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museum, types of

Introduction

varieties of institutions dedicated to preserving and interpreting the material aspects of human activity and the environment. Such a broad range of activities can be conducted by a wide variety of institutions, which, for purposes of description and discussion, it is often convenient to group according to type. However, with their diverse origins, varying philosophies, and differing roles in society, museums do not lend themselves to rigid classification. Certain museums provide for a specialist audience—for example, children, societies, universities, or schools. Some have particular responsibilities for a defined geographic area, such as a city or region. Others may offer unusual perspectives, resulting in alternative interpretations of artistic, historical, or scientific collections. (This last can occur at museums where the primary ethos is nationalistic, religious, or political.)

Sometimes museums are classified according to the source of their funding (e.g., state, municipal, private), particularly in statistical work. Classifying by source of funding, however, fails to indicate the true character of the museums' collections. For example, institutions funded by the national government—national museums—may hold outstanding international collections, as do the British Museum, the Hermitage, and the Louvre; may hold specialized collections, as do a number of the national museums of antiquities on the European continent; or may have an essentially local character, as does the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in Washington, D.C.

An analysis of museums based on the nature of their collections, although it fails to indicate disparities of scale and quality, does have the merit of distinguishing between general and specialized museums. In addition, by emphasizing collections, this method focuses on the very raison d'être of museums. In this article, museums are classified into five basic types—general (museum, types of), natural history and natural science (museum, types of), science and technology (museum, types of), history (museum, types of), and art (museum, types of). The basic characteristics of each type are described in turn. At the end of each descriptive section, links are provided to entries on significant museums of that type.

A new development, which transcends all types of museums by virtue of its unique electronic presentation, is described separately in the entry virtual museum.

General museums

General museums hold collections in more than one subject and are therefore sometimes known as multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary museums. Many were founded in the 18th, 19th, or early 20th century. Most originated in earlier private collections and reflected the encyclopaedic spirit of the times. Certain general museums reflect the influence of cultural contact made through trade. Some museums hold a number of important specialized collections that would qualify them to be grouped in more than one category of specialization. This is true particularly of many of the large general museums, which may have collections in one or more fields equal to if not exceeding both the quantity and quality of material exhibited in a specialized museum. Some national museums display general collections within their main building; indeed, many commenced in this fashion, but the necessity of finding additional space later caused a division of the collections and encouraged the growth of specialized museums.

Most common among general museums are those which serve a region or a locality. Many of these owe their foundation to civic pride and a desire to promote knowledge of the area. They are widespread in eastern and western Europe and are found as well in India, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South America. Their prime responsibility is to reflect the natural and human history, traditions, and creative spirit of the area. In many cases the community thus served is culturally homogeneous; where it is not, the museum may develop specific programs to foster mutual understanding among the diverse peoples. In cities that have a sizable immigrant population, such as, for example, Bradford or Leicester in England, the regional museum has engaged actively in such work. Sometimes special exhibitions prepared by the national museum or other agencies provide opportunities at regional museums for the community to appreciate the wider aspects of the national or even international heritage.

The general museum, particularly at the regional or local level, faces severe problems because of the high cost of employing the large numbers of specialists necessary to care for the variety of collections involved, particularly if a strong research program is maintained. In some museums research has diversified as curators, particularly in archaeology, history, and the natural sciences, have become involved in recording the environment of an area or in preparing data banks in order to advise planners and developers who are considering projects to be conducted on sites of scientific or historical interest. Other general museums have maintained their more traditional roles but have concentrated their efforts on public services, as at the Kanazawa Bunko Museum, Yokohama, Japan, where a multidisciplinary approach is apparent in its exhibitions. Among other developments fostered by many regional and local museums are the erection of on-site museums to interpret archaeological or natural features; the provision of heritage centres, particularly in urban areas, to tell the story of an aspect of the historic environment; or, as an extramural activity of the museum, the development of heritage and nature trails.

Certain museums provide for a particular audience, often acquiring general collections to suit the purpose. One of these is the children's museum (also frequented by adults), well-known examples of which are the Brooklyn Children's Museum, New York City; the Children's Museum, Boston; the National Children's Museum of New Delhi; and the Mont Riant Children's Museum of Algiers.

Natural history and natural science museums

Museums of natural history and natural science are concerned with the natural world; their collections may contain specimens of birds, mammals, insects, plants, rocks, minerals, and fossils. These museums have their origins in the cabinets of curiosities built up by prominent individuals in Europe during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Specimens from the natural world were also included (albeit as part of an encyclopaedic collection) in some of the earliest museums: the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, Eng., the British Museum in London, and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. With the development of the natural sciences in the 19th century, museums exhibiting objects from the natural world flourished and their number multiplied. In the United States and Latin America their collections often included objects of physical and social anthropology as well as the natural sciences. More recently, natural science museums have responded to new trends of nature conservation and broader environmental matters. Some have established programs for recording biological data for the area they serve, to facilitate environmental planning (often in conjunction with local planning authorities), and to provide information to assist in the interpretation of ecological displays.

Major museums such as the Natural History Museum in London, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City hold enormous comparative collections from the natural world, including the type specimens from which species have been named. Such museums are international centres of taxonomic work and sustain considerable research programs.

Science and technology museums

Museums of science and technology are concerned with the development and application of scientific ideas and instrumentation. Like museums of natural science and natural history, science museums have their origins in the Enlightenment. Some of them developed from the collections of learned societies, others from private collections such as the Teylers Museum at Haarlem, Neth., in the 18th century. A later development in science museums involved the applications of science, so that museums began to preserve the material evidence of technological as well as scientific endeavour. Some science and technology museums now concentrate on demonstrating science and its applications; in these museums the preservation of process is emphasized over the preservation of objects.

Science museums are particularly popular with children as well as adults and often provide opportunities for their visitors to participate through demonstration models and interactive displays. Well-known examples of these are at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Science Museum in London, and (of a more specialized nature) the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. (see photograph-->

). Other specialized institutions include transport museums, such as the National Railway Museum in York, Eng., or the Swiss Transport Museum on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Of more recent establishment are industrial museums, which often include a large technical component.

Museums devoted to modern science, such as the Palace of Discovery in Paris, also provide demonstrations of scientific theory. In India, where museums of science and technology are seen as having an important role in education, the National Council for Science Museums has established a network of such museums across the country. Performing a similar function are science centres where science is demonstrated but where there is not normally a responsibility for collecting and conserving historical apparatus. A pioneer in this field is the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.

Some science and technology museums, such as the very popular Museum of Science and Industry (Science and Industry, Museum of) in Chicago or the Technological Museum in Mexico City, are of a more technical nature. These museums are often sponsored directly or indirectly by industries, which occasionally found their own museums in order to preserve their heritage and promote their work.

History museums

The term history museum is often used for a wide variety of museums where collections are amassed and, in most cases, are presented to give a chronological perspective. Because of the encompassing nature of history, museums of this type may well hold so many objects of art and science that they would more properly be called general museums (see above General museums (museum, types of)).

Museums dealing with specialized aspects of history may be found at the national, provincial, or local level, while museums of general history are rare at the national level. One example of the latter is the National Museum of History in Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. Other national museums of history can be found particularly among newer states, where they have been used as a means of arousing national consciousness and providing historical perspective. At the local and regional level there are many examples, of which the Museum of London and the city museums of Amsterdam, Dresden, Luxembourg, New York City, Stockholm, and Warsaw are but a few. In many cases, if artifacts are not available or are inappropriate, curators use reconstructions, models, and graphics, sometimes with multimedia techniques, to maintain chronological continuity and to increase the opportunity for interpretation within their essentially didactic approach.

While history museums may include archaeological material, there is nevertheless a distinctive type that specializes in it: the antiquities museum. Collections of material of the ancient world can be found in national museums in a number of cities—for example, Amman, Jordan; Athens; Cairo; Copenhagen; Edinburgh; Madrid; and Mexico City (see ). The antiquities museum is particularly common in Europe and Asia. Specialized archaeology museums also are found in areas of rich antiquity or as on-site museums. The archaeology museum is concerned mainly with historical evidence recovered from the ground and in many cases provides information on a period for which the written record can make little or no contribution.

Another specialized form of the history museum collects and exhibits material from an ethnographic viewpoint. As the term suggests, emphasis is placed on culture rather than chronology in the presentation of the collections. The ethnography museum is common among newer nation-states of Africa and Oceania, where it is seen as a means of contributing to national unity among different cultural groups. Among the industrialized nations, and particularly in countries that have been involved in colonization, the ethnography museum is a museum of the cultures of other peoples. Many of these institutions have been established in the capital cities, which at the height of colonization were the nation's window on a world otherwise distant and unknown. Thus were founded the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man), Paris; the extensive ethnographic collections of the British Museum, London; and the Tropenmuseum (Museum of the Royal Tropical Institute), Amsterdam. Specialized ethnography museums are also to be found in provincial cities. Normally these have arisen through personal associations, as with the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, or because of trade connections, as with the Overseas Museum in Bremen or the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, Liverpool. The last two examples result from proximity to a major international port.

Many other forms of the cultural history museum exist. Particularly prolific are museums concerned with preserving urban and rural traditions; these have rapidly increased in number with the pace of technological progress. Indeed, some history museums are involved in documenting various material aspects of contemporary life and in the selective collection of artifacts. Work of this type was pioneered in Sweden, where in 1873 Artur Hazilius developed the first museum of traditional life at the Nordic Museum, Stockholm. This was followed 18 years later by the first open-air museum, at Skansen. Museums of both types soon appeared in other countries. Today the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions in Paris exemplifies a national approach within a museum building. Outdoor museums preserving traditional architecture, sometimes in situ, and often demonstrating the activities associated with them, are to be found in many parts of the world: the National Museum of Niamey, Niger, or the Museum of Traditional Architecture in Jos, Nigeria; the Village Museum of Bucharest, Rom.; Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ont.; Colonial Williamsburg, Va., U.S. (see photograph-->

); or the Novgorod State Museum Preserve in Russia. Individual historic houses have been preserved as museums, in some cases because they are typical of the period and in other cases because of their associations. Among the latter are the memorial museums, such as the cottage of Tu Fu (Du Fu) at Ch'eng-tu, in the Chinese province of Szechwan, and the Leo Tolstoy Museum, Moscow (both of which can also be regarded as literature museums), or Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Virginia.

Other museums commemorate events, as do the Australian War Memorial in Canberra or the Imperial War Museum, London; both are military museums, members of a category that grew after World War I. Another development in the 20th-century history museum has been the maritime museum. Like other types of museums, it may be housed in historic buildings, as at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, Eng.; in new premises, as in the case of the German Shipping Museum at Bremerhaven, Ger.; or in a restored waterfront environment, as at South Street, New York City.

Another form of history museum is the portrait gallery, in which pictures are collected and displayed less for aesthetic reasons than for the purpose of communicating the images of actual persons. Although the idea of a portrait gallery is of some antiquity—a large collection of portraits of the kings of France and their statesmen was exhibited in Paul Ardier's gallery at the Château de Beauregard near Blois in the 1620s, for example—the national portrait gallery as a public institution is a later development. In a similar vein, paintings and prints of people, as well as places and events, often constitute an important element in other types of history museums.

Art (arts, the) museums

The art museum (called art gallery in some places) is concerned primarily with the object as a means of unaided communication with its visitors. Aesthetic value is therefore a major consideration in accepting items for the collection. Traditionally these collections have comprised paintings, sculpture, and the decorative arts. A number of art museums have included the industrial arts since the 19th century, when they were introduced, particularly to encourage good industrial design. The collection of so-called primitive art had a profound influence on certain forms of 20th-century art, but it can be argued that aesthetics have subordinated function and association to such an extent that objects often are presented in a totally alien context. In some countries this criticism applies to archaeological material as well.

The display of works of art presents the curator with certain problems. Works of art are exhibited to convey a visual message. While other disciplines tend to adopt didactic methods of display, the art curator is concerned particularly with unimpeded presentation of a given work. The ambience of the work is enhanced by highlighting its form and colour with proper lighting and background. At one time artificial light was preferred for paintings, both to create an effect and to prevent exposure to harmful elements in natural light, but it sometimes provides an unnecessarily theatrical presentation or creates an artificiality that can inhibit the visitor's appreciation and enjoyment of the work. Much greater use is now made of indirect natural light or—as at the Tate Gallery (Tate galleries), London, for example—a controlled mixture of daylight and simulated daylight. Some art museums have returned to the earlier custom of hanging paintings in a tiered arrangement in order to exhibit more of their works.

The search for context has led to the design of period settings in which to present certain art objects, to the development of furnished period-house museums, and to the preservation of country houses and other appropriate properties, together with their contents, in situ. In a specialized context, the restoration of the Moscow Kremlin, particularly the Great Palace and the churches with their fine murals and icons, provides an example of this approach. Some of the churches are open to the public as museums. Some art museums have introduced other visual and performing arts—music, film, video, or theatre—to facilitate or enhance interpretation. Artist-in-residence programs also assist in promoting art and art appreciation.

Another factor in the display of art objects concerns their continued preservation. Because of the sensitivity of some of the materials used in their creation, it is necessary to control within narrow limits the temperature, humidity, and lighting to which they are exposed. In addition, sophisticated security precautions are necessary for items of high value.

In many cases modern art is displayed in a separate institution. The role of such museums is to confront the public with art in the process of development, and there is a considerable experimental component in their exhibits. This is particularly so at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, or the museums of modern art (Modern Art, Museum of) in Stockholm and New York City, where other contemporary art forms besides painting also are presented. Because of the experimental nature of modern art and the high cost involved in purchases, temporary exhibitions normally play a major role in such museums and in some cases are their principal activity. Contemporary sculpture is often exhibited outdoors, as at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Open-Air Museum in Hakone, Japan, or the Billy Rose Art Garden in Jerusalem.

Geoffrey D. Lewis

Additional Reading

Until recently the information relating to museums has been much dispersed, but detailed studies are now being published in book form. The following list identifies some of the literature available.Directories of museums providing worldwide coverage include Bettina Bartz, Helmut Opitz, and Elisabeth Richter (eds.), Museums of the World, 4th rev. and enlarged ed. (1992); and Kenneth Hudson and Ann Nicholls, The Directory of Museums & Living Displays, 3rd ed. (1985), including zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, and living history farms. Susan Peters et al. (eds.), Directory of Museums in Africa (1990), in English and French; International Council of Museums, Directory of Museums in the Arab Countries, 1995 (1995), also in English and French, and Directory of Museums of the Asia-Pacific Countries, vol. 1 (1993), covering Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, provide lists for these regions. A number of national museum directories are published, including Museums Yearbook, published by the Museums Association and covering museums in the United Kingdom; and The Official Museum Directory (annual), published by the American Association of Museums for museums of art, history, and science. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) also publishes several directories of specialized museums, including International Repertory of Glass Museums and Glass Collections (1966); Hugo G. Rodeck (compiler), Directory of the Natural Sciences Museums of the World (1971); and Jean Jenkins (ed.), International Directory of Musical Instrument Collections (1977).The most comprehensive bibliographic listing is International Museological Bibliography (annual), maintained by the ICOM, and is also available on CD-ROM. A number of other bibliographies are published, such as Simon J. Knell (compiler and ed.), A Bibliography of Museum Studies, 11th ed. (1994); Michael Steven Shapiro and Louis Ward Kemp (eds.), The Museum: A Reference Guide (1990); and Peter Woodhead and Geoffrey Stansfield, Keyguide to Information Sources in Museum Studies, 2nd ed. (1994). Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (semiannual) provides abstracts on museum techniques within these fields. István Éri and Béla Végh (eds.), Dictionary of Museology (1986), lists museum terms in 20 languages.General periodicals include Museum International (quarterly); I C O M News (quarterly); Curator (quarterly); Museum Management and Curatorship (quarterly); Museums Journal (quarterly); Museum News (bimonthly); and Museum Practice (3/yr.).Museum operations in various types of museums are considered in Susan Pearce (ed.), Art in Museums (1995); Stella V.F. Butler, Science and Technology Museums (1992); Peter Davis, Museums and the Natural Environment: The Role of Natural History Museums in Biological Conservation (1996); Gaynor Kavanagh, History Curatorship (1990); and Susan M. Pearce, Archaeological Curatorship (1990).Geoffrey D. Lewis

词条	museum, types of
释义	museum, types of Introduction varieties of institutions dedicated to preserving and interpreting the material aspects of human activity and the environment. Such a broad range of activities can be conducted by a wide variety of institutions, which, for purposes of description and discussion, it is often convenient to group according to type. However, with their diverse origins, varying philosophies, and differing roles in society, museums do not lend themselves to rigid classification. Certain museums provide for a specialist audience—for example, children, societies, universities, or schools. Some have particular responsibilities for a defined geographic area, such as a city or region. Others may offer unusual perspectives, resulting in alternative interpretations of artistic, historical, or scientific collections. (This last can occur at museums where the primary ethos is nationalistic, religious, or political.) Sometimes museums are classified according to the source of their funding (e.g., state, municipal, private), particularly in statistical work. Classifying by source of funding, however, fails to indicate the true character of the museums' collections. For example, institutions funded by the national government—national museums—may hold outstanding international collections, as do the British Museum, the Hermitage, and the Louvre; may hold specialized collections, as do a number of the national museums of antiquities on the European continent; or may have an essentially local character, as does the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in Washington, D.C. An analysis of museums based on the nature of their collections, although it fails to indicate disparities of scale and quality, does have the merit of distinguishing between general and specialized museums. In addition, by emphasizing collections, this method focuses on the very raison d'être of museums. In this article, museums are classified into five basic types—general (museum, types of), natural history and natural science (museum, types of), science and technology (museum, types of), history (museum, types of), and art (museum, types of). The basic characteristics of each type are described in turn. At the end of each descriptive section, links are provided to entries on significant museums of that type. A new development, which transcends all types of museums by virtue of its unique electronic presentation, is described separately in the entry virtual museum. General museums General museums hold collections in more than one subject and are therefore sometimes known as multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary museums. Many were founded in the 18th, 19th, or early 20th century. Most originated in earlier private collections and reflected the encyclopaedic spirit of the times. Certain general museums reflect the influence of cultural contact made through trade. Some museums hold a number of important specialized collections that would qualify them to be grouped in more than one category of specialization. This is true particularly of many of the large general museums, which may have collections in one or more fields equal to if not exceeding both the quantity and quality of material exhibited in a specialized museum. Some national museums display general collections within their main building; indeed, many commenced in this fashion, but the necessity of finding additional space later caused a division of the collections and encouraged the growth of specialized museums. Most common among general museums are those which serve a region or a locality. Many of these owe their foundation to civic pride and a desire to promote knowledge of the area. They are widespread in eastern and western Europe and are found as well in India, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South America. Their prime responsibility is to reflect the natural and human history, traditions, and creative spirit of the area. In many cases the community thus served is culturally homogeneous; where it is not, the museum may develop specific programs to foster mutual understanding among the diverse peoples. In cities that have a sizable immigrant population, such as, for example, Bradford or Leicester in England, the regional museum has engaged actively in such work. Sometimes special exhibitions prepared by the national museum or other agencies provide opportunities at regional museums for the community to appreciate the wider aspects of the national or even international heritage. The general museum, particularly at the regional or local level, faces severe problems because of the high cost of employing the large numbers of specialists necessary to care for the variety of collections involved, particularly if a strong research program is maintained. In some museums research has diversified as curators, particularly in archaeology, history, and the natural sciences, have become involved in recording the environment of an area or in preparing data banks in order to advise planners and developers who are considering projects to be conducted on sites of scientific or historical interest. Other general museums have maintained their more traditional roles but have concentrated their efforts on public services, as at the Kanazawa Bunko Museum, Yokohama, Japan, where a multidisciplinary approach is apparent in its exhibitions. Among other developments fostered by many regional and local museums are the erection of on-site museums to interpret archaeological or natural features; the provision of heritage centres, particularly in urban areas, to tell the story of an aspect of the historic environment; or, as an extramural activity of the museum, the development of heritage and nature trails. Certain museums provide for a particular audience, often acquiring general collections to suit the purpose. One of these is the children's museum (also frequented by adults), well-known examples of which are the Brooklyn Children's Museum, New York City; the Children's Museum, Boston; the National Children's Museum of New Delhi; and the Mont Riant Children's Museum of Algiers. Natural history and natural science museums Museums of natural history and natural science are concerned with the natural world; their collections may contain specimens of birds, mammals, insects, plants, rocks, minerals, and fossils. These museums have their origins in the cabinets of curiosities built up by prominent individuals in Europe during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Specimens from the natural world were also included (albeit as part of an encyclopaedic collection) in some of the earliest museums: the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, Eng., the British Museum in London, and the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. With the development of the natural sciences in the 19th century, museums exhibiting objects from the natural world flourished and their number multiplied. In the United States and Latin America their collections often included objects of physical and social anthropology as well as the natural sciences. More recently, natural science museums have responded to new trends of nature conservation and broader environmental matters. Some have established programs for recording biological data for the area they serve, to facilitate environmental planning (often in conjunction with local planning authorities), and to provide information to assist in the interpretation of ecological displays. Major museums such as the Natural History Museum in London, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City hold enormous comparative collections from the natural world, including the type specimens from which species have been named. Such museums are international centres of taxonomic work and sustain considerable research programs. Science and technology museums Museums of science and technology are concerned with the development and application of scientific ideas and instrumentation. Like museums of natural science and natural history, science museums have their origins in the Enlightenment. Some of them developed from the collections of learned societies, others from private collections such as the Teylers Museum at Haarlem, Neth., in the 18th century. A later development in science museums involved the applications of science, so that museums began to preserve the material evidence of technological as well as scientific endeavour. Some science and technology museums now concentrate on demonstrating science and its applications; in these museums the preservation of process is emphasized over the preservation of objects. Science museums are particularly popular with children as well as adults and often provide opportunities for their visitors to participate through demonstration models and interactive displays. Well-known examples of these are at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Science Museum in London, and (of a more specialized nature) the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. (see photograph-->). Other specialized institutions include transport museums, such as the National Railway Museum in York, Eng., or the Swiss Transport Museum on the shores of Lake Lucerne. Of more recent establishment are industrial museums, which often include a large technical component. Museums devoted to modern science, such as the Palace of Discovery in Paris, also provide demonstrations of scientific theory. In India, where museums of science and technology are seen as having an important role in education, the National Council for Science Museums has established a network of such museums across the country. Performing a similar function are science centres where science is demonstrated but where there is not normally a responsibility for collecting and conserving historical apparatus. A pioneer in this field is the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. Some science and technology museums, such as the very popular Museum of Science and Industry (Science and Industry, Museum of) in Chicago or the Technological Museum in Mexico City, are of a more technical nature. These museums are often sponsored directly or indirectly by industries, which occasionally found their own museums in order to preserve their heritage and promote their work. History museums The term history museum is often used for a wide variety of museums where collections are amassed and, in most cases, are presented to give a chronological perspective. Because of the encompassing nature of history, museums of this type may well hold so many objects of art and science that they would more properly be called general museums (see above General museums (museum, types of)). Museums dealing with specialized aspects of history may be found at the national, provincial, or local level, while museums of general history are rare at the national level. One example of the latter is the National Museum of History in Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. Other national museums of history can be found particularly among newer states, where they have been used as a means of arousing national consciousness and providing historical perspective. At the local and regional level there are many examples, of which the Museum of London and the city museums of Amsterdam, Dresden, Luxembourg, New York City, Stockholm, and Warsaw are but a few. In many cases, if artifacts are not available or are inappropriate, curators use reconstructions, models, and graphics, sometimes with multimedia techniques, to maintain chronological continuity and to increase the opportunity for interpretation within their essentially didactic approach. While history museums may include archaeological material, there is nevertheless a distinctive type that specializes in it: the antiquities museum. Collections of material of the ancient world can be found in national museums in a number of cities—for example, Amman, Jordan; Athens; Cairo; Copenhagen; Edinburgh; Madrid; and Mexico City (see ). The antiquities museum is particularly common in Europe and Asia. Specialized archaeology museums also are found in areas of rich antiquity or as on-site museums. The archaeology museum is concerned mainly with historical evidence recovered from the ground and in many cases provides information on a period for which the written record can make little or no contribution. Another specialized form of the history museum collects and exhibits material from an ethnographic viewpoint. As the term suggests, emphasis is placed on culture rather than chronology in the presentation of the collections. The ethnography museum is common among newer nation-states of Africa and Oceania, where it is seen as a means of contributing to national unity among different cultural groups. Among the industrialized nations, and particularly in countries that have been involved in colonization, the ethnography museum is a museum of the cultures of other peoples. Many of these institutions have been established in the capital cities, which at the height of colonization were the nation's window on a world otherwise distant and unknown. Thus were founded the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man), Paris; the extensive ethnographic collections of the British Museum, London; and the Tropenmuseum (Museum of the Royal Tropical Institute), Amsterdam. Specialized ethnography museums are also to be found in provincial cities. Normally these have arisen through personal associations, as with the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, or because of trade connections, as with the Overseas Museum in Bremen or the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, Liverpool. The last two examples result from proximity to a major international port. Many other forms of the cultural history museum exist. Particularly prolific are museums concerned with preserving urban and rural traditions; these have rapidly increased in number with the pace of technological progress. Indeed, some history museums are involved in documenting various material aspects of contemporary life and in the selective collection of artifacts. Work of this type was pioneered in Sweden, where in 1873 Artur Hazilius developed the first museum of traditional life at the Nordic Museum, Stockholm. This was followed 18 years later by the first open-air museum, at Skansen. Museums of both types soon appeared in other countries. Today the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions in Paris exemplifies a national approach within a museum building. Outdoor museums preserving traditional architecture, sometimes in situ, and often demonstrating the activities associated with them, are to be found in many parts of the world: the National Museum of Niamey, Niger, or the Museum of Traditional Architecture in Jos, Nigeria; the Village Museum of Bucharest, Rom.; Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ont.; Colonial Williamsburg, Va., U.S. (see photograph-->); or the Novgorod State Museum Preserve in Russia. Individual historic houses have been preserved as museums, in some cases because they are typical of the period and in other cases because of their associations. Among the latter are the memorial museums, such as the cottage of Tu Fu (Du Fu) at Ch'eng-tu, in the Chinese province of Szechwan, and the Leo Tolstoy Museum, Moscow (both of which can also be regarded as literature museums), or Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Virginia. Other museums commemorate events, as do the Australian War Memorial in Canberra or the Imperial War Museum, London; both are military museums, members of a category that grew after World War I. Another development in the 20th-century history museum has been the maritime museum. Like other types of museums, it may be housed in historic buildings, as at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, Eng.; in new premises, as in the case of the German Shipping Museum at Bremerhaven, Ger.; or in a restored waterfront environment, as at South Street, New York City. Another form of history museum is the portrait gallery, in which pictures are collected and displayed less for aesthetic reasons than for the purpose of communicating the images of actual persons. Although the idea of a portrait gallery is of some antiquity—a large collection of portraits of the kings of France and their statesmen was exhibited in Paul Ardier's gallery at the Château de Beauregard near Blois in the 1620s, for example—the national portrait gallery as a public institution is a later development. In a similar vein, paintings and prints of people, as well as places and events, often constitute an important element in other types of history museums. Art (arts, the) museums The art museum (called art gallery in some places) is concerned primarily with the object as a means of unaided communication with its visitors. Aesthetic value is therefore a major consideration in accepting items for the collection. Traditionally these collections have comprised paintings, sculpture, and the decorative arts. A number of art museums have included the industrial arts since the 19th century, when they were introduced, particularly to encourage good industrial design. The collection of so-called primitive art had a profound influence on certain forms of 20th-century art, but it can be argued that aesthetics have subordinated function and association to such an extent that objects often are presented in a totally alien context. In some countries this criticism applies to archaeological material as well. The display of works of art presents the curator with certain problems. Works of art are exhibited to convey a visual message. While other disciplines tend to adopt didactic methods of display, the art curator is concerned particularly with unimpeded presentation of a given work. The ambience of the work is enhanced by highlighting its form and colour with proper lighting and background. At one time artificial light was preferred for paintings, both to create an effect and to prevent exposure to harmful elements in natural light, but it sometimes provides an unnecessarily theatrical presentation or creates an artificiality that can inhibit the visitor's appreciation and enjoyment of the work. Much greater use is now made of indirect natural light or—as at the Tate Gallery (Tate galleries), London, for example—a controlled mixture of daylight and simulated daylight. Some art museums have returned to the earlier custom of hanging paintings in a tiered arrangement in order to exhibit more of their works. The search for context has led to the design of period settings in which to present certain art objects, to the development of furnished period-house museums, and to the preservation of country houses and other appropriate properties, together with their contents, in situ. In a specialized context, the restoration of the Moscow Kremlin, particularly the Great Palace and the churches with their fine murals and icons, provides an example of this approach. Some of the churches are open to the public as museums. Some art museums have introduced other visual and performing arts—music, film, video, or theatre—to facilitate or enhance interpretation. Artist-in-residence programs also assist in promoting art and art appreciation. Another factor in the display of art objects concerns their continued preservation. Because of the sensitivity of some of the materials used in their creation, it is necessary to control within narrow limits the temperature, humidity, and lighting to which they are exposed. In addition, sophisticated security precautions are necessary for items of high value. In many cases modern art is displayed in a separate institution. The role of such museums is to confront the public with art in the process of development, and there is a considerable experimental component in their exhibits. This is particularly so at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, or the museums of modern art (Modern Art, Museum of) in Stockholm and New York City, where other contemporary art forms besides painting also are presented. Because of the experimental nature of modern art and the high cost involved in purchases, temporary exhibitions normally play a major role in such museums and in some cases are their principal activity. Contemporary sculpture is often exhibited outdoors, as at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Open-Air Museum in Hakone, Japan, or the Billy Rose Art Garden in Jerusalem. Geoffrey D. Lewis Additional Reading Until recently the information relating to museums has been much dispersed, but detailed studies are now being published in book form. The following list identifies some of the literature available.Directories of museums providing worldwide coverage include Bettina Bartz, Helmut Opitz, and Elisabeth Richter (eds.), Museums of the World, 4th rev. and enlarged ed. (1992); and Kenneth Hudson and Ann Nicholls, The Directory of Museums & Living Displays, 3rd ed. (1985), including zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, and living history farms. Susan Peters et al. (eds.), Directory of Museums in Africa (1990), in English and French; International Council of Museums, Directory of Museums in the Arab Countries, 1995 (1995), also in English and French, and Directory of Museums of the Asia-Pacific Countries, vol. 1 (1993), covering Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands, provide lists for these regions. A number of national museum directories are published, including Museums Yearbook, published by the Museums Association and covering museums in the United Kingdom; and The Official Museum Directory (annual), published by the American Association of Museums for museums of art, history, and science. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) also publishes several directories of specialized museums, including International Repertory of Glass Museums and Glass Collections (1966); Hugo G. Rodeck (compiler), Directory of the Natural Sciences Museums of the World (1971); and Jean Jenkins (ed.), International Directory of Musical Instrument Collections (1977).The most comprehensive bibliographic listing is International Museological Bibliography (annual), maintained by the ICOM, and is also available on CD-ROM. A number of other bibliographies are published, such as Simon J. Knell (compiler and ed.), A Bibliography of Museum Studies, 11th ed. (1994); Michael Steven Shapiro and Louis Ward Kemp (eds.), The Museum: A Reference Guide (1990); and Peter Woodhead and Geoffrey Stansfield, Keyguide to Information Sources in Museum Studies, 2nd ed. (1994). Art and Archaeology Technical Abstracts (semiannual) provides abstracts on museum techniques within these fields. István Éri and Béla Végh (eds.), Dictionary of Museology (1986), lists museum terms in 20 languages.General periodicals include Museum International (quarterly); I C O M News (quarterly); Curator (quarterly); Museum Management and Curatorship (quarterly); Museums Journal (quarterly); Museum News (bimonthly); and Museum Practice (3/yr.).Museum operations in various types of museums are considered in Susan Pearce (ed.), Art in Museums (1995); Stella V.F. Butler, Science and Technology Museums (1992); Peter Davis, Museums and the Natural Environment: The Role of Natural History Museums in Biological Conservation (1996); Gaynor Kavanagh, History Curatorship (1990); and Susan M. Pearce, Archaeological Curatorship (1990).Geoffrey D. Lewis
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