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2
3
Copyright 2014 by Kiersten F. Latham and John E. Simmons

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission
in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Latham, Kiersten Foursh.

Foundations of museum studies : evolving systems of knowledge / Kiersten F. Latham and John E. Simmons.
pages cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61069-282-3 (pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-61069-952-5 (ebook) 1. Museums. 2. Museum techniques. 3. Museums—
United States. 4. Museum techniques—United States. I. Simmons, John E. II. Title.
AM5. L38 2014
069—dc23 2014016908

ISBN 978-1-61069-282-3
EISBN: 978-1-61069-952-5

18 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5

This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.

Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.

Libraries Unlimited
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC

ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911

This book is printed on acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

4
We dedicate this book to the memory of our former museum studies professor and advisor, scientist, curator, and
museum director, Philip Strong Humphrey (1926–2009), who conveyed his passion and vision of museums to
several generations of grateful students and colleagues.

5
Contents

Illustrations

Foreword by Ford W. Bell

Preface

Acknowledgments

Section One: Introduction

Chapter 1: Defining Museums (and Museum Studies)

Chapter 2: The Origins of Museums

Section Two: How

Chapter 3: The Museum System

Chapter 4: Dimensions of Museums

Section Three: What

Chapter 5: Species of Museums: A Museological Bestiary

Chapter 6: The Meaningful Physical Resource

Section Four: Who

Chapter 7: Museum Workers

Chapter 8: Museum Users

Section Five: Where

Chapter 9: Contemporary Museums Around the World

Section Six: Why

Chapter 10: The Future of Museums

6
Index

7
Illustrations

Figures
Figure 1.1. An archaeological site as a museum: Prasat Hin Phimai Historic Park (Phimai, Thailand)
Figure 1.2. Is a zoo a museum? Giraffes enjoying a sunny day at the Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, Australia
Figure 1.3. Is a botanical garden a museum? The Hortus Botanicus in Leiden (The Netherlands) is one of the
oldest botanical gardens in the world
Figure 1.4. Keene’s model of the museum system
Figure 1.5. A conceptual model of museum studies
Figure 2.1. The Museum Olaus Worm
Figure 3.1. The holistic museum system model
Figure 3.2. An interpretation of Humphrey’s inner and outer museum model, showing the traditional
activities of each
Figure 3.3. The museum system model (internal museum system) showing the blurred lines between the inner
and outer museum
Figure 3.4. The internal system of the museum, surrounded by a selection of the external systems in which it
lies
Figure 3.5. Adaptation of Keene’s (2002) concept of a system showing the specific feedback loops in the
museum
Figure 4.1. Three basic functions of the museum system
Figure 4.2. Cataloged and numbered specimens, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery, Penn
State University
Figure 5.1. Percy Skuy Gallery, Dittrick Museum of Medical History, Case Western Reserve University
Figure 5.2. The Traveler’s Club International Restaurant and Tuba Museum, East Lansing, Michigan
Figure 5.3. A museum visitor at an aquarium
Figure 5.4. Entrance to Tiger Legacy at the Massillon Museum, an exhibit produced by the Massillon
Museum in collaboration with Kent State University photojournalism professors and students to document
the culture and traditions of the Massillon Tigers high school footballteam
Figure 5.5. The Tenement Museum in New York, New York

8
Figure 6.1. The document-centered museum
Figure 7.1. Vincent’s museum, 1706
Figure 7.2. Cataloging collections in an electronic database. Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art
Gallery, Penn State University
Figure 7.3. Condition reporting inside a flown Gemini spacecraft, Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center,
Hutchinson, Kansas
Figure 7.4. A living history interpreter is one kind of museum educator. K. F. Latham is shown dressed as an
1837 Amish immigrant at Sauder Village, Archbold, Ohio
Figure 7.5. A chair for visitors to contemplate the art in the Toledo Museum of Art
Figure 8.1. The user in the museum system
Figure 8.2. Pretending to be an astronaut, a fun activity for children at a space museum
Figure 8.3. Knowledge theories and learning theories
Figure 8.4. The contextual model of learning
Figure 8.5. Visitors creating their own sculptures in Imagine the Possibilities at the Columbus Museum of
Art, Ohio
Figure 8.6. Encountering an object with touch
Figure 9.1. Rural house re-created in the Zona Tradiciones of the Parque Histórico de Guayaquil (Ecuador)
Figure 10.1. A visitor rolls digital clay at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gallery One

Tables
Table 2.1. The Muses
Table 4.1. Generalized Ordering Systems in Collection Storage Arrays
Table 5.1. U.S. Museums by Type
Table 6.1. Names of the Components of Collections
Table 8.1. The Five Visitor Identities
Table 8.2. Components of a Universally Designed Learning Experience

9
Foreword

Since the expansion of academic programs began in the 1970s, museum studies has become a rapidly evolving
field. Prospective museum studies students are now faced with a bewilderingly diverse array of master’s degree
and graduate certificate programs, both residential and online.

While debates continue about what should be taught in museum studies programs, one thing remains
certain: students will always need access to new and different approaches to museum studies, especially when
that information is provided by highly respected museum professionals, with decades of experience in both the
academic and day-to-day aspects of museum practice.

Kiersten Latham and John Simmons are uniquely qualified to write a museum studies textbook that offers a
broad, holistic introduction to the field in an international context, interweaving museological theory and
museum practice to show how each informs the other, to help museums change and grow to better serve their
audiences. The concepts and ideas presented in this book have been selected and developed by the authors
based on their experiences working in museums, and honed by their years of teaching museum studies to
graduate students. Museum studies is presented from an information and library science perspective, using a
systems approach to analyze museums as dynamic organizations. The result is an understanding of museums
as evolving institutions embedded in a larger cultural complex that includes libraries, archives, and other
information entities, emphasizing the importance of the object-based learning that takes place in museums.

Museums today fill many roles in societies around the world—as educational institutions, as research
institutions, as economic engines for communities, as preservers of the world’s great heritages, and as trusted
conveners. If museums are to continue to help us understand the past and navigate our future—as individuals,
as societies, and as a global community—then future museum professionals must understand the historical
development of museums, the work of museums in a global context, the broad skill set required for a
successful museum career, and the interaction of museums and museum professionals across the spectrum of
academic disciplines. Foundations of Museum Studies: Evolving Systems of Knowledge provides an important
introduction to museum studies and a solid foundation on which students can build their careers in the
museum field.

Ford W. Bell, DVM

10
 President
American Alliance of Museums
Washington, DC

11
Preface

Why This Book?

This book has evolved—like museums—for several reasons. First, we saw the need for a concise
introduction to museums and museum studies. It has been many years since the Manual for Museums by Ralph
H. Lewis (1976) and Introduction to Museum Work by G. Ellis Burcaw (first edition 1975, third edition 1997)
were written. Although there have been other good books since those volumes appeared—most notably
Museums in Motion by Mary Alexander and Edward P. Alexander (first edition 1979, second edition 2007)—
none have filled the role of providing an integrated practice-and theory-based, holistic introduction to
museums and their study. A second impetus for writing this book was that one of us (KFL) developed an
entirely new specialization in museum studies within the master of library and information science (MLIS)
program at Kent State University in 2010–2011. This book is modeled on the introductory course
Foundations of Museum Studies, which is the prerequisite for all other museum studies courses in the
program. The third reason is that because library and information science (LIS) schools are beginning to
incorporate the study of museums into their curricula, there is an increasing need to understand museums
from this perspective (and vice versa). Finally, as graduates of museum studies programs ourselves, we wanted
to write the sort of book that we wish had been available when we were graduate students.

What Is the Purpose of This Book?

This volume is meant to be the central text for an introductory graduate course on museum studies. It is our
intention that it will give readers a broad overview of museums, from their early history to the present (and
with speculation on their future); explain how museums function; and provide a good understanding of the
theoretical bases of museum studies. It is meant to be an introduction that lends itself well to supplementary
readings assigned by the instructor to delve more deeply into the many complex crevices of museum studies.

How Is This Book Different?

Although it was written from within an LIS school, the perspective and framework found in this book are
broad enough that all institutions of learning that teach introductory museum studies can use it. One of the
unique things about the book is that we take a systems perspective on museums and consider them document-

12
centered institutions. In doing this, we have brought both museums and museum studies together and have
examined museum practice through the interdisciplinary lenses of theory. We see museums as part of the
spectrum of educational, informational, and recreational institutions that includes libraries, archives, special
collections, and others and feel that they deserve inclusion as such. In addition, although our perspective on
museums is global (between us we have worked with museums in countries around the globe), we know
museums in the United States best; therefore many of our examples are from U.S. institutions. What this
book is not is a detailed manual on how to run a museum—information on the step-by-step details of
museum practice is available elsewhere.

How to Use This Book

This book is arranged in the order of subject matter that we follow in the Foundations of Museum Studies
course at Kent State University, which is organized around the simple questions how, what, who, where, and
why. The order and content has evolved over several years of teaching and practice into what we believe is the
best approach for an introduction to the subject. We have supplemented the text with photographs and
figures to provide further understanding. In addition, sprinkled throughout the text are a series of “Reality
Checks” that provide our personal perspectives on the intersection of theory and practice in museums.

Although we have kept the number of references minimal, we encourage instructors and students to
supplement the text with other readings, particularly those that focus more specifically on current and
trending issues, because museum studies is a rapidly evolving field. The growth of the museum studies
literature since the 1970s has been tremendous, and anyone interested in a career in museum work will profit
from reading widely and copiously.

What Is in This Book?

Our book begins with a critical examination of the many definitions of museums and our proposal of a
definition that we believe works best, followed by a review of the history of museums and how they have
evolved and changed over the centuries. In Section Two (How) we examine museums as systems and how the
museum system is situated within other, larger systems. Although many museum studies textbooks have
treated museums as if they were independent, stand-alone institutions, we want readers to see museums as
integral parts of the societies in which they function. The next chapter in this section presents an overview of
the essential functions of museums: preservation of collections, research, and communication. Thetwo
chapters in Section Three (What) address critical issues found in the many kinds of museums that exist today,
the commonalities they share, the differences that distinguish them, and what we call the meaningful physical
resource—the objects in museums. Most museum studies texts treat objects as merely things that make up the
collections, focusing on the prescriptive aspects of how objects are managed in collections. However, we
consider both the physicality and the meaning of objects, particularly how these meanings evolve when objects
become musealized. This section includes the heart of our book, an examination of the critical shift in
museology from a primary focus on museum visitors to a primary focus on the relationship between people
and objects, and in that context, how objects are used and perceived, what they signify, and how they act as

13
documents. Section Four (Who) looks at the human aspects of museums, both the museum workers (in
Chapter 7) and the museum users (Chapter 8). Section Five (Where) reviews the evolving concept of
museums as they have sprouted up all over the world. The last portion of the book, Section Six (Why), gives
readers a glimpse of what lies ahead for them in their careers and a place to think intentionally about their
own role in shaping the future of museums.

Who Are We?

Kiersten F. Latham earned a BA in anthropology, an MA in historical administration and museum studies,
and a PhD in library and information management. During her professional career, she has held a variety of
museum positions that have brought her in close contact with a myriad of museum types and sizes, including
director of a local historical society, curator of collections and research at a city museum, curator of collections
at a space history museum, program coordinator at a science center, costumed interpreter at a living history
museum, and acting director of the University of Kansas Museum Studies Program. Latham has also served as
an adjunct faculty member for Bethany College, University of Kansas, Northern States Conservation Center,
Michigan State University, and Bowling Green State University. In 2010 she accepted a position at Kent
State University as assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS), where she
designed, developed, and implemented a museum studies specialization situated within an information
perspective. Latham conducts research and has published extensively in the areas of museology, document
studies, lived experience, materiality, and phenomenological research methods. Her publications include The
Invisibility of Collections Care Work (2007), Archives and Experience: Musings on Meaning (2007), The Poetry of
the Museum: A Holistic Model of Numinous Museum Experiences (2007), Museum Object as Document: Using
Buckland’s Information Concepts to Understand Museum Experiences (2012), The Thickness of the Things:
Exploring the Museum Curriculum through Phenomenological Touch (2011, with E. Wood), and The Objects of
Experience: Transforming Visitor-Object Encounters in Museums (2013, with E. Wood), among others.

John E. Simmons has a BS in systematics and ecology and an MA in historical administration and museum
studies. He began his career as a zookeeper, then worked as collections manager at the California Academy of
Sciences and the Biodiversity Research Center and Natural History Museum of the University of Kansas,
where he also served as director of the Museum Studies Program. Currently he teaches museum studies as an
adjunct faculty member at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Juniata College, Kent State University, and
the Northern States Conservation Center; serves as adjunct curator of collections at the Earth and Mineral
Sciences Museum & Art Gallery at Penn State University; and runs Museologica, an international museum
consulting company. Simmons received the Superior Voluntary Service Award from AAM (2001), the
Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Mentoring of Graduate Students from the University of Kansas (2005),
and the Carolyn L. Rose Award for Outstanding Commitment to Natural History Collections Care and
Management from the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (2011). Among his
publications are Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management (2002), Cuidado, Manejo y Conservación de
las Colecciones Biológicas (2005, with Yaneth Muñoz-Saba), Things Great and Small: Collections Management
Policies (2006), History of Museums (2010), Observation and Distillation—Perception, Depiction, and the
Perception of Nature (2012, with Julianne Snider), and Application of Preventive Conservation to Solve the

14
Coming Crisis in Collections Management (2013).

References

Alexander, Edward P., and Mary Alexander. 2008. Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and
Functions of Museums. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.
Burcaw, G. Ellis. 1997. Introduction to Museum Work. 3rd ed. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Latham, Kiersten F. 2007a. “The Invisibility of Collections Care Work.” Collections 3, no. 1: 103–112.
Latham, Kiersten F. 2007b. “Archives and Experience: Musings on Meaning.” Collections 3, no. 2: 125–133.
Latham, Kiersten F. 2007c. “The Poetry of the Museum: A Holistic Model of Numinous Museum
Experiences.” Museum Management and Curatorship 22, no. 3: 247–263.
Latham, Kiersten F. 2012. “Museum Object as Document: Using Buckland’s Information Concepts to
Understand Museum Experiences.” Journal of Documentation 68, no. 2: 45–71.
Latham, Kiersten F., and Elizabeth Wood. 2011. “The Thickness of the Things: Exploring the Museum
Curriculum through Phenomenological Touch.” Journal of Curriculum Theorizing 27, no. 2: 51–65.
Lewis, Ralph H. 1975. Manual for Museums. Washington, DC: National Park Service, U.S. Department of
the Interior.
Rubin, Richard. 2010. Foundations of Library and Information Science. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.
Simmons, John E. 2002. Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management. Rev. ed. Herpetological
Circular no. 31. n.p.: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.
Simmons, John E. 2006. Things Great and Small: Collections Management Policies. Washington, DC: American
Association of Museums.
Simmons, John E. 2010. “History of Museums.” In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 3rd ed.,
edited by Marcia J. Bates and Mary Niles Maack, 2096–2106. London: Taylor and Francis.
Simmons, John E. 2013. “Application of Preventive Conservation to Solve the Coming Crisis in Collections
Management.” Collection Forum 27, nos. 1–2: 89–101.
Simmons, John E., and Yaneth Muñoz-Saba. 2005. Cuidado, Manejo y Conservación de las Colecciones
Biológicas. Bogota: Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de
Colombia, Conservación Internacional, Ministerio de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial, Fondo
para la Acción Ambiental.
Simmons, John E., and Julianne Snider. 2012. “Observation and Distillation—Perception, Depiction, and the
Perception of Nature.” Bibliotheca Herpetologica, 9, nos. 1–2: 115–134.
Wood, Elizabeth, and Kiersten F. Latham. 2013. The Objects of Experience: Transforming Visitor-Object
Encounters in Museums. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

15
Acknowledgments

A great deal of work goes into the making of a textbook. Many people have been involved along the way,
and to all of them, we are grateful.

First, we thank our publisher, ABC-CLIO, for recognizing the need for this textbook and giving us the
freedom to develop this book amid our often busy and conflicting schedules.

We greatly appreciate Cori Iannaggi, Randy Brown, Emily Wicks, Elee Wood, Teresa Goforth, and Brad
Taylor, Blanche Woolls, and an anonymous reviewer for their critical comments and helpful suggestions on
the manuscript. Thanks also to John Gouin (Graphikitchen) for his creative graphic interpretations, and to
Julianne Snider for her assistance in selecting and formatting the photographs.

K. F. Latham: I would like to thank my colleagues and friends at Kent State School of Library and
Information Science for patiently listening to me talk about this book for two years and to my students—from
Kent State and before—who helped form the structure and form of the book through their feedback and
questions along the way. Thanks are also due to John Agada, Greg Byerly, and Carolyn Brodie for having the
vision to include museum studies in the field of library and information science and having the faith in me to
make a difference. Special gratitude goes out to many colleagues who, during more than twenty years of
working in various museums, taught me how to understand how museums work and what they are all about.
This book would not have been possible without the existence of my wonderful coauthor, John Simmons, who
has been my teacher, mentor, and colleague for almost as long as I’ve been in the museum field. Most of all, I
want to thank my dear husband, Mark, and sweet child, Callan, for listening to Mama go on endlessly about
museum studies even though they might rather have talked about archaeology, basketball, Doctor Who, or
Sherlock.

J. E. Simmons: I thank Julianne Snider for her suggestions, assistance, and patience during the writing of
this book; I could not have done my part without her steadfast help and support. I owe a great debt of
gratitude to Kiersten F. Latham for recruiting me to teach museum studies at Kent State, for introducing me
to the ideas of Ivo Maroevic´, and most of all for inviting me to participate in the writing of this book.
Teaching is something I never intended to take on, but I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had to
convey my fascination with museums to students. Nearly forty years of working in museums and in the
classroom (both analog and virtual) has proved over and over again that one always learns more from teaching

16
than from being a student.

17
Section One
Introduction

18
1
Defining Museums (and Museum Studies)

What Is a Museum?
Before exploring the ins and outs of museum studies, it is necessary to establish some basic definitions.
Most people probably have some idea of what a museum is, but upon closer consideration, it is not a simple,
clear-cut issue. The shades of grey discussed here are the defining elements of museums—complexity and
diversity are among the characteristics that make museums unique institutions in society. This chapter begins
with an exploration of the etymology of the word museum and then examines some current definitions of the
institution, before arriving at a working definition that is used throughout this book. The parameters of
museum studies as a field are considered in the second half of the chapter.

Etymology of the Word Museum

The word museum is derived from the Greek word mouseion, meaning the place where the muses dwell. The
muses were sister-goddesses responsible for entrancing and inspiring literature, science, and the arts, and were
believed to be the sources of knowledge for poets, musicians, historians, dancers, astronomers, and others.
Although the Temple of the Muses, the Mouseion—an institution founded by Ptolemy Soter in the third
century BC in Alexandria—was more like a university than a museum by today’s standards, it represents the
first formal association of objects and learning. Although the Mouseion wasn’t open to the public in the
modern sense, it was open to learned professors and their students.

The word museum appeared in the fifteenth century in reference to the collections of the Medici family in
Florence, Italy, who are credited by some as the creators of the first museum (Hooper-Greenhill 1992). The
first published use of the word museum in English occurred in 1615 in a travel book by George Sandys (1578–
1644), referring to the ruins of the Temple of the Muses in Alexandria: “that famous Musaeum founded by
Philadelphus” and “that renowned Library” (the Library of Alexandria). From the 1600s onward the word
museum was used to refer to institutions that collected and exhibited objects.

Defining Museum
Note that while there are many definitions of the word museum, there is no general agreement (by those
who work in, with, and on museums) about what makes a museum a museum. Throughout history people

19
have questioned the purpose of museums, and they still do so today. The reason for this is really quite simple;
museums are dynamic institutions that respond to societal trends, beliefs, and cultural paradigms. It is
therefore important to note that a single definition is not set in stone, nor is there agreement today on the
ultimate description defining that institution, museum. Therefore, it is important to consider a variety of
definitions before settling on one. To arrive at a working definition for this book, two sets of descriptions are
evaluated: (1) the definitions of museums from professional organizations and (2) models of museums.

Definitions from Professional Organizations

When defining what a museum is, many people look to the major professional organizations for guidance.
A professional association is an organization formed to unite and inform people who work in the same
occupation, help establish and maintain standards, act as a communicative body, and represent shared beliefs
about the profession in discussions with other bodies. The definitions offered by several core museum
organizations from around the world are examined below.

This is the International Council of Museums’ current definition of museum, according to the ICOM
Statutes (adopted at the 21st General Conference in 2007):

A museum is a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and its development, open to the public, which acquires,
conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of
education, study, and enjoyment. (ICOM n.d.)

The American Alliance of Museums (AAM; formerly the American Association of Museums) does not
have an official definition of museum, but considers organizations such as archaeological parks (Figure 1.1),
zoological parks (Figure 1.2), and botanical gardens (Figure 1.3) to be museums. The AAM accreditation
committee does have a definition of museum that it has used since the 1970s, which states that a museum is

an organized and permanent nonprofit institution, essentially educational or esthetic in a purpose, with professional staff, that owns or uses
tangible objects, cares for them and exhibits them to the public on some regular schedule. (quoted in Alexander and Alexander 2008)

Further insight into this organization’s notion of museum can be found in the AAM list of accreditation
criteria (American Alliance of Museums 2013) which, among other things, states that a museum must

Figure 1.1 An archaeological site as a museum: Prasat Hin Phimai Historic Park (Phimai, Thailand).
Photograph by the authors.

20
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