Nature of Museums

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Collection Definition. Collections are the assembled objects of a museum acquired and preserved because of their potential value as examples, as reference materials, or as objects of aesthetic or educational significance and are used to support all of the roles, functions, and purposes of a museum.

Specimen. An object that is an example, sample or representative member of a class of objects—most often used in relation to natural history or scientific collections.

Artifact. An object produced or shaped by human workmanship or a natural object deliberately selected and used by a human being.

DEFINING THE MUSEUM ICOM definition adopted ca. 1960. “…a permanent establishment, administered in the general interest, for the purpose of preserving, studying, enhancing by various means and , in particular, of exhibiting to the public for its delectation and instruction groups of objects and specimens of cultural value: artistic, historical, scientific and technological collections, botanical and zoological gardens and aquariums, etc. Public libraries and public archival institutions maintaining permanent exhibition rooms shall be considered to be museums.” 10

DEFINING THE MUSEUM AAM definition adopted ca. 1962. “…a nonprofit permanent establishment, 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 and presenting, studying, interpreting, assembling, and exhibiting to the public for its instruction and enjoyment objects and specimens of educational and cultural value, including artistic, scientific (whether animate or inanimate), historical, and technological material. Museums thus defined shall include botanical gardens, zoological parks, aquaria, planetaria, historic societies, and historic houses and sites…” 11

Key Terms or Ideas Institution Permanent Public Service Collections Goals or Activities

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George Brown Goode 1889: Museums of the Future “In this busy, critical, and skeptical age, each man is seeking to know all things and life is too short for many words......The museum is the most powerful and useful auxiliary of all systems of teaching (by means of object lessons). The museum of the future must stand side by side with the library and the laboratory as a part of the teaching equipment of the college and university and in the great cities cooperate with libraries as one of the principal agencies for the enlightenment of the people. The museum of the future should be adapted to the needs of the mechanic, the factory operator, the day laborer, the salesman, and the clerk as much as to the professional man or man of leisure. No pains must be spared in the presentation of the material in the exhibition halls. The specimens must be prepared in the most careful and artistic manner, and arranged attractively in well-designed cases. Each object must bear a label, giving its name and history so fully that all probable questions of the visitor are answered in advance. Colors of walls, cases, and labels, must be restful and quiet, and comfortable seats should be everywhere accessible, for the task of the museum visitor is a weary one at best. The people's museum should be much more than a house full of specimens in glass cases. It should be a house full of ideas, arranged with the strictest attention to system.” 16