Description
Book SynopsisIn early twentieth-century Berlin, the museumsdebate was set into motion with Wilhelm von Bode's sweeping proposal to reorganize a group of the city's museums. Between 1907 and 1910, two particularly striking series of articles appeared in the journal Museumskunde: Journal for the Administration and Technology of Public and Private Collections. The first was a six-part essay by Otto Lauffer on history museums and the second was a ten-part piece by Oswald Richter regarding ethnographic museums, and both initiated a century of important dialogue. Presented together here as Collecting, Displaying, and Interpreting Material Culture, these first full English translations of the two book-length articles remain unequalled presentations about the different implications of art, historical, and ethnographic museums. They show how sophisticated the discussion of museums and museum display was in the early twentieth century, and how much could be gained from revisiting these reflections today. Accompanied with short commentaries by a group of museum professionals, these translations and associated commentaries allow for an intervention and intensification of the current level of debate about museums, one that will further invigorated by the opening of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin in 2019.
Trade Review“This well-curated book collects, prepares, and showcases two rare and vital samples of modern museological thought, studied and discussed by leading contemporary museum directors and historians of art and science, so as to better understand cultural history from its origins to its present decolonization.” -- Tristan Weddigen, director of the Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome) and professor of Modern Art History at the University of Zurich
“What are historical and ethnographic museums for, and what should they display? This fascinating book juxtaposes the insights and critiques of two early twentieth-century German curators with the reflections of contemporary museum professionals and historians, revealing that, at least since 1900, thinking about and with non-art objects has been a fundamental, if perennially controversial, part of world history and European self-consciousness.” -- Suzanne L. Marchand, Boyd Professor of European Intellectual History at Louisiana State University
"Museums have always been good to think with and argue about. This is a book we have all been waiting for, bringing into the conversation the deep German tradition of museology, linked also to the latest discussions on indigenous perspectives and property. A wonderful cultural and intellectual achievement." -- Chris Gosden, Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford
Table of ContentsSeries Editor’s Preface Acknowledgements A Note on the Text Introduction: What Kind of Knowledge Is Museum Knowledge? Peter N. Miller Part I: From the pages of Museumskunde The Historical Museum: Its Character, Its Work, and How It Differs from Museums of Art and Applied Arts By Otto Lauffer On the Ideals and Practical Tasks of Ethnographic Museums By Oswald Richter Part II: Reflections on Reading Lauffer and Richter Today Youth and Arrogance Julien Chapuis (Bode Museum, Berlin) Oswald Richter and “The Purity of the Specific Local Culture” Edward Cooke, Jr. (Yale University) “Certain Secondary Tasks of Ethnographic Museums”: Richter’s Writings and the Role of Ethnographic Museums in Germany’s Colonial Period Viola König (Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin) Perfecting the Past: Period Rooms Between Disneyland and the White Box Deborah L. Krohn (Bard Graduate Center) Categories with Consequences Alisa Lagama (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Visions of Juxtaposition: Peiresc/Bataille: Monuments/Documents Peter N. Miller (Bard Graduate Center) The Future in the Past Glenn Penny (University of Iowa) Triangulating Art/Artifact: Indigenous Studies as the Third Term Ruth Phillips (Carleton University) Richter and Us Jeffrey Quilter (Peabody Museum of Anthropology, Harvard University) An Attempt at Order in a Time of Flux Matthew Rampley (Masaryk University Brno) Words and Things Anke Te Heesen (Humboldt University) Mix It Up: Five Observations on Collections and Museums Nicholas Thomas (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge University) Life and Death in the Museum Céline Trautmann-Waller (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3) Photographs, Showcases, and Multiple Agencies: Modes of Representation and Directions of Gaze Eva-Maria Troelenberg (Utrecht University) The Museum Beyond Walls Mariët Westermann (NYU Abu Dhabi) Conclusion: Max Weber in the Museum Peter N. Miller Index
