This thesis is a study of the changing model of the local history museum in Ontario, Canada and the consequential changing interpretations of the past in these institutions. <br /><br /> Beginning in 1879, local history museums in Ontario developed largely from the energies of local historical societies bent on collecting the past. While science museums used taxonomy and classification to mirror the natural state of the world, history museums had no equivalent framework for organizing collections as real-world referents. Often organized without apparent design, by the early 20th century a deductive method was used to categorize and display history collections into functional groups based on manufacture and use. <br /><br /> By the mid-twentieth century an inductive approach for interpreting collections in exhibits was promoted to make these objects more meaningful and interesting to museum visitors, and to justify their collection. This approach relied on the recontextualization of the object through two methods: text-based, narrative exhibits; and verisimilitude, the recreation of the historical environment in which the artifact would have been originally used. These exhibit practices became part of the syllabus of history museum work as it professionalized during the mid-twentieth century, almost a full century after the science museum. In Ontario, recontextualizing artifacts eventually dominated the process of recreating the past at museums. Objects were consigned to placement within textual storylines in order to impart accurate meaning. At its most elaborate, artifacts were recontextualized into houses, and buildings into villages, wherein the public could fully immerse themselves in a tableau of the past. Throughout this process, the dynamic of recontextualization to enhance visitor experience subtlety shifted the historical artifact from its previous position in the museum as an autonomous relic of the past, to one subordinate to context. <br /><br /> Although presented as absolute, the narratives and reconstructions formed by these collecting and exhibiting practices were contingent on a multitude of shifting factors, such as accepted museum practice, physical, economic and human resources available to the museum operation, and prevailing beliefs about the past and community identity. This thesis exposes the wider field of museum practice in Ontario community history museums over a century while the case study of Doon Pioneer Village shows in detail the conditional qualities of historical reconstruction in museum exhibits and historical restoration.

Since the inception of new museum theory, and the emphasis it places on the social purpose of museums within society, museum professionals and museum studies theorists have struggled to define what role museums must take in combating prejudices and fostering better understating of difference. Richard Sandell is one such theorist who writes about the importance of, and need for, greater inclusion of disabled artists and works of art containing themes of disability into exhibitions and display. This thesis examines Sandell’s scholarship, noting its foundation in new museum theory and disability studies, and then, employing a case study of the American Visionary Art Museum, illustrates the issues illuminated in Sandell’s writing. Finally, utilizing the case study, this thesis will offer aims for further research within museum studies not yet considered by Sandell, especially within educational goals and activities of the museum.

This thesis is a study of the changing model of the local history museum in Ontario, Canada and the consequential changing interpretations of the past in these institutions. <br /><br /> Beginning in 1879, local history museums in Ontario developed largely from the energies of local historical societies bent on collecting the past. While science museums used taxonomy and classification to mirror the natural state of the world, history museums had no equivalent framework for organizing collections as real-world referents. Often organized without apparent design, by the early 20th century a deductive method was used to categorize and display history collections into functional groups based on manufacture and use. <br /><br /> By the mid-twentieth century an inductive approach for interpreting collections in exhibits was promoted to make these objects more meaningful and interesting to museum visitors, and to justify their collection. This approach relied on the recontextualization of the object through two methods: text-based, narrative exhibits; and verisimilitude, the recreation of the historical environment in which the artifact would have been originally used. These exhibit practices became part of the syllabus of history museum work as it professionalized during the mid-twentieth century, almost a full century after the science museum. In Ontario, recontextualizing artifacts eventually dominated the process of recreating the past at museums. Objects were consigned to placement within textual storylines in order to impart accurate meaning. At its most elaborate, artifacts were recontextualized into houses, and buildings into villages, wherein the public could fully immerse themselves in a tableau of the past. Throughout this process, the dynamic of recontextualization to enhance visitor experience subtlety shifted the historical artifact from its previous position in the museum as an autonomous relic of the past, to one subordinate to context. <br /><br /> Although presented as absolute, the narratives and reconstructions formed by these collecting and exhibiting practices were contingent on a multitude of shifting factors, such as accepted museum practice, physical, economic and human resources available to the museum operation, and prevailing beliefs about the past and community identity. This thesis exposes the wider field of museum practice in Ontario community history museums over a century while the case study of Doon Pioneer Village shows in detail the conditional qualities of historical reconstruction in museum exhibits and historical restoration.

In her 2005 essay "From the Critique of Institutions to an Institution of Critique,"artist Andrea Fraser declares that institutional critique is dead and she accordingly callsfor an institution of critique engaged in a practice of self-criticism. This thesis considersthe similarity of the institution of critique to museologist Eilean Hooper-Greenhill'sconceptualization of the post-museum to determine how the institution of critique and the post-museum might inform one another in their current nascent stages.This thesis analyzes publications about institutional critique, essays theorizing the post-museum, and publications that contain theoretical discourses central to realizing an institution of critique and post-museum, none of which consider the institution of critique in relation to the post-museum. This thesis uses these publications to examine the development of the institution of critique and the post-museum in order to demonstrate how one example of the institution of critique serves as a model for the post-museum.

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Artistic outlets act as mechanisms with the potential to provide transformative effects on a psychological, emotional, and physical level. Unfortunately, barriers such as inequality (Erickson, 2008, p. 345) and the economic initiatives of art institutions have provoked the emergence of boundaries, hindering the opportunities and desire to engage (p. 345; Tepper, 2008, p. 363, 368). This practicum project responds to these obstructions by presenting an artistic institution that expands access to the art-form of dance by celebrating individual expression, collaboration, and cultural heritage. The Collaborative Dance Centre embraces the notion of a participatory culture and artist collective by breaking down hierarchal structures to present the general public and amateur artists with the opportunity to engage with the professional dance realm (Jenkins & Bertozzi, 2008, p. 174; Cotter, 2006, p. 21). These notions allow participants to gain exposure to the technical aspects associated with each genre, as well as the various elements of performance. By exploring experiential learning, and post-museum theory this practicum presents an interior that repositions boundaries to encourage participants to engage in experiences that are often restricted from the general public and amateur artists (Brooks-Harris & Stock-Ward, 1999, p. 122-124; Bruce, 2006, p129). The intricacies of dance have also been used to direct design development by employing the ingredients of choreography to guide design principles and elements (Humphrey, 1983, p. 46). The resulting interior connects people from diverse backgrounds through the act of dance stimulating growth, passion and transformation.

Artistic outlets act as mechanisms with the potential to provide transformative effects on a psychological, emotional, and physical level. Unfortunately, barriers such as inequality (Erickson, 2008, p. 345) and the economic initiatives of art institutions have provoked the emergence of boundaries, hindering the opportunities and desire to engage (p. 345; Tepper, 2008, p. 363, 368). This practicum project responds to these obstructions by presenting an artistic institution that expands access to the art-form of dance by celebrating individual expression, collaboration, and cultural heritage. The Collaborative Dance Centre embraces the notion of a participatory culture and artist collective by breaking down hierarchal structures to present the general public and amateur artists with the opportunity to engage with the professional dance realm (Jenkins & Bertozzi, 2008, p. 174; Cotter, 2006, p. 21). These notions allow participants to gain exposure to the technical aspects associated with each genre, as well as the various elements of performance. By exploring experiential learning, and post-museum theory this practicum presents an interior that repositions boundaries to encourage participants to engage in experiences that are often restricted from the general public and amateur artists (Brooks-Harris & Stock-Ward, 1999, p. 122-124; Bruce, 2006, p129). The intricacies of dance have also been used to direct design development by employing the ingredients of choreography to guide design principles and elements (Humphrey, 1983, p. 46). The resulting interior connects people from diverse backgrounds through the act of dance stimulating growth, passion and transformation.