For Museums.

I love museums – there that is out. I have been associated with them all my life – as a donor to at least five, associated with their research with three, published in their Records and as a Board Member for one.

I love that they use physical objects to tell a story. They can have art galleries and libraries and archives attached – they are often a good fit - but none are necessary. It is physical objects that are their heart. Their essential nature lies around those objects.

They need a building to protect them – from decay, theft – and that building itself has to be protected, from fire, decay, earthquake – a suitable place for guarding taonga – treasures.

The collections need to be catalogued, by someone who knows enough to adequately describe them and they need to be available for experts to study and, within reason, to anyone else who develops an interest in them.

A Museum needs its public interface, through displays that engage its public. It does not need to display anything close to all it owns. Better somewhat selective and with some overall structuring as to themes / stories.  But celebrate the best of your collections, the most intriguing things about your town / district / region / country / people / flora / fauna, past and present. Dare to be different. Displays date – they need periodic refreshing, contemporary events and trends often give a steer as to what and when.

Engagement is not just displays. Membership programmes, social media presence, honorary officers, links to other educational institutions (joint positions for instance) are all opportunities. Educational links need special displays and programmes.

Museum buildings need to advertise themselves, so a prominent location and a shopfront are good, but behind that shopfront, flexibility is a bonus. A big shed is great for making and renewing displays, unencumbered by windows, by architectural excrescence. The overall displays need to be arranged so there is some rationality in the circulation of visitors. Some may use a floor map but most have some expectation of what is near to what and seek to follow that.

A Museum needs a source of funding. It needs connections into organisations that will fund it. It needs governance that enhances its credibility with such a community. Sponsorships follow your reputation.

A Museum needs Governance that helps to guard the institution and the collections. Being on the board should be a privilege for the active, not a place of late life status. Executives are important so get a good one but they can go off in strange directions alienating communities and donors. Curators can abuse their position by competing with the Museum for items for their private collections or worse stealing for satisfaction or profit. They all need to be within a structure with controls and ethical expectations.

Museums need a collection policy so they are not dumping grounds.

Desirably if they are big enough, a Museum will employ some experts to study and conserve the collections and research the parts of the world relevant to the collections. Where specialist conservation is needed to preserve objects, that will be undertaken or commissioned.

Museums have a history. It will have supporters in the community who live that history and have long been a part of it, starting from the likes of school visits. Often museums start early in colonial history. Ports, churches, parks, roads, schools, railways, libraries, markets, exchanges were ambitions of settlers and museums were an early part of that. They were emplaced by the power structures and ambitions of our early towns. They can reflect the values held then. That was not always good. Some collections were obtained unethically. Māori and other ethnic collections were valued as curiosities – as representing ‘other’ rather than ‘us’ so cultural values and proprieties were given no account. Museums have worked to correct this, but there is still space to cover.

 

You want to be involved in one? – great, at any level it can be rewarding.

You want to start one? – well, read the above again – a collection is a great place to start but a museum is more than a collection. More we do not need more local museums of collections of everything. Be different.