Visitor Research and Canadian Museums

The March/April issue of Muse included the article "A Case For Visitor Research in Canadian Art Museums" by Katherine Dennis.  The piece looked at the current state of visitor research and the need to articulate the public value of museums to stakeholders and community members.  There are no national standards for visitors research and there … Continue reading Visitor Research and Canadian Museums

Artifact Meanings and Contextualization

In the museum world, objects are generally described with reference to their designers, or purchasers, or donors...But the whole history of an objects intersects with many other people, who employ many other skills and attach many other meanings.1 The above quotation from Richard Rabinowitz's article highlights the traditional way that museums tend to display and … Continue reading Artifact Meanings and Contextualization

Local History and Artwork at the Galway City Museum

It rained a lot while I was in Galway.  The rain seemed to come in bursts, it would rain for ten minutes and then it would be sunny, twenty minutes later it would rain for another ten minutes.  In my mind a rainy day is a perfect day for a trip to a museum.  The … Continue reading Local History and Artwork at the Galway City Museum

Corporate History at the Guinness Storehouse

Brand or corporate museums have never been high on my list of places to visit.  But, while in Dublin I did visit the Guinness Storehouse.  The Storehouse is really more of a corporate museum than a traditional brewery and the visitor experience has more in common with a museum visit than a brewery tour.Visits to … Continue reading Corporate History at the Guinness Storehouse

Shifting Priorities and Heritage Relevancy

The May/June issue of Muse included a number of short pieces focusing on relevancy, visitor engagement, and doing more with less resources.  A short International Council of Museums (ICOM) writeup by Mannon Blanchette hit the issue squarely on the head by noting,"In the face of constant and rapid transformations, museums are trying to meet the … Continue reading Shifting Priorities and Heritage Relevancy

The Hurdles of Moving a Heritage Institution

Anyone can who working in a heritage organization or archive can tell you that storage space is often at a premium.  No matter how much space you have you often need more. Sometimes this space crunch, space renovations, or other factors can cause a heritage organization to decide to relocate.  Moving a heritage institution isn't … Continue reading The Hurdles of Moving a Heritage Institution

Fear of Losinig Our Past

A speaker I heard recently spoke about FLOP as a concept which shapes our lives, identifies, and conceptions of history.  The popularity of the FLOP acronym is debatable. But the concept behind the acronym is an interesting one and closely relates to constructions of the past.  Fear of Losing Our Past (FLOP) can impact what … Continue reading Fear of Losinig Our Past

Nontraditional Events in Heritage Spaces

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a concert as part of Bon Soo (think Winterfest on a Northern Ontario scale).  The concert featured two great traditional music groups, Dentdelion and Les Poules à Colin.  The music was a great display of traditional music heritage and the preservation of Canadian francophone culture.In addition the … Continue reading Nontraditional Events in Heritage Spaces

Looking Forward: Heritage Activities in 2013

My last post of 2012 looked back some of my favourite heritage experiences of 2012.  This post looks forward to 2013 and some of the heritage activities I'm excited about for the upcoming year. The winter issue of the Public Historian contains a review I wrote about a walking tour in Milwaukee. In April, I … Continue reading Looking Forward: Heritage Activities in 2013

Looking Back: Top Heritage Experiences of 2012

This past year has been filled with a variety of heritage focused experiences, archival moments, and history based exploration.  Below are some of my favourite public history moments from the past year:The best museum experience I had this year was hands down my visit to the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. … Continue reading Looking Back: Top Heritage Experiences of 2012