The word conservation, when used in the context of the preservation of built heritage, implies an intrinsically complex concept that evolved over time, since it has been influenced by the perception of history throughout time. This volume emphasises why an understanding of the cultural evolution of the conservation approach must be considered a prerequisite for architects and engineers if they are to cooperate in full harmony with historic-artistic culture for the preservation of global built heritage. In particular, the volume highlights how, during the second half of the last century, the preservation process also involved engineering - the science of making practical applications of knowledge - which, for a long time, made an uncritical use of techniques and materials and devised interventions on historical heritage that were heavily invasive. The volume also devotes special attention to the problems related to seismic risk, to which Italy, Greece and Portugal are particularly prone. Problems that emerge during the crisis and reconstruction phases are dealt with in detail, as is scheduled maintenance, as this latter approach always constitutes an improvement in the performance of the monument and is the most appropriate tool for the conservation of the built heritage. Finally, the volume collects examples of building restoration with case studies of many outstanding monuments. The work will appeal to professionals and academics in the broader fields of civil engineering (both geotechnical and structural engineering), architecture, art history, the history of architecture, restoration and cultural heritage management. This book will: Provide a critical reading of the history of conservation; Discuss materials and techniques of ancient architecture; Cover seismic vulnerability and preservation of the historic integrity of the monument; Advocate an approach based on programmed maintenance; Feature numerous case histories, including St Mark's Basilica in Venice and the complex restoration of the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.

The Preparator's Handbook: A Practical Guide for Preparing and Installing Collection Objects is an invaluable resource for emerging museum professionals or anyone working in galleries and collections with little-to-no previous preparatory experience or training. This handbook explores, explains, and illustrates the basics for the preparation and installation professionals. - practical, step-by-step guides that outline museum-standard procedures for most types of collection objects, including works on paper, archival volumes, and historic artifacts. - templates and guides for presentation, preservation, and collection storage - illustrated inventories of standard and specialized tools, materials and hardware - the basics of lighting, audio, and video in installations. - unique case-studies from working professionals for a wide-range of objects and installations including examples from the Field Museum, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. - Over 50 illustrations and photographs that accompany the written text. This practical book is the first of its kind: a guide for novice or amateur collection and gallery professionals as well as an academic textbook for museum studies and fine art students.

Departing from an ethnographic collection in London, From Storeroom to Stage traces the journey of its artefacts back to the Romanian villages where they were made 70 years ago, and to other places where similar objects are still in use. The book explores the role that material culture plays in the production of value and meaning by examining how folk objects are mobilized in national ideologies, transmissions of personal and family memory, museological discourses, and artistic acts.

If a museum is trying to improve visitor satisfaction, grow and diversify their audience, or engage with their community, they must focus on the experience visitors have inside the museum. Unfortunately, some people don't visit museums because they have had a previous negative experience, or they simply don't feel museums are for people like them. Not only do we need to win back those who we haven't welcomed properly in the past, we need to be sure we don't turn off any more potential visitors. Once you've decided to prioritize the visitor experience, you may discover that you don't have the tools you need to truly implement change for your visitors. An Executive Director may support the concept but doesn't have the time or specific expertise to implement a new program. A Visitor Services Manager may have been promoted from the front line and has great customer service and coaching skills but doesn't have experience crafting institutional change. Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museum Professionals can help these museum professionals design a program that is specific to their institution. Its Table of Contents shows how the book offers a step-by-step guide to doing just that: Chapter 1: Focus on the Visitor Experience Chapter 2: Understanding Museum Visitors and the Impact of the Visitor Experience Chapter 3: Learning About Your Visitors Chapter 4: Visitor Mapping: Charting Visitor Routes Through Your Institution Chapter 5: Start with the Basics: Making the Museum Itself Welcoming Chapter 6: Articulating What Service Means to You Chapter 7: Determining the Structure of Your Front-Line Team Chapter 8: Merging Security and Service Chapter 9: Hiring Your Dream Team Chapter 10: Training to Develop a Dynamic Service Team Chapter 11: Building Strong Morale and a Professional Front-Line Team Chapter 12: Developing a Culture of Service Throughout the Museum Use this authoritative, practical guide from the American Alliance of Museums to help your museum create great visitor experiences.

Families are a critical audience for art museums and museums use many different strategies for reaching families, such as special family days and festivals, workshops, special tours, family backpacks and gallery guides, in-gallery materials or demonstration carts, and specific family galleries. Here is a practical guide based on research that helps art museum educators understand the role and value of spaces designed for families and helps them to create dedicated spaces for intergenerational play and learning. This book features insights, best practices, and lessons learned from years of experience in creating dedicated spaces for families in a wide range of art museums. Through case studies, in-depth stories, and engaging graphics and images this book identifies key issues that museum professionals need to consider when developing family spaces in museums. This book is a how-to guide to creating or updating an interactive family space. Everything you need to know, soup to nuts, from understanding your audience to hiring a designer and opening your doors to the public is here. Each section is situated within groundbreaking visitor research findings and how museum educators have used those findings to better understand the family audience and develop fun, safe, inclusive, spaces that inspire wonder and curiosity, as well as places for meaning-making and family bonding, all in the service of creating loyal and committed museum visitors.

Via the Smithsonian Institution, an exploration of the growing friction between the research and outreach functions of museums in the 21st century. Describing participant observation and historical research at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History as it prepared for its largest-ever exhibit renovation, Deep Time, the author provides a grounded perspective on the inner-workings of the world's largest natural history museum and the social processes of communicating science to the public. From the introduction: In exhibit projects, the tension plays out between curatorial staff-academic, research, or scientific staff charged with content-and exhibitions, public engagement, or educational staff-which I broadly group together as "audience advocates" charged with translating content for a broader public. I have heard Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the NMNH, say many times that if you look at dinosaur halls at different museums across the country, you can see whether the curators or the exhibits staff has "won." At the American Museum of Natural History in New York, it was the curators. The hall is stark white and organized by phylogeny-or the evolutionary relationships of species-with simple, albeit long, text panels. At the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Johnson will tell you, it was the "exhibits people." The hall is story driven and chronologically organized, full of big graphic prints, bold fonts, immersive and interactive spaces, and touchscreens. At the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where Johnson had previously been vice president and chief curator, "we actually fought to a draw." That, he says, is the best outcome; a win on either side skews the final product too extremely in one direction or the other. This creative tension, when based on mutual respect, is often what makes good exhibitions.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the audiovisual translation (AVT) of humour, bringing together insights from translation studies and humour studies to outline the key theories underpinning this growing area of study and their applications to case studies from television and film. The volume outlines the ways in which the myriad linguistic manifestations and functions of humour make it difficult for scholars to provide a unified definition for it, an issue made more complex in the transfer of humour to audiovisual works and their translations as well as their ongoing changes in technology. Dore brings together relevant theories from both translation studies and humour studies toward advancing research in both disciplines. Each chapter explores a key dimension of humour as it unfolds in AVT, offering brief theoretical discussions of wordplay, culture-specific references, and captioning in AVT as applied to case studies from Modern Family. A dedicated chapter to audio description, which allows the visually impaired or blind to assess a film's non-verbal content, using examples from the 2017 film the Big Sick, outlines existing research to date on this under-explored line of research and opens avenues for future study within the audiovisual translation of humour. This book is key reading for students and scholars in translation studies and humour studies.

Twenty-first-century views of historical violence have been immeasurably influenced by cultural representations of the Second World War. Within Europe, one of the key sites for such representation has been the vast array of museums and memorials that reflect contemporary ideas of war, the roles of soldiers and civilians, and the self-perception of those who remember. This volume takes a historical perspective on museums covering the Second World War and explores how these institutions came to define political contexts and cultures of public memory in Germany, across Europe, and throughout the world.

How can museums move beyond simply raising awareness and establish a dialogue both within and across communities and cultural boundaries? By examining the ways in which museums can involve refugees and asylum seekers this volume explores this key question. Leading artists, curators, and academics come together to outline different levels of participation by audiences and communities and explore a range of topics from video games to role-play and theatre; and from photography to participatory video and digital storytelling. Case studies are used throughout to highlight the various ways that different participatory approaches can be used successfully.

What makes a museum, a museum in the 21st century? This is a transformative moment in the history of museums. Traditionally, the museums have been defined by the functions of collecting, preserving, documenting, researching, exhibiting and in other ways, communicating and interpreting evidence of human culture and history for the benefit of everyone. But what is the future of museums in a fast-changing world of economic uncertainty, social disruption, health challenges and climate change? Can museums reflect the accountability and transparency under which they are expected to acquire and use their material, financial, social, and intellectual resources? What Is a Museum? Perspectives from National and International Museum Leaders shares perspectives from dedicated professionals investigating how museums can meet their ethical, political, social, cultural, and environmental responsibilities in the years to come. In a series of essays, well-known leaders in the museum sector and related fields contribute to our understanding of the current and future challenges facing museums around the world. ICOM-US Co-Chair and Secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie G. Bunch III, summarizes the issues and provides guidance for the future of museums. Questions explored include: -What lessons have we learned from the needs of the communities we claim to serve and how can we better adapt to shift our priorities in a faster and more efficient way? -How can museums not only chronicle the past, but depict the present and become touchstones for the future of their communities? -In a world aimed towards political correctness, how do we address collections resulting from power and colonization? This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in why museums matter today, what their future holds, and how to change them

How to Close a Museum: A Practical Guide answers your questions about closing a museum. Even if you are just considering your options during difficult times and planning for your future, this book takes you through all the legal, ethical, and operational questions to start thinking about. It clearly lays out all the steps to follow to dissolve the nonprofit corporation, how to work with the board, disperse assets, create a final staffing plan, media relations, archival materials, community relations, and how to deal with donors and preserve the legacy of the organization. Included in the book are valuable forms, creative ideas, and sample documents to save you time. Written by Dr. Susana Bautista, an experienced museum administrator, curator, and museologist, who personally went though this process of closing a museum as the last executive director of the Pasadena Museum of California Art in 2018. She will recount her experiences and lessons learned, as well as those of other museum leaders who have gone through similar experiences, so that all museum professionals will be better prepared for what is always a stressful and emotional experience.

Conservators and other museum professionals face a large number of issues involving the mechanical behavior of materials, including questions on craquelure, restoring physically damaged objects, art in transport, or the selection of adhesives. However, science in conservation and museum studies curricula focusses mostly on chemistry. This book fills this important gap in conservation training. It is the first such book written specifically for the conservation community and professionals with little or no background in (mechanical) engineering. It introduces the basics of mechanical properties and behavior of materials and objects with examples and exercises based on conservation practice. More complex issues of mechanical loading and advanced solutions are also introduced.

How to Close a Museum: A Practical Guide answers your questions about closing a museum. Even if you are just considering your options during difficult times and planning for your future, this book takes you through all the legal, ethical, and operational questions to start thinking about. It clearly lays out all the steps to follow to dissolve the nonprofit corporation, how to work with the board, disperse assets, create a final staffing plan, media relations, archival materials, community relations, and how to deal with donors and preserve the legacy of the organization. Included in the book are valuable forms, creative ideas, and sample documents to save you time. Written by Dr. Susana Bautista, an experienced museum administrator, curator, and museologist, who personally went though this process of closing a museum as the last executive director of the Pasadena Museum of California Art in 2018. She will recount her experiences and lessons learned, as well as those of other museum leaders who have gone through similar experiences, so that all museum professionals will be better prepared for what is always a stressful and emotional experience.

Conservation in the built environment raises fundamental questions which have been debated for centuries - what is worth preserving, how is it possible, why is it important? This book takes a modern approach to the meaning of a heritage structure and its conservation. The historical evolution of conservation is briefly addressed, considering prominent individuals and cases; along with the history of construction, focusing on materials and related structural elements, with insight on the sizing rules adopted by masons. This explains structural decisions made during the construction process and allows comparison of scientific theories from the 18th century to modern understanding of limit analysis. Damage and collapse mechanisms for masonry construction, as the most widespread structural form for historical buildings, is described. Excess permanent loading and settlement is differentiated from environmental and anthropogenic actions such as earthquake or incorrect intervention. The team of authors brings together unique expertise, with high level research and leading practice with archetypical cases from around the world. The book addresses the history of conservation by exploring materials and structures and the history of construction and damage, so it is of value to students and professionals in civil engineering and architecture, as well as archaeologists and art historians.

Worship Sound Spaces unites specialists from architecture, acoustic engineering and the social sciences to encourage closer analysis of the sound environments within places of worship. Gathering a wide range of case studies set in Europe, Asia, North America, the Middle East and Africa, the book presents investigations into Muslim, Christian and Hindu spaces. These diverse cultural contexts demonstrate the composite nature of designing and experiencing places of worship. Beginning with a historical overview of the three primary indicators in acoustic design of religious buildings, reverberation, intelligibility and clarity, the second part of this edited collection offers a series of field studies devoted to perception, before moving onto recent examples of restoration of the sound ambiances of former religious buildings. Written for academics and students interested in architecture, cultural heritage, acoustics, sensory studies and sound. The multimedia documents of this volume may be consulted at the address: https://frama.link/WSS

At a time when organized heritage protection in Asia is developing at a rapid pace, Architectural Conservation in Asia provides the first comprehensive overview of architectural conservation practice from Afghanistan to the Philippines. The country-by-country analysis adopted by the book draws out local insights, experiences, best practice and solutions for effective cultural heritage management that will inform study and practice both in Asia and beyond. Whereas architectural conservation in much of the Western world has been extensively documented, this book brings together coverage of many regions where architectural conservation has been understudied. Following on from the highly influential companion volumes on global architectural conservation and architectural conservation in Europe and the Americas, with this book the authors extend their pioneering global examination to the dynamic and evolving field of architectural conservation in Asia. Throughout the book, the authors and regional experts provide local case studies and profile topics that bring depth and insight to this ambitious study. As architectural conservation becomes increasingly global in practice, this book will be of considerable assistance to architectural conservation practitioners, site managers and students of architecture, planning, archaeology and heritage studies worldwide.

What makes a museum, a museum in the 21st century? This is a transformative moment in the history of museums. Traditionally, the museums have been defined by the functions of collecting, preserving, documenting, researching, exhibiting and in other ways, communicating and interpreting evidence of human culture and history for the benefit of everyone. But what is the future of museums in a fast-changing world of economic uncertainty, social disruption, health challenges and climate change? Can museums reflect the accountability and transparency under which they are expected to acquire and use their material, financial, social, and intellectual resources? What Is a Museum? Perspectives from National and International Museum Leaders shares perspectives from dedicated professionals investigating how museums can meet their ethical, political, social, cultural, and environmental responsibilities in the years to come. In a series of essays, well-known leaders in the museum sector and related fields contribute to our understanding of the current and future challenges facing museums around the world. ICOM-US Co-Chair and Secretary of the Smithsonian, Lonnie G. Bunch III, summarizes the issues and provides guidance for the future of museums. Questions explored include: -What lessons have we learned from the needs of the communities we claim to serve and how can we better adapt to shift our priorities in a faster and more efficient way? -How can museums not only chronicle the past, but depict the present and become touchstones for the future of their communities? -In a world aimed towards political correctness, how do we address collections resulting from power and colonization? This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in why museums matter today, what their future holds, and how to change them

Looking at the crossroads between heritage and religion through the case study of Moravian Christiansfeld, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2015, this anthology reaches back to the eighteenth century when the church settlement was founded, examines its legacy within Danish culture and modern society, and brings this history into the present and the ongoing heritagization processes. Finally, it explores the consequences of the listing for the everyday life in Christiansfeld and discusses the possible and sustainable futures of a religious community in a World Heritage Site.

Presented in an easily digestible format, this go-to desktop reference guide provides explanations and clarifications on a variety of legal issues and concerns facing today's museum professional in over 200 plain-language dictionary entries. Alphabetized and extensively cross-referenced, this text will provide a quick go-to when a general introduction to or refresher of a concept is needed on the go, including: Intellectual property issues, including copyright, trademarks, and fair use Corporate issues, including nonprofit status and tax-exemption Governance issues, including boards of trustees and fiduciary duties The second edition adds over 40 new dictionary entries that address emerging issues in the field such as the 2019 FASB update and direct care of collections, plus new topics such as marital property and business structures. The text is divided into three main sections: In the first, over forty common acronyms and symbols are explained, and over twenty statutes impacted museum work are listed, with common names or acronyms plus citations provided. In the second, over 200 terms are concisely defined and situated specifically in relation to the day-to-day work of the museum professional, each cross-referenced to related definitions. In the third, ten additional topics are developed in depth, allowing the subtleties and complications to be examined and explained in an accessible plain-language manner. Further, the supplemental, in-focus section includes new chapters on museum deaccessioning and disposal, business structures, and worker classification and independent contractors in addition to updated chapters on topics ranging from intellectual property to business formation, tax-exempt status, and worker classification. Written by a past museum director with legal training, this reference book is intended to be kept within arm's reach at a desk and be the first stop for a professional whenever a question arises.

This book addresses the application of computing to cultural heritage and the discipline of Digital Humanities that formed around it. Digital Humanities research is transforming how the Human record can be transmitted, shaped, understood, questioned and imagined and it has been ongoing for more than 70 years. However, we have no comprehensive histories of its research trajectory or its disciplinary development. The authors make a first contribution towards remedying this by uncovering, documenting, and analysing a number of the social, intellectual and creative processes that helped to shape this research from the 1950s until the present day. By taking an oral history approach, this book explores questions like, among others, researchers' earliest memories of encountering computers and the factors that subsequently prompted them to use the computer in Humanities research. Computation and the Humanities will be an essential read for cultural and computing historians, digital humanists and those interested in developments like the digitisation of cultural heritage and artefacts. This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license

South African society has been refashioned since the first open elections were held in 1994; if democracy is the theory then transformation is the practice. This is apparent in the nation's museums, where collection and exhibition policies, staffs and audiences have been changed in fundamental ways. Such changes have impacted the range of these institutions, including those focusing on art, natural history and science, cultural history, local events, and military matters. Steven C. Dubin examines the various strategies museums have adopted to shed their former ideological biases and become more inclusive. This book also notes that in this process, museums have developed into lively centers of debate--noisy democratic forums recovering the past and generating fresh information, seasoned with a dash of controversy.

Managing Change in Museums and Galleries is the first practical book to provide guidance on how to deal with organisational change in museums, galleries or heritage organisations. Written by two authors who have direct experience of leading change, running change programmes and advising on change in more than 250 museums and galleries, the book identifies the various problems, issues and challenges that any professional in a museum or heritage organisation is likely to encounter and provides advice on how to deal with them. The book's six parts treat change holistically, and help the reader understand what change entails, prepare for it and lead it, ensure that everyone in the museum is involved, understand what can go wrong and evaluate and learn from it. Each chapter is devoted to a specific challenge that is often encountered during change and is extensively cross-referenced to other relevant chapters. Including a list of helpful resources and suggestions of useful publications for further reading, this book is a unique guide to change in museums. Managing Change in Museums and Galleries is an essential resource for all museum practitioners - whether they be the people in museums and galleries who are leading change, or those affected by change as a leader, a member of staff or a volunteer.

There is a call in Heritage Studies to democratize heritage practices and place local communities at the forefront; heritage plays an important role in identity formation, and therefore in social inclusion and exclusion. Public participation is often presented as the primary means to prioritize communities. Studies focusing on public participation are typically descriptive in nature, however these studies lack a strong analytical framework that enables us to understand participation. This series of studies contributes to a better understanding of public participation in the heritage sector by applying Public Administration theory on collaborative governance.

This book considers how we encounter and make meaning from extinction in diverse settings and cultures. It brings together an international and interdisciplinary range of scholars to consider how extinction is memorialised in museums and cultural institutions, through monuments, in literature and art, through public acts of ritual and protest, and in everyday practices. In an era in which species are becoming extinct at an unprecedented rate, we must find new ways to engage critically, creatively, and courageously with species loss. Extinction and Memorial Culture: Reckoning with Species Loss in the Anthropocene develops the conceptual tools to think in complex ways about extinctions and their aftermath, along with providing new insights into commemorating and mourning more-than-human lives. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of the environmental humanities, extinction studies, memorial culture, and the Anthropocene.

This edited volume contributes theories and international examples for advancing conservation practice and providing best practice for the field that center people in conservation and collections care.