Month: October 2011

The New Media Consortium Horizon Report

The New Media Consortium Horizon Report

The New Media Consortium, which produces the Horizon Report, is compiling information for its 2011 Museum Edition. If you’re not familiar with the report, you should be! The Horizon Report is a good, succinct overview of emerging technologies in various fields. They categorize innovations by 

Museums in the News

Museums in the News

Welcome to our weekly museums in the news roundup. You might all be interested to know that this is post #52 of Museums in the News, making it officially one year old. We hope it’s been educational and useful for you to follow along as 

NEMA YEP Birthday Party

NEMA YEP Birthday Party

The New England Museum Association’s Young Emerging Professionals Professional Affinity Group (that’s NEMA’s YEP PAG, if you prefer acronyms) is turning one year old this fall. To celebrate, they’re having a book club session, some fabulous speakers, and cupcakes. Sound awesome? Read on.

Book Club Second Meeting and YEPs Birthday Party

When: Wednesday, November 9, 6:30 pm

Where: Waterworks Museum, 2450 Beacon Street, Boston, MA

Who: All museum professionals interested in reading and discussing the book and article of choice.
Books are chosen through in-person event voting and online voting via the YEPs Facebook page.

Book and Article: Do Museums Still Need Objects? by Steven Conn, and “Do History Museums Still Need Objects?” by Rainey Tisdale

Featured Speaker: Rainey Tisdale

Format: Book Discussion with featured speaker Rainey Tisdale, Professional Affinity Group (PAG) Birthday Cupcakes, Optional Self-Guided Tour of the Waterworks Museum, After Event Networking (location to be determined…please share your ideas!)

Join the NEMA YEPs for their second book club meeting on Wednesday, November 9, at 6:30 pm at the new Waterworks Museum in Boston! Hear from Rainey Tisdale, author of “Do History Museums Still Need Objects?” and discuss Steven Conn’s Do Museums Still Need Objects? The YEP PAG is also celebrating its one year birthday…and yes, there will be CUPCAKES!

From Amazon.com on Do Museum Still Need Objects?: “Steven Conn offers a refreshing look at museums and many of the debates surrounding their development and practices over the past forty years. He is right to frame his inquiry by asking if museums still need objects. Too often these debates have ignored the very characteristic that defines museums and distinguishes them from all other cultural institutions: they collect, preserve, and present things. This is an important, timely book.”
—James Cuno, President and Director, Art Institute of Chicago

Rainey’s statement on her article for the American Association for State and Local History’s History News: “My article uses Steven Conn’s recent book Do Museums Still Need Objects?, as a jumping-off point for considering seven major issues currently confronting history museums and historic sites as they seek to make their collections meaningful, relevant, and accessible for a general audience. I raise a lot of complicated questions in this piece, and my goal was to stimulate dialogue across the field so we can answer them together.”

To download Rainey Tisdale’s article, and find links for sites featured in the article, please visit http://aaslhcommunity.org/historynews/history-museums-objects/
For more on the Waterworks Museum, please visit www.waterworks.org

NEMA 2011 Early Bird Registration

NEMA 2011 Early Bird Registration

Copying this over directly from NEMA themselves. Don’t delay! The early-bird deadline is Friday, October 7th! Sometimes it’s OK to procrastinate. When it’s a beautiful Saturday and you’d rather sunbathe than clean house for company. When you’re on your way to dinner at your in-laws 

Meet the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House

Meet the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House

New guest poster: Sarah Margerum is a certificate student at Tufts, and a volunteer at the Cambridge Historical Society. Meet the Hooper-Lee-Nichols House: I know, it’s a mouth full, but that’s what happens when a house has been around since 1685 – it passes through 

Museums in the News

Museums in the News

Welcome to our weekly roundup of news articles about the museum world!

Metropolitan Museum Unveils Revamped Web Site

Portland’s International Cryptozoology Museum to get a bigger home

Google & The Israel Museum Put Dead Sea Scrolls Online

Boston museum returns Hercules bust to Turkey

Museum Moves Beyond Its Walls

New Skirmishes Among Metropolitan Museum Vendors

Gucci houses luxury’s history in new museum

After Winning Coveted Shuttle, Museum Changes the Plan for It

Wilder’s museum mess

Stephen Sondheim lends his puzzle-making prowess to a charity treasure hunt in NYC museum

German museum returning Namibian skulls

NY Sotheby’s to sell items from Israel Museum, including works by Magritte, Pissarro

NY State Museum gets artifacts from Attica riots

An Ailing Asian Art Museum Adopts a New Attitude

A Purveyor of Outsize Thrills at His Museum of Misfit Toys

His Innovations Got Americans Talking About Their History