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Inside the Lost Museum: Curating, Past and Present Kindle Edition

by Steven Lubar (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
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Curators make many decisions when they build collections or design exhibitions, plotting a passage of discovery that also tells an essential story. Collecting captures the past in a way useful to the present and the future. Exhibits play to our senses and orchestrate our impressions, balancing presentation and preservation, information and emotion. Curators consider visitors’ interactions with objects and with one another, how our bodies move through displays, how our eyes grasp objects, how we learn and how we feel. Inside the Lost Museum documents the work museums do and suggests ways these institutions can enrich the educational and aesthetic experience of their visitors.

Woven throughout Inside the Lost Museum is the story of the Jenks Museum at Brown University, a nineteenth-century display of natural history, anthropology, and curiosities that disappeared a century ago. The Jenks Museum’s past, and a recent effort by artist Mark Dion, Steven Lubar, and their students to reimagine it as art and history, serve as a framework for exploring the long record of museums’ usefulness and service.

Museum lovers know that energy and mystery run through every collection and exhibition. Lubar explains work behind the scenes—collecting, preserving, displaying, and using art and artifacts in teaching, research, and community-building—through historical and contemporary examples. Inside the Lost Museum speaks to the hunt, the find, and the reveal that make curating and visiting exhibitions and using collections such a rewarding and vital pursuit.

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  1. Print length
    406 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Harvard University Press
  5. Publication date
    August 7, 2017
  6. File size
    45196 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Inside the Lost Museum is a book worth wandering through, much like the capacious institutions whose histories and futures it contemplates…[A]thoughtful and feeling survey of changing practices of curation in American museums of all sorts.”―Christopher H. Heaney, Journal of Social History

“Offers illuminating chapters on key curatorial questions about museum life…Lubar’s highly accessible book sits comfortably on museum-studies shelves alongside such works as Stephen Weil’s Making Museums Matter, Nina Simon’s The Participatory Museum, and Adrian George’s The Curator’s Handbook…It could be of practical interest to people who participate in any organization, large or small, devoted to preserving or displaying art or artifacts.”―Amy Henderson, Weekly Standard

“Inside the Lost Museum ably demonstrates that Steven Lubar is among the most perceptive historians thinking and writing about the American museum today. Equipped with intimate knowledge from years at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, Lubar connects the history of early museums to what currently transpires behind the scenes, as staff debate ideas for exhibitions, wrestle with ethical dilemmas, and attempt to foster greater public participation than ever before.”―Kym Rice, Assistant Director for Academic Affairs, Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, George Washington University

“Gives readers a privileged peek into the storerooms, boardrooms, and curatorial offices of many storied institutions. In doing so, the book offers a scholarly snapshot of the role that museums have played throughout history, as well as the challenges they face today. Although students and interested laymen will undoubtedly gain much from Lubar’s comprehensive overview, even the most experienced museum professionals will likely learn a thing or two.”―Paul D. Brinkman, Science

“In this volume, Steven Lubar, among the most thoughtful scholars and professionals in the field, turns ‘museum’ into a verb, taking us behind the scenes to show how collecting, exhibiting, and programming are conceived and organized. His clear, straightforward, and insightful account provides case studies as well as a larger framework for understanding museological practices, choices, historical trends, controversies, and possible futures. The treatment of art, science, and history museums and occupational roles from director and curator to exhibition designer and educator make this required reading for everyone in the museum field.”―Richard Kurin, Acting Provost and Under Secretary for Museums and Research, Smithsonian Institution

“Steven Lubar has written a wonderfully comprehensive and intriguing assessment of the impact and importance of museums by unearthing both the history of these cultural institutions and the contemporary challenges that face the field. Featuring an insider’s knowledge and a scholar’s curiosity, Inside the Lost Museum is a must-read for those who want to understand how museums shape America’s memories and its national identity.”―Lonnie G. Bunch III, Director, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution

About the Author

Steven Lubar, a former museum curator and director, is Professor of American Studies at Brown University.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0747QQXMV
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press (August 7, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 7, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 45196 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 406 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0674971043
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

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4.7 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

Art Shapiro
5.0 out of 5 stars Putting one's vision on public display
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2017
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This is the third book about museology that I've read lately (and reviewed here). The others are "Dry Storeroom #1" by Richard Fortey, about the Natural History Museum in London, and "Curators" by Lance Grande, about the Field Museum in Chicago. This book is about a museum that no longer exists--the Jenks Museum at Brown University, an idiosyncratic omnium-gatherum created as a personal project by zoologist John Whipple Potter Jenks. The museum scarcely outlasted its curator. Though little trace remains of it today, historian Steven Lubar (yes, of Brown) uses it as a jumping-off point for discussions of why museums exist, what they are good for and what they are good and not so good at doing, and how their missions have and have not changed since Jenks' time. He provides deep and insightful, and utterly candid, commentary on the surprisingly diverse views of these issues within the profession of museology. Unlike Fortey and Grande, he includes art, technology and archeology collections in his discussions. There is a lively discussion going on right now about whether museums have gone too far at adopting high-tech tools to engage young visitors; you will find an up-to-date review of the debate in these pages. It is a curious fact that a book about a museum that no longer exists actually has more to teach the lay reader than either of the two current books about major museums that are alive and well. But all three books have their charms; if you are interested in the why, how and wherefore of museums, by all means read all three.
While I was reading this book, the business section of the New York Times published an article headlined "A collector's dream: creating your own museum as a legacy" (September 30, 2017). The kind of very personal vision that drove Jenks survives, and the museums that may eventuate will in good time face the same test as the Jenks museum: once the visionary who created them is gone, will anybody care? Will anybody come?
26 people found this helpful
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Amanda
5.0 out of 5 stars Astute and Thoughtful
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2022
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Dr. Lubar has done excellent work in this monograph. I read it in my graduate-level museum studies class and it was a wonderful look into how museums in America began and how they evolved over time, and where we should go in the future. My favorite book this semester.
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SkyCloud24
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have for all those interested!
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2020
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My goal is to become a Museum Curator (as well as a Field Archaeologist...I have separate books for that) and this is definitely the most comprehensive book about Museum Curation! What I like most about this book is that it's meticulously detailed without being dry. I definitely feel like this should be a textbook for students if it isn't already (I would love to take a "Museum Studies" class especially if this book is the required reading material).
2 people found this helpful
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Laura Rincon
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoying the book
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2020
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I like this book! Just a little ripping without any importance
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Laura Rincon
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoying the book
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2020
I like this book! Just a little ripping without any importance
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars He loved it!
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2018
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I bought this for my son in law for Xmas. He loved it!
One person found this helpful
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Mary J Papp
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Great transaction
Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2018
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Great book. Great transaction.
2 people found this helpful
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Henry J Sienkiewicz
5.0 out of 5 stars A highly thoughtful, comprehensive and approachable work, Lubar ...
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018
A highly thoughtful, comprehensive and approachable work, Lubar managed to take what could have been a dry topic, and with a deft touch brought both the process and practice of curation to life. In an engaging fashion, he manages to cover the entire museum landscape – art, science, and historical. Thoroughly enjoyable.
3 people found this helpful
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Marjory Otoole
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for all museum studies students.
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2018
Inside the Lost Museum is an engaging read for museum lovers - revealing the cyclical nature of trends in curation and behind the scenes issues applicable to museums of all sizes.
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