museum studies

‘Artefacts’ is a network of academic and museum-based historians of science, technology and medicine who are interested in promoting the use of objects in scholarly work. The network started in 1997 and recent meetings have dealt with ‘Exploration’ (Oslo 2007; see also here), ‘Constructing and Deconstructing Icons of Achievement in Science and Technology’ (Stockholm 2006), ‘Globalization’ (Washington 2005), […]

We have received a mail from Ginger Scott, a Masters student in the Museum Studies program at the University of Toronto, who is currently researching the display of human anatomy in museums. Ginger has asked us to distribute this inquiry to our readers: Through my research, I am particularly interested in the relationship between human anatomical displays […]

No, they obviously don’t. Their very not-doing-so is part of what makes them, well, things. But why, then, is parts of academia currently obsessed with a vocabulary that suggests they do all three things? Thomas suggested somewhat tongue-in-cheek on this blog that perhaps it has to do with a revival of fetishism. I’d like to […]

In an earlier post I wondered about the current fashion of ’things-that-talk’-talk that has invaded some valleys of cultural studies. For example, at a forthcoming workshop in Vienna, the organisers invite the participants “mit den Dinge zu argumentieren und diskutieren” (to argue and discuss with the objects), and they hope that “die Dinge gleichsam selbst zu Wort kommen” (the things in […]

Left Coast Press is starting a new peer-review journal called Museum History Journal to explore “the history of museums, the museum profession, and the sociocultural context in which museums developed and operate”.   The editors (Hugh H. Genoways at U Nebraska and Mary Anne Andrei at U Virginia) will operate with an inclusive definition of ‘museum’, i.e., also “aquaria, zoos, botanical gardens, […]