Archaeology is more than just digging up old stuff: it is also concerned with interpretation, with telling the stories revealed by the old stuff. Today part of interpretation involves museums which both display the old stuff and tell their stories. Museums started as cabinets of curiosities: collections of old stuff deemed interesting by its collector and displayed on shelves or in glass cases. Cabinets of curiosities were created by individuals and they were generally displayed in the home for special guests. A few cabinets of curiosities were put together by public officials and displayed in their offices or in public buildings.
Over time, museums have become more than just displays of interesting artifacts, or displays of artifacts with labels: the focus is more on letting the public know what archaeologists have learned about the past. Angela Schuster writes in the The Oxford Companion to Archaeology:
“As repositories of human knowledge, culture, and artistic achievement, museums have played an important role in both scholarly research and public education.”
I should point out, however, that there are still many museums—usually small museums in small towns—which are simply enlarged cabinets of curiosities.
James Cuno, in his book Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage, describes two basic types of museums: the national museum and the encyclopedic museum. With regard to the encyclopedic museum, he writes:
“…the museum as a repository of things and knowledge, dedicated to the dissemination of learning and to the museum’s role as a force for understanding, tolerance, and the dissipation of ignorance and superstition, where the artifacts of one time and one culture can be seen next to those of other times and other cultures without prejudice. This is the concept of the museum dedicated to ideas, not ideologies, the museum of international, indeed universal aspirations, and not of nationalist limitations, curious and respectful of the world’s artistic and cultural legacy as common to us all.”
I sometimes describe myself as a museum collector because I like to visit a wide range of different museums, both large and small. I’m not sure that I have a favorite as each one is unique and has its own special feel.
This is an open thread: so how do you feel about museums? Do you have a favorite?
Feel free to change the topic and talk about what’s been happening in your life, what you’ve been thinking about, and what’s for dinner?