Museum Provision and Professionalism (Leicester Readers in Museum Studies)

376 Pages·1994·2.08 MB·English

by  G. Kavanagh

Museum Provision and Professionalism
Leicester Readers in Museum Studies
Series editor: Professor Susan M.Pearce
Care of Collections
Simon Knell
Collections Management
Anne Fahy
The Educational Role of the Museum
Eilean Hooper-Greenhill
Interpreting Objects and Collections
Susan M.Pearce
Museum Management
Kevin Moore
Museum Provision and Professionalism
Gaynor Kavanagh
Museum Provision and Professionalism
Edited by
Gaynor Kavanagh
London and New York
First published 1994
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of
eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Editorial matter © 1994 Gaynor Kavanagh
Individual contributions © 1994 individual contributors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-97446-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-11280-X (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-11281-8 (pbk)
Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables x
Series preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
Gaynor Kavanagh
Part 1 The museum: some definitions 13
1 Some definitions of ‘museum’ 14
Timothy Ambrose and Crispin Paine
2 The Museums Charter 16
Museums Association
Part 2 Thinking about museums 18
3 The museum as a staging ground for symbolic action 19
Sheldon Annis
4 How sweet it is: cultural politics in Barbados 24
Jeanne Canizzo
5 A sense of purpose: rethinking museum values and strategies 31
Stuart Davies
6 The principles of museum administration 39
G.Brown Goode
7 Museums for the year 2000: a case for continuous revolution 46
J.Patrick Greene
8 Museum futures 50
Peter Jenkinson
9 Piero della Francesca and the trainspotters 53
Mark O’Neill
10 Making up is hard to do 60
Susan M.Pearce
vi
11 Museum as dialogue 65
Neil Postman
12 The future of history museums 69
Michael Wallace
13 The proper business of the museum: ideas or things? 79
Stephen Weil
14 Visiting and evaluating museums 87
Gaynor Kavanagh
Part 3 Museums UK 92
15 The museum scene
93
Museums and Galleries Commission
16 The National Audit Office report on museums: Britain’s museums ‘deliver the 99
product’
Laura Suffield
17 Public palaces or private places? 103
Barbara Woroncow
18 Purpose of museums and special characteristics of independents 108
V.T.C.Middleton
19 Higher concerns 112
Alan Warhurst
Part 4 The museums profession 121
20 Curatorial identity 122
Gaynor Kavanagh
21 Defining curation 137
John Murdoch
22 Cross-community curatorial competences 142
Patrick J.Boylan
23 The American art director as professional: results of a survey 149
Paul DiMaggio
24 Museum sector workforce survey: an analysis of the workforce in the museum, 159
gallery and heritage sector in the United Kingdom
Mary Klemm and Nicholas Wilson
25 Image and self-image 168
Marista Leishman
26 Museum director as manager 173
Charles Phillips
vii
27 The state of pay 182
Phyllida Shaw
28 Are you sitting comfortably? Are equal opportunities a luxury? 188
Gaby Porter
29 Women and museums 210
David R.Prince
30 Common ground 225
Marcia Tucker
Part 5 Professionalism 227
31 A new professionalism 228
Neil Cossons
32 Scholarship or self-indulgence? 234
Neil Cossons
33 Scholarship and the public 244
Neil MacGregor
34 The ongoing pursuit of professional status 248
Stephen Weil
35 Ethics: constructing a code 254
Robert MacDonald
Part 6 Codes of ethical conduct 259
36 Tentative code of museum ethics 260
H.L.Madison
37 Code of ethics for museums
266
American Association of Museums
38 Code of professional ethics ICOM 273
39 Code of conduct for museum professionals 290
Museums Association
Part 7 Institutional standards 302
40 Setting standards for museums
303
Museums and Galleries Commission
41 Registration Scheme for museums and galleries in the United Kingdom. Second 307
phase: Draft for Consultation
Museums and Galleries Commission
322
42 No objects, no money, no venue, no problem
Fred Dunning
324
43 Guidelines on disability and quality of service for museums and galleries in the
United Kingdom Museums and Galleries Commission
334
44 Code of practice for museum authorities
Museums Association
viii
45 Performance assessment in museums 343
Penny Spenceret.al and Giulia Ajmone Marsan
Further reading 351
Index 352
Figures
22.1 Examples of the different patterns of museum staff organization and status across 144
Europe
22.2 Major national museums: maximum pay 147
22.3 Small national museums: maximum pay 147
22.4 Major regional/local museums: maximum pay 148