“How can we expect affluent white Southerners who control most plantation sites to tell the full and sometimes unsavory truth about their sites when the National Park Service does no better?”
“Museums preserve global and human history in a concrete way: they house the real thing.”
Source: Beyond the Halls: An Insider's Guide to Loving Museums
“At the end of the day, the most valuable things are not things, they are experiences, and museums foster experiences through things.”
Source: Beyond the Halls: An Insider's Guide to Loving Museums
“With faith and courage, face your mountains and do not be afraid.”
Source: Coming to Grips with the Mountains and Valleys of This World
“Though science and art are at odds with one another—competing for academic attention—they work beautifully together in the world of museums.”
Source: Beyond the Halls: An Insider's Guide to Loving Museums
“For many museums and libraries, there's a fear about getting involved in the contemporary issue--that you'll be pulled into the partisan times. I think you're gonna be pulled in no matter what. So the key is you should really, I think, do the best work you can to help a nation be made better. Yes, you're not gonna say that we're Democrat or Republican; what you're saying is that for the greater good of a nation, here are some of the ways we can move forward.”
“I think that the most important thing we can do as cultural institutions, as learning institutions, is really help the public become more comfortable with ambiguity. As a nation, we really look for simple answers to complex questions, and you see where that's gotten us. I think that what you want to do is help people understand the shades of gray, the nuance, the debates. I think if we could do that, regardless of what history, what culture we're teaching people, what's important is if you can get people to grapple with complexity, then we'd be a better nation.”
“Museums suck," said Billy.
The bus rattled along between tan fields.
"Right?" said Charlie.
"History," said Higgins. "Shit like that.”
Source: The Water Museum
“El problema de localizar fotografías confirma la indiferencia ante la presencia de las mujeres en la historia, cosa que se refleja constantemente en los medios, libros, archivos históricos, museos y bibliotecas universitarias.
The problem of locating photos often confirms the indifference to women’s presence in history, as reflected in the media, books, historical records, museums, university libraries.”
Source: 500 Years of Chicana Women's History / 500 Años de la Mujer Chicana: Bilingual Edition
“The Thames is England's longest archaeological landscape and thousands of the objects that fill our museums have come from its foreshore. (p.47)”
Source: Mudlark: In Search of London's Past Along the River Thames