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Review: The Fate of Anatomical Collections, edited by Rina Knoeff and Robert Zwijnenberg
Book review of The Fate of Anatomical Collections, by Rina Knoeff & Robert Zwijnenberg
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Functionless
Displays of instruments in science museums are closer to those of decorative arts artefacts than to the presentation of real functional and practical objects. This article offers a critique and suggests a path forward to go beyond functionless objects.
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Challenges of conservation: working objects
A review of conservation concepts and practice, and provision of access to objects. Discussion of the conservation issues which arise when industrial objects are operated, and of the need for research into the effects of operation and the visitor experience.
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Curating Ocean Ecology at the Natural History Museum: Miranda Lowe and Richard Sabin in conversation with Pandora Syperek and Sarah Wade
Curators Miranda Lowe and Richard Sabin discuss a major redisplay at the Natural History Museum, London, featuring ‘Hope’ the blue whale skeleton, in relation to extinction narratives, ideals of authenticity, anthropomorphism and the crossover of art and science.
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Curating Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries
The curators of Medicine: The Wellcome Galleries reflect on their experiences of creating these significant new displays at the Science Museum in London.
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Understanding storm surges in the North Sea: Ishiguro’s electronic modelling machine
An introduction to one of the star objects in Mathematics: The Winton Gallery, an electronic storm surge modelling machine.
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Ventriloquised voices: the Science Museum and the Hartree Differential Analyser
This paper proposes the analogy of ventriloquism as a way of extending the discussion about how objects speak and are used to tell different stories to audiences in museums as ‘material polyglots’. It explores how the Science Museum has changed the voices, stories, and physical and instrumental functions of a particular object – the ‘Trainbox’ version of the Douglas Hartree’s Differential Analyser – since it was collected in 1949.
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‘Organising Sound’: how a research network might help structure an exhibition
In 2015, the Science Museum, with the University of Nottingham and Royal College of Music, arranged three workshops to explore potential themes and contents for future exhibitions about science, technology and music. This article reports and reflects on the proceedings.
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A symposium on histories of use and tacit skills
The histories of use of the objects in museum collections, and the unrecorded skills of their operation, have posed pressing research questions for museum people and university scholars alike. This symposium drew together different perspectives on this emerging area of study.
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Wounded – an exhibition out of time
Calling on the Science Museum’s First World War exhibition Wounded: Conflict, Casualties and Care, this article outlines the challenges of curating a coherent display within such a vast context. It also explores how the narrative and interpretive approaches taken were influenced by an earlier, unrealised proposal – one whose bold concept was reflected in the rewarding and sometimes unexpected qualities that emerged in the final exhibition.