Curators often hold primary intellectual responsibility and power in museums. This is why I believe it is critical that curators be educators as well as object experts, or at least have an interest in and understanding of the public dimension of objects in the collection. When I teach curation and collections management I try to produce students who are able to look beyond the physical and historical details of artifacts and consider their potential meaning, both individually and in a larger context. If curators are trained in newer concepts of interpretation and visitor engagement, they should be able to avoid writing “book on the wall” labels. They should also be willing to find ways to share authority with visitors, as well as with donors of the artifacts.
One of the most stimulating moments of my understanding of museum possibilities came when I read about Rowena Stewart’s five steps for collecting objects. It crystalized the ways in which museums should be rethinking their role, and spelled out a path of compromise between expertise and shared authority. Stewart takes the following steps in acquiring artifacts for a museum collection:
- Establish trust with the potential donor by visiting multiple times and sharing the mission and vision of the museum. Allow the donor to become comfortable with the curator and other staff members.
- Gather the stories of the object(s) from the donor and the donor’s family and friends
- Bring in an expert to add information on the larger context in which the artifact was created and used, and have the expert share this with the donor
- Exhibit the object(s), allowing the donor to participate in developing the exhibit framework
- Create educational programming related to the object(s)
I love this approach because it underlines the care with which we should be collecting things, gives the donor a continued sense of ownership, ties the object to its human meaning from the beginning, and provides for the immediate gratification of an exhibit. This exhibit need not be full scale or long term, and could provide for ongoing “newness” in the museum. It would also force staff to accept only objects worth exhibiting, and let the public see the museum in action.
In my own curatorial work, I try to keep meaning and visitor use in mind, whether it guides my basic research, or the creation of a furnishing plan. Concern for visitor learning also provides a strong motive for careful, thoughtful, and accurate object research.
The Museum Doctor 