Cabinets for the Curious

Looking Back at Early English Museums

Ken Arnold (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

312 Seiten

2005
Routledge (Verlag)
978-0-7546-0506-5 (ISBN)

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The last few years has, within museums, witnessed nothing short of a revolution. Worried that the very institution was itself in danger of becoming a dusty, forgotten, culturally irrelevant exhibit, vigorous efforts have been made to reshape the museum mission. Fearing that history was coming to be ignored by modern society, many institutions have instead marketed a de-intellectualised heritage, overly relying on computer technology to captivate a contemporary audience. The theme of this work is that we can do much to reassess the rationale that inspires contemporary collections through a study of seventeenth century museums. England's first museums were quite literally wonderful; founded that is on the disciplined application of the faculty of wonder. The type of wonder employed was not that post-Romantic idea of disbelief, but rather an active form of curiosity developed during the Renaissance, particularly by the individuals who set about gathering objects and founding museums to further their enquiries. The argument put forward in this book is that this museological practice of using objects actually to create, as well as disseminate knowledge makes just as much sense today as it did in the seventeenth century and, further, that the best way of reinvigorating contemporary museums, is to return to that form of wonder. By taking such a comparative approach, this book works both as a scholarly historical text, and as an historically informed analysis of the key issues facing today's museums. As such, it will prove essential reading both for historians of collecting and museums, and for anyone interested in the philosophies of modern museum management.

Dr Ken Arnold is Head of Public Programmes for The Wellcome Trust, London, UK

Contents: Preface; Introduction: Museum-science; Museums arrive in England. Part I The Narrative Tradition: Robert Plot's philosophical histories; Learned treasures; Telling stories in museums. Part II The Functional Tradition: Trade and travel; Medicinal chemistry; Using museums. Part III The Taxonomic Tradition: The reform of learning; Classifying God's work; Ordering museums. Conclusion: the wonder of museums; Bibliography; Index.

Erscheint lt. Verlag	28.12.2005
Reihe/Serie	Perspectives on Collecting
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	153 x 219 mm
Gewicht	560 g
Themenwelt	Kunst / Musik / Theater
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Hilfswissenschaften
	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
ISBN-10	0-7546-0506-X / 075460506X
ISBN-13	978-0-7546-0506-5 / 9780754605065
Zustand	Neuware