Essay - Museum Methods Museum is Usually a Non-profit Organization with Intent...

Museum Methods museum is usually a non-profit organization with intent to provide education and enlightenment by the organized collection, preservation, interpretation and exhibit of items deemed to be ***** interest to the public or community. H*****torically, museums have evolved as collaborative projects to house collected works ga*****red for the appreciation of the current and future generations in our society. However, such definitions cannot be regarded as the l*****t word on the definiti***** of the term 'museum', for ***** same *****ons could ***** applied to such institutions as zoos, arboretums, nature centers, visitor centers, historical places and planetariums. In short, the museum concept remains hard to pin down:

Museums are more than the repositories of the past, with memories and objects both rare and beautiful. Museums are cultural, educational, and civic centers in our communities - centers for exhibition, conservation, research, and *****terpretation; they are theaters and movie houses, job-training programs, schools ***** day-care *****, libraries and concert halls (Pitman, 1).

As this statement from Bonnie Pitman suggests, a wide range ***** definitions exists for what museums are and what they do. Most definitions include the permanent preservation ***** public display of significant cultural, *****, scientific and artistic *****. In particular, public perceptions of ***** have tended to focus on their role as repositories and showcases for the latter; as Harold Skramstad has commented, 'When journalists and others outside the museum field speak of "**********," ***** are generally referring to art museums' (Skramstad, 111). As a definition of a museum's purpose, however, this is very vague, given that the ***** of ***** is so loosely translated in our culture. A more precise definition might be found in consideration of ***** fact that conservation and collection is usually a requirement in defining the measure of a museum - a definition that raises the question of methodology as much as *****.

The International Council of Museums follows ***** model in the standards it applies to the ********** structure, responsibil*****ies, classification and research that form the science ***** museology ***** ***** discipline of museography - the techniques ***** ***** used in the operation and practice of museum science. This approach can be viewed as a starting point in ***** ***** categorization ***** museums, but boundaries still remain blurred ***** controversy continues both within the museum professional and in wider society on the classifications of museum types.

One way out of this problem is ***** define anything as a museum th*****t calls itself a museum. The wide applicability of the term in this sense is reflected in the ***** that in our modern world, many people with individual collections ***** personal interest have established institution they refer to as museums. These museums are compilations of thematic objects that ***** offered ***** individuals seeking approval and admiration ***** the public for the displayed works. With an endless array of *****matic museums in almost e***** city, ***** represent*****g most hobbies ********** topics ***** placed the ***** museum on private ***** involving object accumulation and presentation. This use