Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge / Edition 1

by Eileen Hooper Greenhill

Overview

Museums have been active in shaping knowledge over the last six hundred years. Yet what is their function within today's society? At the present time, when funding is becoming increasingly scarce, difficult questions are being asked about the justification of museums. Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge presents a critical survey of major changes in current assumptions about the nature of museums. Through the examination of case studies, Eilean Hooper-Greenhill reveals a variety of different roles for museums in the production and shaping of knowledge. Today, museums are once again organising their spaces and collections to present themselves as environments for experimental and self-directed learning.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415070317
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/23/1992
Series:	Heritage Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)
Lexile:	1350L (what's this?)

About the Author

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill is Lecturer in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 What is a museum?; Chapter 2 The first museum of Europe?; Chapter 3 The palace of the prince; Chapter 4 The irrational cabinet; Chapter 5 The ‘cabinet of the world’; Chapter 6 The Repository of the Royal Society; Chapter 7 The disciplinary museum; Chapter 8 A useful past for the present;