Is there a museum in the house? Historic houses as a species of museum

The historic house museum exemplifies the enormous power of the museum idea to make specimens out of the material world. In fact, houses are an old museum form, very numerous and globally spread. This paper surveys the diverse inspirations of the species, its peculiar expressions, and its formative/deformative relationship to the English country house, via case studies in the UK, the US, and Australia. The paper identifies a characteristic museology that has developed to manage the conditions of house museums and suggests that the contemporary practice of heritage management derives an important strand of its direction from the traditions of house museology. Lastly, it considers the challenge, 'who wants house museums?'

‘My history is a tile in a mosaic’ : an interview with Jim Cullen

JIM CULLEN was born in Queens, New York, and attended public schools on Long Island. He received his B.A. in English from Tufts University, and his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in American Civilization from Brown University. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including Harvard and Brown. He is currently a teacher, and serves on the Board of the Trustees, at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York City. Jim is married to historian Lyde Cullen Sizer and has four children.
CONTEXT: Dr Glenn Moore co-ordinates the subject 'Searching for the American Dream’ at The University of Melbourne. For the last nine years he has taken second and third year history students to Boston, New York and Washington, D.C to explore the philosophy of genius loci. Dr Moore gets students to work in food banks, visit homeless shelters, museums and organizes an array of guest speakers with experts such as Boston public defender, Denise Regan, Neera Tanden, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager and Alec Ross, vice president of One Economy. As the leading expert on the American Dream, with the publication of so many books in American history such as: The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea that Shaped a Nation, Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition and Restless in the Promised Land: Catholics and the American Dream, Jim Cullen has spoken to the students for the last five years. I interviewed him prior to his recent discussion with the students in New York on 5 July 2006 at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Reforming Australian public sector accounting : an episode of institutional thinking

In recent years in Australia, accounting reforms have been developed which have resulted in the application of commercial systems of accounting to diverse public sector organisations. The reforms, which include the requirement to recognise infrastructure and heritage resources as assets in financial reports, endorse financial notions of accountability and performance that have been traditionally applied within private sector, profit-seeking organisations. Such notions are applied to a range of public sector organisations for the first time, even though the primary missions or objectives of many of these organisations are social, rather than financial in orientation. This critical, interpretative case study, set within the context of not-for-profit public museums, seeks to enhance an understanding of public sector accounting change based on these unique social organisations. The study examines three aspects of the reforms, namely, their development, their promotion and their defence. This examination is undertaken using the ideas contained in Mary Douglas’ (1986) How Institutions Think as the key theoretical construct. The supplementary perspectives of problematisation and epistemic communities are used to assist in applying the primary theoretical construct by explaining how, and by whom, these reforms were advocated and implemented in this specific instance. The study shows how the interpretation and application of the statements comprising the conceptual framework have shaped the development, promotion and defence of detailed standards developed for specific public sector organisations. In doing so, the study addresses two key research questions: (1) How were financial notions of accountability and performance of Australian public sector organisations constructed during the period 1976-2001 and articulated in the CF, once its development began, within this reform period? (2) How were these notions and other concepts of financial reporting outlined in the CF interpreted and applied in the (i) development; (ii) promotion; and (iii) defence of detailed accounting standards for not-for-profit public museums in Australia during the period under investigation? The study demonstrates that the concepts of financial reporting outlined in the conceptual framework were used by a relatively small group of technical experts located in influential positions in accounting regulation and in other fields to justify the application of accrual accounting within diverse public sector organisations. During the period examined, only certain questions were posed and certain issues considered and many problems associated with the implementation of the reforms were not considered. Accordingly, a key finding of the study is that each aspect of the reform period was guided and constrained by institutional thinking. In addition, the study shows how the framework's content can be used to permit equally well-argued, but conflicting, accounting policies to be adopted and defended for the same items, indicating the framework to be of only limited value as a technical tool. This leads to another key finding of the study, namely, that the framework is best understood as a political tool, serving a crucial role in enabling accrual accounting reforms to be developed, promoted and defended within the public sector. Thus, the study seeks to offer an enhanced understanding of the nature and determinants of accounting change, and accordingly, it broadens an understanding of the use of the conceptual framework, as an institution, in developing, promoting and defending changes to accounting practice.

The branding of arts and culture : an international comparison

This paper explores the approach of arts and cultural organisations towards branding in Italy and Australia. Data were collected through extended interviews with general managers and marketing managers of 18 arts and cultural organisations, including museums, galleries, theatres and festivals of both countries. Through the analysis of the data collected, five initial elements emerged when seeking to classify the branding paradigms of the organisations, viz., the orientation of the brand management, the type of brand management, the level of customers’ involvement in the brand “idea”, the degree of consistency in branding and attitudes toward risk in branding. For this article, we focus on two particular elements, the orientation of the brand management and the degree of consistency in branding, as these elements have an important influence on how an arts organisation will strategically manage its brand.

On the basis of the assumption that branding is driven by different factors in different countries, the paper identifies two main paradigms/models of branding characterised by specific drivers: marketing tools and strategies in Australian arts and cultural organisations; history and tradition of the cultural product/offer in the Italian ones. What emerges in this study is that the importance of brands in the arts and culture context should not be underrated by arts and cultural managers. Both models (the Italian and the Australian) represent valid examples for managers to look at in relation to the brand management process.

Determining research significance in archaeological collections from historic sites

This thesis presents a model for assessing the research significance of Australian historical archaeological collections. It identifies the criteria, and provides step-by-step guidelines, for conducting such an assessment. The model is an important tool for managing and justifying the long term preservation of increasing numbers of archaeological collections.

Computer databases and the Jewish Museum of Australia : investigating the future to access the past

This thesis aims to analyse the needs of museums in terms of computer databases, examine the ways in which these databases can assist with cataloguing and museum operations in general, and survey current database programs available. The Jewish Museum of Australia is used as a pilot study to practically apply the issues discussed.

The changing role of the museum curator

The hypothesis of this thesis is that the traditional role of the museum curator has fundamentally changed. The role of the curator was found to vary according to the context in which the curator worked but overall, significant changes were found to be occurring within the curatorial role.

An examination of the range of self-funding options available to regional galleries and an assessment of their suitability for use in those institutions

Researches the suitability of a variety of self-funding options available to regional galleries in Australia. An overview of the range of current self-funding practices is given. Each option is mapped according to its impact on core/value added services and its effect on primary/secondary users and assessed for suitability using these criteria.

Developing a collections management policy for the Ethnology Division of the National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery of Botswana

The culture and political environments of Botswana influence the collections management policy of its' National Museum, Monuments and Art Gallery. The emphasis of this research is to make the museum relevent to the needs of the local people by developing more suitable ideas. The developed policy is intended to reflect these unique needs.

Lost in space

This thesis aims to map current issues and concerns of the exhibition process which produce inequities or shortcomings within the information network. These issues are related to the National Gallery of Victoria's stated aims and objectives.

Keeping treasures in testing times : special collections in the academic environment

“… university libraries, while differing in the specifics of their goals, generally embrace the obligation to collect, preserve, and make available primary source materials for both current scholarship and future research” (Hewitt 1998).

This paper explores some of the challenges faced by the Fryer Library, the special collections branch of the University of Queensland Library responsible for manuscripts and pictorial materials, as well as theses and rare books. The challenges are not dissimilar to those being met by other cultural agencies or institutions as well as other academic libraries. The challenges covered include collection development, access and preservation, making appropriate responses to the research imperative, as well as promotion of services and collections, and servicing the community at large. The paper outlines the research library context and concludes with experiences of cross-sectoral collaborations and future opportunities.

Picturing the nation : The Celtic periphery as discursive other in the archaeological displays of the museum of Scotland

Using the archaeological displays at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, this paper examines the exhibition as a site of identity creation through the negotiations between categories of same and Other. Through an analysis of the poetics of display, the paper argues that the exhibition constructs a particular relationship between the Celtic Fringe and Scottish National identity that draws upon the historical discourses of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as a place and a time 'apart'. This will be shown to have implications for the display of archaeological material in museums but also for contemporary understandings of Scottish National identity.