful development of a major municipal library, he developed art gallery and museum services; was a founder member and contributor to many literary, historical and cultural organizations; he influenced the development of reference and rural libraries; and he contributed to the growth of the library profession itself. An appreciation of this visionary scholar/ administrator can provide inspiration today.

Training zoo professionals for studbook and species survival plan programs

AbstractIn 1989 a proposal to establish a Zoo Curator's Training Academy was distributed to more than 30 zoo professionals attending the annual conference of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA). Receiving a positive response, we tabulated the results and re‐evaluated the proposal. A task force was created in August 1990 to further define the target audience and to develop a curriculum and budget. The proposal was submitted to the AAZPA Board of Directors at the annual conference in September 1990, and the Board agreed to fund creation of an AAZPA Conservation Academy. The Academy's first course, Studbook I, was presented in February 1991 and taught methods for collecting and entering data into a specially tailored computer program. The course was well received by the students and their institutions. A second course, SSP Coordinator Training, was piloted in 1992 and achieved similar results by teaching standardized methods, including the use of a publishing format for the AAZPA's SSP programs. In 1993 the Institute of Museum Services (IMS) approved funding for development of a third course, the Science of Zoo and Aquarium Animal Management. This course, introduced in February 1994, fulfills the second of the Association's mandates for the Academy—to address animal husbandry by integrating scientific methods with animal management techniques and thereby establish standards for data bases and management plans. All Academy courses have been designed to be “hands‐on” participatory experiences and, combined with lectures, effectively train students to “do the job.” © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

A USEFUL MINERAL DATA BASE FOR THE MUSEUM LABORATORY

ArchaeometryVolume 36, Issue 1 p. 171-175 A USEFUL MINERAL DATA BASE FOR THE MUSEUM LABORATORY* D. A. SCOTT, D. A. SCOTT Museum Services, The Getty Conservation Institute, 4503 Glencoe Avenue, Marina del Rey, California 90292–6537, U.S.A.Search for more papers by this author D. A. SCOTT, D. A. SCOTT Museum Services, The Getty Conservation Institute, 4503 Glencoe Avenue, Marina del Rey, California 90292–6537, U.S.A.Search for more papers by this author First published: February 1994 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.1994.tb01072.x * Received 3 June 1993, accepted 26 August 1993. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume36, Issue1February 1994Pages 171-175 RelatedInformation

National support as a key to preventive conservation

A general conservation survey or assessment, which provides an overview of the basic conservation needs of an institution, has proved effective in determining conservation priorities and in developing preventive conservation strategies for the future, particularly for smaller museums. A conservation assessment is frequently requested from museums seeking federal and/or private funding in the United States of America. In addition, the resulting long-range conservation plan is a useful supporting document for grant proposals requesting funds for specific treatment, environmental monitoring equipment and storage components. A federally funded grant program, the Conservation Assessment Program (CAP), was developed in 1990 by the Institute of Museum Services to provide free, general conservation surveys to institutions with small to medium-sized collections. The approach and methodology used for these surveys, and for developing a preventive conservation plan, are based on a project developed by the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property, Inc. and the Getty Conservation Institute.