Posts
Collections Stewardship
The battle to rebuild centuries of science after an epic inferno
Nearly a year after flames consumed Brazil's National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, researchers are struggling to revive their work and resume their lives. Nearly a year after flames consumed …
How one museum is repatriating Indigenous belongings
When Lou-ann Ika'wega Neel moved from Alert Bay to Victoria at the age of seven, she started visiting the Royal B.C. Museum because it made her feel at home. The museum even houses some of …
Thinking about the Unthinkable: Disaster preparedness and emergency response plans for small museums
Since 1981, the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) has been assisting small and mid-sized museums in their quest to achieve best practices and national standards. The process begins with an …
How Rapid-Response Exhibits Are Changing the Way Museums Engage Their Communities
In July and August 2018, visitors to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee were witness to a revolutionary type of exhibition, albeit perhaps unknowingly. The exhibition in …
Should These Clothes Be Saved?
Thousands of articles of everyday women's clothing are being preserved in lockers in a college basement. But where, exactly, does their value lie? It is possible that one of the more …
How Museums Tidy Up
On April Fools' Day, Artnet teased its readers with a fake headline about how the Met Museum had hired Marie Kondo to help "tidy up" unwanted art from its collection. While they were …
Collaborating with Emergency Responders to Protect Cultural Heritage
Protecting cultural heritage collections is crucial to preserving our nation’s history, sustaining the economy, and fostering resilience so that communities can respond to and recover from …
Report urges massive digitization of museum collections
The United States should launch an effort to create an all-encompassing database of the millions of stuffed, dried, and otherwise preserved plants, animals, and fossils in museums and other …
TrendsWatch 2019: Confronting the Past: The long, hard work of decolonization
This is one of the five trends from the 2019 TrendsWatch. Click here to read more about the full report. “Colonialism and imperialism have not settled their debt to us once they have …
‘Time Is Running Out’: Museum Curator In Florida Races To Preserve Holocaust Items
Aimee Rubensteen didn't have the luxury to take her time and get acclimated to her new job. Immediately after starting last spring as South Florida's acquisitions curator for the United …
This strange “paint disease” is putting Georgia O’Keeffe paintings at risk
The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, houses some 140 oil paintings by the iconic American artist, along with thousands of additional works from O'Keeffe's prolific career. …
Closing the GAAP on Direct Care
As lawyers with backgrounds in horticulture (Lori) and material culture studies (Sarah), we never thought we would be passionate about an accounting rule. Yet here we are. In 2015 we wrote …