UNDERSTANDING MUSEUM IN A NEW SOCIETY: THE CHALLENGES OF TECHNOLOGICAL

INNOVATIONS.

BEING A PAPER PRESENTED BY OGAYI CORNELIUS (SENIOR ETHNOGRAPHER) ON THE OCCASION OF 2012 INTERNATIONAL

MUSEUM DAY CELEBRATION

INTRODUCTION

At first, the museum was conceived as elitist institution that looks after

cultural and religious properties. In Africa, it was conceived as a

‘sacred temple of antiquities’. Overtime, particularly in late 20 th

century, the museum began to assume the role of a cultural resort

center, a medium of public interaction; a specialized school of some

sort; an entertainment industry per-excellence and leitmotiv of

cultures.

As the society is developing, new ideas driven by technological

innovation are evolving, with new opportunities and the attendant

challenges too. The museum and museum management began to

align itself with the contemporary realities. The implication of these

innovations is the changing role of museum, a paradigm shift towards

‘people and society’ and all that is associated with promotion of our

socio-cultural values, as well as meeting up with the social, economic

and technological needs and aspirations of the people. Museum is

adapting to these challenges, particularly the Information

Communication Technology (ICT).

As it is expected of us yearly when observing this day, papers are to

be presented based on the theme of each year’s celebration. This

paper as one of such, focuses on the evolutionary schema of museum

in Nigeria. Emphasis will be placed upon the changing roles of

museum in the present era engendered by modern technology. This

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will help us in appreciating the museum and its services for a better

patronage.

MEANING OF MUSEUM

Various scholars have attempted presenting a precise definition of

museum albeit with marginal success. Etymologically, the word

museum is derived from the Greek word Museion. It meant ‘seat of the

muses’ and designated a philosophical institution or a place of

contemplation. According to Abun (1987:1) the muses were believed

to be nine virginal daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who were

charged with the responsibility to protect and encourage art and

science, poetry, music, dance and history of Greeks. The daughters of

Zeus were also reported to be good dancers and singers. In this way,

they helped men to forget their sorrow and anxiety. Thus, museion

became associated with a place where men’s mind found rest and

aloofness for everyday affairs as well as a sense of inspiration (Okita,

1985:64). Use of the Latin derivation, museum, appears to have been

restricted in Roman times mainly to places of philosophical discussion.

In 15th century, the word museum was revived in Europe to describe

the collection of Lorenzo de Medici in Florence conveying the meaning

of comprehensiveness rather than describing a building. By the 17th

century, museum was being used in Europe to describe collections of

curiosities (Ole Worm’s Museum in Copenhagen was so called).

At present, the museum has been defined in varying ways.

Encdyclopeida Britannica (1975) saw it thus: “Museums as institutions

serve the three main functions of collecting, preservation and

presentation of objects. Such objects may be specimens of nature,

related to geology, astronomy or biology, they, may illustrate the

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creation of man in history, art or science’. In its contemporary sense,

the museum is an “institution developed by modern society to stave

off for as long as possible the deterioration and loss of objects

treasured for three cultural values” (Encyclopedia Britannica,

1975:649).

In a more comprehensive manner, the International Council of

Museum (ICOM) in 1974 defined it as “a non profit making, permanent

institution in the service of society and its development, and open to

the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and

exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material

evidence of man and his environment (Hudson 1977:1). This definition

is compendious. Museum practitioners since then, subscribe to this

definition because:

1) It conceives it as a public institution

2) It brought out salient functions of museum which includes

collecting, preserving, studying, interpreting and exhibiting

objects of cultural and educational values.

As enthused by Okpoko (2006:3) museums preserve the tangible

evidence of man’s history, creativity and the physical aspects of the

world he inhabits. They also give information about the past

environment of the materials displayed; such materials then attract,

entertain and arouse curiosity amongst the people. Indeed museums

give people the opportunities to rediscover themselves and to identify

their place in the past and the role they can play in the contemporary

world.

ORIGIN OF MUSEUMS

Ptolemy 1 established the world’s first museum in Alex Andria, Egypt

around 290 BC. (Archibong 2010:10). The museum as it was then

called was established as a centre of learning dedicated to the muses.

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Ptolemy’s house of the muses consisted of a lecture hall, a mess

hall, a court, a cloister, a garden, an astronomical observatory,

living quarters, the library and collections of biological and

cultural objects” ( Archibong, 2010:9). The museum as was

conceived by Ptolemy was a repository of cultural artifacts and natural

specimens. “It was a research centre, liberal arts college and

advanced institute”. Ptolemy’s death in 283BC marked the beginning

of museum “revolution” as people after him strove to improve on it.

Before modern museums developed, different societies had different

ways of preserving objects important to them. Modern museums

developed in Europe in the 17th century and the term ‘museum’ was

used in English in 1682. It was used to describe ‘the collection of

strange, rare and exotic things that the gentleman Elias Ashmole gave

to the University of Oxford. Form the private collections of courtiers

and gentlemen, museums became the public educational institutions

we know today” (Ambrose and Paine 1993:6).

MUSEUMS IN NIGERIA

The National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) as it is

now known has its root in Nigeria’s Antiquities service, which was

established on 28 July, 1943.

Historically, the origin of museum is traceable to pre-Arab and

European times. During these periods, various cultural materials of

ritual, religious and political importance were fashioned, conserved

and preserved in temples or traditional shrines and in the palaces of

kings and chiefs (Okpoko, 2006:8). Apart from housing cultural

materials like ivory bronze and carved wooden objects, these

institutions (temples, shrines and palaces) were preserved as

monuments in their own right.

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Head of each household, priests of various shrines (Eze mmuo), and

some of the ‘kings’ or ‘chiefs’ acted like curators. Their role was to

preserve and conserve these objects which ranges from iron or bronze

amulets, wooden statue (Ikenga) or images of deities; ritual objects

like ivory trumpet, iron gongs, drums, flute, etc. In this era, objects

were preserved because of their utilitarian or symbolic value. The uses

were more of religious, spiritual, political and cultural.

However, the development of modern museums was a handiwork of

Kenneth Murray, an art teacher in the British colonial service. In 1927,

while performing the role of ‘adviser to government on the effects of

the colonial education system on local art’ (Nzewunwa 1984:101),

Murray made personal collection of several Nigerian art forms. He

recommended the establishment of museums and the promulgation of

relevant laws to protect Nigerian cultural artifacts (Murray 1996: 33).

This recommendation was however postponed till 1953.

A clear-cut legislation to prevent the indiscriminate acquisition and

exportation of Nigerian cultural materials were not instituted until

1953 when the Antiquities ordinance No. 17 was passed. The bill made

way for the creation of National Department of Antiquities and charged

it with the responsibility of exploration, care and presentation of

antiquities or works of art, and provides also for the control of

exportation of works of art, from Nigeria (Nzewunwa, 1984:102).

In 1979, Decree No. 77 dissolved the Department of Antiquities and

established the National Commission for Museums and Monuments

(NCM & M). This became a corporate body entrusted with

management of museums and monuments in Nigeria.

Today, the NCMM administers about 36 museums, located in almost

each states of the federation. Though, some states have two. Our own

museum of colonial history, Aba came into existence in 1985 while.

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The ten colonial administrative building (consulate office) was sited

initially at Akwaete and was carried to Aba in 1902 on foot by our local

men on the instance of then colonial masters. The gallery is a pictorial

one with 8 bays chronicling events from slavery and slave trade era to

the 1960 independence. The museum was officially commissioned in

1985 for public usage. Many other museums were established

between 80s and late 90s.

THE MUSEUM IN MODERN WORLD: CHALLENGES AND

INSPIRATIONS

Modern society is a product of modern technology. The place of

Information Communication Technology (ICT) in modern business nay

museum is preponderant. For instance, the use of internet has

increasingly eased communication, and transfer of data to a large and

heterogeneous audience. Today, in the museum sector, we have e-

museum, e-library, open air museum, eco-tourism, etc. These

museums serve to reach out to large number of audience, despite

their various locations. Through the internet, one can afford to sit in

the comfort of his home and access museums and its their collections.

The interest of such an audience can be stimulated so as to visit the

real museum.

As the world population is steadily on increase, visitorship of museum

and museum public equally increases and continually makes fresh

demands on the museum. The demand for better services, demands

for leisure, information, education, entertainment and the likes. The

implication of these demands is a movement towards a paradigm shift

from the traditional roles of museum of collecting, conserving,

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studying, interpreting and exhibiting objects for cultural and

educational values. Museums in Nigeria, for instance, now provide

cultural activities like traditional dances, music or film shows and

drama for public enlightenment and relaxation. Also, most Nigerian

museums have kitchens, which serve traditional dishes and locally

brewed wine, among other things. Some of these museums also have

carefully planned activities for children’s entertainment, growth and

development. Aba museum is renowned in these areas.

The 21st century museum is no more satisfied with permanent

exhibitions and restricted to a place. There is a growing trend of

innovations engendered by Information Technology (I.T) revolution.

We now hear of E-museums, Eco-museums, eco-tourism museums,

open air museums, etc. These museums as their names imply are

museums that are not necessarily located at a given location, but ones

which allows access through the internet. They serve to arouse

interest and curiosity from intending visitors, to museums permanent

exhibitions.

To sustain and increase visitorship, to museums, museum in Nigeria is

trying to take care of the physically challenged in the society. These

are people who are visually impaired, the lame, the deaf and dump,

etc. these set of people, though have interest in museum, but are

physically limited by the way museums are built. Modern museums

like Calabar, Owerri, Port-Harcourt are electronically powered and

have elevations that enables access to museum collections.

Beyond the realm of imaginations of museum founders, today’s

museum is the vanguard of public education. As the modern society is

facing climatic, environmental and socio-economic maladies, the

museum is fast responding to the demand for public enlightenment

and education. Today, we hear of Ozone layer depletion, hurricanes,

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typhoon, earthquake, landslides, eclipse among others. The museum

through its education outreach programme has been reaching out to

the public to enlighten them of these climatic and environmental

challenges. For instance, in March 2006 when eclipse was experienced

in Nigeria, the museum embarked on serious public enlightenment

campaign. Schools, traditional institutions, villages and communities

especially at rural areas were visited. The essence of this was to

create awareness on what causes it and how people should react in

the event of such occurrence. This yielded fruitful result as people saw

this event as a normal occurrence unlike what it were when it

previously occurred in 1946 (see the Bottled Leopard, by

Chukwuemeka Ike).

Today’s museum is creating avenue for inter-cultural dialogue,

interaction and mutual co-existence. As noted by Afigbo (1985:52)

“what we have in our museums are artistic expressions of the spirits of

the different ethnic groups which make up Nigeria”. Many people do

not have the opportunity and resources of traveling to other parts of

the country other than theirs. But through exhibitions of cultural

properties in museums, people of different ethnic groups have the

opportunity to see and study cultures beyond their own vicinity.

Therefore by spending its resources in preserving and exhibiting

cultural objects from the different parts of the country in one museum

and on enlightenment programmes, the museum will help in

broadening the knowledge of people of the different ethnic groups

thus making them to have respect for the technological ingenuities of

one another and better members of their immediate communities. This

will make different ethnic groups to be in a better position to tolerate

one another. It must be emphasized here that whatever a group of

people has ‘achieved in any area of human endeavour including that

of artistic expression, is the result of a mutually enriching dialogue

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with its members’ (Afigbo 1985:57). Ethnographic, historical and

archeological studies have show that the NOK and Ife terra cottas, the

igbo-ukwu bronzes, the Ife and Benin brasses, the city walls in the

northern parts of Nigeria, etc. are the results of the geniuses of the

groups that produces them as well as contacts with their various

neighbours (Okpoko, 2006:15).

Museum education is widening its scope of influence in the threshold

of new technologies. The kind of education services provided by the

museum is unique. Swift (1999a:55) extensively wrote:

The opportunity for people to learn from objects is what

distinguishes museum education from other forms of learning.

Objects are powerful educational resource – they can attract and

hold people’s attention, motivate, inspire, amuse and amaze. They

can stimulate curiosity and imaginative thinking, encourage us to

emphasize with the people who made used and owned them…

objects can inspire drama and creative writing. Objects provide

endless opportunities for art and design-related work, and can also

be used as a stimulus for dance and movement activities…

To ensure that museum education impacts meaningfully and

practically to learners, objects are used in both permanent and

temporary exhibitions. Keeping faith with the new mandate, museums

have become more visitor-oriented and are therefore making their

collections in ways which support and increase learning opportunities

for all users, such as the families, pre-school, school children,

students, clubs and societies, adults, community groups, etc.

Supportive teaching aids like computer, micro-clips devices and ICT

driven gadgets are used. These help in stirring knowledge. At present,

emphasis on museum education is put on learning (now e-learning

too) and since learning is also “about consolidating or re-orientating

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previous experiences, what is learnt during a museum visit will depend

on the individual” and on his objective for the visit. Museums provide

good environment for learning which is ‘more diverse, informal and

culturally richer than formal education’. Museum collections, as

already pointed out constitute real evidence which can inspire,

motivate and stimulate curiosity as well as inform and:

i) Provide a physical and social context for learning;

ii) Offer social experiences that can stimulate and support learning;

iii) Provide activities that are memorable and appeal to all senses;

iv) (Provide) non-threatening surroundings where public people can

learn through exploration and discovery.

v) Provide visitors with personal choice and rewards at a variety of

levels, and opportunities for problem-solving and decision

making and;

vi) Combine learning with enjoyment and entertainment (Swift,

1999a:48).

Museum all over the world is aligning itself with the modern society

driven by the ICT World. The traditional roles of museums are currently

being revisited in such a way to mainstream technological innovations

engendered by the ICT. As such, the era is unbundling great

opportunities with the attendant challenges and inspirations.

Opportunities arousing curiosities, opportunity of reaching out to the

people the more through the ICT facilities, opportunities to provide

better services as dictated by contemporary realities, opportunities

unlimited by distance and location, but yet increases and sustains

museum visitorship and audience. Today, we now hear of eco-tourism

museum, open air museums, e-museums and all of such kind. These

are products of technological ingenuities of our time.

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Simply put, museum services are fastly aligning itself with the NEED of

the people. They are opening up avenues for more public participation,

more public enlightenment using ICT, more responsible to public

necessities other than the old posture. But for the museum to guide

and shape its work, identify its priorities which are useful in

contemporary museum practice, some provisions are imperative.

SUGGESTIONS FOR A BETTER MUSEUM

Making museum practice more proactive in a vision shared by

museums all over the world. Particularly in Nigeria, certain measures

are considered apt:

1) Museum should be made market-oriented: This includes being

responsive to the visiting public; providing enhanced services

and products; increasing prices for access to museum collections

(prices must be reasonable) and enhancing the professionalism

of curators and museum workers.

2) Increased Funding: Since museum rely on government’s grants

and subventions for its sustenance, more funds should be made

available. A lot of museums are dire needs of infrastructures, ICT

gadgets, computers among others. Besides, some dont even

have galleries where objects are kept and exhibited to the public.

I wonder what museum is without a functional gallery.

3) There is need for periodic training and re-training of staff of

museum. The challenge of I.T, encompasses update of technical

skills and knowledge. This challenge is crucial.

4) Broadening ethnographic and archeological researches are again

other vital areas of importance. Since museums collections are

products of research, it therefore means that constant but

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efficient researches are important to update museum collections

in tandem with contemporary realities.

These are just some of the highlights.

CONCLUSION

The present realities as dictated by modern technology put museum in

a motion. Museum services and practices are responding to this trend

by imbibing the culture of innovations in its core practices – Research,

collection, conservation, exhibition and education. Though, Nigerian

museums have not been fully ICT powered, but there is steady

progress towards this direction. Some new museums like Owerri and

Calabar museum have a touch of modern technology. It may not be far

before we start having e-museum in Nigeria.

Be that as it may, we observed in this paper that museum services are

embodying the concept of people. They are innovating their services

to meet the existential realities ostensibly informed by modern

technology. New or modern society is such that is dynamic and ICT

driven. Museums here are being responsive to this albeit, with certain

challenges which undoubtedly engenders new inspirations. I need

admonish us here, to visit a museum near you, for your history and

culture are religiously kept in the museum.

Thank you.

REFERENCES

Abun, M.S (1987) The Role of Museums in Tourism Development in

Nigeria. Nigerian Tourism VOL.1(2).

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Afigbo, A. E. (1985) The Museum and Nation Building in Afigbo. A. E

and Okita, S. I (eds). The Museum and Nation Building. Owerri:

New African Publishing Company.

Ambrose,T. and Paine, C.(1993) Museum Basics. London.Routledge

11,New Fetter Lane.

Archibong. M (2010) Museums in Nigeria and Other Lands. Nigeria. Blast Forward Enterprises

Hudson, K. (1977) Conservation in Museums for the 1980s: A Survey of

World Trends. Paris: UNESCO.

Nzewunwa, N. (1984) Nigeria; Approaches to the Archeological

Heritage Management (ed) H. Cleere. Cambridge University

Press.

Okpoko, A. I. (2006) Fundamentals of Museum Practices Nsukka: Afro-

orbis Publishing Coy., Ltd.

Swift, F. (1999a) Museum and Education: Museum Practice. Part 1.

Issue 10. Vol. 4. No. 1.

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