ARTH 501 Museums: History and Practice (Not offered 1999-2000)

This course will examine the history of museums in Europe and America, focusing on historical traditions and current expectations affecting museum operations today. Beginning with a series of introductory lectures, the remainder of the class will be devoted to the study of a number of institutions through reports prepared by individual students or student teams. Museum governance and administration, acquisition and collections management, the role of exhibitions and other interpretive programming will all be addressed, as will the museum's social responsibility as both a scholarly and public institution. Evaluation will be based on the oral presentation and a term paper.

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