This vibrant new collection edited by Viviane Gosselin and Phaedra Livingstone explores the central role of museums as memory keepers and makers.

The idea of historical consciousness - how our conception of the past informs our sense of the present and of the future - is of growing importance for cultural institutions in North America. Using case studies and observations that emerge from a Canadian context, Museums and the Past considers how the modern museum fosters public perceptions of history.

Contributors focus on the relationship between historical consciousness and museum practice and reflect on the challenges of transforming museums into dynamic civic labs and meaningful places of memory and learning. The result is an engaging range of perspectives on the contemporary museum's pedagogical and ethical responsibilities.

This vibrant examination of the museum's role as contemporary narrator of our past reveals that our perceptions of history and ourselves are shaped as much by how a museum presents information as by what information it presents.

About the Author

Viviane Gosselin is curator of contemporary culture at the Museum of Vancouver and associate researcher at the UBC Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness.

Phaedra Livingstone is a museologist who has worked in, taught about, and conducted research on museums and heritage settings internationally since 1990.

Contributors: Susan Ashley, Jill Baird, Jennifer Carter, Pierre-Luc Collin, Claire Cousson, Lucie Daignault, Lon Dubinsky, Damara Jacobs-Morris, Robert R. Janes, Simon Knell, Marie-Claude Larouche, Lianne McTavish, Del Muise, Laurajane Smith, and Brenda Trofanenko

Reviews

Viviane Gosselin and Phaedra Livingstone have created, for the first time ever, a book that looks at the relationship between museums and the concept of historical consciousness. In doing so, they are pioneering both museological and historical literature, and greatly contributing to an under-researched field.

-- Cintia Velazquez Marroni * Museum Management and Curatorship *



Book Information
ISBN 9780774830621
Author Viviane Gosselin
Format Paperback
Page Count 312
Imprint University of British Columbia Press
Publisher University of British Columbia Press