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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Try:
Rader, Karen A, and Victoria E.M Cain. "From Natural History to Science: Display and the Transformation of American Museums of Science and Nature." Museums and Society 6, no. 2 (2008): 152 - 171
Available as PDF: http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/museumstudies/museumsociety/documents/volumes/radercain.pdf
Here is the abstract:
This paper explains how and why many American museums of science and
nature moved away from the traditional content and methods of natural history
in the period from 1930 to 1980. It explores diverse motivations for the shift from
dead, stuffed displays to live, interactive exhibits, and the consequences of that
shift for museums as both educational institutions and as institutions of research.
Ultimately, it argues that debates over museums’ content and display strategies
drew strength from and reinforced a profound transformation in the institutional
history of twentieth-century American science and technology: namely, the
separation of research and public education. By the late 1960s, the American
museum landscape had been transformed by this development. Older natural
history museums competed for visitors and resources with ‘new’ style science
museums, and although both remained popular cultural institutions, neither had
achieved a coherent new institutional identity because debates about the role of
the museum in science continued. Thus, we suggest, in the mid-twentieth
century natural history and science museums were more important in both the
history of biology and the history of science’s public culture than has previously
been acknowledged.
There are lots of great articles on specific museums and education/display. There was also a special section of the History of Science Society's Journal Isis on the history of science and museums. The full reference is: Isis, Vol. 96, No. 4, December 2005
Good luck,
Matthew White
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> All,
>
> I am co-teaching a course at Penn this year entitled "The Informal Learning Experience" (which is WAY COOL!!). I am looking for one or two articles (not books) about the history/evolution of science museums. Any suggestions?
>
> Nancy
>
> Nancy Peter, Ed.D.
> Director, Out-of-School Time Resource Center
> 3815 Walnut Street
> University of Pennsylvania
> Philadelphia, PA 19104
> 215-898-0640
> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> www.sp2.upenn.edu/ostrc<http://www.sp2.upenn.edu/ostrc>
>
>
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
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