Museology

Museology, or museum studies (also known in older sources as museography), is the study of museums, museum curation, and how museums developed into their institutional role in education through social and political forces.

Overview

Museum displays are given meaning and purpose by the context in which they are created and how they are showcased; museology endeavours to discover the catalysts that support the growth of these associations and their success through such efficiencies. The scope of research goes beyond superficial terms, delving further into topics such as audiences to which exhibits are directed, responsibilities encountered by way of function, as well as some deliberation as to possible futures as an institution. The difficulties that are faced by historians and curators to produce a product that appeals to a varied public and can withstand criticism stimulates ongoing research.

Conception of museums

Public museums were created to replace private collections by displaying collected works where the general public could profit from a shared experience. The study of art, artifacts, and every object imaginable was to become more accessible to everyone, a means of discovery and wonder. In origin, the idea dates back to classical times, but publicly funded foundations can only be traced back a few hundred years. The curiosity cabinet is the earliest form of a museum in Western civilization.(Museum Origins: Readings in Early Museum History and Philosophy (2008) by Hugh H Genoways and Mary Anne Andrei)

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