What is Science?

• The body of knowledge we call Science is

exemplified by elementary arithmetic:
it has the following properties:
(i) Science is collective, public knowledge;
• belongs to no one and to everyone (to all mankind); it is anonymous.
• represents objective knowledge

(ii) Science is universal and free of

contradiction;
• Scientific truths are intended to apply everywhere and are not tied to individuals or
groups of individuals.
• (iii) Science emerges from science;
• (iv) Science is nevertheless bathed in
ignorance and subject to change.
 What is Social Science?
• Social science is, in its broadest sense,
the study of society and the manner in
which people behave and influence the
world around us.
• Some social scientists argue that no single
definition can cover such a broad range of
academic disciplines.
• Instead, they simply define the social
sciences by listing the subjects they
include.
The main social science disciplines include:
•Folklore, anthropology, communication,
criminology, cultural studies, economics,
human geography, linguistics, public law,
political science, psychology, sociology,
development studies.
• Such a response is the common one:
social science is what social scientists do
in their separate disciplines.
This will not suffice here.
 If what is ‘social’ about the social sciences
is that their field of enquiry is society, we
need to know first what society is.
a general definition of social science:
•Social science is the observation, description and
identification of the social nature of society by
empirical and theoretical investigation, in order to
explain what culture, the market and the state mean
to people, groups and institutions, how they
understand, make sense and reproduce culture,
markets and the state across time and space; and
what people, groups and institutions believe, how
they act and interrelate in culture, the market and
the state, in local, national and global settings.
Put more succinctly,
• social science is the scientific study of the
processes of societal production and
reproduction in culture, the market and the
state across time and space.
 Science
• In part because folklore/anthropology
describes itself as a science, and perhaps
because it has in the past struggled to
maintain its scientific credentials, science
has itself remained largely outside the
anthropological lens. Instead, a guiding
presumption of much early anthropology
was the belief that European
anthropologists possessed a superior
rationality which differentiated them from
the peoples they studied
 ....
• Even those, who argued for the universal
presence of scientific rationality, or its
prototype, among the most ‘primitive’
peoples did so on the assumption that it
had reached its highest expression among
civilized European societies.
• Well into mid-century, modern
anthropologists were more concerned to
become properly scientific than to examine
the unique cultural formation of science.
 Folklore
What is Folklore?

• Qo’annoon fookloorii nama gammachiisa;

sababni isaammoo ilmoon namaa
uummama dinqisiisaa waan ta’eef
(Brunvand, J. H., 1992)
 What is Folklore?
Folkloristics is the study of folklore.
Folkloristics is an academic term for folklorists,
which devoted to the study of folklore. The term
derives from the nineteenth-century German
designation folkloristik (i.e., folklore).
 Ultimately, the term folkloristics is used to
distinguish between the materials studied,
folklore, and the study of folklore, folkloristics.
“folkloristic,” to mean an academically oriented
study, and the term “folkloric", to mean materials
having the character of folklore or tradition.
scholars specializing in folkloristics are known
as folklorists.
 Folklore… working definition
What is folklore?
Folklore is not necessarily untrue or old-
fashioned.
Folklore is not just another form of
anthropology or literary study.
Folklore is informally learned and
unofficial, part of everyday experience.
Folklore has artistic, creative or
expressive dimensions. (Martha C. Sims
and Martine Stephens, 2005)
 Folklore…
What is folklore? Folklore includes
myths, legends, folktales, jokes, proverbs,
riddles, chants, charms, blessings, curses,
oaths, insults, retorts, taunts, teases,
toasts, tongue-twisters, and greeting and
leave-taking formulas. It also includes folk
costume, folk dance, folk drama, folk art,
folk belief (or superstition), folk medicine,
folk instrumental music, folksongs etc.
(Alan Dundes & Mary Hafford)
 Folklore…
• What is folklore? Folklore or
Folklife is community life and values,
artfully expressed in myriad
(numerous) forms and interactions.
Universal, diverse, and enduring, it
enriches the nation and makes us a
commonwealth of cultures. (Edgar
Allan Poe’)
 Folklore…
• What is folklore? Folklore is informally
learned, unofficial knowledge about the
world, ourselves, our communities, our
beliefs, our cultures and our traditions, that is
expressed creatively through words, music,
custom, actions, behaviors and materials. It is
also the interactive, dynamic process of
creating, communicating, and performing as
we share that knowledge with other people.
(Martha C. Sims & Martine Stephens, 2005)
 Genres of Folklore
• Genres of Folklore
1. Verbal folklore/Verbal Art:- includes any
kind of lore involving words, whether set
to music; organized in chronological,
story form; or simply labeling an activity
or expressing a belief in a word or phrase.
• Some of the most recognizable forms of
verbal lore studied by folklorists are folk
songs, myths, and folk tales.
 Genres of Folklore …
2. Customary lore/Folk Customs: A custom is a
repeated habitual action, a usual way of doing
something. It refers to patterned, repeated behavior in
which a person’s participation indicates involved
membership. These practices may be situations that
are stylized and/or “framed” by special words, gestures
or actions that set them apart from everyday
behaviors, or they may be as simple as gestures used
in everyday communication within an intimate group of
friends. A fraternity’s (Union) secret handshake is a
customary gesture that indicates membership in the
group and along with that expresses to other brothers
the significance of maintaining the closed society and
adhering to its values.
 Genres of Folklore …
3. Material folklore/Material Culture:- takes a
number of different forms, some of it
“permanent,”(or not) such as architectural
structures or functional tools, and some of it
ephemeral (short lived); such as food, body
painting or paper ornaments.
 Material culture has in common that it is tangible
—can be touched, seen, eaten or lived in. In many
cases, these material objects are handcrafted, but
they also may be mass-produced items that are
used in expressive ways, such as holiday
decorations, or toys or artifacts.
 Genres of Folklore
4. Performing Folk Art:- refers to an
indigenous art which are performed at
public.
• It consists of three major genres:
• A. Folk music
• B. Folk dance
• C. Folk drama
 Museum

• 3.1. What is museum?

• Is an institution devoted to the procurement,
care, study & display of objects lasting interest
or value (Merriam-Webster).
• According to The International Council of
Museums:
• a museum is permanent institution in the
service of society, its development, and open
to the public, which acquires, conserves,
researches, communicates and exhibits,
for
• purposes of study, education and enjoyment,
material evidence of people and their
environment.
 Meaning of Museum Cont’d…
• The Museums Association (United
Kingdom) defines a museum:

collects,
• as an institution which
documents, preserves, exhibits &
interprets material evidence for the
public benefit.

– ‘Institution’ implies a formalized

establishment that has a long-term purpose
of Collecting, Documenting & Preserving
 Definition of Museum Cont’d..
• ‘Exhibits’ confirms the expectation of visitors
that they will be able to see at least a
representative selection of the objects in the
collections.

is taken to cover diverse fields as

• ‘Interprets’
display, education, research and
publication.

• ‘Material’ indicates
something that is tangible,
while ‘Evidence’ guarantees its authenticity
as the ‘real thing’.
 Definition of Museum Cont’d..
• The American Association of Museums
also defines it as:
• a non-profit permanent, established institution,
not existing primarily for the purpose of
conducting temporary exhibitions,

• exempt from federal and state income taxes,

• open to the public and administered in the
public interest, for the purpose of conserving
& preserving, studying, interpreting,
assembling,
 Cont’d…
• exhibiting to the public for its instruction &
enjoyment objects and specimens of
educational & cultural value, including:
» artistic, scientific, historical &
technological material.

• Thus Museums definition shall include:

– botanical gardens, zoological parks,
aquaria,
– planetaria, historical societies, historic
houses & sites.
 3.2. The history of museum
• Museum Etymology
• The word museum has classical origins.
• In its Greek form, mouseion, it meant “seat of the Muses”
and designated a philosophical institution or a place of
contemplation.

• Use of the Latin derivation, museum, appears to have been

restricted in Roman times mainly to places of philosophical
discussion.

• Thus the great Museum at Alexandria, founded by

Ptolemy I Soter early in the 3rd C BC, with its college
of scholars and its library, was more a prototype university
than an institution to preserve and interpret material
aspects of the heritage.
 Etymology Cont’d…
• Ptolemy [ˈtɒlɪmi] ….Macedonia[ˌmasɪˈdəʊnɪə]

• the name of all the Macedonian rulers of Egypt, a dynasty founded by

Ptolemy, the close friend and general of Alexander the Great, who
took charge of Egypt after the latter's death and declared himself king
(Ptolemy I) in 304 bc. The dynasty ended with the death of
Cleopatra in 30 bc.
• Cleopatra [klɪəˈpatrə]
– Cleopatra VIII Philopatra was queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt
from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.

– Cleopatra’s heritage can be traced to the Macedonian Greece, where the

Ptolemaic dynasty emerged.
– Her hunger for power can be seen from the fact to retain her role as a co-
ruler, she married to her younger brother who was the
co-inheritor of the throne.
 Etymology Cont’d…
• Alexander the Great A ruler of
Greece in the 4th C BC. He conquered
most of the ancient world, extending the
civilization of Greece east to India.
• an ancient country in south-eastern
Europe, north of Greece. In classical
times it was a kingdom that became a
world power under Philip II and
Alexander the Great.
 3.3. Museology and museography

• Museology is a body of theory to study museum.

• Museum personnel were nearly always experienced
and trained in a discipline related to a particular
collection, and therefore they had little
understanding of the museum as a whole, its
operation, and its role in society.

• As a result, the practical aspects of museum work

for example, conservation and display were
achieved through borrowing from other disciplines
and other techniques, whether or not they particularly
met the requirements of the museum and its public.
 Museology and museography Cont’d…

• Museography : is the practical

application of museum theories/study .
– the apprenticeship method of training for
museum work gave little opportunity for the
introduction of new ideas.
– today museums vary enormously in their
purpose.
– Some are intended purely:
» to amuse and entertain holidaymakers;
» others preserve the data on which scientific and
historical research is based.
Museology and museography Cont’d…
 2. Types and benefits of museums
1. Museum by collections 2. Museums by who runs them
are: are:

– (archaeology, • (government,
– art , • municipal,
– history, • university,
– ethnography, • independent (charitable
– natural history , trust),
– science, • army,
– geology,
• commercial company, &
– industrial &
– Military) museums.
• private) museums
 3.5. Benefits of museums
• 1. Social and cultural benefits of museums
• 2. Economic and regeneration benefits
Museums
• 3. Political and corporate benefits
 1. Social & cultural benefits of museums

• Museums:
• contribute to the preservation and
conservation of the community’s cultural
and natural heritage;
• serving as a cultural focus and a place of
shared ‘memory’ for the community;

• engaging with educational organizations and

offering students of all ages opportunities to
learn through contact with original material;
 Cont’d…
– providing accessible cultural facilities,
– e.g. exhibition spaces, meeting rooms,
lecture theatres;
– representing the history and culture of
minority groups;
– organizing accessible cultural events and
activities;
– working in partnership with other cultural
bodies,
» e.g. libraries, archives, theatres, arts
centers to develop joint programs and
projects.
 SC benefits of Museum Cont’d…

• museums are able to inspire people and

enhance the quality of their lives.

• play an important role in developing a sense of

identity and community cohesion.

• provide often unique resources for formal

education and for informal learning at all levels.

• provide opportunities to work with a wide range

of natural and cultural heritage material
2. Economic & regeneration benefits Museums

• can play an important role in regeneration

programs in urban and rural areas. Such
programs may be concerned with:
• physical regeneration,
• economic regeneration or
• social regeneration;
• often all three aspects are combined in regeneration
programs.

– The role of museums in economic regeneration is

perhaps less well understood in many countries
than their cultural or social regeneration role.
 Cont’d…
– Museums may serve as an important
tourist or cultural element in an overall
redevelopment or regeneration program for
a location.

– In urban areas,
– where the traditional industrial or
manufacturing base may have been
destroyed,
– the development of service industries or
tourism may represent an alternative
economic strategy for the community.
 Cont’d…
– In rural areas,
• where economic development may need
to take place because of changes to the
traditional agricultural economy, a
museum can have a useful role:

– to play in serving as a focus for explaining

economic and
– associated cultural change to the local
community and visitors.
 Cont’d…
• Museums can make an important contribution to
the cultural infrastructure of a location or area,
often alongside other cultural facilities such as:
• theatres, libraries,
• archives or concert halls.
• A critical mass of high-quality cultural facilities and
services can often be a powerful mechanism for
attracting a business or organization to invest in
and locate to an area.

• Such facilities make the area more attractive for its

workforce and their families who will live there for
the future.
 Cont’d…
• Museums can thus help to regenerate or
develop local economies in times of
economic change through supporting job
creation and continued employment.

• Where tourism is an important part of the

local economy, a museum can act as a
magnet or attractor for encouraging tourist
visitors to visit the wider destination.
 Cont’d…
• Visitors to a museum will also spend money within
the local economy,
• for example in shops, restaurants, hotels, garages
and markets.

• Through ongoing market research, it is possible to

quantify the amount of money that visitors spend
in the economy in these ways and the number of
jobs supported or created through such spending.
• In this way, the museum can quantify the
economic benefits that it brings to the local
economy.
 Cont’d…
• The jobs in many museums also have an economic
value in their own right within the local economy.

• Permanent staff will make different forms of direct

and indirect contribution to the economy,
• for example through the taxes they pay and the money they
spend locally.

• Through the nature of their work, museums can also

attract part-time or temporary staff, perhaps as
part of government training schemes or research
projects.
 Cont’d…
• Training or research programs provide valuable support
to the museum itself.

• attract financial investment or grants from

external agencies, such as government or
international agencies, for their programs and
projects.

• This is of particular value for museums in areas

where local financial resources may be constrained.
 Cont’d…
• the economic benefits that the museum
provides, such as:
• providing permanent or temporary jobs,
• attracting visitors to the area,
• attracting grants or providing skills development
and training
 3. Political & corporate benefits Museums

• Demonstrating how the museum:

• benefits the community helps to promote
‘political’ support for the museum particularly
within local and central government
authorities or agencies, who are accountable to
the communities they serve.

• can use investment successfully to help deliver

local or central government policies of relevance
to its community helps sustain such support.
 3. Ethical guidelines of museums
• There is an ethical code that has
been designed to provide:

• a means of professional self-

regulation which is essential for
those who engaged in museum
governance and day-to-day activities,
and

• should be used to inform both the

museum’s policies and working practices.
 3.6. Museums and Ethics
• As museums have developed over the
centuries, so those working in them have sought
to establish codes of rules and professional
behavior to regulate their work.

• To help provide an international standard on

which different countries and museum
organizations can draw in developing their own
codes of ethics, the International Council of
Museums (ICOM) has established its Code of
Ethics for Museums.
 ME Cont’d…
• The Code has been designed to provide a
means of professional self-regulation and is regularly
reviewed in the light of changing circumstances.

• ICOM’s Code is based around a set of

minimum standards of professional conduct
and performance and serves as a benchmark
against which those working in and for
museums can assess their performance.

• The Code is presented as a series of principles

supported by guidelines of desirable professional
practice.
 ME Cont’d…
• These principles are supported and accepted
by the international museum community.

• In many countries, museum associations

have also established their own codes of
ethics that reflect ICOM’s Code but
– are tailored to the particular circumstances under which
their museums operate.
– These two should be essential reading and underpin
policy and practice.
 key ICOM principles on Museum
• Museums:
• 1. Preserve, interpret & promote the natural &
cultural inheritance of humanity

• 2. that maintain collections hold them in trust for

the benefit of society and its development.

• 3. hold primary evidence for establishing and

furthering knowledge.

• 4. provide opportunities for the appreciation,

understanding & promotion of the natural & cultural
heritage.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• Museums:
• 5. resources provide opportunities for other
public services & benefits.

• 6. work in close collaboration with the

communities from which their collections
originate as well as those they serve.

• 7. operate in a legal manner.

• 8. operate in a professional manner.

 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• The key ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums are

the following:
• 1. Museums preserve, interpret and
promote the natural and cultural
inheritance of humanity.
• Museums are responsible for the tangible and
intangible natural and cultural heritage.

• Governing and concerned bodies have a primary

responsibility to promote and protect this heritage as
well as the human, physical and financial resources
made available for that purpose.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• 2. Museums that maintain collections hold them

in trust for the benefit of society and its
development.
– have the duty to acquire, preserve and promote their
collections as a contribution to safeguarding the natural,
cultural and scientific heritage.

– collections are a significant public inheritance, have a

special position in law and are protected by international
legislation.

– Inherent in this public trust is the notion of rightful

ownership, permanence, documentation, accessibility
and responsible disposal.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• 3. Museums hold primary evidence

for establishing and furthering
knowledge.

• Museums have particular responsibilities to

all for the care, accessibility and
interpretation of primary evidence collected
and held in their collections.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• 4. Museums provide opportunities

for the appreciation, understanding
and promotion of the natural and
cultural heritage.
– have an important duty to develop their
educational role and attract wider audiences from
the community, locality or group they serve.

– Interaction with the constituent community and

promotion of their heritage is an integral part of
the educational role of the museum.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• 5. Museum resources provide

opportunities for other public services
and benefits.
• Museums use a wide variety of specialisms,
skills and physical resources that have a far
wider application than in the museum.
• This may lead to shared resources or the
provision of services as an extension of the
museum’s activities.
• They should be organized in such a way that they
do not compromise the museum’s stated mission.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…
• 6. Museums work in close collaboration with
the communities from which their collections
originate as well as those they serve.
• Museum collections reflect the cultural and natural
heritage of the communities from which they have
been derived.

• they have a character beyond that of ordinary

property, which may include strong affinities
with:
» national, regional, local, ethnic, religious or
political identity.
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…

• 7. Museums operate in a legal manner.

• to international, national, regional or local
legislation and treaty obligations.

• the governing body should obey with any

legally binding trusts or conditions relating
to any aspect of the museum, its
collections and operations. (Guidelines cover legal
frameworks.)
 ICOM principles on Museum Cont’d…
• 8. Museums operate in a professional
manner.
• Members of the museum profession should:
– observe accepted standards and laws and uphold
the dignity and honor of their profession.

– should safeguard the public against illegal or

unethical professional conduct.

– be used to inform and educate the public about the

aims, purpose and aspirations of the profession to
develop a better understanding of the contributions
of museums to society.
 4: Purposes of museums
• A museum is a place where heritage objects are kept,
collected, documented, conserved and exhibited
for the purpose of entertainment, inspiration, education
and advancement of knowledge.

• According to modern definition museum is not only about objects.

• It is beyond the simple description of objects.

• What is important and valuable today about museum objects

is the:
• message they communicate,
• meaning they provide,
• value they attribute and
• representation they generate corresponding to a particular
notion.
Purposes of museums Cont’d…
 Purpose of Museum Cont’d…
• 3. In the universities, museums are
founded in order to serve the
purpose of research in education.

– Scientists and scholars spend a lot

of time studying the collections,
Purpose of Museum Cont’d…
• 4. Museums play key roles for sustainable
economic development by attracting tourist
market and hard currency.
•
– There are different areas where the tourist
money going varying from individual pockets to
institutions through sale on post cards, posters,
cassette and other different articles.
Purpose of Museum Cont’d…
• 5. The role of generating national revenue
that would come from the museum’s
activities is an economic benefit.
• Politically also museums have a vital role to play.
• A good example is in a country where as a result
of cultural (social) conflict the community is under
danger of disintegration, museums would create a
cultural connection from, whereby different cultural
groups come together to reconsider about their
interdependences.
 Purpose of Museum Cont’d…
• Through their collections, museums therefore
can play a destined role of bringing different
views under one roof.
• Museum:
• A. provide a tolerant space where difficult contemporary
issues can be explored in safety and in the spirit of debate

• B. have the greater capacity to reflect both continuity and

change.

• C. provide an access for the public to understand and

appreciate the natural world, the history of civilizations and
the record of artistic, scientific and technological
achievement of humans.
Purpose of Museum Cont’d…
• D. appeal to people with a desire to understand the
past and to consider how the past can inform the
future.

• E. is essential part of the work of any government

that wants to help its citizens understand
themselves, their communities and their place in the
world.

• F. has essential element to bring about social

cohesion, to promote solidarity and strengthens
people’s desire to live together in a peaceful and co-
operative co-existence.
 5: Major activities of museums

• 3. 8. Basic Component of
Museum Activities
– Each museum has four major
activities:
– 1. collection,
– 2. documentation,
– 3. conservation and
– 4. exhibition
 3.8.1 Collection
• Museums acquire material for their
collections in a variety of ways.
• There are five main ways in which
museums acquire material for their
collections:
• donation, purchase, field-collecting,
exchange and loan.
 Collection Cont’d…
• 1. Donations take different forms and can vary in
scale and importance. Items may be brought into
the museum for identification and then offered to
the museum, or may be left as gifts. In many
cases, major collections have been left to public
museums as bequests by private collectors.

• 2. Opportunities to purchase items will be

constrained by available finance for most
museums. Purchase normally takes place to
complement existing collections.
 Collection Cont’d…
• 3. Field-collecting as part of a defined
research program allows for a systematic
approach to collecting in line with the
museum’s overall collecting policy. It is
essentially a proactive approach to
collecting, rather than the responsive
approach to collecting that characterizes
donations and purchases.
 Collection Cont’d…
• 4. Exchange of items or collections between
museums is another method of collections
development.
• collections are transferred to or exchanged with museums that
can provide appropriate resources and skills to look after them.

• 5. Loans are a method of providing the public with an

opportunity to see material in public or private
collections that may not otherwise be accessible to
the museum’s users.
• collections are built up over time; the museum has a
responsibility to collect in the context of a defined collecting
policy.
 Collection Cont’d…
• Collections can also be analyzed in
terms of the material of which they
are composed, such as:
– stone, wood, feathers,
leather, bone, ceramics or
metals.
 Collection Cont’d…
• They do, however, represent a significant
body of expertise in the formation and use
of collections. They can help users explore
collections in many different ways and a
good understanding of types of collections
and their development is a valuable and
necessary basis for their work.
 Collection Cont’d…
• Collecting vs Disposal
• a. Policies for collecting
• b. Policies for disposal
 a. Policies for collecting
• Basic Questions:
– What should we collect?
– What will the museum collect?
– Where will the museum collect?

– How will the museum collect?

– Why does the museum collect in these
fields?

– When, or in what circumstances, would the

museum consider disposing of items?
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…

• Every museum should have a written

collecting policy formally agreed by its
governing body.

• This written policy will be part of the

museum’s collections management
policy
•
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…

• The collecting policy should include

the following points:
– What will the museum collect?
– This should describe in some detail the areas in
which the museum intends to collect.
– For a large general museum this will be quite a
long, complicated description; it should always be
sufficiently detailed to enable a curator to decide
whether or not to acquire an object.
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…
– Where will the museum collect?
• A regional museum will probably collect only
items relating to its region, and mostly in the
region itself.

• An art gallery, may buy paintings or accept

donations from many different countries.

• A natural history museum may send

expeditions to research and collect in
biologically interesting parts of the world.
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…

• How will the museum collect?

• Will it collect through fieldwork?
• Will it purchase objects?
• Will it actively encourage members of the
public to donate or bequeath things to it?
• Will it accept items on long loan?
• All these are policy decisions.
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…

• Why does the museum collect in

these fields?
• The collecting policy should explain why the
museum collects particular groups or collects
in particular areas.

• It should clearly justify the museum’s

collecting policy, explaining how it fits into the
museum’s overall policy, and describing the
historical collections held by the museum.
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…
• When, or in what circumstances, would the
museum consider disposing of items?
• It is very important to ensure that no curator ever
disposes of anything from the museum collection without
strictly following the written procedure approved by the
museum’s governing body and set down in its collecting
and disposal policy.

• The what section should set out clearly the restrictions

on collecting imposed by both law and ethics.

• Many of these restrictions will be peculiar to the country

or even the museum concerned, but every museum
should include in its collecting policy the principles set
out in ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums.
 Policies for collecting Cont’d…
• Some of the most important are:
– • Objects or specimens will be acquired only if the
museum is satisfied it can obtain valid title.

– • The museum will not acquire objects where their

recovery may have involved the unauthorized,
unscientific or intentional destruction or damage of
monuments, archaeological or geological sites, or
species and natural habitats.
– • Collections of human remains and material of
sacred significance will be acquired only if they can
be housed securely and cared for respectfully.
Policies for collecting Cont’d…
– Every effort must be made before acquisition to
ensure that the object has not been illegally
transferred from another country.

– The collecting policy may be a quite brief

document, or it may be highly detailed

– Some museums have two documents:

– a brief policy that is formally approved by the museum’s
governing body, and
– a much more detailed version to be used by the museum
staff.
 3.8.2 Documentation

• Documentation is concerned with the

recording and maintaining of complete and
accurate information about every
museum collection.
• Well done documentation work is very
important because:
– it is the basis for research and exhibition development
– provides a legal title to museum objects
– is a means of monitoring the physical condition of
collections
– is used to identify each object using its unique number
called accession number.
 Documentation Cont’d…

• Many museums of developed countries usually

conduct the work of documentation using
electronic databases and maintain a
permanent record for each object that
includes the following information:
• the source of the object, the year it was acquired,
• the artist or maker of the object,
• attribution (ownership history),
• creation date or time period of the object,
• description of the object, purchase price,
• dimensions, identifying marks,
• condition at the time of acquisition, and
• related publications.
 3.8.3 Conservation
• Conservation deals with the care and
maintenance of museum treasures.

• It needs specialized skills, facilities and

equipment that vary according to the type of
object, for instance:
• paintings, textiles, photographs, sculpture, film or
video.
• Professionals that are responsible for
conservation and related activities are called
conservators.
 Conservation Cont’d…
• conservators are responsible to:
• periodically inspect museum possession,
document their condition
• establish protective measures which provide
most favorable conditions to look after collections
over time.
• arrange specially designed containers, drawers,
shelves and the like for museum objects
• follow up the adequate security given for
museum objects in order to protect them against
fire, theft, vandalism /destruction,
accident.
 3.8.4 Exhibition
• Exhibition is a display through which a
museum communicates with the public.
– It involves objects to be exhibited and information
to:
• explain concepts, enhance understanding,
associate experiences, invite participation,
prompt reflection, inspire wonder, etc.
– A good exhibition is expected to have an
inviting accessible and comfortable
environment designed to evoke feelings
and inspire learning by visitors of a variety
of ages, interests and backgrounds.
 Exhibition Cont’d…
• In other word, it should create an
atmosphere of enjoyment, participation and
curiosity that motivate visitors to seek further
information on the topics presented.
• The following important features characterize
successful exhibition.
• Appropriate selection of subject and content, positive
viewers response, clear, coherent attractive
information, logical flow of display sequences, pertinent
conservation security measures, design layout
appropriate the theme, subject matter, collection and
• audience, great care to human comfort, and
• safety and accessibility.
 Exhibition Cont’d…
• Exhibition can be categorized as
permanent, temporary and online exhibitions.
• 1. Permanent exhibitions are
always on display.
• 2. Temporary exhibitions deal with
other topics that are related to a museum’s education
mission and goals.
• They are open and accessible for visitors on a limited
period depending on the subject matter, the goals of
the exhibition and the museum’s needs.
• For their display, temporary exhibition may borrow
materials from the permanent exhibition or borrow
from other sources.
 Exhibition Cont’d…
• 3. Online exhibition are only accessible
to virtual visitors who are interested in exploring
images and text at their own face.

• These exhibitions comprise visits from digital

images of a museum’s works to three
dimensional interactive tours of museum
galleries.
 6: Museum collections
• 3.9. Types of collections in museum
• . People have developed and used collections
through time and space for many reasons
and for personal as well as public benefit.

• Private collections have been built up for

reasons like:
– social or political status,
– academic or scientific interest,
– commercial benefit and
– personal ‘hobbyist’ interest.
 Types of Collections Cont’d…
• In many cases, personal collections that have been
developed out of a particular interest are ultimately
acquired in whole or in part by museums.

• In some cases, museums are built specifically to

accommodate personal collections and serve as
memorials to their collectors.

• Collections may be developed in a haphazard way,

based on the souvenir or ‘curiosity’ approach to
collecting where items hold personal interest and
meaning for the collector.
 Types of Collections Cont’d…
• They may be ‘organized’ collections where they are
used to demonstrate or illustrate a particular
intellectual argument or standpoint.

• They may be based on ‘systematic’ collecting in

which collections are built up in a comprehensive way
based on sound disciplinary approaches.

• Whatever intellectual rationale underlies collecting,

collecting in its widest sense is a powerful human trait,
which has greatly influenced the development and
philosophy of museums and their work.
 Types of Collections Cont’d…
• Collections can also be analyzed by subject or
discipline.
• Museum collections have been traditionally
divided into a range of disciplines such as
archaeology and anthropology, natural
sciences, fine art, decorative arts, social
history or technology.

• Such disciplines reflect academic training and

approaches to the subject, and structures within
higher education. Collections analyzed in this
way may restrict opportunities for more
interdisciplinary presentation and interpretation in
displays and exhibitions.
Types of Collections Cont’d…
• The opportunities to use collections in a variety of ways
and to view them from different standpoints can be lost
through compartmentalization.

• While academic study of collections using techniques

appropriate for each discipline is necessary, it should not
preclude alternative ways of using and interpreting
collections for the public.

• Museum collecting, to be successful, must be systematic

and active.

• It is not enough to draw up an impressive collecting policy

and then to sit back and do nothing:
– every museum should also draw up an active collecting program so that the
policy can be implemented.
 7: Presentation techniques of museum
collections
• 3.11. Presentation techniques: three-
dimensional
• Here a few of the techniques used would be
presented: three-dimensional techniques.
• Everyone likes to be able to touch as well
as look at objects.
• For those with poor or no eyesight
replicas may be used
• Replicas, should be well made, but be marked clearly
to show that they are replicas.
 Cont’d….
• Room settings may in an historic building
be genuine modern reconstructions based
on the best available evidence research.

• The room setting is an effective way not only of

presenting furniture or pictures in the settings for
which they were originally created, but also of
making historical points.

• For example, the living space of poor people

may be contrasted with that of rich people.