ARTH 222 History of Museums, Collecting and Museum Education (3)

This course explores the history of practices of collecting and display from roughly the early modern period in Europe through the Progressive Era in the United States (16th-early 20th centuries). Starting with the Cabinets of Curiosities, it will chart the collecting impulse through the rise of colonialism and the corresponding interest in the structuring of knowledge in the Enlightenment. The development of the ideals of the public museum will be grounded in the French Revolution and the spread of World’s Fairs. Progressive Era museum patronage in the United States and its corresponding issues around taste making and social class will also be discussed. For the remainder of the semester, starting with John Dewey, we will learn about the historical roots of Museum Education and Outreach programs and will evaluate to what degree museums today continue (and/or update) the goals under which their collections and programs were originally founded.