What is the object of this exercise? A meandering exploration of the many meanings of objects in museums

Daedalus

Volumn 128, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 163-183

  Gurian, Elaine Heumann ^a  

^a Cranbrook Institute of Science   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0141451452     PISSN: 00115266     EISSN: 15486192     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (7)

1. "For the purposes of the accreditation program of the AAM, a museum is defined as an organized and permanent non-profit institution, essentially educational or aesthetic in purpose, with professional staff, which owns and utilizes tangible objects, cares for them, and exhibits them to the public on some regular schedule." American Association of Museums, Museum Accreditation: Professional Standards (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 1973), 8.
2. ". . .owns and utilizes tangible things animate and inanimate." Museum Accreditation: Professional Standards (Ibid., 9.
3. An art center "utilizes borrowed art objects, cares for them and maintains responsibility to their owners . . . [its] primary function is to plan and carry out exhibitions." Museum Accreditation: Professional Standards (Ibid., 12.
4. A science and technology center ". . . maintains and utilizes exhibits and/or objects for the presentation and interpretation of scientific and technological knowledge. . . . These serve primarily as tools for communicating what is known of the subject matter. . . ." Museum Accreditation: Professional Standards (Ibid., 12.
5. A planetarium's ". . . principal function is to provide educational information on astronomy and related sciences through lectures and demonstrations." Museum Accreditation: Professional Standards (Ibid., 11.
6. Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3002).
7. American Association of Museums, A Higher Standard: The Museum Accreditation Handbook (Washington, D.C.: American Association of Museums, 1997), 20.