Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The nexus of presenting an authentic environment and engaging audiences has been at the core of debate around living history museums since their inception in the 1960s. Conner Prairie's transition from a folklife model to a learning theory and research-based organization is traced in this thesis.

MASTERS FACULTY OF HUMANITIES SCHOOL OF ARTS STUDENT NO: 9910933F / This study investigates the ways in which museums are understood as texts, and how artists challenge those assumptions within their work. The extent to which parody, a central tenet of post- modern art, can be used as an effective means to challenge the hegemony of the art museum, is investigated through an analyses of artworks by Illya Kabakov and Marcel Broodthaers. The first part of the study interrogates the hegemonic function of museums, through a discussion of the central tenets of museological discourse, in order to contextualise the discussion of the artworks in question. The second part of this study includes an analysis of specific artworks by Illya Kabakov and Marcel Broodthaers, detailing the ways in which these artists parody aspects of museum practice. The concluding chapter interrogates my own artistic production in relation to this research.

The aim of this study is to give a historical view upon and examine the development of local and regional cultural history museums in Norway as a topic in Norwegian cultural policy 1900 – circa 1970. The present thesis is divided into four main parts: In part one data sources and theoretical perspectives are presented. The thesis is written in museology and this is the background for a perspective where of local and regional museums arose as a subject requiring development of public politics. The theoretical perspective is how development of politics frequently appears as a choice between various alternatives based on available contemporary material and ideological suppositions. Local and regional museums appear in this perspective as a cultural phenomenon in their own age, a phenomenon to which Stortinget, the Ministry and the museum profession attached both interpretations and conceptions. In part two, entitled “Concern over a group of museums” the parallelism between museum growth and policymaking from 1900 – 1920 is analyzed. Development of politics in these years can be considered as a process where the formation of clearly defined guiding principles for practice by the authorities took place. In the centre of this development of politics was the regulation on governmental subsidy based on a political framework the need to conform to norms related to calculability and equal treatment. At the same time it does appeared the legitimacy to carry out disciplinary measures was nourished by a conception of local and regional museums as unruly and an image of them as a type of “freely growing” institution. In part three, “A formative recognition”, deals with the growing cooperation between The Norwegian Museums Assosiation and the Ministry in the field of local and regional museum and how it influenced the work in this museum. Cooperation with the museum society ensured that a competent apparatus was available to the Ministry. This led gradually to development of a new administrative regime, more specifically a move toward something which can be described as a professional administration. Part four “Consolidation of the politics” examines the development 1945 – circa 1970. The new tendencies would turn out to reflect an increasing awareness of the educational opportunities for future museum personnel, different solutions for establishing good professional guidance for the unmanned museums and, in parallel within the professional museum milieu, an emerging debate on the museums’ role in society. Common for all these initiatives is that they demonstrate what one could characterise as an increasing degree of professionalism. Part four end with the Proposal from the Museum Committee of 1967. This white paper was presented by the Ministry of Churches and Education in 1972. The document was the first of its kind and was intended to be recognised as a comprehensive plan.  The most tangible result of the white paper was the arrangement for subsidies to semi-public museums which was introduced in 1975.

This thesis analyzes the educational function of art museums, how education in art museums evolved and how an art museum can conduct an educational mission. The concept of the material collections as the educative origin of art museums will be discussed alongside the history of collections in Europe. In addition to the concept of collection, the importance of educational programmes of art museums will be highlighted. Having derived a general notion of the educational function of art museums, the thesis will seek to answer questions such as how museology evolved in Turkey and whether the turkish museology has an educational concern. In accordance with these questions two turkish contemporary art museums will be investigated as case studies.

This thesis examines the invention of Cyprus’ ancient history through the diaspora of Cypriot antiquities in the latter half of nineteenth century and the role of the modern museum in it (1860-1900). It maps the movement of the objects from their excavation sites, to their circulation in metropolitan museums and, finally to their display in museum galleries. In doing so this thesis explores the emergence of archaeology as a field-based discipline in the broader colonial, imperial and geopolitical context. The research of this project was conducted mainly at the Cyprus State Archives, the Greek and Roman Departmental Archives (British Museum), Dartmouth College Archives (NH). The first part of the thesis provides the theoretical framework in which this research is situated. Chapter 1 introduces the project, its research questions, its research questions and outcomes. Chapter 2 discusses the literature providing the main concepts that formed the arguments of this thesis. Chapter 3 contextualizes the diaspora of Cypriot antiquities within the broader history of archaeology and Chapter 4 overviews the methodology followed and the archival sources that were used for this project. The second part consists of my empirical work and maps the diaspora of the antiquities. It is thematically divided in three chapters. Chapter 5, Law, looks at the colonial and legal context of the excavation and exportation of the objects. Chapter 6, Excavation, discusses the every-day conduct of Cypriot archaeology in the field. Chapter 7, Circulation, examines the practices of collecting Cypriot antiquities, their exportation and circulation in metropolitan museums, and their display in museums (particularly in the British Museum). Chapter 8 brings the thesis into a conclusion and highlights the main findings and arguments of this project. The thesis explores the production, circulation and display of scientific knowledge regarding the ancient past of Cyprus by following the antiquities in their various forms (texts, impressions, photographs, objects). By following the objects’ social lives it addresses the issues of the circulation of scientific knowledge, of the criteria for asserting its authenticity and credibility and of the local/global nature of archaeological science. It will demonstrate that the methodological tenor of writing the objects’ biographies links the different scales of science’s making and illuminates its hidden stories, such as the practicalities of collecting in the field.

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Please read the abstract in the section 07summary of this document / Thesis (DPhil (Cultural History))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

Keywords: AIMA, museum history, agricultural history, International NGO history, Cold War This research focuses on the emergence and development of agricultural museum practice and theory in 20th -century Europe, with special attention to the establishment of knowledge networks between different transnational actors; contributing to the identification of theoretical change and methodological trends in the development of this museological field. The Skansen Open-Air Museum in Stockholm, a folklore museum, and the Hungarian Agricultural Museum in Budapest, a national museum with a markedly technical character, both founded in the 1890s, were the two pioneer institutions of this kind, acting as role-models for later initiatives around Europe and beyond. This bipolar ancestry reflects the variety of approaches possible, still today, in the realm of agricultural museology: one can find agriculture-related museums focused on technical matters, food and nutrition, folklore, specific industries or sectors, etc. Furthermore, the museographic approaches and curatorial options of these institutions can vary considerably from re-enactment of traditional practices to the science-centre-inspired display of environmental matters. At a time when environmental, agricultural, and food related matters gain increasing...