The museum website that I will be reviewing is the National Archives. The mission statement for this museum is to keep and maintain all the important documents, legal and historical, pertaining to American history and keep those documents in a safe environment so they can be used and learned from.
This website does a wonderful job of catering to everyone’s needs from the general public to researchers to genealogists to teachers. It has something for everyone and is set up so that everyone can find just what they are looking for. It also has a way of narrowing the subject from a broad over view of something to a specific book or document that a person needs. The links are very clear and let the person looking know exactly what is under the title and if they will find what they are looking for. For instance I found the mission statement in about 15 seconds. Usually mission statements are much harder to find than that. It is also helpful that the general architecture of the page is repeated in all the sub pages after you click on something on the home page, the links are always on the left the information you want to know in the middle and the search bar on the right.
Another handy tool that is on the main page is the “Español” button at the top. I think that this is a great addition to the page because as a country that harbors many languages it makes the page so much more accessible to people who may not speak or read English the best or at all.
I think that this website helps further the mission statement because it makes important documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution available for everyone without having to travel to Washington D.C. to see them. Also with its online exhibits people can learn at home and see the exhibits again without having to travel to see them. Also having an online exhibit gives it a sense of interactivity and the person looking is more involved because they can choose what to look at and what to pass up.
Over all I think that this website is a great example of what museums should be doing, it is easy to navigate and the wording is simple so that everyday people can understand what they are looking at. It is consistent in its architecture and language and really brings the reader and audience into the museum without actually having to be there.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Music is a Connecton to the Past, Don't Lose it!
In the article “Museum Sets the Stage for Strings and Horns” by Daniel J. Wakin, he talks about the exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, focusing on stringed and wind instruments. Some of the article focuses on the renovation of the gallery and the history of the collection. The collection of musical instruments has been in the Met since 1889. The museum needed a proper place to show the collection and the gallery that it was supposed to be housed in had not been renovated in over 40 years. With the excuse of roof repairs the museum was able to shut down that gallery and refurbish so that it could properly display the collection. The collection has been expanded to include some items that most people have never seen and wouldn’t have seen if they were not displayed. Sadly however the entire collection could not be in the renovated space, many instruments have to be kept in the old, out dated cases.
Wakin goes on to talk about the place of instruments in museums, whether they should be considered art or historical objects. They could also be used to show technological advances in a culture or be used in anthropological ways. Yet the article makes the point that instruments are the makers of music and as such belong in an art or music museum. The exhibit itself features some key musicians along with other key figures in music history.
The article then moves to musical instrument galleries in danger and new ones moving in. One of the most noted music gallery shut downs happened in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London where they closed it to make more room for their fashion exhibits. They plan to break down their collection and give pieces to other British institutions that can use them. Conversely there is a new musical instrument museum opening in Phoenix focusing on Global traditions.
The rest of the article focuses on the collection itself boasting over 5,000 instruments and lists many of the oddities that reside in the collection, such as a narwhal tusk that can be a clarinet or a flute or also a walking stick, Benny Goodman’s last clarinet, a Stradivarius Violin, a harpsichord built in Rome and the oldest piano in existence.
Over all I found this article to be very enlightening and enjoyable. It brought to light some very interesting points of view and showed the public some things that most people wouldn’t think to put in a museum like musical instruments. I think that this is a great idea for a museum to have a musical instrument collection because it really helps embody history in a way. People in the past really did not have a lot to do so they listened to music. The instruments themselves provide that physical connection and it is something that we today can relate to, music.
Wakin goes on to talk about the place of instruments in museums, whether they should be considered art or historical objects. They could also be used to show technological advances in a culture or be used in anthropological ways. Yet the article makes the point that instruments are the makers of music and as such belong in an art or music museum. The exhibit itself features some key musicians along with other key figures in music history.
The article then moves to musical instrument galleries in danger and new ones moving in. One of the most noted music gallery shut downs happened in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London where they closed it to make more room for their fashion exhibits. They plan to break down their collection and give pieces to other British institutions that can use them. Conversely there is a new musical instrument museum opening in Phoenix focusing on Global traditions.
The rest of the article focuses on the collection itself boasting over 5,000 instruments and lists many of the oddities that reside in the collection, such as a narwhal tusk that can be a clarinet or a flute or also a walking stick, Benny Goodman’s last clarinet, a Stradivarius Violin, a harpsichord built in Rome and the oldest piano in existence.
Over all I found this article to be very enlightening and enjoyable. It brought to light some very interesting points of view and showed the public some things that most people wouldn’t think to put in a museum like musical instruments. I think that this is a great idea for a museum to have a musical instrument collection because it really helps embody history in a way. People in the past really did not have a lot to do so they listened to music. The instruments themselves provide that physical connection and it is something that we today can relate to, music.
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