The difficulty of defining public history also extends to defining a museum. As Levin mentioned, the American Association of Museums has multiple guidelines, one of which is a $25,000 annual operating budget. Those institutions that do not meet the official requirements, though, are still museums, right? I agree that the definition of museum should be inclusive rather than exclusive, but categorizing all of the off-the-wall roadside stops as “local museums” seems a bit of a stretch to me. There should be an additional category of “strange, weird, and unrelated” museums that do not discuss local history.
This collection of essays focuses more on the local museum that engages with the community, and I found that the feedback concerning the Dillinger museum was a wonderful example of local museums responding to their communities. Changing the exhibit to feature a spotlight more on those who fought crime, rather than those breaking the laws, was different from the initial concept of a ‘Robin Hood’ character from the Depression era. The addition of a police memorial next to the Dillinger museum’s entrance to garner support from law enforcement is a clear response to the community’s dislike for the “hero” status of a career criminal.
The challenges of incorporating the community’s viewpoints, as well as including a worldview of multiple cultures are the major hurdles for today’s museums. The democratization of history museums, and the inclusion of multiple institutions as museums all lead to defining memory as a joint public and private venture. Levin’s book is an attempt to clarify the function of a local museum, and I believe that Defining Memory achieves this on a basic level.
I agree that the book deals with the way in which local museums such as the Dillinger Museum engage with their communities, but I suppose I was more struck with the way the police community was able to force a radical restructuring of the museum's theme than the museum's effort to reach out to them. In the end, I suppose it's really two sides of the same coin.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to draw a line as to what should be qualified as a museum. Just because anyone can walk in and buy a ticket does not necessarily give it educational or historical value. That being said, the fact that these institutions (if we can call them such) remain economically viable, albeit barely, they still can achieve specific cultural, religious, or economic agendas. Even the house of biblical scenes out of hand sculpted rock makes an impact and delivers a message to the patron about religious duty and devotion. If the studies are correct and these institutions carry a great deal of pedagogical authority, then despite their economic status they must be payed attention to because they have great ethical and educational responsibility to the patron.
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