Although I have been attending various museums throughout my life growing up, I find this question to be a bit difficult. Regarding the question of the “ideal museum”, I would say that it would be a place for education and preservation. Then again, each museum from what I’ve experienced had a specific theme or field of study that was displayed for the general public to learn and experience, be they natural history, the sciences, the history of man, local history, The history of aviation, or the history of the nation the museum resides in. All of these ideas play in what kind of museum would be ideal for the subject of focus and vice versa. Also, considering that many of these subjects tend to overlap in some or many areas, it can be difficult to determine what exactly can be the “Ideal Museum” following this context. We can simply define a museum like this as originally described: A repository for the preservation, research, and education of the past.
In this sense, perhaps a more ideal museum would be one that is able to rotate its collections for the public to witness and educate themselves, allow for the research of its collections and artifact in an ethical manner, and work together with other museums and research centers to preserve the history of the past and present.
What museum would you like to visit again when you travel and why?
Hi Michelle! I do like the idea or rotating the exhibits to showcase all kinds of different histories and cultures. I would visit either the First Americans Museum in OKC or the Museum of Science Body Exhibit in NJ. Both are extremely fascinating; I love all of the historical information in the FAM plus they have lots of interactive pieces. But the Science Body Exhibit has displays and interactive dioramas about the human body and each different part. They both has layouts that flowed very cohesively as well!
Hey Michelle, I also found it hard to answer the question, but like your idea of rotating exhibits. I think most museums whether it be science, history, art, etc. would like to do that, but just can’t keep up with inventory or have enough funds, I don’t know though. To answer your question, I haven’t visited many museums, but one I’d like to visit is Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, or maybe Wynwood walls, in Florida, just because I haven’t traveled much and those are places I’d like to possibly visit and explore!
I think that I would want to visit the Musical Instrument Museum in Arizona. It had instruments from places all over the world, and had a special exhibit with instruments from China. It was over all suuuuuper interesting, and I couldn’t spend nearly as long as I wanted to there.
Hi Michelle! I really like how you explained the educational importance of museums. I totally agree with you about that.
Even though I would totally revisit the museums in England in a heart beat, I would also like to revisit some of the museums back in Indiana where I lived for a short bit as a child. I don’t like that I’m losing some photo-memories of the museums over there, I only have the awe inspiration feeling from those memories. I would like to visit there again so I can remember and see what’s new at those museums.
Thanks for your post Michelle! I’m glad you also feel the struggle to define the ideal museum. I’m interested in your definition that includes a focus on the past – I hope we can discuss the role of the present and future in museums as well! I’d argue they play just an important role, if not more so than the past. For whom do we preserve the collections, if not the people of now and the future?