Opinion
What natural science collections can tell us
I was slightly alarmed by these lines in the Museums 2020 consultation document: “In spite of growing understanding that conservation is the management of change, the museum attitude to collections preservation still tends to be one of aiming to utterly minimise change to collections, and eliminate natural ageing and wear and tear, whatever the cost. …
We must support regional curatorship
Are regional museums sleepwalking into a situation in which university expertise replaces curatorial research? This question was recently debated by over 100 curators, directors, students, representatives of auction houses and grant-giving bodies at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. It was organised by Birmingham Museums Trust and the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Advanced Studies, …