1st Edition
U.S. Museum Histories and the Politics of Interpretation Never Neutral
U.S. Museum Histories and the Politics of Interpretation is the first collection to examine the history of museums in the United States through the lens of the political and ideological underpinnings at the heart of exhibitions, collecting, and programming.
Including contributions from historians, art historians, anthropologists, academics, and museum professionals, the book argues that museums have always been embedded in the politics and culture of their time – whether that means a reification of hegemonic notions of race, gender, and progress or a challenge to those normative structures. Contributions probe the political nature of collection and interpretation as concept and practice, and museum work as both reflective of and contributing to the politics and circulation of power in different historical moments. As a whole, the volume provides detailed readings of museums that demonstrate the ways in which these trusted cultural institutions have intervened in shifting concepts of nation, community, indigeneity, race, citizenship, inclusion, identity, localism, and memory.
U.S. Museum Histories and the Politics of Interpretation makes arguments about the historically and politically rooted nature of cultural production in museums that apply to institutions across the globe. It is essential reading for students and scholars of museum studies, public history, cultural history, art history, and memory.
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Laura Schiavo
1. Indigeneity and Empire in William Clark’s Museum of Indian Curiosities, c. 1816–1835
Lisa Strong
2. "As an Adjunct to the Documents": The Purpose and Politics of Nineteenth-Century History Collections
Laura Schiavo
3. Collecting Lincoln: Osborn H. Oldroyd and His Lincoln Memorial Collection, in the House Where Lincoln Died
Sara Bhatia and David McKenzie
4. Media Technologies and Salvage Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution: An Exploration of Archival Documents and Museum Power Relations
Diana E. Marsh, Peyton Moriarty, Elena Myers, and Joshua A. Bell
5. Early 20th-Century Museums of Technology and Industry: Linking Progress to Capitalism
Steven Lubar
6. The Witte Museum and Frontiers of Public History: Building Stories of Anglo Supremacy, 1920s–1940s
Kathleen Franz and Verónica A. Méndez
7. Vassar Social Museum’s "Great Idea" Challenges a Nation at War to Live Up to Its Ideals
Clarissa J. Ceglio
8. Black Activism and the Museum in the Interwar Period: A Baltimore Case Study
Jennifer P. Kingsley
9. "All the Art Is White": The Flint Institute of Arts and the Movement from Black Power to Black Lives Matter
Andrea A. Burns
10. Persistence in Error: Science, Society, and the U.S. Museum in an Age of Urgency
Sarah J. Chicone and Richard A. Kissel
11. Tribal Museums as Domains of Sovereignty
Courtney Cottrell
12. Native Hawaiians and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum: Historical Reckoning, Truth-telling, and Healing
Halena Kapuni-Reynolds and Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu
Index
Biography
Laura Schiavo is an Associate Professor of Museum Studies at George Washington University.