Are Local Museums Relevant Today?

Why were local museums created in our communities? Is it a dated concept not relevant to today?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jane King on December 2, 2010 at 2:00pm

Mmm Anna, a provocative question...
Many of our community museums in WA were started up in response to key national at state events such as the sesqui-centenary (1979), the bi-centenary (1988) etc, and responded to a need to preserve what many saw as our disappearing history. (Sorry, I know this is a bit simplistic.)
Today, the need to preserve or capture historic moments, or to tell a story, is often fullfuilled through many other media and platforms, particularly digital ones. One could argue the rise of the popularity of social media sites is our reponse to this phenomenon.
The challenge for local community museums is to retain their relevance in an increasingly digital world. One could argue their point of difference (USP) is that they really are 3D! The local musuems and collections that survive and thrive will be the ones able to bridge that divide, by not seeing digital platforms as the enemy, but rather a very useful ally.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Crane on December 2, 2010 at 4:55pm

Hi Jane,

Thanks for your comments.
I want to bring alive this site with interesting controversial questions and get people talking. Great ideas come from this. Does anyone out there have interesting stories of how their museum was started?

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Permalink Reply by Anna Crane on February 15, 2011 at 6:09pm

Thanks Stephen...very interesting...

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Thompson on February 23, 2011 at 12:02pm

Anna- The regional museums I work with were begun for variety of reasons- usually nostalgia for a romanticised past, celebrating a community or an event anniversary. Most teeter on closure because there was no over the horizon planning for sustainability.

I think Jane is right. The museum volunteers and staff that embrace digitisation and social media might be the ones who survive and even thrive. This would include a conceptual shift of what a 'museum' is. Lots of community museums might actually reach a larger and wider audience if they digitised their collection and ran their museum as a virtual one. Then they wouldn't have to worry about the logistics of running a 'bricks and mortar' museum with its ongoing running costs and staffing headaches in keeping it 'open' to the public who usually don't visit in great numbers anyway. Then they could focus their resources on strategic planning, collections management, research, online interpretation and audience development. Furthering regional networks such as C.A.N. and Museums Australia would give them more clout too. But then what would I know I am just a hologram...

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Permalink Reply by Anna Crane on March 4, 2011 at 2:47pm

Great comment Stephen. Are you really a hologram?

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Thompson on March 7, 2011 at 9:35am

Hi Anna- not a hologram as such but I am involved in virtual museums and community inclusiveness. I find those museums and galleries who embrace the 'new' are utterly relevant to a wider online community when they learn to train their interpretation to satisfying the needs of certain audience groups like schools and special interest communities.

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Permalink Reply by Andrew S. Bowman on August 16, 2011 at 10:43pm

Hi Anna,

Many local museums I'm familiar with were historical societies first. A museum often followed as a natural progression. Jane and Stephen seem to have covered well the reasons on why they were formed.

I think they're highly relevant. No two communities have a common history. They all have their own past, their own stories, disasters and victories. Even for the historical events that touched every community - there is a different impact, slant and voice in each locality.

Furthermore, if local museums were relevant 30 years ago then I'd argue they're even more relevant now. They now have another 30 years of history, stories, experiences and objects to share! The story goes on.

The internet definitely offers new opportunities. It allows museums to put themselves out there so people can discover their existence. It also provides a form of publishing that has the potential to reach an extreme number of people.