ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Although we're getting a little far afield from the initial query, I wanted
to throw in an article I co-authored about a 1930s experiment in hands-on
learning in health museums that met quite a bit of resistance, the American
Museum of Health (the progenitor, more or less, of the late Cleveland
Museum of Health) . It's behind a paywall but I am happy to share a pdf
with anyone who is interested. The abstract and citation are below.

Erin

Am J Public Health. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22515866#> 2012
Jul;102(7):e27-36. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300560. Epub 2012 Apr 19.
"Here man learns about himself": visual education and the rise and fall of
the American Museum of Health.
McLeary E<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=McLeary%20E%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=22515866>,
Toon E<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Toon%20E%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=22515866>
.
Source

[log in to unmask]
Abstract

When the American Museum of Health (AMH) opened in 1939 at the World's
Fair, its popularity convinced its organizers that the AMH was merely the
first in a nationwide network of health museums. The AMH's organizers had
imported an approach to health education developed in Germany, which
promoted health as a positive attribute through interactive, visually
impressive displays that relied on clarity and simplicity-as epitomized by
the "Transparent Man"-to encourage a feeling of wonder among exhibit goers.
However, other museum professionals rejected this approach, and the AMH
failed to catalyze a broad health museum movement. Nevertheless, the notion
that presenting the body as an object of wonder will improve the public's
health has reappeared in the more recent past, as popular anatomical shows
claim that exposing the interior of the human body will convince viewers to
live healthier lives.



On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Matthew White <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Charles,
>
> I believe their book is due out soon. From the Karen Rader's faculty
> website at Virginia Commonwealth:
>
> "Rader is currently co-authoring a book with Victoria Cain (NYU, Museum
> Studies), provisionally titled Life on Display: Revolutionizing Museums of
> Natural History and Science in America, 1910-90 (under contract with
> University of Chicago Press).  Life on Display looks at how ongoing efforts
> to create popular educational displays compelled public natural history and
> science museums in the United States to develop new institutional
> identities twentieth-century science and American culture."
>
> Sadly,  I worked with her on a panel this summer and the subject didn't
> come up. I think it should be out within the year or sooner.
>
> As an aside the history of science in museums is currently a very busy
> field in the academic press as part of work being done in what is called
> Public Science. There have been a lot of good articles and books in the
> last decade. I mentioned working with Dr.Rader this summer. That was for a
> panel at the International Congress for the History of Science, Technology,
> and Medicine in Manchester UK. Here is a link to the program for that panel
> complete with abstracts.
> http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/guide/s/S008.html All of the speakers
> (except me, sigh.) have really good articles available on some topic
> related to the history of museums, zoos, aquaria, etc. I already mentioned
> the special section of Isis devoted to science museums. I would also
> recommend work done by Bernie Lightman,  Aileen Fyfe, and Iwan Morus, all
> on popular science in Victorian England. I especially like Morus's
> Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition, and Experiment in
> Early-Nineteenth-Century England. Morus  has written a lot on the role of
> spectacle in science and though he doesn't always explicitly connect the
> dots, it doesn't take Dan Brown to see the continuity between modern
> practice in contemporary science centers and Victorian galleries.  At the
> aforementioned ICHSTM,  Morus and Fyfe participated in a living history
> presentation recreating many of the public demonstrations and exhibitions
> from the Victorian period. From an academic stand point it was wonderful to
> see a presentation of academic work created to educate and entertain the
> public. As a veteran of hands on learning in museums of science and
> technology I thought it needed polish, so I hope they get lots of practice.
>
> On the American side I would also recommend almost anything by Sally
> Gregory Kohlstedt, but her Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study
> in North America, 1890-1930, is wonderful. It doesn't sound at first blush
> to be about science museums, but museums were major players in this
> movement, and she illustrates nicely that museums have been involved with
> public education for a very long time. It is not necessarily a recent
> phenomenon.
>
> Anyway, I could write about this all day. (and I have to if I ever what to
> finish my dissertation) Like I said, this is a very vibrant field right now
> in academia. It's a shame the two world's are not more connected.
>
> Matthew White
> On Sep 1, 2013, at 10:03 PM, Charles Carlson <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> >
> *****************************************************************************
> >
> > Hi Matthew,
> > Thanks for posting.  I hadn't seen it, and I wondered what happened with
> the research.
> > C
> > On Sep 1, 2013, at 6:23 PM, Matthew White <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>
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