Encyclopedic museum

Last updated
The British Museum, is an encyclopedic national museum, London, United Kingdom British Museum 15.jpg
The British Museum, is an encyclopedic national museum, London, United Kingdom

Encyclopedic museums are large, mostly national, institutions that offer visitors an abundance of information on a variety of subjects that tell both local and global stories. The aim of encyclopedic museums is to provide examples of each classification available for a field of knowledge. "When 3% of the world's population, or nearly 200 million people, living outside the country of their birth, encyclopedic museums play an especially important role in the building of civil society. They encourage curiosity about the world." [1] James Cuno, President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, along with Neil MacGregor, are two of the most outspoken museum professionals who support encyclopedic museums. They state that encyclopedic museums are advantageous for society by exposing museum visitors to a wide variety of cultures, engendering a sense of a shared human history. [2] Some scholars and archaeologists, however, argue against encyclopedic museums because they remove cultural objects from their original cultural setting, losing their context. [3]

Related Research Articles

Chicago Largest city in Illinois, United States

Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the third-most populous city in the United States, following New York City and Los Angeles. With a population of 2,746,388 in the 2020 census, it is also the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the fifth most populous city in North America. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the U.S., while a small portion of the city's O'Hare Airport also extends into DuPage County. Chicago is the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, defined as either the U.S. Census Bureau's metropolitan statistical area or the combined statistical area, often called Chicagoland. It is one of the 40 largest urban areas in the world.

Museum Institution that holds artifacts and other items of scientific, artistic, cultural or historical importance

A museum is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these items available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. The largest museums are located in major cities throughout the world, while thousands of local museums exist in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas. Museums have varying aims, ranging from the conservation and documentation of their collection, serving researchers and specialists to catering to the general public. The goal of serving researchers is not only scientific, but intended to serve the general public.

Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) Science and technology museum in Illinois, U.S.

The Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) is a science museum located in Chicago, Illinois, in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood between Lake Michigan and The University of Chicago. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Initially endowed by Julius Rosenwald, the Sears, Roebuck and Company president and philanthropist, it was supported by the Commercial Club of Chicago and opened in 1933 during the Century of Progress Exposition.

Field Museum of Natural History Natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois

The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is a popular natural-history museum for the size and quality of its educational and scientific programs, as well as due to its extensive scientific-specimen and artifact collections. The permanent exhibitions, which attract up to two million visitors annually, include fossils, current cultures from around the world, and interactive programming demonstrating today's urgent conservation needs. The museum is named in honor of its first major benefactor, the department-store magnate Marshall Field. The museum and its collections originated from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the artifacts displayed at the fair.

Australian Museum Museum in Sydney, Australia

The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia, and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the world, with an international reputation in the fields of natural history and anthropology. It was first conceived and developed along the contemporary European model of an encyclopedic warehouse of cultural and natural history and features collections of vertebrate and invertebrate zoology, as well as mineralogy, palaeontology and anthropology. Apart from exhibitions, the museum is also involved in Indigenous studies research and community programs. In the museum's early years, collecting was its main priority, and specimens were commonly traded with British and other European institutions. The scientific stature of the museum was established under the curatorship of Gerard Krefft, himself a published scientist.

Chicago History Museum History Museum in Chicago, Illinois

Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the intersection of North Avenue in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood. The CHS adopted the name, Chicago History Museum, in September 2006 for its public presence.

Repatriation (cultural property) Return of stolen art to the original owners or heirs

Repatriation is the return of cultural property, often referring to ancient or looted art, to their country of origin or former owners. The disputed cultural property items are physical artifacts of a group or society that were taken by another group, usually in an act of looting, whether in the context of imperialism, colonialism or war. The contested objects vary widely and include sculptures, paintings, monuments, objects such as tools or weapons for purposes of anthropological study, and human remains.

Indianapolis Museum of Art Art museum in Indiana, United States

The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a 152-acre (62 ha) campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It is located at the corner of North Michigan Road and West 38th Street, about three miles north of downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery. There are exhibitions, classes, tours, and events, many of which change seasonally. The entire campus was previously referred to as the Indianapolis Museum of Art, but in 2017 the campus and organization were renamed "Newfields" to better reflect the breadth of offerings and venues. The "Indianapolis Museum of Art" now specifically refers to the main art museum building that acts as the cornerstone of the campus, as well as the legal name of the organization doing business as Newfields.

Fred Wilson (artist)

Fred Wilson in the Bronx, New York - is an American artist and describes himself as of "African, Native American, European and Amerindian" descent. He received a BFA from Purchase College, State University of New York. Wilson challenges colonial assumptions on history, culture, and race – encouraging viewers to consider the social and historical narratives that represent the western canon. Wilson received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1999 and the Larry Aldrich Foundation Award in 2003. Wilson represented the United States at the Biennial Cairo in 1992 and the Venice Biennale in 2003. In May 2008, it was announced that Wilson would become a Whitney Museum trustee replacing Chuck Close.

Art Institute of Chicago Art museum and school in Chicago, United States

The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 million people annually. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatorial departments, is encyclopedic, and includes iconic works such as Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and Grant Wood's American Gothic. Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research.

Richard Allan Shweder is an American cultural anthropologist and a figure in cultural psychology. He is currently Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Human Development in the Department of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago.

Idaho State Historical Society

The Idaho State Historical Society (ISHS) is a historical society located in the U.S. state of Idaho that preserves and promotes the state's cultural heritage.

South Side, Chicago Area of the City of Chicago, Illinois, USA

The South Side is the area of Chicago lying south of the city's large Downtown area. Geographically, it is the largest of the three Sides of the city that radiate from downtown-the other Sides of the city being the North Side and the West Side.

Tourism in Chicago

Chicago tourism recorded 55 million visitors in 2017. In 2016, Chicago saw 54.1 million visitors; a 2.9% increase from 2015. In 2015, it was estimated that 50.1 million visitors came to Chicago, which was a 4.5 percent increase from 2014. From 2010 through 2014, the tourism and hospitality industries have added 9,800 jobs, generating $13.7 billion in direct spending by visitors and $871 million in total tax revenue. In 2017, Millennium Park was the top tourist destination in Chicago and the Midwest, and placed among the top ten in the United States with 25 million visitors that year.

Freak show Exhibition of physically unusual humans

A freak show, also known as a creep show, is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with intersex variations, those with extraordinary diseases and conditions, and others with performances expected to be shocking to viewers. Heavily tattooed or pierced people have sometimes been seen in freak shows, as have attention-getting physical performers such as fire-eating and sword-swallowing acts.

Museum of Sarajevo 1878–1918 Museum in Sarajevo

The Museum of Sarajevo 1878–1918 is located near the Latin Bridge in central Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The building had been Moritz Schiller's Delicatessen in 1914, the year that Franz Ferdinand, the heir-presumptive of Austria Hungary was shot dead by Gavrilo Princip from the street corner outside, indirectly starting World War I.

James Bash Cuno is an American art historian and curator, who currently serves as President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust since 2011.

Partage, from the French word "partager" meaning "to share," was a system put in place to divide up ownership of excavated artifacts during the early part of the 20th century. This system was mostly notably employed in Egypt, Iraq, Cyprus, Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Museums in Paris

The 136 museums in the city of Paris display many historical, scientific, and archeological artifacts from around the world, covering diverse and unique topics including fashion, theater, sports, cosmetics, and the culinary arts.

References

  1. "Season Preview—The Promise of Encyclopedic Museums". 25 September 2008.
  2. James Cuno, "Museums Matter: In Praise of the Encyclopedic Museum", 2013, The University of Chicago Press.
  3. Malcolm, Bell III (2 November 2010). "Who's Right? Repatriation of Cultural Property". U.S. Department of State. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011.