MUSEUM IRELAND 2020
Museums in a Changing World J. Patrick Greene
The museum of the past must be set aside,
under proper direction, and as managed in modern
reconstructed, transformed from a cemetery of bric-
times, museums become the most ready and
a-brac to a nursery of living thoughts. The museum of
effectual means of communicating the knowledge
the future must stand side by side with the library and
and practical experience of the experienced few, to
the laboratory.
many who, under less favourable circumstances,
Smithsonian curator George Brown Goode, 1889
are engaged in, or mean to enter upon, those useful pursuits of life which depend more or less
In thinking about the theme of the 2020 Irish
directly upon a knowledge of the peculiarities of
Museums Association conference, Transforming
the raw materials that Nature furnishes to usâ.
Museums, we were encouraged to ponder the above views of George Brown Goode of the Smithsonian.
The debate implicit in these remarks about
His words strike a note that is as relevant today as
whether museums should be about amusement or
it was when he penned them in 1889. The ideas of
instruction will strike a chord with any museum
museum pioneers are worth examining, as they
director today who is asked the perennial question,
frequently surprise us with their prescience.
âis your museum more about entertainment or education?â My answer is always âbothâ; McCoy
When I took up my role as CEO of Museums
came to the same conclusion 164 years ago.
Victoria in Australia in 2002, I was intrigued by
Although expressed in rather condescending
the thoughts of its first Director, an Irishman
terms, his words nonetheless captured the
called Frederick McCoy who was also one of the
essence of what a museum could be. He quickly
four foundation professors of the University of
assembled specimens of timber and minerals
Melbourne. In an address to the Philosophical
that might prove useful to the new colony. He
Society in Melbourne in 1856, he drew heavily
also commissioned superb models showing gold
on his knowledge of museum developments in
mining techniques to inform the thousands of
Europe, applauding the recent opening of what
people flooding into Victoria who were heading for
he termed âGovernment Museumsâ such as the
the goldfields. The Museum as a source of useful
Museum of Economic Geology and the Museum
information for a varied public was a concept
of Irish Industry. He commented that âeven the
that provided me with a sense of direction when I
better-informed classes of the public cling to
started as his distant successor in 2002.
the old notion of a museum being at best a place merely of innocent amusement of schoolboys
In this paper I will present a few examples of ways
and idlersâ. However, âwithin the last few years
in which museums that are known to me rise to
our countrymen are beginning to find out that,
the challenges of our times. I begin with Norton
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