Relationship of Museums to the

Relationship of Museums to the Community The objective of this work is to examine what part that museums play in the life of a community and what new roles and responsibilities are the museums in communities adopting and what are the possibilities. This work will examine whether museums within a community recognize the community's stake in the decision making processing and programs of the museum and what collaborative relationships have developed among museums and the communities in which they are located.

This work will further answer the question of whether museum exhibitions may be objective or if they must inevitably express a point-of-view and who controls the collection of the museum as well as the exhibition process and point-of-view. This work will answer how museum collections and exhibitions define and reflect the identity of a community and who speaks for the community on interpretive issues.

This work will examine how a museum might build on the intellectual potential of their collections as they seek new civic roles and how a successful museum-community exhibition collaborative might be measured. Finally this work will examine how museums can vest collections with new meanings and make them relevant to a modern audience and what the future of museums hold. I. The CONTROVERSY of a MUSEUM DISPLAY The work of Willard L.

Boyd entitled: "Museums as Centers of Controversy" states that museums are often thought of as "places of objects..." when in reality museums are "places of ideas." (nd) Boyd states that objects found in nature tend to "give rise to human ideas about nature. Ideas give rise to the objects created by humans.

Ideas are the principal means by which humans interact with objects in museums." (Boyd, Boyd relates that "the simple display of an object" can in itself be controversial." (nd) While one might wonder how this could be, according to Boyd "when exhibits go beyond the 'wonder' of the object, standing alone and are designed to inform and stimulate visitor learning, they consciously invite controversy - as they should." (Boyd, nd) II.

HISTORICAL REVIEW of MUSEUMS Boy relates that museums in ancient Greece and Egypt were "centers of speculation and research" and were the locations of study for scholars such as Plato, Aristotle, and Ptolemy in their studies of the natural world. Colleges and universities in the United States are organized "around collections of art, material culture, and natural science." (Boyd, nd; p.185) Boyd relates that one may trace the "roots of the Darwinian revolution" in collections such as those in the museum.

Boyd holds that it is necessary that "consultation...be real, not cosmetic." (nd) the whole point behind consultation is learning and in order to do so required is listening with open mind and willingness to change if need be. Consultation offers expansion in both public and professional knowledge and understanding. (Boyd, nd; paraphrased) III.

AUTHORITY of RESTRICTIONS and REGULATIONS in MUSEUM Boyd examines the profession of the museum and the "what and how" of the museum in terms of its collections which are "properly considered the province of the curator, whose professional judgment should be conclusive or at least accorded great weight." (nd; p.

189) Boyd points how that often, however, this is not the case with the judgment of the curator being questioned "even formally curtailed by government relations and peer ethical standards to which museums as institutions are primarily held responsible." (Boyd, nd; p. 189) Collections of the 1890s when compared to the 1990s in the view of Boyd are "unfettered" collections as compared to the restricted ones of the present.

Museum and curatorial ethical codes has as of yet failed in the articulation of museum collection practices in terms of restrictions upon these while the national and international government actively promulgates restrictions on collections resulting in the governments and the public being represented hold a view of the curator of museums and those museums as being responsible for depriving them of both community and cultural heritage.

Furthermore, the museum is often viewed as notorious for acquisition of objects that have been seized in wartime or stolen in times of peace by private and public as well as governmental entities. Boyd relates that public demand generally lead the direction of standards in ethics and in laws and regulations and public demand is known to be focused specifically on situations requiring redress.

It is therefore, this reason that "after years of denial, we are now properly focused on the art seized by the Nazis from the Jews." (Boyd, nd; p.

190) AAMD guidelines are stated to have called upon the art museums to upon "immediately to review the provenance of works in their collections to attempt to ascertain whether any were unlawfully confiscated during the Nazi/World War II era and never restituted"..." (Boyd, nd; p.190) Prior to the ADAA issuance of the Nazi-looted art the provenance of many items of art were inadequate with failure on the part of museums in adherence to export and plundered treasures background checking.

The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) has stated that ADAA members will continue "to research the history of the works of art which they offer and make every effort to supply as complete and accurate a provenance as the available information permits. Like all art professions, ADAA members know that research into provenance is not a title search and there are frequently gaps in a provenance for perfectly legitimate reasons.

Collectors may be assured, however, that ADAA members warrant good title for every work they sell, that research into the history of each work will be professionally conducted by dealers uniquely qualified to do so because of their specialize knowledge and experience in the field." (Boyd, nd; p.

192) Boyd relates the need of the museums and curators to incorporate acquisition policies that adhere to the principles of the international conventions of UNESCO on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership in Cultural Property." upon the adoption of these same policies.

Boyd relates that fact that some Greek fragments of a vase were reported "looted and illegally exported from an Italian tomb after Harvard adopted the essence of the UNESCO convention in its acquisition policy in 1971." (Boyd, nd; p.192) This museum's policy accepted 'reasonable assurance' that articles did not violate this policy however: "...many art historians and archaeologist, noting that up to 80% of antiquities on the market were looted in recent decades, insist on tougher standards.

It is related by Boyd (nd) that the Globe article further stated that "Ethically, given the enormous amount of looted material on the market, we are obligated to presume these items to be guilty until they are demonstrated to be innocent and therefore the burden of proof should be on the purveyor of the object." (Boyd, nd; p.

192) the International Council of Museums ethical code stipulates: "A museum should not acquire, whether by purchase, gift, behest or exchange any object unless the governing body and responsible officer are satisfied that the museum can acquire a valid title to the specimen or object in question and that in particular it has not been acquired in, or exported from, its country of origin and/or any intermediate country in which it may have been legally owned [including the museum's own country] in violation of that country's laws." (Boyd, nd; p.

193) the ethical code further stipulates that in relation to material of a biological or geological nature that acquisition of the same should not be made by any direct or indirect means by the museum and this includes any specimen that has "been collected, sold or otherwise transferred in contravention of any national or international wildlife protection or natural history conservation law or treaty of the museum's own country or any other country except with the express consent of an appropriate outside legal or governmental authority." (Boyd, nd; p.

193) in order that these ethical code requirements are met the museums must take proactive measures in assuring that acquisitions they make are of 'good title'.

In today's museum such as the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History "special hunting permits and waivers on import bans raise red flags for museums..." (Boyd, nd; 194) There are differences in opinion as to what is ethical in terms of the museum collection as shared by Boyd (nd) a recent sale of 'Sue' "the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found..." To Field Museum for $8.4 million." (Boyd, nd; p.195) Repatriation of collections that were acquisitioned prior to the laws and standards of ethics of the present are also focused upon and in the U.S.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act has been adopted by Congress. In relation to items acquired prior to certain policies and standards the discussions should center on the "circumstances, legal and otherwise, under which the museum took possession." (Boyd, nd; p.1976) Furthermore the laws and regulations existing at the time of the museum's acquisition of the objects should be considered. These discussions could have various differential outcomes such as "the return of the objects to the lineal descendants of culturally affiliated tribes.

Alternatively, the person or group acknowledged as a legitimate representative may wish that the museum could continue to hold an object for the benefit of the other party." (Boyd, nd; p. 196) in this instance there should be clarity in the "terms and responsibilities of such holding..." (Boyd, nd; p.196) Boyd relates that in a museum that is 'collection-based' deaccession is an issue that is "exceedingly contentious" (p. 196) in nature, and in fact "much more so than the decision to acquire." (p. 196) IV.

DEFINITION of a MUSEUM & REFINEMENT of COLLECTIONS Boyd relates that museums are "more than repositories; they are places where collections are interpreted for the public through exhibits and related educational programs." (Boyd, nd; p.199) it is important to note the statement of Boyd that the museums interpretation of their collections "changes over time with the emergence of new 'techniques, scholarship, and viewpoints.'" (Boyd, nd; p.199) Furthermore, Boyd notes that the extent of interpretations in museums in the United States is experiencing rapid expansion as "museums see their mission changing from offering a passive venue for the already educated to being active center of learning for a public of diverse educational and cultural backgrounds." (Boyd, nd; p.

199) Boyd states that limiting the number of displays and exhibitions is somewhat contrary in that museums rarely explain to the public how the choices have been made as to what is and is not exhibited by the museum.

Boyd relates the statement of Lonnie Bunch as follows: "Museums would be better served if they explained to the public why history museums explore social history that includes difficult questions of race, class and gender, or why it is important for art museums to examine artists whose work challenges community norms and expectations. It is not enough to say that we 'know bets'...[M]museums can teach visitors more about points-of-view, the scholarly underpinnings of museum works, and the inherent fluidity of museum interpretation.

As the clothing store advertisement extols, "An educated consumer is our best customer." (Bunch, 1995; as cited in Boyd, nd; p. 201) Boyd relates that museums should be "affirmative in reaching out for diverse perspectives. In doing so, museums will improve the quality of exhibits and reflect the multiplicity of views present in a pluralistic democracy.

Those selected to create the exhibit should include representatives of the diverse groups whose cultures and environments are reflected in the exhibit." (Boyd, nd; p.202) it is important to recognize that within the group there will conflicting points-of-view and "principal centers of the group may live at a great distance from the museum." (Boyd, nd; p. 202) V.

The MUSEUM'S POWER of REPRESENTATION The work of Shilton and Srinivasan (2006) entitled: "Participatory Appraisal and Arrangement for Multicultural Archival Collections" states that the "power to represent has been wielded by information institutions throughout history, and the manifestations of this power have helped to build societal definitions of much of what we understand as culture.

This power applies not only to museums, but also to the institutions of culture and preservation that we know as archives, manuscript libraries, and special collections." (2006) Shilton and Srinivasan note the work of McKemmish, Gilliland-Swetland and Ketelaar who wrote: "Frameworks for the selection, collection, arrangement and description, preservations and accessibility of archives are...closely linked to societal processes of remembering and forgetting, inclusion and exclusion, and the power relationships they embody." (2005) Some documents are chose by the archivists and others are discarded with the archivists "using the power of appraisal to consciously or unconsciously assert chosen narratives as truths and ignore or reframe others." (McKemmish, Gilliland-Swetland and Ketelaar, 2005) Through the manner in which acquisitions are arranged and described the archivists "...impart narratives and knowledge structures to explain the relationships among records in a collection." (McKemmish, Gilliland-Swetland and Ketelaar, 2005) it is inevitable according to Shilton and Srinivasan that the "assertion, ignoring, or reframing of narrative that accompanies archival appraisal, arrangement and description is inevitable." (2005) No matter how diverse archivist teams there is no way to choose all documents or describe all the collection's knowledge or to represent all truth and experiences represented in a collection.

The work of Couture (2005) is noted as stating that archival appraisal "...must ultimately offer comprehensive evidence of societal actions and conditions." Shilton and Srinivasan state that "comprehensive evidence too often does not cover a diversity of racial and ethnic communities, and has not included marginal narratives from migrants, refugees, or diasporic communities.

Instead, memory institutions have alternately ignored experiences outside of the history of the powerful, creating collecting gaps within archives, or lifted the histories of marginalized communities and applied arrangements and descriptions of the 'other' to form incomplete and decontextualized representations of cultural groups." (2006) VI.

SYSTEMATIC DISENFRANCHISEMENT When marginal voices are left out of the record of history the result is "systematic disenfranchisement." (Shilton and Srinivasan, 2006) Shilton and Srinivasan write that it is fortunate that archivists posses tools that aid in preserving "empowered, contextualized narrative and thick description to avoid distorting the record and marginalizing cultural identities." (2006) Shilton and Srinivasan state a suggestion that archival principles that are committed to appraisal and arrangement and description will enable the facilitation of "preservation of representative, empowered narratives of traditionally marginalized communities when they are utilized within a participatory process." (2006) Shilton and Srinivasan add: Re-envisioning archival principles of appraisal, arrangement, and description to actively incorporate participation from traditionally marginalized communities will not only allow these communities to preserve empowered narratives, but will allow archivists to move towards the oft-debated, and still unrealized, goal of representative collections.

A key component of achieving the shift from internal principles to participatory practices will be to expand appraisal, arrangement and description into tools designed to respect the knowledge systems embedded within community contexts. Through tools for the participatory facilitation and preservation of contextual information and localized knowledge structures, archivists can not only create representative archives, but also can move beyond objectification and aid understanding of local knowledge and marginalized narratives." (Shilton and Srinivasan, 2006) VII.

MUSEUMS SHOULD BE AFFIRMATIVE in DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES Shilton and Srinivasan (2006) relate that when archivists "choose to preserve one memory, they forfeit the resources - human, physical, and financial - to preserve another." In fact, the work of Bowker relates that when there is a "scarcity of preservation resources" necessitated is "diligent attention to preserving a wide diversity of memories a 'spread' of diversity to best represent life on earth." (2005; as cited in Shilton and Srinivasan, 2006) it is because of this reason that archivists cannot collect all but instead must in awareness collect in a diverse manner in order to respond to the need for representation of social history.

Shilton and Srinivasan hold that "at the root of archival marginalization of multicultural narratives is the inverse of diverse collecting: a historical undervaluing and misidentification of marginalized community records." (2006; p.

8) There is "a lack of recognition or acknowledgement in western archival science and practice of the legitimacy of local and indigenous forms of recordkeeping and memory preservation." (McKemmish, Gilliland-Swetland and Ketelaar, 2005; as cited in Shilton and Srinivasan, 2006) Boyd writes that museums "should be affirmative in reaching out for diverse perspectives..." And that this will result in the improvement of "the quality of exhibits that reflect the multiplicity of views presented in a pluralistic democracy.

Those selected to create the exhibit should include representatives of the diverse groups whose cultures and environments are reflected in the exhibit." (nd; p.202) Boyd relates the approach of the Field Museum that "recommitted to its role as a center of learning for a diverse public." (nd) Boyd states that a museum "is not just a place for the educated; it must be a place where diverse people of diverse backgrounds can learn about the natural environment and human cultures, their variety, and their interconnections.

Indeed it is this 'connectedness' that is the fundamental rationale undergirding the Field Museum's overall mission." (Boyd, nd; p. 204) Boyd relates that the Field Museum has historically held concern with connections "within and across nature and cultures, and with reflecting these in its own connections with both the local community and with those whose cultures and environments are presented in the museum's collections and exhibits." (nd; p.204) Boyd additionally relates "since institutions tend to be inwardly driven, outwardness requires a concerted mindset and action." (nd; p.205) VIII.

REAPPRAISAL of the MUSEUM REQUIRED The Field Museum, undertook a reappraisal of its exhibitions covering approximately 350,000 square feet and realized that the exhibitions were "old and did not incorporate the new knowledge being generated by the museum's curatorial staff and their disciplinary peers elsewhere in universities and research museums." (nd) as well the exhibits failed to reflect the "changing attitudes about nature and human cultures.

Furthermore, new exhibit processes and technologies that could expand the effectiveness of dioramas and labels, engaging the visitor's mind as an active participant rather than a passive learner, had not been comprehensively integrated." (Boyd, nd; p. 204) Boyd points out the statement of Stocking relating to the fact that rigidity of a physical nature is not the only thing involved in the datedness of an exhibit stating: T]he meaning of the material forms preserved in museums must always be problematic.

This is even more the case inasmuch as the objects viewed by museum observers are 'survivals' not only of the past from which the collection wrenched them, but from those later pasts in which any given act of exhibitions has placed them. Museums in short, are institutions in which the forces of historical inertia (or cultural lag) are profoundly, perhaps inescapably implicated." (as cited in Boyd, nd; p.210) According to Boyd, despite the: "...time lags, anthropology museums are actively engaged in new approaches to cultural exhibitions." (nd; p. 212) IX.

STANDARD PRACTICE of FIELD MUSEUM Standard practice of Field Museum, as related by Boyd is to "include as active participants on the exhibit planning team representatives of cultures that are the focus of the exhibit. When it was decided to create a new exhibit on African and the Western Hemisphere diasporas from the perspective of Africans and African-Americans and included scholars from Africa as well as the United States. There was also widespread consultation in Chicago among interested groups and individuals as well as interview of the public at large.

The cost in terms of time and money on this consultative process are considered an essential element of exhibit budgets." (Boyd, nd; p. 210) Included is the construction costs and "public try-out of mockups of preliminary exhibit components.

In this way we learn a great deal about the effectiveness of the exhibit before it is too late (and too expensive) to make changes." (Boyd, nd; p.210) Boyd expresses the necessity of the museum curators and exhibitors to ask questions and in this case the question of inclusion of the African exhibit in the museum was centered on questions relating to whether the objectives of the African exhibit be achieved in an institution regarded by some as historically racists?" (Boyd, nd; p.211) it was these and other views "often conflicting and sometimes forcefully expressed..." that "...formed the museum's exhibit development protocol.

From consultation must be distilled a clear and coherent approach to exhibit content that can be recognized and understood by visitors. The resulting approach will, of course be subject to criticism and debate by consultants, other experts, and the public.

Indeed, the exhibit should be designed to permit the expression of that dissent, both in the present and in the future." (Boyd, nd; p.211) It is critically necessary to completely and clearly comprehend what Boyd is expressing in the foregoing statement because it is precisely the controversy, conflict, and forcefully, if need be, vocalized dissent that hones and fine tunes the creation of the museum's exhibitions and that renders them as acceptable among those who visit the museum and the general public-at-large.

Integration of the African exhibit into the collections of the field museum required "...that the exhibit would speak to the issue of how the Field Museum came to have African cultural collections in the first place." (Boyd, nd; p.211) in other words to proactively address possible issues of cultural looting and acquisition ethical issues thereby negating the possibility of negative views of the collection in this mindset. The exhibition was in fact gained through being seized in a British expedition that was punitive in nature.

Boyd relates that the exhibit was pervaded by the thesis that: "...culture and nature continually interact in generating societal and environmental change." (Boyd, nd; p.211) It is extremely crucial to note the statement of Boyd that speaks of the frustration of the museums as they "seek to present continuing cultural change in new permanent exhibits; they are inhibited in doing so." (nd; p.

211) Required for permanent exhibits are large amounts of money and time that must be invested into the: "...fixed and static exhibit elements that inevitably become dated in content and presentation." (nd; p.211) Therefore, no matter how far reaching the efforts to provide a: "...reflection of greater sensitivity to cultural diversity and change, modern exhibitory continues to freeze cultures in a permanent exhibitory time warp. To overcome this, museums need to think more in terms of temporary rather than permanent exhibits.

We need to find cheaper and quicker ways to exhibit in order to reflect change." (Boyd, nd; p. 211) Generational differences must also be considered and as stated by Boyd (nd) "What one generation esteems, the next deplores, and so forth ad infinitum." (p.212) Boyd relates that "anthropological dioramas pose a special challenge. Boyd relates the Hoffman exhibition which was a collection of 104 sculptures depicting various races of people throughout the world.

Initially, she was charged in a manner of creation to certain specifications to be included in the collection however, "artist that she was, Malvina Hoffman captured and honored the individual integrity that she saw and respected in each of her models." (Boyd, nd; p.214) X.

MUSEUM: CONTEMPORARY MARKETPLACE Boyd examines how the Field Museum "continues to be a marketplace of multiple points-of-view, a forum where controversy can be aired." (nd; p.215) Boyd also considers the time and cost associated with the format of the museum exhibition and explores how these can be less expensively accomplished and further to "build in opportunities for visitors to learn about and express new ideas and dissenting perspectives..." (nd; p.215) This can be accomplished in several ways which include exhibition computer programs being changed, current articles from newspapers and periodicals being posted in bulletin boards located in the exhibit, providing a visitor resource center in the area of the exhibit making various materials available including books, periodicals, newspapers, photographs, maps, audio and visual tapes, CDs and computers, with these resources being continually updated in order to reflect perspectives that are diverse in nature.

(Boyd, nd; paraphrased) Others methods suggested by Boyd include: "Interpretive programs by staff and volunteers, public lectures, symposia, debates, courses, performances, festivals and films..." (nd; p. 215) Boyd relates that considerable success has been realized by the Field Museum due to having included "talk back spaces in a variety of exhibitions." (nd; p.216) Boyd states that these are "inexpensive to build, operate and update, they are located next to controversial exhibit segments or at the end of an exhibit.

In this way the museum can open itself to challenge, even about its basic tenets." (Boyd, nd; p.215) XI. EXAMPLE of CONTEMPORARY MUSEUM ARCHIVE COLLECTIONS The work of Bennett and Sandore entitled: "The IMLS Digital Cultural Heritage Community Project: A Case Study of Tools for Effective Project Management and Collaboration" relates that the Digital Cultural Heritage Community Project (DCHC) was "one of the first grants awarded by the Institute of Museum and the Library Sciences under its Model Programs of Cooperation program.

The primary goals goal of the DCHC project was to develop a model framework for.