Final Project (M.A.)--John F. Kennedy University, 2007. / "5 January 2007"--T.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-125).

This thesis is an exploration of the complex relationship between academic, popular and museum histories. A central theme to the research is that nostalgia currently keeps these categories of history quite separate from one another, as academic historians are critical of the use of nostalgia in presenting the past, whereas popular histories are often steeped in nostalgia, as are historical narratives presented in museums. I argue that nostalgia and nostalgic sources should not be viewed as problematic by historians, but embraced simply as another type of historical source. Popular histories, rich in nostalgia, and often reliant on memories should also be considered more favourably by academics as they serve to engage people with historical narratives as both contributors and consumers. The inclusion of nostalgic sources, such as memoirs and oral histories, in historical narratives can also result in the production of new or relative histories, which enrich the historical past presented to us, and open up fresh debates on well covered topics. Nor is nostalgia problematic in museums as it helps visitors relate to, and understand, the stories presented to them. Nostalgia can also motivate people to donate objects to museums, and therefore to have an active role in how the past is represented within museums. Once again this serves to produce a more complex narrative for the visitor that can broaden our understanding of the past. These ideas are presented through two case studies of agricultural change in Lincolnshire between 1850 and 1980, and a case study of museums in the county. The historical narratives were produced using a range of primary and secondary sources, including oral histories and memoirs. The inclusion of non- ii traditional sources aided in the production of new accounts of changes in the labour patterns of women and children, and of increased mechanisation during the period. Both chapters reposition agricultural modernity in history, demonstrating that the shift from traditional to modern practices did not occur immediately after World War Two, but over a period of 30 years from the 1930s to the 1960s. The museological case study explores how the past is represented in museums and the factors that shape this. Museums in Lincolnshire were surveyed, and professionals working in them were interviewed, to ascertain how they present historical narratives around agricultural changes, and how nostalgia relates to this. It was found that nostalgia had very little impact on how the past was presented in the museums, but the processes of donation and collection, the lack of specialist knowledge in the sector, and external political factors had a significant impact on the presentation of the past in these institutions. The thesis argues that those involved with academic, popular, and museum histories should work collaboratively to explore ways of incorporating nostalgic sources into historical narratives to develop new interpretations of the past. They should also work in partnership to move away from the traditional museological ‘nostalgia debate’ to resolve the issues that currently affect how the past is presented in museums.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Uppsala University, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-260) and index.

This thesis examines the work of antiquary and scholar Joseph Ritson (1752-1803) in publishing significant and influential collections of early English and Scottish literature, including the first collection of medieval romance, by going beyond the biographical approaches to Ritson's work typical of nineteenth- and twentieth-century accounts, incorporating an analysis of Ritson's contributions to specific fields into a study of the context which made his work possible. It makes use of the 'Register of Manuscripts Sent to the Reading Room of the British Museum' to shed new light on Ritson's use of the manuscript collections of the British Museum. The thesis argues that Ritson's early polemic attacks on Thomas Warton, Thomas Percy, and the editors of Shakespeare allowed Ritson to establish his own claims to expertise and authority, built upon the research he had already undertaken in the British Museum and other public and private collections. Through his publications, Ritson experimented with different strategies for organizing, systematizing, interpreting and presenting his research, constructing very different collections for different kinds of texts, and different kinds of readers. A comparison of Ritson's three major collections of songs - A Select Collection of English Songs (1783), Ancient Songs (1790), and Scotish Songs (1794) - demonstrates some of the consequences of his decisions, particularly the distinction made between English and Scottish material. Although Ritson's Robin Hood (1795) is the most frequently reprinted of his collections, and one of the best studied, approaching this work within the immediate context of Ritson's research and other publications, rather than its later reception, offers some explanation for its more idiosyncratic features. Finally, Ritson's Ancient Engleish Metrical Romance's (1802) provides a striking example of Ritson's participation in collaborative networks and the difficulty of finding an audience and a market for editions of early English literature at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

La IIIe République offre une vocation didactique au musée institué en lieu d'enseignement qui édifie le citoyen républicain. Le régime fédère un réseau muséal dont l'objectif est la suppression des multiples musées de province au bénéfice des seuls musées français gardiens des collections nationales. En même temps qu'elle contribue au courant historiographique actuel de renouvellement de l'histoire des collections par l'approche de ses acteurs, cette étude des 263 conservateurs des musées de province, inspectés dans le cadre de la Commission extra-parlementaire des musées de province de 1905, aboutit à leur inscription dans le processus de professionnalisation des conservateurs de musée. Pour ses acteurs de la patrimonialisation, préserver et transmettre les collections muséales, signifie appliquer la vocation didactique du musée, lieu d'enseignement corollaire de l'école. Il s'agit notamment de dispenser, au musée, une leçon d'histoire locale se rattachant à l'écriture de l'histoire de la nation. Empreints d'une conscience patrimoniale acérée, et profondément impliqués dans les sociabilités artistiques locales, les conservateurs de musées de province œuvrent dans l'intérêt des collections se confortant à de nombreuses contraintes tant budgétaires que matérielles ou politiques. Leurs méthodes de travail, adaptées aux nouvelles exigences de l'Administration des Beaux-Arts se spécialisent à un moment où, s'élabore la science des musées dite « muséologie ». Leur expérience est alors reconnue par l'ensemble des conservateurs des musées de province et des Musées nationaux. Le conservateur des musées de province républicains est un conservateur de musée professionnel. / The Third Republic enabled French museums to become a place of cultural education similar to that of schools. A national, federated network of museums was established for national collections of art in the early 20th Century, during the rise of provincial museums. The French state sought to display a self-legitimizing, civic-mindedness and to teach lessons of history of the Nation and national heritage to its citizens. More than an institutional history of the rise of provincial museums, this study demonstrates the involvement of the curators of provincial museums in the development of that policy and shows how it led to the creation of an organized profession. Utilizing the report of the parliamentary commission for French museums created in 1905, 263 curators in charge of state sponsored long-term loans were identified and studied. Involved in the safeguarding of patrimony, they belonged to numerous provincial academies and local scholarly societies. At the museum, they provided a local history lesson related to French national history. They had to cope with locally specific issues, particularly financial restrictions and local politics, but succeeded in fashioning a new way of working that was agreed to by ail colleagues in provincial institutions as well as French national museums, such as the musée du Louvre, when museology was created.

Das Feld der diskursiven und auch normativen Bestimmungen des Archivbegriffes ist in den letzten Jahren in Bewegung geraten. Das betrifft auch Fragen nach dem Zugang zu Geschichten der Aufführungskünste und die Praxis von Archivprozessen und Sammeltätigkeiten in künstlerischen und kuratorischen Kontexten. Dieses Arbeitsbuch fasst Ergebnisse des Forschungsprojekts „Verzeichnungen. Medien und konstitutive Ordnungen von Archivprozessen der Aufführungskünste“ zusammen. Es wurde zwischen 2012 und 2017, gefördert von der DFG, in Leipzig und Berlin durchgeführt. Enthält: Performance im Museum als Historisierung; Performance der Institution Museum; Performancekunst an der Schnittstelle von visueller und darstellender Kunst; Sammeln und Archivieren als Themen der Kunst; US-amerikanische Performancekunst; Performa New York; Rituals of Rented Island New York; Radical Presence/ Black Performance; Karneval und Performance; Performancekunst in/aus Osteuropa; Reenactment und Re-Staging; MUMOK Factory und Tanzquartier Wien; dispositive Konstellationen Museum und Theater / The discursive and normative field of archivalities has considerably shifted in recent years. This shift also concerns questions of access to histories of performance-based arts as well as archival practices both in artistic and curatorial contexts. This workbook presents results of the research project “Records and Representations. Media and constitutive systems of archiving performance-based arts” conducted between 2012 and 2017 in Leipzig and Berlin with funding by DFG (German Research Foundation).