I was inspired to read The New Museum: Selected Writings by John Cotton Dana for a few different reasons. While I am very interested in Museum Studies, I primarily consider myself a public historian. Therefore, I find reading about the origins of prominent theory much more fascinating than just theory.
I also decided to read Dana's works because while working in a small historical society in Wisconsin, I was assigned the task of researching that society's origins. Since I completed that research about three years ago I have been interested in creating a comparative study of the founding of historical societies. While that project remains on my proverbial back burner, as I am plodding my way through coursework, it is a topic I want to revisit one day. Consequently, reading the work of early theorists would only help me contextualize the common themes in early museums. As I began the book, I realized this was truly the case as Dana provides ample advice on starting a museum in part two of section three.
Lastly, I found myself attracted to Dana's frank proses in the snippets I could access online. His pamphlets promise to contain revolutionary museum theory, especially as he was writing in the early twentieth century.
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