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READING PASSAGE 6
.
The Development of Museums
A
The conviction that historical relics provide infallible testimony about the past is rooted in the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries, when science was regarded as objective and value free. As one writer observes:
'Although it is now evident that artefacts are as easily altered as chronicles, public faith in their veracity
endures: a tangible relic seems ipso facto real.' Such conviction was,
until recently, reflected in museum
displays. Museums used to look - and some still do - much like storage rooms of objects packed together in
showcases: good for scholars who wanted to study the subtle differences in design, but not for the ordinary
visitor, to whom it all looked alike. Similarly, the information accompanying the objects often made
little sense to the lay visitor. The content and format of explanations dated back
to a time when the museum
was the exclusive domain of the scientific researcher.
B
Recently, however, attitudes towards history and the way it should be presented have altered. The key word in
heritage display is now 'experience', the more exciting the better and, if possible, involving all the senses.
Good examples of this approach in the UK are the Jorvik Centre in York; the National Museum of
Photography, Film and Television in Bradford; and the Imperial War Museum in London. In the
US the trend emerged much earlier: Williamsburg has been a prototype for many heritage
developments in
other parts of the world. No one can predict where the process will end. On so-called heritage sites the re-
enactment of historical events is increasingly popular, and computers will soon provide virtual reality
experiences, which will present visitors with a vivid image of the period of their choice, in which they
themselves can act as if part of the historical environment. Such developments have been criticised as an
intolerable vulgarisation, but the success of many historical theme parks and similar locations suggests that
the majority of the public does not share this opinion.
C
In
a related development, the sharp distinction between museum and heritage sites on the one hand,
and theme parks on the other, is gradually evaporating. They already borrow ideas and concepts from one
another. For example, museums have adopted story lines for exhibitions, sites have accepted 'theming'as
a relevant tool, and theme parks are moving towards more authenticity and research-based presentations.
In zoos, animals are no longer kept in cages, but in great spaces,
either in the open air
or in enormous greenhouses, such as the jungle and desert environments in Burgers'Zoo in Holland. This
particular trend is regarded as one of the major developments in the presentation of natural history in the
twentieth century.
D
Theme parks are undergoing other changes, too, as they try to present more serious social and cultural issues,
and move away from fantasy. This development is a response to market forces and, although museums and
heritage sites have a special, rather distinct, role to fulfil, they are
also operating in a
very competitive environment, where visitors make choices on how and where to spend their free time.
Heritage and museum experts do not have to invent stories and recreate historical environments to attract their
visitors: their assets are already in place. However, exhibits must be both based on artefacts and facts as we
know them, and attractively presented. Those who are professionally engaged in the art of interpreting history
are thus in a difficult position, as they must steer a narrow course between the demands
of 'evidence' and 'attractiveness', especially given the increasing need in the heritage industry for income-
generating activities.
E
It could be claimed that in order to make everything in heritage more 'real',
historical accuracy must
be increasingly altered. For example, Pithecanthropus erectus is depicted in an Indonesian museum with Malay
facial features, because this corresponds to public perceptions. Similarly, in the Museum of Natural History
in Washington, Neanderthal man is shown making a dominant gesture to his wife. Such presentations tell us
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more about contemporary perceptions of the world than about our ancestors. There is one compensation,
however, for the professionals who make these interpretations: if they did not provide
the interpretation, visitors would do it for themselves,
based on their own ideas, misconceptions and
prejudices. And no matter how exciting the result, it would contain a lot more bias than the
presentations provided by experts.
F
Human bias is inevitable, but another source of bias in the representation of history has to do with the
transitory nature of the materials themselves. The simple fact is that not everything from history survives the
historical process. Castles, palaces and cathedrals have a longer lifespan than the dwellings of ordinary people.
The same applies to the furnishings and other contents of the premises. In a town like Leyden in Holland,
which in the seventeenth century was occupied by approximately the same number of inhabitants as today,
people
lived within the walled town, an area more than five times smaller than modern Leyden. In most of the
houses several families lived together in circumstances beyond our imagination. Yet in museums,
fine period rooms give only an image of the lifestyle of the upper class of that era. No wonder that people who
stroll around exhibitions are filled with nostalgia; the evidence in museums indicates that life was so much
better in the past. This notion is induced by the bias in its representation in museums and heritage centres.
