Museum Gloom

I wanted to touch on the section entitled "The Gloom of the Museum." Just from its title, I was expecting a discussion of the often cited eerie qualities that some museums are said to possess-- a "deadness" or "sterility." So, I was quite surprised that this section focused more on the valuing of non-American objects over American ones, and the architecture and placement of museums. There is so much discussion in the museum field today about serving the specific needs of their communities, and it is interesting to see Dana try to formulate what a museum in an American city should be. I am afraid it's going to become very repetitive for the readers of this blog to see the readers of Dana's book exclaim repeatedly that, yet again, he has anticipated another extremely relevant problem in the modern museum field.

One of the things I found most interesting in this section was Dana's perspective on the potential utility of reproductions. He mentions the importance of utility numerous times, and declares that it is "ludicrous" for anyone to "treat with scorn modern reproductions of old things which they have pronounced beautiful" (56). Obviously, there is much information one can learn from original objects that one cannot gain from reproductions. For example, a cast of a dinosaur bone cannot provide insight as to the internal composition of that bone, no matter how high quality the cast of the outside surface is. However, I think we can see a very real shift in the way reproductions are accepted and used in many types of museums today. In most instances, the original objects in a collection are not going to be available for public handling, but replicas and models based very closely on the original materials can be beneficial learning aides in the absence of the real things. I am thinking of the prevalence of touchable materials included in exhibits or presented at mobile stations staffed by facilitators. These things are able to stand in for the "real" objects in the collections, and in some cases, museum visitors are allowed to touch those guarded "real" objects. I got to touch a T. rex bone yesterday, and I think Dana would be pleased.

I also thought it was fascinating that Dana predicted the concept of branch museums. I have seen this idea mentioned elsewhere, and I cannot for the life of me locate the sources of the examples I have in mind! I will try to get back to you about a museum, and I am thinking it was on the West Coast, tried the satellite museum program, renting off-site gallery space in another part of the city. Modern museum outreach and mobile library vehicles seem to be picking up on the branch idea-- that offering a variety of locations will build community ties and help museums better serve their communities. It may have taken the bulk of a century, but we are perhaps finally at a point where museums are experimenting with ideas like those Dana described.