Talking About Museums

8/12/2019 Talking About Museums

1/10

Oral istory Society

Talking about Museums: The Insider's VoiceAuthor(s): Stuart Davies and Crispin PaineSource: Oral History, Vol. 32, No. 2, Memory and Society (Autumn, 2004), pp. 54-62Published by: Oral History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40179799.

Accessed: 01/04/2014 03:53

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Oral History Societyis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Oral History.

http://www.jstor.org

Thi t t d l d d f 182 185 224 57 T 1 A 2014 03 53 44 AM
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ohshttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40179799?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40179799?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ohs


2/10

T LKING BOUT MUSEUMS:T H INSIDER SO I Eby Stuart Davies and Crispin Paine[ABSTRACT This paper describes a pilot projectto record the reminiscences of sometwenty senior museum curators, apparently he first significantuse of oralhistory in studying the history of museums as institutions and culturalplayers. The aim of the project was to identifythe major changes in themuseums sector inthe UKoverthe past generation, in orderto help predictfuture trends. The methodology used is discussed in relation both to theproject's aims, and to the role of oral history in researching the historyofprofessions. Some of the issues raised bythe interviewers- including hevastlygreaterpopularity f museums, the decline of the curatorand of schol-arship, the impact of 'managerialism'- are discussed and related to theparticularperspective of the interviewees.

KEYWORDS:museum;profession; oralhistory; curator;management

Thispaperdescribesbrieflya project nitiated n2003 by Resource: the Council for Museums,Libraries& Archives1 o interview a selectionof senior museum curators. The aim of theproject was not just to elicit interestingremi-niscences, but to tease out what have been themain driversof change n the sector,what thosechanges have been and what pointers to thefuturethey might suggest.2Despite the numberof museums nvolved n oralhistorywork,bothas a research tool and as a way of supportingand underpinning exhibitions3, this seems tohave beenits firstsignificantuse in studying hehistoryof museums as institutionsand culturalplayers.4The museums sector and professionmaybetypical of some of the lower-profileprofessionalcommunities,and indeed of moreloosely structured professions'such as artisticcommunities or archaeologists. They are notexactly invisible,but they do not meticulouslyrecord or document their own developmentascommunities in the same way as some of thelarger professions. They do not have theresources, for one thing, but they also seemless inclined to create their owncomprehensive archive.5 Nor do museumhistories claim much attention from academic

historians. Constructingmuseum histories,ifonly as the basis for making predictionsabouttheir likely futures, is therefore all the moredifficult.The value of this project as history has ofcourse to be considered. The projectwas notintended to be more than a pilot, but becausethis is relativelynew ground (for museums inparticular, but also for small public sectorprofessions in general) it deservesdescriptionandanalysis.The approachwas veryfree-form,as befits a scoping studywhere we wereunsurehow the chosen interviewees would respond.We intended that the product would not bestand-alone; n any serious attempt to use theinterviews to write history theywould have tobe combined with other sources. These othersourcesmaybe problematical oo. Theyconsisteither of drybureaucratic ecordsof actions oractivities, or contributionsto the professionalpress (principally the monthly MuseumsJournal)where institutional r personalpromo-tion may skew the evidence. Professionalsareusually intelligent and well educated people,who guard heirreputations ven in retirement.Conscious, as well as unconscious, bias is anever-presentssue.Ininterviewing enior- or formerly enior-

54 ORAL HISTORY Autumn2004

This content downloaded from 182.185.224.57 on Tue, 1 Apr 2014 03:53:44 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/10

membersof the museumsprofessionwe can ofcourse be accusedof seeking only the view ofthe elite. The modern collection and study ofpersonal recollections is usually held to havebegunwith the establishmentof the ColumbiaUniversityOralHistoryproject n 1948, whichcollectedthe reminiscencesof majorfigures ncontemporaryAmericanpublic life - a kind oforalappendix o theirpublishedmemoirs.6Oralhistory has tended to move away from thisapproachand to focuson thosewho have no orlittle written testimony, or whose history iswrittenbyothers.In the case of senior museumfigures here s somejustification orrecording'the elite' because very few publish memoirs,Pope-Hennessy7,Strong8 nd Atkinson9beingnotableexceptions.Thereare othergood reasonsfor interview-ing 'theelite'of themuseumsworld.Theyhavein their heads knowledge and informationwhichmaynot havebeenput down in writing,or the written record may be inaccurate ormisleadingandonlytheymayknow the truth.10Morepractically, xploringthe oral historyofexperiencedmuseumpractitionersmay have acontribution to make to the training andmentoring of younger professionals or newrecruits.It mayhelp them to discuss strategicdecision-making: the relationships betweenpolicy,personalvaluesandethicalissues."Theprofessionsareknowledge-based ccu-pations12ndso it is legitimate o examinewhatknowledge heyhave,how theyuse it andwhatare their professionalpreoccupations.Knowl-edgegivespeoplelike ourseniormuseumcura-torstheircredentialsandstatus n society.Howfar,we might fairlyask, do they use these todemocratisemuseumsand open themup to aswidea publicas possible- in linewithcontem-porary hinkingaboutthe purposeof museumsin society?Or do theyuse their knowledgetoprotecta more traditionalposition - securingcollections for futuregenerations,using theirjudgement ndwisdomto achievea longer-termsocialgood?Thecurrent trong nterest n lead-ership training indicates that the seniormuseumprofessional s recognisedas havingacriticalrole in the development of museums.Oral history is a technique that surely has aplace in articulating and understanding thatrole.METHODOLOGYWe drewup a list of potentialpeople to inter-view,choosing mostly people who had retiredfairlyrecently,and who had been in compara-tivelyseniorpositions,andwerethusin a posi-tionto havehada good overviewof the sector.Thedrawbackwas,of course,thatbydefinitionthey had had fairly - in some cases very -

successfulcareers,which gave them a particu-lar perspective perhaps not shared bycolleagues whose careers had stalled. Weincluded people from local government,nationaland charitablerustmuseums,and alsoconservators, ducationofficers,designers,andcuratorsfrom a varietyof backgrounds:histo-rians, archaeologists, art gallery people, andnaturaland earth scientists.The interviewer,CrispinPaine,is a formercurator,now a freelance museum consultant,who spent many years workingin and for theArea Museum Councils, government-fundedbodies which promoted and supportedmuseums for forty yearsfrom the 1960s untilthe early years of this century.As a result heknew most of the intervieweespersonally,andmanyof themgavehimgeneroushospitality.13This personalrelationshiphad both advan-tagesanddisadvantages.Oneof theadvantageswas that he could steer the interviewtowardsareasthat he knewintervieweeshadexperienceof. Moreover,he could occasionallychallengetheinterviewee,when the latter's laims seemedlikeretrospective ustification.One interviewee,for example, seemed to be claiming to havesingle-handedlyurnedarounda failing nstitu-tion; t was possibleby dropping n gentleques-tions to uncover some of the othercontributions o these improvements.Anotherwas proud of his role in introducing modernmanagementpracticesto a NationalMuseum.But did that really improve the service thepublic received, or the care given the collec-tions? Well, no, perhapsnot: 'it is difficult tosaythatthe servicegiventhenwas not as goodas the service given now'. Moreover, ntervie-wees could assumea considerablebackgroundknowledge on the interviewer's part, whichavoided a lot of unnecessaryexplanationandintroduction.The principal disadvantageof interviewerand intervieweeknowing each other well wasclearly heneed fora certain act- on both sides- but particularly on the interviewee's. Oneinterviewee, for example, had long felt thatArea MuseumCouncilshad too much power,and could no doubt have discussed that moreforcefullywith a different interviewer.Othersmight have spokenmorefranklyabout formercolleagues to someone who was sure not toknow them.14Another disadvantage was no doubt thatinterviewer and interviewee shared bothconscious and unconscious prejudices,whichthereforewentunchallenged. twas a giventhatmuseumswerea good thing,thatpublicmoneywas rightly penton them,thatcollectionswereat the heartof museumsandshouldbe inalien-able, and so forth.

Autumn2004 ORAL HISTORY 55



4/10

Interviewees'careers hadwitnessed anincrease inmuseums' links toeducation. Photo:HuddersfieldExaminer.

A list of aroundthirty nterviewcandidateswas drawn up, based on the authors' knowl-edge of the sectorand of the peoplewho mightbe able to provide an interesting overview ofmuseum developments during the period oftheir careers. Twenty were eventually inter-viewed. Time was the principalconstraint,butone had moved abroad, one was unwell, andtwo people declined, because since retirementthey had moved on to other interests. Mostwere museum professionals, with only one aformer Civil Servantand one a local Council-lor, and both of these had 'gone native' anddevelopeda personalcommitment o museums.All were thus members of the 'museumscommunity',a small worldinwhich peopleat asenior evelgenerallyknow each otherwell,andthis determined he interviewer's pproach.Tobegin with, each interviewee was invited tooutlinehis or hercareer,and thepurposeof theproject - to identify the changes in museumsover the past coupleof generationsor so - wasexplained. Thereafter interviews were largelyunstructured, nd few intervieweesneededanyprompting.Most talkedfreelyfor an hour anda half or so; one had to be stopped, still in full

flow,afterthreehours.This unstructuredapproachallowed inter-viewees to set the agenda,and to identifywhatthey thought had been the principal changesand issues that they had observed or beendirectly nvolvedwith. Itmeant,though,thatitis not always possible directly to comparepeople's views on topics, and in one or twocases it was hard to draw conversation backfrombywaysof reminiscence.Inevitably nter-vieweesvaried n howarticulate, erceptive ndfocussed theywere. Some came preparedwitha list of topics they wanted to cover, sometalked more specifically about their careers,some focussedmorefirmlyon thechangestheyhad witnessed in the sector. One spent someconsiderable time justifyinghis role in a postfrom whichhe hadeventuallybeen sacked,butthat too raised interesting issues about thechanging expectations of governing bodies.Surprisingly ew interviewees, ookingbackattheir careers, felt they had taken a wrongcourse,or that theirapproach o their role hadbeen mistaken. Would they have done so iftalking to a different interviewer, perhapssomeone from outsidethe profession?Self-justifications alwaysa risk,particularlywhen dealingwith experiencedand intelligentpeople who may be skilled in presenting aconvincingaccount of events. Butprofessionalpride s also a strongattribute, nd because heyworkedin a small and weak sectorwhich wasnever far from the bottomof the peckingorderin terms of resourcesandprofile,manyfeltthatanysense of careerfailurehad to be explained.It was not enough simplyto say that the oddswere stacked too strongly against them. Norwas it easyto admitthat the times hadchangedand that they could not - or would not - keepup. Turningone's backon stronglyheld princi-ples simplybecauseof a changein the politicalclimatemightbemore difficult or someprofes-sionals than others.

Interestingly,although chosen because wethought that they would be able to contributethe overviewso essentialto articulating mpor-tant historical trends, some clearly found itdifficult to express a synthesis of the changesthey had been part of, or witnessed, in theirown times.Thismayhavebeeninpartan effectof familiarity:nterviewees assumed that theyshared with the interviewera common under-standing of the broad developments in thesector in their time and concentrated on thedetail. However, some lapsed into personalphilosophical statements, anecdotes andcomments about formercolleagues. Manyofthese, of course, in themselves shed light onhistoricalchange, but the lack of awareness-or at least ability - to make long-termassess-




5/10

ments of broad movements was perhapssurprising.All interviews were recorded with lapelmikes on a Sharp MD-MT888H minidiskrecorder, hosen for cheapnessand portability.This workedentirely satisfactorily, hough theinability to rewind at will made transcribingmore difficult than with tape. All intervieweessignedcopyrightreleaseforms,and the result-ing disks were deposited by Resource in theBritishLibrarySoundArchive,togetherwith adetailedsummaryof each interview.MANAGERIALISM,PROFESSIONALISMAND SCHOLARSHIPSo what were the principal changes in themuseums sector that the twenty intervieweeshad seen? Therewas universalagreement hat,broadly, he sector is hugelybetter now than itwas a generation ago. Museums care muchbetter for their collections, take much moretrouble o identifyand meet the needs of differ-ent typesof visitor,promote themselves muchbetter,arebrighter nd morewelcoming.Aboveall,museums particularly mallermuseums-are betterrespectedbythe publicat large,havea highermediaprofile,and attractmore seriousattention rompoliticiansandother stakehold-ers. A numberof intervieweesdescribedgoinginto the museum profession at a time when

such a career choice was generallyregardedaseccentric,if not sad. Today, tarter-jobs ttracthundredsof applicants.What has caused this dramatic change?Interviewees tended to focus on internalchanges, particularlyhe huge improvement ntrainingbroughtbythe MuseumsAssociation'sDiploma scheme and Leicester University'spioneeringof post-graduatemuseum training.Perhaps surprisingly, few intervieweesdiscussed in much detail the externalreasonsfor the transformation: he changes in publiclife and popular culture broughtabout in theWestbypeace,prosperity ndglobalcapitalism.Instead, interviewees tended to focus onchanges within the museumworld, both goodand bad. The principal change was certainlywhat in shorthand s often called the 'manage-rial revolution'.From the early 1970s (acceler-atedin the 1980sbythe Thatchergovernments)public sector reforms had focused on theimportation of management techniques (andthe accompanying anguage)from the privatesector. In Britain this had initially taken theform of bringingAmericanbusiness ideas intothe private sector here, and then generalisingthem across to the public sector. Performancemanagement, strategic planning, marketing,totalqualitymanagement nd the restwerepartof the encroachment of 'business managerial-

Authenticity inrestoration beganto parallelauthenticity inevidence inmuseums in the1980s. Dian Hall,fine art conservator,restoring thepainted panellingatOakwellHall,West Yorkshire, in1988. Photo:Oakwell Hall,Birstall.




6/10

The introduction ofhigh-quality designto their displaystransformed tneappearance ofmany museums.Photo: RobinWade.

ism' into the publicsector.This all slowly perco-lated its way into museums by the late 1980s,and received ts perhapspurestexpression n theAudit Commission report on museums, TheRoad to WiganPier.*5 hereafter he languageofmanagementwas firmly part of the museumsworld too.There was no agreementover whether thisrevolution has been broadly a good or a badthing. Some believed it led to a focus on thecustomer, and a new accountability and cost-effectiveness. Others felt that change ofmanagement style particularly within localgovernment frompersonal,hands-onmanage-ment to paper-based,ystem-basedmanagement- resultedin curators osing contact with theirlocalcommunity.Theywereexpectedmore andmore to play a strategicrole, to involve them-selves in wider corporateobjectivesand activi-ties, to fundraiseandto generatepaperwork.Asa result, curators had less and less time toinvolve themselves in the local communitythrough lectures to local societies, exhibitionwork, fieldworkand collecting.The superimpositionof 'managers' n localcouncils has pushed professionals down thehierarchy.A Councildiaryof 1960 included thename of the Curator as one of seven or eightofficers of the Council, 'which shows how farthey've slippeddown the scale' in local author-

ities. When museum professionals are foundonlyat a comparatively uniorlevel 'it makes adifference to the shout'. Another intervieweecynically attributed this to the abolition ofnational pay scales for Chief Officers, whichgave them the incentiveto createhugeempires- often simplyto boost theirpensions.A dramatic change that museums sharedwith other public sector institutions was the'end of innocence',the forcingof all employeesto recognise the costs of what they do. Oneinterviewee gave the example of a NationalMuseum Keeperwho thought his departmentcost40,000 a year o run; nvestigation howedthat it actually cost 0.5m. Another museumdiscovered n the early 1980s thateach visit bya memberof the publiccost 28, andeachvisitby a researcher to the reserve collection cost1,500.It would be interestingto examinein detailthese changesin managementphilosophy, tyleand practice in one of our larger museums(where Wemanaged o runmuseums or a verylong time withoutstrategicplans'), andequallyto examine he role of fundingbodies n promot-ing it. Some of those interviewed had foundthemselves increasinglyat odds with 'the newpublic management'and unsympathetic o theworkplaceculturewhich often accompanied t.It seems that some of the seniorfigures elt that




7/10

they were increasingly pressured to choosebetween oyalty o the valuesof theirprofessionandloyalty o thevaluesof theiremployers.Thisdivergence of loyalties is hypothesised as asignificant rendin the museums sector in thelasttwenty years.One areawhere therewas universalagree-ment that things have got worse over the pasttwentyyearsor so was 'scholarship'.This was aportmanteauword for all aspects of research,but particularly curatorial study of objects,which was generallyagreedto have collapsed,especially in the regions, to the serious detri-ment of museums as a whole. Another moregeneric change in the public sector was themove to projectfunding.This was universallydeplored, on the grounds that it meantmanagersdevoting a high proportionof theirtime to fundraising ather hanmanaging, hatlong-termplanning was made more difficult,andthatgrant-givers ndsponsors,rather hanmuseums, ettheagenda. At theextreme,whilecritics might say that the professionals werelosingpoweras theiractivities ameundermoreand more scrutiny,another observer may seemuseumsthemselvesas fallingmore and moreunderthe control of undemocraticbodies andpowerful people with their own undeclaredagendas.Therewas less sympathy or an alter-native view - that the agendas needed to bechanged f museumswereto attract argeraudi-ences who would appreciate the worth andvalueof museums n contemporary ociety,thepriceof which would be the weakeningof themuseumprofessionals'gripon the currentandfuturedirectionof museumpolicyandactivity.Some other things were seen as havingchanged little, if at all. One example is the'WhiteAnglo-SaxonProtestant' haracter f themuseumsprofession, n oddcontrast o thearts.Current nitiatives - notably Diversify,a jointMLA/MuseumsAssociation initiative (part ofRenaissancein the Regions) designed to trainand employa new generationof curators romthe ethnic minorities - seem long overdue.Anotherexample s thewayin which conserva-torsandeducationstaff(regardless, ome said,of the facts), perceive hemselvesas persecutedminoritieswithina fielddominatedbycurators.Barriers etweenthe ranksof professionscamethroughas amongthe most resilientto change.Theaimof thisprojectwas to identify rendsandchanges,and therewas thus an underlyingassumption hat trendscould be identifiedandexplained. One of the great benefits of oralhistory is that this mechanistic approach tohistory s challenged. ntervieweeswereat theirliveliestandmost interesting n describing heircolleaguesandpaymasters, ndit becameclearthat - at least in their eyes - the success or

failure of a museum could almost always beattributed o thequalityof the Director,and hisor herrelationshipwith their Chairand Board.A numberof intervieweesdiscussed the idea of'the curatoras hero' and the tendencyof certainNational Museum Directors to assume highmediaprofiles.One of the best-knownof thesewas at the same time at constant war with hisseniorstaff,loathingone of them so much thatat a staff meeting he insisted that he sit out ofsightbehinda pillar.On the other hand anotherformerDirectorremarked: It'salwaysbettertogo out to lunch with the naughty ones; it'salwaysmuch moreentertaining.'16Therewas an assumption n the brieffor theproject hatgovernment, ts agenciesandallies,can make a difference. Yet one intervieweeargued:

That'snot how thingschange. Thingsdon'tchange because of Resource's or othernationalpolicy,but becauseof the economicclimateandcertain ndividuals.Thekey s toattract,nurtureand retainthose lively ndi-vidualswho will makethe difference... Butmaybe at end of the day there's a limitednumberof dynamic isionary eoplearound.

It is perhapsno coincidencethatthe personwho madethis commenthad left the museumsworld to becomea businessman.A moresympa-theticview of the roleof governmentwas givenbya formerheadof the artsministry:The role of the ministry n the yearsof theupswing was to encourage and foster...when downswing beganto come, it was toensure that some of the new ethos wasaccepted... but that the really importantthingswere safeguardedandprotected.

As suggested above, few intervieweesseemedable- orchose- to givecoherentanaly-ses of the 'biggerpicture',perhapsbecausetheyassumed it was not contentious and that theinterviewer would share their view anyway.One, however,gave the following summaryofhow museumhistory ooks to an insider: UK museums are at the end of one of themajor museum surges, of which there havebeen four or more since the 18th century.They have each seen an initial boom, aplateau, and a longish decline that saw theclosure of most of the museums that boomcreated.Themajorsurgein the 1980s was inlocal historymuseums; his is now ending. The extension of control by both local andcentral government museums over theirfinances,buildingsandpersonnelhas resultedin a huge influx of specialists in financial,




8/10

In the 1980s (andafter) oral historybecame a keysource for newlocal historyexhibitions. Photo:Tolson Museum,Huddersfield.

building and human resource management,marketingand development. These are newin not workingall their careers n museums. Thesenew groupshavejoinedwith the newermuseum-based groups like conservators,designers and education officers in substan-tiallyout-numberingraditional urators.Thenumberof curatorialposts has overallproba-bly remainedstable over the past generation,but in most museums curators are now asmallproportionof the professionalstaff. Incontrast o the rest of the world,thepostofDirectorhas virtuallydisappeared n the UKoutside the NationalMuseums.What is interesting is not whether thisperson's nterpretation s 'correct' or anythinglikecomprehensive,but how he or she appearsto perceive the curator as at the heart of themuseum and museumhistoryas the decline ofthe curator.It raises a number of issues about

how oralhistorymaybothenlightenand distortthe course of institutionalhistory.Firstly,whilethe change in at least a numerical balance ofpower between curators and other museumworkers s demonstrably rue,howimportant sit in terms of museum history? Which isanother way of saying, how dependent is thesuccess or failure of museums upon a class ortypeof specialists?Secondly, one could take this one stepfurther- and beyond this particular ntervie-

wee's point - and ask if the oral historyapproach validates the assumption that themuseum is defined by the roles of thoseworking within it. If we were tempted downthis route, then it should be said that this is avery introspective assumption, and the oralhistorian needs to be aware that other forcesmay be at work - not least user preferencesorcompetition or resourcesandprofile and thatthese may be actually determining themuseum's nature and history,rather than theunderstandablepreoccupationof some inter-viewees:themselvesand theirstatus.LESSONS FROM THE PROJECTAmong lessons to be learned from thisexploratory rojectare ones aboutthe choice ofinterviewees, organisation of the interviews,and articulation f researchquestions.Thefirstconclusion from this project, though, is thathow andwhymuseums n the UKhavechangedis of considerablenterest,notjustacademically,but from the perspectiveof public policy,andhas parallels in many other sectors. Has theintroductionof modernmanagementpracticesreally improved service to the public? Doesgovernment policy make any difference? Areimprovements n one respect alwaysbalancedby a worsening in others? People who livedthroughkey changescanchallenge hereceivedwisdom. Moreover, he oral history technique




9/10

is a helpfulwayof uncoveringssues,andseeinghow they playedout in practice.Future researchquestions could, however,be narrower and more clearly defined. Forexample, although t is the museum attendantswhom visitorsmeet, and who largelycreate theatmosphere n a museum,no researchhas beenpublishedon the role of attendants,how it haschanged and how they have been recruited,trained and managed.This is a field in whichoral history s almost the only techniqueavail-able. Anothermight be the social compositionof the museum workforce.While its feminisa-tion is well known, and usually attributed topoor pay, t is much less clear whetherits classcompositionhas changed.Identifying the origins and impact of thechangeof management style in the 1980s hasalready been mentioned. Another questionmight be 'what has been the role of fundingbodies in changing museums'? The CarnegieUK Trust, the Calouste Gulbenkian Founda-tion, the WolfsonFoundation, he EsmeeFair-burn Foundation, the Heritage Lottery Fundand othershaveput a greatdeal of money intomuseums n thepastthreedecades.What effecthas this had? Does oral historyresearchagreewith the charities' own evaluation? Similarquestions can be asked about the impact ofgovernmentpolicyon the sector.One topic thisprojectdid not touch on wasthe 'privatisation f knowledge'. A generationago the museums world was marked by thewillingnessof people to help each other freely.Thegrowthof independentmuseums,compet-ing forvisitors,and the outsourcingof work toconsultants, has, according to some, brokendown this spirit. Has it, and if it has, does itmatter?In particular here seems enormouspoten-tial to study the capacity of professionals toobjectivelyassess theircareers n the context oflongitudinalhistoricalchange. Our experiencehinted hatonlyafterretirement andthenonlyfor a year or two - could people stand backsufficiently to take an objective view of theircareers.Thestrengths ndfrailties evealedmayalso have a practicalcontribution to make towhattraining andespecially eadership rain-ing - we employto refreshexperiencedprofes-sionals facing environmental change in thelatterpartof their careers. Too manymuseumprofessionals who were for many years ener-getic and resourceful eem to end their careerswith a sense of frustration, r even bitternessorfailure. This can hardlybe good for them, themuseumscommunityor the publics it serves.The really large questions remain aroundhow we can measure change before weattribute causes to those changes; and then

whether it is ever possible to isolate singlecauses forchange anyway.As well as definingnew researchquestions,futureprojectsshould reconsidermethodology.One issueis thechoice of interviewees,and it isdangerouslyeasyto allow that choice to deter-mine the answer to the research question.Surprisinglyperhaps,this issue does not seemto be discussed in the literature.17n this pilotproject we sampled people from a range ofbackgroundswithin the museums community.In the future we might spend more time onasking a large sample about who they thinkhave influencedchange in the sector and thendraw intervieweesfrom that pool. This wouldstrengthen the research design and probablyintroduce a focus on those who have beenconsidered true leaders in the sector. (Theirviews would of course need to be balancedbythose of others in the sector). We might alsoincorporate full life histories into theprogramme in order to give the professionalcareer some greatersocial context.It is also debateable whether a one-to-oneinterview s the best way of teasingout issues;people don't necessarily touch on the issuesthey think most important, let alone all theissues. Itmaybe thata conversationbetween-say- threepeople mightbe moreproductiveofideas, though very possibly not of frankaccountsof personalexperience.A tighter ocus

During the late20th centurymuseumsincreasinglyengaged withthe interests of awider public.Photo: HolmfirthPostcardMuseum.




10/10

on particular opics mayalso introducea morestructuredapproach o the interview tself.The Health Servicelooks quite different toa nurse and to a patient; he EducationServicelooksverydifferent o a teacherand to a parent.In the same way,museums look different to avisitor and to a professional.This projectwasunashamedly eekingthe insider'sperspective.The professional'sperspective,though, is onlypart of the story,and a historian of museumsneeds to use a varietyof sources to achieve arounded picture. Nevertheless, without thepersonalperspectiveofferedbyoralhistoryourunderstandingwould be poorer and the storymuchless rich.The finalquestionhas to be 'did the projectachieve tsprincipal im?DidResource ain romitanunderstandingf trends hatcanhelp tplan

for the future?'The answer s that it did, but italso raised difficult issues about the present.There was a clear consensus on what the maindevelopmentshave been, but none on whethertheyhavebeen agood thing,whether heywillallnecessarily be important in the future, or onwhether overnmentr itsagents an affect hem.Resource nowMLA) npartalready ccepts heview of some nterviewees,hat tspower o effectchangemaybeseverely imited,and that some ofits ambitionsareanywaynot sharedbyall thoseat the coal-face.Oralhistory,ikeallgoodhistory,can be uncomfortable. utoralhistorymust takeits place alongside other analytical tools andbecome an importantpartof the evidencethatgovernment nd tsagenciesuse todetermine, rmoreproperly o influence,the futuredevelop-mentof museums.

NOTES1 Resource is now renamed MLA:Museums,Librariesand Archives Council. MLA is aNon-Departmental Public Body funded by theDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport. It isresponsible for strategic advice to governmentand advocacy for the sector.2. Resource initiallycommissioned this pilotstudy as part of its '201 2' programme. Thiswas designed to explore the factors impactingupon the museums, archives and librariessectors, to indicate what issues those sectorswould have to address in 201 2, and how theymight need to be equipped successfully totackle them.3. See Stuart Davies, 'Falling on Deaf Ears?Oral History and Strategy in Museums', OralHistory, vol 22, no 2 (Autumn 1994); AnnetteDay, 'ListeningGalleries: PuttingOral History onDisplay', Oral History, vol 27, no 1 (Spring1999); Anna Green, 'The ExhibitionThatSpeaks for Itself:Oral History and Museums',in R Perks and A Thomson (eds), The OralHistory Reader, London: Routledge, 1998;Gay nor Kavanagh, Dream Spaces: Memoryand the Museum, London: Leicester UniversityPress, 2000; Rob Perks, 'Working Knowledge:Oral History', Museum Practice, Spring 2004.

4. Indeed, few studies of professions or sectorsseem to have been published untilthe recentNational LifeStory Collection projects. Thisproject was very much smaller than those, innumber of interviews carried out and in theirlength, but parallels can be drawn with thoseprojects, like City Lives, which attempt both torecord life stories and to answer historicalquestions (Cathy Courtney and Paul Thompson,City Lives: The Changing Voices of BritishFinance, London: Methuen, 1996).5* Even when they do, they have somedifficultyfinding a suitable repository, as acolleague found when trying to deposit thepapers of a defunct museum organisation thathad been important in the development of

latetwentieth century museums.6. David Henige, Oral Historiography,London: Longman, 1982, p 107.7John Pope-Hen nessy, Learning to Look:An Autobiography, London: Heinemann,1991.8* Roy Strong, The Roy Strong Diaries 1967-1987, London:Weidenfeldand Nicolson,1997.9. FrankAtkinson,TheMan who madeBeamish: an Autobiography, Gateshead:Northern Books, 1999.

10* Compare, for instance, Donald A. Ritchie,'What's More to be Said? UnderstandingLegislative Bodies Through Oral History', OralHistory, vol 32, no 1 2004.11. Ken Howarth, Oral History: a Handbook.Stroud: Sutton Publishing, 1998, p 57.1 2. KeithMacdonald, The Sociology of theProfessions, London: Sage, 1995, p 160.1 3. We take this opportunity to thank them allfor their kindness and cooperation. The disksresulting from this project are deposited at theBritishLibrarySound Archive (accessionnumbers C 1059/0 1-20), where they may(with minimal restrictions)be consulted.14* Though judging from some interviewees'comments, alcoholism seems to have been aproblem with a former generation of curators1 5. Audit Commission, The Road to WiganPier? Managing Local AuthorityMuseums andArt Galleries, London: HMSO, 1991.1 6. For reasons of confidentiality and tact,individual interviewees quoted are not identifiedin this paper.I 7. But see the moving discussion of theimpact of interviews on the interviewer inValerie Raleigh Yow, Recording Oral History: aPractical Guide for Social Scientists, ThousandOaks: Sage, 1994.


Thi t t d l d d f 182 185 224 57 T 1 A 2014 03 53 44 AM
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

Documents

Talking About Museums