“Our (heritage) institutions are unable to resolve their problems of role definition” as they suffer from “an identity crisis.” This quotation from an 80’s museum journal was addressing the issue of institutional purpose attributed to the increasing importance of social function and community relevance.
As I clean out old file folders from my interpretive naturalist days in the roaring 1970’s and 80’s, I continuously come across essays that speak about contemporary issues of the time prevalent at interpretive conferences and in publications. Light is shed on perspectives worthy of consideration in present visitor experience debates relevant to all natural and cultural heritage sites.
One historical essay that brought to light situations that needed addressing - which are still relevant today - was The Museum, a Temple or the Forum by Duncan Cameron, Director of the Brooklyn Museum.
ROM entry plaza Credit: Bill Reynolds
Mr. Cameron showed concern that “many institutions cannot decide whether they wish to be a museum, as a temple, or wish to become a public forum. Some have tried to bring the forum inside the temple.” This is an ongoing debate in 2021.
Duncan advocates against this, as he stresses that “the idea of bringing the forum- the place for confrontation and experimentation- inside the temple is to inhibit and in effect, to castrate the performance in the forum.” Integrating these two discrete sociological functions he says poses a significant problem and his recommendation was to create a distinct exhibition hall and meeting place open to all where controversial interpretations of history/society/ nature of the world, and radical innovations in artforms are accepted.
Not only is the forum potentially “robbed of its vitality and autonomy,” if placed inside the temple, but also the acceptance by the museum of something untried tends to devalue the museum process of expert judgement and “proved excellence” credibility in the eyes of the public.
This need for a forum function that creates opportunities for societal critics to produce, be seen, be heard, and to confront established values and institutions was being proposed as a real and urgent need in the hallowed museum/gallery halls. Similarly in a natural history context, what opportunities for environmental and sustainable development criticisms are being presented and heard to confront established economic systems and values in zoos, botanic gardens, nature centres and parks? How are you doing in this educational regard of balancing the forum/temple roles?
Until a century ago, collections were private and reflected the owner’s perception of reality and self-image - look how curious I am, how far I have travelled, how rich I am, what good taste I have. This changed with the public museums concept of assembling collections for education, enlightenment, and recreation. This was no longer someone else’s collection you could look at but your collection, owned publicly, embodying the concept that it should be meaningful to you, the visitor.
Mr. Cameron notes that two problems arose “that have not yet been solved in the majority of museums and galleries.” Read on and reflect – are these still a problem today?
The first problem came about because “the collectors and those responsible for organizing and structuring the collections were now the members of an academic, curatorial elite.” Exhibitions were meaningful to “this exclusive private club of curators” due to their being trained in ”scientific systems of classification, prevailing theories of history, or the academic approach to art history.”
The second related problem dealt with value systems that reflected the upper middle- class elite that determined the selection of material to be collected and its priority for presentation.
credit to Anacostia Community Museum web site
Mr. Cameron proposed that the academic systems of classification were “an undecipherable code for the majority of museum visitors” and must either be “replaced or be supplemented by interpretation of the collections based on the probable experience and awareness of the museum attendees,” (can’t agree more). He asserts that museums impose and enshrine the evidence of bourgeois and aristocratic domination of society on to the public. “Social history and the insights of the anthropologist must be used to develop techniques of interpretation” that will relate the collections to popular culture, contemporary life and society. Another bold statement that rings so true and why we in EID emphasize the use of universal processes in interpretation, presented in the book Interpretive Design: The Dance of Experience, to address this deficiency identified so long ago.
“The forum is where the battles are fought, the temple is where the victors rest. The former is process, the latter is product.” Duncan advocates for social responsibility in museum programming and states, “where museums have the knowledge and the resources to interpret matters of public importance, no matter how controversial, they are obliged to do so.” Do battles of the environmental kind need to be fought at nature centres, botanical gardens and zoos?
Are you working in a temple or a forum or both? Do these two roles work best as partners or apart? Should you be rethinking your role? “In the absence of the forum, the museum as a temple stands alone as an obstacle to change… In the presence of the forum, the museum serves as a temple, accepting and incorporating the manifestations of change. From the chaos and conflict of today’s forum the museum must build the collections that will tell us tomorrow who we are and how we got there.”
Anacostia Museum Credit to Smithsonian Institution web site
In The Museum, a Temple or the Forum the Anacostia Neighbourhood Museum is offered up as an example, of a place that suffers from an identity crisis and should not be considered a museum but some form of centre instead, as it does not hold any collections and does no original research yet presents a continuing program of exhibits. If the public considers what they have is a museum but it does not possess these two critical functions then will they be getting shortchanged?
The article mentioned that this centre was affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. My initial thought was how forward thinking of a recognized museum to see its role as a partner to provide a hand-up to an emerging educational institution focused on protecting its heritage through presentation. Are you familiar with examples near you where ongoing mentoring or mutual support is provided by heritage institutions to benefit each other?
There was no consideration at this juncture that perhaps the word museum needed to evolve – or that a spectrum seemed to be emerging where different forms of centres with different roles emphasizing behavioural exhibition design and education should have a place on the heritage interpretation landscape. Similarly, a new focus on non-object documentation and preservation along with the provision of a social platform role for civic engagement and community relevance was brewing.
At the present time, Mr. Cameron would have to be in agreement with the word museumas the now called Anacostia Community Museum (ACM) – the first federally funded community museum in the USA- do research and have collections.Their mission states that their “museum convenes people and ideas, while documenting and preserving communities’ memories, struggles, and successes, and offering a platform where diverse voices and cultures can be heard.” Read that again and take it all in.
credit to Anacostia Community Museum web site
Compare to your site mission and how diverse voices are being captured. Even if you are natural history based, consider how you are documenting the natural communities’ memories, struggles, and successes and offering them a platform to be heard.
“Through community-based documentation and research—including extensive oral history interviewing, photo-documentation, community surveying and mapping— the Museum is able to offer cutting-edge insights about the wide range of social, political, economic and environmental forces that have shaped and continue to shape our urbanizing world.” Again, even if you are natural history based, how have you and your stakeholders used interviewing, photo-documentation, surveying and mapping to offer cutting-edge insights about the wide range of social and environmental forces that have shaped and continue to shape your park/forest/ecosystem?
ACM's approach to exhibition development and the viewing experience (their choice of words) is based on direct collaboration with local communities, including residents, members of neighborhood organizations, artists, community activists, planning organizations, scholars, local officials, local businesses, and families. How many of you can claim such a wide- ranging level of collaboration? This sure builds buy-in and word of mouth promotion!
The ACM vision is to inspire communities to take action, and to be an incubator for the next generation of civically engaged citizens. By illuminating the intersections of history, culture, and contemporary social issues ACM amplifies peoples’ voices, and uses a local lens to “tell stories that resonate nationally and globally.” Better read THAT again and take it all in, regardless of your “collection” and mandate.
There are some very significant words and phrases used that are NOT normally associated with museums or exhibition centres. Can you see a role for your site doing a better job in any of these areas? Take your time. If you are even remotely wondering whether you need to up your community relevance, there is good fodder here to consider in the ACM vision statement.
As I explored their web site, two programs that breathed their vision and mission, caught my eye. Take Time Thursdays with the ACM talks about giving participants a chance to take time for wellness, health, and creativity with artists, thought leaders, performers, wellness practitioners and others.
WEL program image credit to Anacostia Community Museum
Secondly, was the Women's Environmental Leadership (WEL) initiative: “a program that builds the capacity for future women in environmental leadership by introducing established leaders to the next generation of women interested in environmental advocacy and justice efforts.” WOW !
My archival file folder reflections indicate to me that revisiting the positions and philosophies espoused in the not- so- distant past can be worthwhile on several levels. Not only as sparks of inspiration where we can gain from their insight, but also as routes into the present to benefit from previously unbeknownst facility exposure. Being familiar with some of the historical perspectives in our field can be very helpful as one continues to advance one’s professional standing and one continues to raise the profile of interpretation as the core element necessary for a successful visitor leisure experience.
Anticipate future looks into the past.