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Le tout jeune Comité international de l’ICOM pour les musées et col-lections universitaires (UMAC) a déjà su s’imposer, dans le paysage del’ICOM, par ses nombreuses activités d’échange, de réflexion et de publi-cation.Aujourd’hui, il fait entendre sa voix par cet onzième Cahier d’étu-de qui présente la spécificité des musées et collections universitaires,leur longue histoire et les riches perspectives de coopération pluridisci-plinaire avec les acteurs de proximité et au sein des réseaux universi-taires et muséaux.Je tiens à remercier les membres du Comité qui ont contribué à cetouvrage collectif, et tout particulièrement Peter Stanbury, présidentd’UMAC, et Peter Tirrell, éditeur scientifique, pour leur efficacité et leurénergie dans la préparation de ce Cahier. Ils nous font partager un savoirinestimable, qui nous permet d’apprécier toutes les subtilités du travailde réflexion mené par les membres de l’UMAC, dont le dynamisme adéjà fait ses preuves.

The recently-created ICOM International Committee for UniversityMuseums and Collections (UMAC) has already succeeded in making aname for itself within ICOM through a prolific programme of exchange,discussion and publication. In this eleventh volume of the ICOM StudySeries, UMAC sets out the defining characteristics of UniversityMuseums and Collections, retraces their long history and describes theirrich potential for interdisciplinary collaboration with local communitiesand organisations and within the academic and museum network.I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of theCommittee involved in this joint venture, especially Peter Stanbury, theChairman of UMAC, and Peter Tirrell, the Scientific Editor, for theprofessionalism and energy they have shown in bringing this project tofruition.They have provided invaluable insights into the complex issuesbeing debated within UMAC - an impressively active new Committeewhich has already made its mark.

El recién creado Comité Internacional del ICOM para los Museos yColecciones Universitarios (UMAC) ha logrado imponer su presenciaen el seno del ICOM gracias a sus numerosas actividades de intercam-bio, reflexión y publicación. Este Comité es el protagonista de esteundécimo Cuaderno de Estudio, que presenta la especificidad de losmuseos y colecciones universitarios, su dilatada historia y sus inmensasperspectivas de cooperación pluridisciplinares tanto con sectores afinescomo en el seno de las redes universitarias y museales.Quiero agradecer la contribución de los miembros del Comité durantela preparación de este Cuaderno colectivo, y especialmente el entusias-mo y la eficacia de su presidente, Peter Stanbury, y de su editor científi-co, Peter Tirrell.Al compartir con nosotros sus valiosos conocimientos,nos permiten apreciar todas las sutilezas de la labor de reflexión llevadaa cabo por los miembros del UMAC, cuyo dinamismo ya ha probado sueficacia. n

1 Préface - Foreword - PrólogoJacques Perot

2 EditorialPeter Stanbury

4 A Globe is just another Tool: Understandingthe Role of Objects in University CollectionsSteven W.G. de Clercq and Marta C. Lourenço

7 Emerging Strengths and Resources ofUniversity Museums for Meeting GlobalChallengesPeter B.Tirrell

10 University Museums: Collaboration withNon-Traditional Academic Departments Ewen Smith and Jim Devine

12 Le musée de Sciences et techniques:archives de la recherche universitaireouvertes aux différents publicsPenelope Theologi-Gouti

14 The History of Science through AcademicCollectionsLiba Taub

17 Le musée de Sciences : quel rôle pour lesMusées universitaires ? Dominique Ferriot

19 The University Museum as a “Theatre ofKnowledge”Cornelia Weber

21 Asociación de Museos y ColeccionesUniversitarios EspañolesMaría Marco Such

23 Outreach: a Structured and CoordinatedApproachDi Yerbury

25 Desperately Seeking Sustainability: UniversityMuseums in Meaningful RelationshipsSally MacDonald

28 Challenges for University Museums:Museums, Collections and their CommunitiesSue-Anne Wallace

30 European Cooperation in the Protection andPromotion of the University HeritagePatrick J. Boylan

Président de l’ICOM President of ICOM Jacques Perot

Presidente del ICOM

Responsable de la publication Managing Editor Manus Brinkman

Responsable de la publicación

Responsable scientifiqueScientific Editor Peter Tirrell

Responsable científico

Responsable éditorial Supervising Editor Valérie Jullien

Responsable de la edición

Suivi éditorialEditor

Saskia Brown

RedactoraCaroline Taylor-Bouché

TraductionTranslation

Margarita Pérez, Christophe Rendu,

TraducciónNitza Solá-Rotger, Victoria Selwyn

Jacques PerotPrésident de l’ICOMPresident of ICOMPresidente del ICOM

PRÉFACE - FOREWORD - PRÓLOGO SOMMAIRE - CONTENTS - ÍNDICE

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Les partenariats actifs des musées universitaires

EDITORIALPrésident, Comité international de l’ICOM pour les musées et collections universitaires, bureau duprésident de l’Université, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australie

Peter Stanbury Chair, ICOM International Committee for University Museums and Collections,Vice-Chancellor’sOffice, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia

Presidente, Comité Internacional del ICOM para los Museos y Colecciones Universitarios, oficina del vice-canciller, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia

Créé en 2001, le Comité international pour les musées et collec-tions universitaires (UMAC) est l’un des plus récents Comités

internationaux de l’ICOM ; les collections universitaires ont, quant àelles, des origines très anciennes, comme le rappellent plusieursauteurs dans ce numéro.

Par la richesse et la variété des pièces qu’elles possèdent, ces col-lections soutiennent la comparaison avec l’ensemble des musées,toutes spécialités confondues. Leur matériel, d’une grande valeurhistorique et financière, est largement utilisé à des fins d’enseigne-ment, de connaissance et de recherche. Liba Taub (Angleterre) faitvaloir le caractère unique d’une grande partie de ces pièces, tandisque Steven de Clercq (Pays-Bas) et Marta Lourenço (Portugal) lesenvisagent comme des outils offrant une pluralité d’accès à un savoirvivant.

Les musées universitaires touchent un public étonnammentvaste puisque, outre les universitaires, les chercheurs et les étu-diants, ils accueillent des groupes scolaires et une fréquentationfamiliale ou de proximité. On y rencontre facilement les conserva-teurs, et ces institutions sont plus propices que les autres musées auxcontacts entre spécialistes. Ewen Smith et Jim Devine (Écosse) étu-dient la gamme très vaste de ces contacts professionnels.

Comme le dit Peter Tirrell (États-Unis), “dans ce domained’activité qui consiste à améliorer la qualité de la vie, il faudra désor-mais compter avec les musées universitaires”. Cornelia Weber(Allemagne) voit dans les objets de musée les acteurs incontour-nables d’un théâtre du savoir. Sue-Anne Wallace (Australie) rappellela nécessité pour les musées universitaires de bien identifier leurpublic. Pour sa part, Dominique Ferriot (France) estime que les col-lections universitaires doivent apporter à chaque visiteur une formed’enrichissement personnel, et non rester figées par un usage quisert avant tout le prestige de l’institution. Di Yerbury (Australie) pro-pose une vision des actions communautaires des universités compa-tible avec les contraintes budgétaires.

L’UMAC note avec intérêt le nombre élevé de musées universi-taires créés chaque année – Penelope Theologi-Gouti (Grèce) évoqueà cet égard un exemple caractéristique. L’UMAC voit également unsigne favorable dans la constitution d’organisations nationales de

musées universitaires, comme celle que décrit, pour l’Espagne,María Such (Espagne). Sally MacDonald (Angleterre) étudie le rôledu musée universitaire au sein d’une coopération régionale destinéeà satisfaire les besoins des publics locaux. À l’échelle européenne,Patrick Boylan (Angleterre) met en exergue deux grands projets deprotection du patrimoine universitaire.

Pourquoi l’UMAC demande-t-il à ses membres de promouvoir sacause, et pourquoi recherche-t-il des partenariats actifs auprès dusecteur muséal dans son ensemble, des équipes dirigeantes des uni-versités et du monde politique ? Il le fait parce que les musées du sec-teur général font parfois de l’ombre à leurs équivalents universitaires(notamment aux plus petits d’entre eux), alors même que, au seind’une université, chaque collection, petite ou grande, doit affronter laconcurrence des grands départements pour l’octroi de ses finance-ments.

Bien que rarement subventionnées avec largesse, et donccontraintes, comme plus d’un musée, de rechercher des revenuscomplémentaires, les collections universitaires représentent unepart significative du patrimoine national et international. La respon-sabilité de leur entretien incombe cependant aux universités. Dansleur ensemble, celles-ci en conviennent et se reconnaissent déposi-taires des collections au nom de la collectivité tout entière.

Il est du rôle de l’UMAC de faire en sorte que les décideurs mesu-rent pleinement cette responsabilité, afin que les collections des uni-versités bénéficient d’une conservation professionnelle et qu’il ensoit fait bon usage. Les conservateurs des musées universitaires ontpour mission de favoriser l’enseignement et la recherche, de faireprogresser la connaissance et de rendre les collections plus acces-sibles grâce aux nouvelles technologies ; ils valorisent ainsi l’imagede l’institution à laquelle ils appartiennent, et ce bénéfice d’imagerejaillit sur l’intérêt des étudiants pour notre patrimoine historique,scientifique, social et artistique.

Les membres de l’UMAC, comme d’ailleurs les équipes de tousles musées et collections universitaires, souhaitent établir des parte-nariats efficaces avec leurs homologues d’institutions analogues etavec les décideurs, sans aucune exclusive ; ils sont ouverts à toutesleurs suggestions. n

University museums in active partnershipsThe International Committee for University Museums and

Collections (UMAC) is one of ICOM’s newest International

Committees (formed in 2001) but university collections have ancient

origins, as several authors in this issue remind us.

The range of objects found in university collections rivals those

found in any group of museums. The material is actively used

for teaching, learning and research as well as being of significant his-

toric and financial value. Much of it is unique, as Liba Taub

(England) illustrates, while Steven de Clercq (Netherlands) and

Marta Lourenço (Portugal) show how such objects can be seen as

multi-purpose vessels of dynamic knowledge.

University Museums reach a surprisingly wide audience, includ-

ing scholars, researchers, students, school groups, families and visi-

tors from local communities. Curators are more easily accessible

and academic contacts more frequent than in other museums. Ewen

Smith and Jim Devine (Scotland) examine this wide range of profes-

sional contacts.

As Peter Tirrell (U.S.A.) states, “In the business of adding quality

to people’s lives, University Museums are emerging as top con-

tenders”. Cornelia Weber (Germany) sees museum objects as vital

players in the theatrical presentation of knowledge. Sue-Anne

Wallace (Australia) highlights the need for University Museums to

identify their audience. University collections should be used to

enrich each visitor’s experience, as Dominique Ferriot (France) also

points out, rather than be used in a static manner primarily to

enhance institutional prestige. Di Yerbury (Australia) presents a

vision for community outreach within budgetary limits.

UMAC notes with interest the formation of many new University

Museums each year - one typical example is mentioned by Penelope

Theologi-Gouti (Greece). UMAC is also encouraged by the formation

El Comité Internacional para los Museos y Colecciones Universi-tarios (UMAC), creado en 2001, es uno de los Comités Interna-

cionales más recientes del ICOM. Las colecciones universitarias, encambio, tienen orígenes muy antiguos, tal y como nos recuerdan variosde los autores que contribuyeron a este número.

Las colecciones universitarias no tienen nada que envidiar alresto de los museos ya que también poseen una amplia gama deobjetos. Además de tener un gran valor histórico y monetario, estosobjetos se utilizan en la enseñanza, el aprendizaje y la investigación.Liba Taub (Inglaterra) nos señala que muchos de estos objetos sonúnicos mientras que Steven de Clercq (Países Bajos) y MartaLourenço (Portugal) abogan por que sean considerados como vecto-res de conocimiento dinámico con múltiples usos.

Los museos universitarios cuentan con un público variado, com-puesto de estudiosos, investigadores, estudiantes, grupos escolares,familiares y visitantes procedentes de las comunidades locales. Susconservadores son mucho más accesibles y los contactos más fre-cuentes que en otros museos. Ewen Smith y Jim Devine (Escocia)exploran la gran variedad de estos contactos profesionales.

Según Peter Tirrell (Estados Unidos), “En lo que se refiere a latarea de mejorar la calidad de vida de la gente, los museos universi-tarios están desempeñando un papel de primer orden”. CorneliaWeber (Alemania) estima que los objetos de los museos son elemen-tos vitales de la presentación teatral del conocimiento. Sue-AnneWallace (Australia) recalca que los museos de universidades necesi-tan identificar a su público. Dominique Ferriot (Francia) subraya quelas colecciones universitarias deben ayudar a enriquecer la expe-riencia de cada visitante, en vez de ser utilizadas de forma estáticacon el principal objetivo de contribuir al prestigio institucional. Porsu parte, Di Yerbury (Australia) demuestra cómo los museos puedenrealizar actividades dirigidas a su comunidad sin sobrepasar loslímites presupuestarios.

Cada año, el UMAC presencia la formación de un gran número denuevos museos universitarios. Penelope Theologi-Gouti (Grecia) nospresenta un ejemplo característico. El UMAC también ve con satis-facción la creación de grupos nacionales de museos universitarios.

María Such (España) nos informa sobre el grupo español. SallyMacDonald (Inglaterra) se interesa por el papel del museo universi-tario integrado en una red de colaboración regional con el fin de res-ponder a las necesidades del público local. A nivel paneuropeo,Patrick Boylan (Inglaterra) da cuenta de dos importantes iniciativaspara proteger el patrimonio de las universidades.

El UMAC recomienda a sus miembros que realicen una labor depromoción dinámica y busca el apoyo, además de la colaboraciónactiva, del sector museístico, los altos cargos de las universidades ylos políticos. Con ello quiere mejorar la situación de los museos ycolecciones de universidades (especialmente los más pequeños) quea menudo se ven relegados a un segundo plano dentro del sectormuseístico y tienen que competir, sea cual sea su tamaño, con gran-des departamentos universitarios para conseguir recursos.

Si bien las colecciones de las universidades forman parte inte-grante del patrimonio nacional e internacional, los museos universi-tarios no suelen recibir sustanciosos fondos y tienen que buscaringresos adicionales al igual que el resto de los museos. Sin embargo,su mantenimiento es responsabilidad exclusiva del sector académico.Las universidades en su conjunto aceptan esta situación y mantienenlas colecciones en nombre de todos nosotros.

Entre las funciones del UMAC figura garantizar que los decidoresentiendan esta responsabilidad y que las colecciones de las universi-dades se beneficien de una gestión profesional y sean utilizadas efi-cazmente. Los conservadores de los museos universitarios tienen eldeber de fomentar la enseñanza, la investigación y el estudio así comohacer uso de las nuevas tecnologías para mejorar la accesibilidad delas colecciones. De este modo, no sólo contribuirán a transmitir unaimagen positiva de las instituciones de las que dependen sino queademás ayudarán a los estudiantes a tomar conciencia de nuestropatrimonio histórico, científico, social y artístico.

Los miembros del UMAC, al igual que los empleados de todos losmuseos y colecciones universitarias, buscan establecer colaboracio-nes activas con el personal de instituciones análogas, así como condecisores, sean cuales sean sus orientaciones políticas, y agradecensus sugerencias. n

3

of national groups of University Museums, such as the one in Spain

reported on by María Such (Spain). Sally MacDonald (England) dis-

cusses the role of the University Museum as part of a regional col-

laboration to serve the needs of local audiences. On a pan-European

scale, Patrick Boylan (England) outlines two major initiatives to try

to protect the heritage held in universities.

Why does UMAC advise strong advocacy by its members and

seek the support of - and active partnership with - the general muse-

um sector, the senior management of universities and politicians?

This is because University Museums (particularly the smaller ones)

are sometimes over-shadowed by their counterparts in the general

museum sector, while on campus each university collection, what-

ever its size, has to compete for resources against major departments

of the university.

University collections form a significant part of national and

international heritage, despite the fact that University Museums are

seldom generously funded and often have to seek additional income,

in much the same way as other museums do. Their care, however, is

an academic responsibility. Universities as a whole accept this,

recognising that these collections are held in trust for us all.

UMAC’s role includes ensuring that this responsibility is clearly

understood by decision-makers and that collections in universities

are professionally curated and effectively utilised. University

Museum curators have a duty to enhance teaching and research,

advance scholarship and use new technologies to improve access to

the collections, thus providing a positive profile for the institutions to

which they belong. This in turn fosters an appreciation among stu-

dents of our historical, scientific, social and artistic heritage.

The members of UMAC, indeed the staff of all University

Museums and collections, seek active partnerships with staff of kin-

dred institutions and with decision-makers of all persuasions, and

welcome their suggestions. n

La colaboración activa de los museos universitarios

4

In the early 1920s Guido Horn-d’Arturo,professor of Astronomy at the University

of Bologna, Italy, marked a 1792 G.M. Cassinicelestial globe with small paper “confetti”bearing the numbers of nebulae taken fromthe 1888 New General Catalogue of Nebulaeand Clusters of Stars. Prof. Horn-d’Arturowas interested in studying the distributionof nebulae in the sky in order to understandthe shape of our Galaxy and the real natureof nebulae1. Obviously, the fact that the globewas almost 150 years old and therefore anhistorical instrument, was of no real con-cern. This is symbolic of how objects in universities are frequently viewed – as toolsfor teaching and research. For d’Arturo, theCassini globe was just another tool.

The university is the key institutiondevised by Western civilisation for theadvancement of knowledge. Invented inMiddle Age Europe, the university hasbecome the worldwide and primary instru-ment for the preservation and transmissionof the highest learning, the training of spe-cialists, and the general advancement ofsocieties. From the beginning universitieshave gathered objects, for example sceptresand seals, documents, relics, and portraits.Other than books, the first confirmed recordof collections used for teaching purposesis the hortus medicus in the mid 16th cen-tury. The ‘invention’ of the universitymuseum took place round the end of the 16th

century by the incorporation of objects andcollections in university research and teach-ing, whereas the ‘institutionalisation’ of Uni-versity Museums happened in 1683 whenthe Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, United

Kingdom, opened a permanent exhibition tothe general public. The broader museumcommunity regards the Ashmolean as thefirst museum in its modern meaning. There-fore, University Museums are older thannon-University Museums and university col-lections even older than University Muse-ums.

TEACHING COLLECTIONS

Learning by handling specimens or see-ing ‘the real thing’, is considerably betterthan seeing just an illustration of it. Objectsare gathered in teaching collections becausethey can facilitate learning: they are con-sidered to provide a good example of a givennatural phenomenon. Teaching collectionscan also consist of models, particularly whenthe topic is either too big or too small (as isfrequently the case in physics, astronomy,technology or chemistry), or when a par-ticular object does not exist anymore or isnot easily accessible (like in ancient art,archaeology or palaeontology). Moreover,sometimes the subject is too abstract to visu-alise (as in mathematics or crystallography).Therefore, objects in teaching collectionscan be very diverse, including real objectsand specimens but also simplified models,plaster reproductions and replicas, andmaquettes. Typical examples are: a rock col-lection illustrating a particular type of min-eralisation or a cast collection illustratingthe different types of Roman architecturecolumns.

It has been established that collectionswere used in the Museion, founded c. 290 B.C.

in Alexandria2. Before universities werefounded, plants were grown for medical pur-poses in monasteries, cloisters and Arabschools. The first botanical gardens wereestablished in the mid 16th century at theuniversities of Padua and Pisa. These gar-dens provided the first confirmed use ofobjects, including ‘fossilia’, for teaching pur-poses. The first of these teaching ‘museums’was created in Pisa’s botanical garden in the1590s3; soon to be followed by Leyden’sAmbulacrum in 15994. Also in the field ofmedicine, anatomical theatres were createdalmost simultaneously in 1594 at the Uni-versities of Padua in Italy and Leyden in theNetherlands. Soon these teaching museumsdisplayed anatomical specimens, wax mod-els, zoological material, ‘fossilia’ and curiosi-ties5.

Today, teaching collections are still used,even in disciplines where there have beendeclines in collections-based research. Sim-ilarly, teaching ‘museums’ are still to befound in galleries and corridors of manyuniversities worldwide.

RESEARCH COLLECTIONS

Research collections had their histori-cal peak of importance from the mid 18th

to the mid 20th century, but collections hadalready been made for study purposes sinceat least the 16th century. For example, UlisseAldrovandi, professor at the University ofBologna, and Olaus Worm at the Universityof Copenhagen, collected natural historyspecimens and antiquities both for study andteaching. The study of these objects, togetherwith the works of Buffon, Cuvier, Linnaeus,Lyell, Darwin, Haeckel, and Virchov, thedevelopment of preservation techniques andscientific illustration, as well as the voyagesof discovery and the great expeditions, hada major impact on the development ofresearch collections. Archaeology camelater, in the mid 19th century, when site exca-vations began to provide growing quantitiesof pottery, metal and stone artefacts for study.Anthropology also developed in the 19th cen-tury and both archaeology and anthropol-ogy adopted research methodologies fromnatural history. During the 19th century, thespecialisation and development of new fieldsin natural history and medicine promptedthe multiplication of research collectionssuch as ophthalmology, dermatology andcrystallography.

Interestingly, research is more likelyto be linked with collections in some disci-plines than others. Epistemologically,

A Globe is just another Tool: Understanding the Role of Objects in University CollectionsSteven W.G. de Clercq Senior Consultant for Academic Heritage, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Marta C. Lourenço Assistant Researcher at the Museum of Science of the University of Lisbon, Portugal

Résumé Le globe – un outil de plus: comprendre le rôle des objets dans les collections uni-versitairesCet article analyse le rôle de l’objet dans les collections d’enseignement et de recherchedes universités et d’autres établissements d’enseignement supérieur. Dans le cas descollections d’enseignement, les objets sont sélectionnés parce qu’ils facilitent la com-préhension d’un concept, d’une loi ou d’un phénomène naturel. Les objets des collec-tions de recherche peuvent avoir deux fonctions différentes: soit de répondre à unequestion scientifique précise (fonction d’enquête) soit de fournir des archives d’infor-mations scientifiques (fonction d’archive). Nous discuterons également du rôle d’UMACdans la promotion et la prise en compte de ces collections.

Resumen Un globo terráqueo no es sino un objeto más: cómo entender el papel de losobjetos en las colecciones universitariasEste artículo analiza el papel que desempeñan los objetos en las colecciones educativase investigativas pertenecientes a universidades y otras instituciones de educación supe-rior. Los objetos que forman parte de las colecciones educativas tienen como propósitofacilitar la comprensión de un concepto, de una ley o de un fenómeno natural. Los queconforman las colecciones investigativas tienen dos funciones diferentes: brindar unarespuesta a una pregunta científica específica (investigación) o conservar informacióncientífica (archivo). Este artículo se centra asimismo sobre el papel desempeñado por elUMAC en la promoción y el reconocimiento de este tipo de colecciones.

disciplines such as anthropology, geology,and medicine, among others, share a com-parative nature and objects are intrinsic tothe production of new knowledge andunderstanding. As Rudwick6 put it, theyshare “an interaction between theory build-ing and the accumulation of ever-richerstores of evidence”. Collections are there-fore crucial because they allow comparisonand reference, without which scientificunderstanding and dissemination wouldhave little or no significance.

Objects are always incorporated inresearch collections for their potential infor-mation. A typical formation process for aresearch collection would begin with a sci-entific inquiry – for example birds collectedat regular time intervals throughout the yearto determine the breeding regime of a givenpopulation. Once in the laboratory the“working” collection can be reduced becausethe value of the object per se is subsidiaryto the information it contains, and – unlessthe object is a fossil, or man-made, like amusical instrument or an archaeologicalartefact – its physical integrity does not nec-essarily have to be respected. Once theobjects have provided the answer to thequestion the researcher had in mind, a pub-lication is usually produced. The curiosityof the researcher will bring forward the nextscientific question, for which often newobjects are needed, enriching existing col-lections or forming new ones.

“OLD” COLLECTIONS

And what about the “old” collection?Assuming that objects survived, these canhave several destinations. If the scientificresults obtained are relevant, the whole col-lection (or a selection) may be preserved. Ifsome objects are regarded as representa-tive, they are integrated in reference col-lections. Other objects may be particularlyillustrative and are integrated in teachingcollections, while others may be displayedeither because they are aesthetically attrac-tive or have distinctively striking features.However, the collection may also be dis-posed of because it is no longer relevantor there is no space to store it.

Apart from providing the answer to aparticular scientific inquiry, objects inresearch collections can acquire anotherrole linked with early developments in tax-onomy – the archival role (reference col-lections). Needless to say, the archival roleis only relevant if the object is well docu-mented and has been collected, identifiedand described. As diverse items werebrought to the university for identificationand description they were preserved as

representative sources of information – justlike books in a library, in which we searchfor new ideas, compare our own ideas withthose of different authors and come to ourown conclusions. A well-known example ofa reference collection is the collection of typespecimens7. Contrary to other research col-lections, reference collections are to be per-manently preserved and the physicalintegrity of the object is to be maintained.

Behind the idea of a reference collectionis the concept of representative sample, per-mitting a comparative survey of a givenaspect. This idea expanded well beyond nat-ural history. For example, the expressiontype series is also used in archaeology. Andin the field of history of science, Turner8 des-ignates the collection of physics apparatusof the Teylers Museum (Haarlem, TheNetherlands) as “the finest reference col-lection for late eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury”. Nowadays, the idea of represen-tative sample is omnipresent in collectionspolicies worldwide and is probably the mostimportant criterion for the accession ofobjects.

The location where these collectionswere kept and studied was frequentlyreferred to as the “museum”, a kind ofminiature academy in its own right, whichcould also include the library and a labo-ratory. The Ashmolean was the first insti-tutionalised model of museum-laboratory9

to be successful and was quickly replicatedin almost every university in Europe.

A NEW MEANING : THE HISTORICAL ROLE

After centuries of teaching and researchin universities, these collections acquired anew and different meaning – they becamehistorical material evidence. The field of themedical and exact sciences, technology andsuchlike, are particularly relevant for thesehistorical collections. In these disciplines,instruments and other equipment are inten-sively used as long as they are in good con-dition and function adequately. As soon asinstruments become obsolete, they are putaside and replaced by more sophisticatedones. Sometimes they are cannibalised: theuseful parts are taken and used in otherinstruments. Moreover, changes in curric-ula or new pedagogical methods turn manyof these objects obsolete for teaching. Withtime, these objects gain new meanings dueto the light they can shed on the history ofscience and the history of education. Thosethat managed to survive were integratedin existing or purposefully created muse-ums, particularly during the 20th century.

However, time does not pass in thesame way through all collections. A well

documented 200 year-old geology researchcollection from Mount Etna may be as use-ful as material collected today. Research col-lections, regardless of their age, remain inessence research collections. They may havebeen asleep and forgotten for decades dueto change in research policies and lack ofpersonal interest from researchers. Refer-ential value is maintained constant or evenincreases in the case of, for example, anextinct species or an exhausted copper mine.Frequently new advances in science promptnew outlooks at “old” specimens – and newdiscoveries. A fossil, which entered the col-lection of Teylers Museum in Haarlem in1857 and had been identified as a Pterosaur,was only recognised as an Archaeopteryx in1970, the fourth specimen known at thetime10. The evolution of the botanical gar-den is another example of the impact of newscientific outlooks. In the late 16th centuryplants were organised according to theirhealing capacity; in the 18th century, gar-dens were organised following the Linnaeansystem. In the 19th century, the botanical gar-den – although maintaining the taxonomi-cal organisation – introduced romanticfeatures; and today botanical gardensemphasise an ecological approach and pro-mote environmental education. The evolu-tion of science and of research technologyis continuously adding new meaning tothese collections. Researchers and curatorsmust therefore be sensible enough to antic-ipate future research applications for theircollections.

The borderline between teaching andresearch in universities is not always clear.Professors teach and research, making it dif-ficult to know when one activity stops andthe other begins. The same applies to theuse of collections – there is a long traditionof objects moving from research to teach-ing collections and vice versa. Objects arecollected, exchanged, donated, and used formany different purposes both in the class-room and the laboratory. A series of romanvases can today be in a history of art class-room, tomorrow in an X-ray laboratory andnext week on its way to another universityto illustrate a history of technology PhD dis-sertation. In essence, these objects are justviewed as mere instruments for knowledge– and they are treated accordingly.

The physical integrity of the object is avalue, which is considered absolute by themuseum community at large: objects aresupposed to be integrally preserved forever.In teaching and research collections, how-ever, objects are not “untouchable”, on thecontrary, they are often primarily regardedas a source of information or as an instru-ment, as we have illustrated with the 18th

5

century celestial globe. Today, such an inci-dent is unlikely to be repeated but it illus-trates how objects in teaching and researchcollections are regarded and valued. ForHorn-d’Arturo, like for many of his col-leagues, the globe was just another tool.

CONCLUSION

Museums, as we perceive them today,are places where our common heritage isstudied, preserved and displayed for the plea-sure and education of present and futuresocieties. This common statement associ-ates museums with an idea of stability andpermanence that can, ultimately, be a sourceof misunderstanding. In particular, collec-tions all too easily leave the impression thatthey are unchangeable, perhaps becausethey fix individual objects within a largersystem. In fact, collections are dynamic,growing and ever-changing. And no collec-tions are more intrinsically dynamic thanuniversity collections because universitiesare by definition institutions constantly seek-ing the forefront of innovation and creativ-ity.

An important aim of UMAC is to clar-ify the notion of scientific heritage and tofind the most appropriate means for itsenhancement. So far, this topic has receivedlittle attention and both historians of scienceand museum curators have mostly dealtwith limited segments of this crucial

research area. Collections of instruments,minerals, natural specimens andmanuscripts represent the receptacle ofa renewed interdisciplinary approachtowards scientific heritage. UMAC will offera unique opportunity to compare differentexperiences and will provide the theoreti-cal as well as institutional conditions forinterdisciplinary collaborative research pro-grammes. The creation of UMAC in 2001has had at least two direct consequences.Firstly, University Museums and collections,with their history of more than 400 years,are acknowledged as a relevant partner inthe global museum community. Secondly,UMAC paves the way for a broader under-standing of the reasons why UniversityMuseums and collections deserve to betreated, both typologically and historically,as a group with its own identity in the con-temporary museum scene. In our view, thisdistinctive nature stems from the role ofobjects in teaching and research. Teachingand research collections are the materialevidence, the only available primary sourceof information of how scientific knowledgewas constructed and conceptualised, includ-ing the process of archiving nature. n

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Fabrizio Bònoli, fromthe Department of Astronomy, University ofBologna, Italy, for telling us the story of

the Cassini globe. We are also endebted toPeter B. Tirrell, Ezter Fontana, and AntonioGarcia Belmar for their useful commentson the manuscript. Marta C. Lourençowould like to thank the GulbenkianFoundation for supporting her research.

References

1. Horn-d’Arturo, G., “Sulla distribuzione appar-ente delle nebulose e delle stelle fisse”, Memoriedella Società Astronomica Italiana II, 1921, pp.55-59.2. Lewis, G.D., “Collections, collectors and muse-ums: a brief world survey” in J.M.A. Thompson(ed.) Manual of Curatorship, London, Butter-worths/MA, 1984, p. 7-22.3. Alexander, E. P., Museums in Motion, Nashville,American Association for State and Local History,1979.4. Fat, L. T. S., De tuin van Clusius, het ontstaanvan de Leidse Hortus, Leiden, Hortus BotanicusLeiden, 1992.5. Schupbach, W., “Some Cabinets of Curiositiesin European Academic Institutions” in O. Impey& A. MacGregor (eds.), The Origins of Museums:The cabinet of curiosities in sixteenth- and seven-teenth-century Europe, 2nd edition, London, Houseof Stratus, 2001, p. 231-243.6. Rudwick, M.J.S., The meaning of fossils. Episodesin the history of palaeontology. 2nd edition,Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1985.7. A type specimen is the single specimen desig-nated or otherwise fixed as the name-bearing typeof a nominal species or subspecies when the nom-inal taxon is established (International Commis-sion on Zoological Nomenclature 1999), whichalso defines lectotypes, paratypes, etc. Similarcommissions and rules exist for other fields, e.g.the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature(ICBN), the International Code of Nomenclatureof Bacteria (BC) and an International Code of VirusClassification and Nomenclature (ICVCN).8. Turner, G. L’E., The practice of science in thenineteenth century: Teaching and research appa-ratus in the Teyler Museum, Haarlem, TeylerMuseum, 1996.9. MacGregor, A., “The Ashmolean as a museumof natural history, 1683-1860” in Journal of theHistory of Collections vol. 13 (2), 2001, pp. 125-144.10. Ostrom, J.H., “Archaeopteryx: notice of a ‘new’specimen” in Science, vol. 170, 1970, pp. 537-538.

6

The celestial globe by G.M. Cassini (Rome, 1792 Inv. MdS-69) with the “confetti” glued to it by Prof. Horn-d’Arturo. CourtesyMuseo della Specola, University of Bologna. © M.L., July 2002

One distinctive challenge of modernlife is the explosion of global infor-

mation caused by new technology.However, much of the information remainsfragmented. A need exists to create soundsynthesis and systematisation of knowl-edge. A number of museums (e.g., UK)have major bio-informatics programmesdirected at doing just this. In addition,museums, as one of our oldest and mostsignificant social enterprises, are beingpressed to join the effort to remedy allills of the world, from poverty to globalwarming1. Can University Museums meetthese challenges? The answer is yes:University Museums are emerging as insti-tutions that are ideally suited to providecomprehensive interpretations of our worldand participate in the development of solu-tions to world problems. Why is this?

The strengths and resources ofUniversity Museums make them highlyqualified for a leadership role, perhaps morequalified than other social enterprises. Infuture planning, universities and theirmuseums can pose questions like “What isthe point of convergence between the muse-um’s mission and social needs regardingstewardship of the environment?2” Linkedwith their parent institutions, UniversityMuseums have unique strengths andresources and programmes that span theglobe. Museums and universities do shareseveral qualities that distinguish them fromtheir competitors: a deep respect for

intellectual attainment and learning forits own sake; appreciation of and ques-tioning about humanity’s role in the world;and a sense of commitment or obligationto society with respect to educating its citizens3. They have the distinct advantageof being able to provide an equally high level of academic excellence and public ser-vice. Sally MacDonald lists several strengthsof University Museums: specialised col-lections, tradition of quality presentation,and higher public profile4. However, sheindicates that University Museums have not been quick to articulate their strengthsand what they have to offer. Based on myobservations and experiences, I also list and discuss the strengths and resources of University Museums, showing, throughspecific examples, how the strengths havebeen used to advance my particular muse-um, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum ofNatural History (SNOMNH) and suggest-ing that this premise may be apropos formany University Museums around theworld.

SPECIFIC STRENGTHS AND RESOURCES

1. Specialised Collections – For centuries,University Museums have amassed tensof millions of collection items that docu-ment the diversity and history of life onearth and provide the basis for ongoingresearch and teaching activities to theworld’s scientific and cultural communi-

ties. The collections are a shared legacy ofinestimable value and are more than repos-itories of inspiration and memory - they area constantly working and growingdatabase5. For example, the SNOMNH sys-tematically collects thousands of artefactsand specimens each year. Included in themuseum’s collections are specimens of new-ly discovered mammal species of Argentinathat have adapted to a harsh ecological zone.How these animals can survive is of greatinterest to scientists who study ecology, evo-lution and physiology. More importantly,biological processes underlying discover-ies are applicable to all organisms on earthconsequently impacting our ability to effec-tively manage our limited resources. Globalhuman health, agribusiness and conser-vation management directly benefit fromsuch studies. University collections also playa role in the “global collection”6 of all itemsused for investigation of any specific topic.In addition, loans and reciprocal exchangesof items are commonly made betweenmuseums in different countries. UniversityMuseums also have large numbers of orig-inal objects or “type” specimens that serveas the final criterion of the characteristicsof species. These objects also provide anopportunity to connect with the scientistswho collected the objects and experiencethe history of their discovery.

2. Specialised Resources – As indicatedby MacDonald, University Museums haveaccess to important and specialised facili-ties such as libraries, archives, and labo-ratories7. At Oklahoma University, for exam-ple, the History of Science Collection is apart of the University Libraries system.Holdings are 87,000 volumes that rangechronologically from Hrabanus Maurus’Opus de universo (the Collections’ oldestbook, printed before 20 July 1467) to cur-rent publications in the history of science.The Collections contain treasures such asGalileo’s own copy of the first edition of theDialogo (Dialogue on the Two Chief WorldSystems, 1632). The Collection also hasresources such as textbooks, popular works,biographies, and illustrations. TheSNOMNH and the Collections have col-laborated in preparing an exhibit of scien-tific illustrations. For a weather exhibit, themuseum will seek assistance from the U.S.National Severe Storms Laboratory, an inter-nationally recognised research laboratorylocated at Oklahoma University. In addition,SNOMNH collections (e.g., mammalogy)usually have large libraries of books andreprints of original research papers nec-essary for conducting scientific investiga-tion. In University Museums, theseresources are usually much more complete

7

Emerging Strengths and Resources of UniversityMuseums for Meeting Global Challenges

Peter B.TirrellAssociate Director, Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma,Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.A

Résumé Les musées universitaires face aux défis de la mondialisation : des forces et desressources émergentesLes ressources et les qualités des musées universitaires en font des interlocuteurs pri-vilégiés pour affronter les défis de la mondialisation et contribuer à notre qualité de vieà tous. Leurs ressources comprennent des collections spécialisées, des bibliothèques etdes archives qui documentent et retracent la diversité et l’histoire de la vie sur terre.Les musées et les universités possèdent également des laboratoires, des services tech-niques et un personnel hautement qualifié. Leurs qualités tiennent à des programmesindispensables et dynamiques de recherche, d’enseignement et d’interprétation.S’appuyant sur leurs missions d’éducation, riches d’une dimension internationale vou-lue, les musées universitaires sont également des institutions capables d’explorer desthèmes d’ordre social, culturel et politique.

Resumen Nuevos recursos y bazas de los museos universitarios para hacer frente a losdesafíos globales Los museos universitarios cuentan con los recursos y las bazas necesarios para enfren-tarse a los retos mundiales y contribuir a mejorar la calidad de vida de las personas.Entre sus recursos figuran colecciones, bibliotecas y archivos especializados que dan fede la historia de la vida en la Tierra y su diversidad. Los museos y universidades tambiéncuentan con laboratorios, centros tecnológicos y personal altamente cualificado y expe-rimentado. Entre sus bazas podemos mencionar importantes y dinámicos programasde investigación, enseñanza e interpretación. Debido a su misión educativa y a su voca-ción internacional, los museos de universidades también son instituciones capaces deexplorar temas sociales, políticos y culturales.

and focused than similar resources at oth-er museums.

3. Specialised People – People are amongthe greatest assets for the UniversityMuseum. They include students, faculty,administrators and staff, alumni, volun-teers, trustees, political allies, and donors.Once committed to the museum and gal-vanised to action, this is a powerful groupof partners for solving problems such asthe need for a new facility, a critical situ-ation for University Museums in manycountries8. With the help of partners, theSNOMNH raised $45 million and built anew facility that opened in 2000. The muse-um worked hand-in-hand with universityofficials to form a campaign council, trainvolunteers, and develop fund-raising strate-gies and activities. Students from theJournalism School were assigned to writestories about the museum’s activities, col-lections, curators, and plans. Studentsfrom the Business School assisted muse-um staff in preparing business and mar-keting plans.

4. Scholarship and Research – Based ontheir educational mission, universities andtheir museums are vital centres of learn-ing and are collaboratively involved inresearch, collecting, teaching, dissemina-tion of information, and public service. Theyare places where a great deal of scienceis done and innovation is often takingplace9. University Museums have signifi-cant roles in the global questions con-cerning biodiversity and its ecology, dis-tribution, and preservation10. Use of basicresearch is an integral and necessary partof the university museum’s exhibits andpublic programmes. This is one of the mostdistinguishing and peerless features ofUniversity Museums. For example, theSNOMNH used its research on poison dartfrogs in the Brazilian rain forest to formthe basis of an outreach programme to ruralschools in Oklahoma.

5. International Contacts – Universitiesand their museums attract students, fac-ulty, scholars, and visitors from all coun-tries. These contacts are important in estab-lishing working relationships and tiesbetween countries. They can also show thevalue of the museum. At the SNOMNH, wehave hosted Henry Kissinger, formerAssistant to the President (US) for NationalSecurity Affairs, and His Royal HighnessPrince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. TheOklahoma University President, a museumsupporter, uses the museum to entertaindistinguished guests. In addition, UniversityMuseums also provide outreach and loansof collection items. We have collaborativeresearch programmes with countries such

as Argentina, Brazil, Namibia, Poland,and France.

6. Quality Provision - The tradition ofquality provision, or hands-on access is crit-ical to understanding science, arts andculture12. When real objects from muse-um collections are placed in the hands ofan audience such as university students,teachers, or parents and their children, com-plex concepts such as biodiversity andcultural integrity become clear. Fossils,feathers, and artefacts can fire the imagi-nation as they are touched, sorted, anddiscussed13. There is a thrill of seeing (beingin the presence of) the original rather thanjust seeing text or digital images or type.Working with collections also helps us devel-op critical thinking skills and problem-solv-ing abilities as we move from concrete toabstract. University Museums can linkteaching and research to informal educa-tion, not only to show the beauty, rarity,or cultural meaning of an object, but alsoto illustrate the process of discovery. Youcan understand how previous generationsdid things - the evolution of science fromsealing wax, tin cans and string throughheavy fabricated metal or glass manufac-ture into electronics or the evolution of chas-ing specimens on foot with a lasso throughnets to stun guns and high velocity poisondarts etc. In a sense all these are about per-sonal journeys in time through man’s under-standing of the world14. As described byWeber, the University Museum also canbecome a “theatre of knowledge” where

dynamic, audience centred presentationsof objects are staged, each object from dif-ferent spheres of historical, cultural, andscientific contexts.15

7. Special programmes – Special pro-grammes such as athletics may providemuseums with exceptional opportunitiesto increase their profile and audiencesthrough advertisement, marketing andmedia coverage. Nearly all universities andcolleges in the United States have strongintercollegiate athletics programmes thatare extremely popular, widely followed, andgreatly held in reverence and esteem byuniversity personnel and many sportsenthusiasts. For example, at OklahomaUniversity, high-profile sporting activitiessuch as football games attract an audi-ence of more than a million people to thecampus each year. In addition, an audienceof 100 million people may watch games ontelevision. Information about the SNOMNHis part of the media coverage during thegames and is presented on scoreboards,commercial breaks and “half time” featuresabout the university. This helps theSNOMNH to vastly increase its profileand audience at no significant cost. Themuseum also benefits from an exhibit itcreated about Oklahoma University foot-ball. The exhibit attracts an audience thatotherwise might never visit the Museum.The exhibit has important social, culturaland political themes that can be explored,including the relationship between sports,society and culture.

8

Viewed with the scanning electron microscope (SEM), and magnified 135 times, this spore from a prehistoric fern takes on a uniquebeauty. © Rick Lupia

8. Special Services - University Museumshave access to architects, legal counsellors,accountants, technicians and craftsmen.The services they provide are invaluableand available and usually cost the muse-um nothing. The services of OklahomaUniversity architects have been importantto the design and construction of the newSNOMNH facility; the services of the uni-versity’s lawyers have been critical to thepreparation and execution of exhibit andconstruction contracts. University Museumsalso have access to university equipmentand facilities such as machinery, appara-tus, vehicles, classrooms and auditori-ums, campus grounds and field stations. Inaddition, universities are among the lead-ers with Interactive Technology and theyhave massive computers, all potentiallyavailable for their museums.

9. Museum Studies Programmes andIndependent Study – Many museums arelinked with formal museum studies pro-grammes. They train students in museumfields such as art and science and I wouldargue that they influence students in manyother fields. For example, many museumsoffer a wide range of independent study forpractical experience in fields such as law,education, business management, journal-ism, technology, and interior design.University Museums also provide leadingscholars and experts who are role modelsin many fields of research, from biodiver-sity to art history (e.g., The University ofNebraska State Museum featured womenscientists in the outreach programmeWONDERWISE). Museum studies pro-grammes and independent studies in muse-ums provide students with the opportuni-ty to study side-by-side with museumprofessionals of the highest calibre.

10. Community Engagement - UniversityMuseums are ideally situated to connectwith their communities. In many ways, thecampus is the centre of life in the com-munity, much as the central business dis-trict was in the pre-automobile city or theshopping mall is in suburbia. Universitycommunities have many things that areattractive and important to the quality ofpeople’s lives such as galleries and exhibits,restaurants, bookstores, recreational facil-ities, concert halls, sports stadiums, park-like green spaces and events. Campuses area hub of activities that serve not only stu-dents and staff, but also the larger popula-tion of a town and region. Thus, the cam-pus serves as both an environment forlearning and a public space16 for theexchange of cultures. For example, theMichigan State University Museum hasdeveloped cooperative programmes with

Arabic and Native American communitiesin Michigan.

CONCLUSION

In the business of adding quality to peo-ple’s lives, University Museums are emerg-ing as top contenders. It is clear thatUniversity Museums provide the ideal inter-face between scientists and society. Throughtheir activities, programmes, and person-nel, they gain contact with people every-where. In addition to serving as vital cen-tres of research, teaching and interpretation,museums also need to be understood asinstitutions that can explore themes insocial, cultural, and political arenas. As sug-gested by MacDonald, the museums can tellimportant stories about nationhood,

progress, modernity, and even race17. n

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the insightful sugges-tions and editorial assistance from StevenW.G. de Clercq, Michael Mares, PeterStanbury, Penelope Theologi-Gouti, and

Laurie Vitt.

References

1. Tassell, J. “Reverence for the object: art muse-ums in a changed world”, Harvard Magazine,vol.105, no. 1, 2002, pp. 48-58, 98, 99. 2, 5, 9, 11, 13. Tirrell, P. “The university muse-um as a social enterprise”, Museologia, vol. 2,2002, p. 119-132.3. Solinger, J. “Museums and universities: choic-es” in Museums and Universities: New Paths forContinuing Education, ed. J. Solinger, New York,Collier Macmillan, 1990, p. 1-6. 4, 7, 12. MacDonald, S., “Desperately SeekingSustainability: University Museums in MeaningfulRelationships”, ICOM Study Series UMAC, vol.11, 2003, pp. 25-27.6. De Clercq, S., personal correspondence.8. Tirrell, P., “A synopsis and perspective of con-cerns and challenges for the international com-munity of University Museums”, Curator. TheMuseum Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, 2000, pp. 157-180.10. Mares, M. and Tirrell, P., “The importance ofuniversity-based natural history museums” inMuseum News, vol. 77, no. 2, 1998, pp. 7, 61, 62,65.14. Stanbury, P., personal correspondence.15. Weber, C., “The University as a ‘Theatre ofknowledge’”, ICOM Study Series UMAC, no. 11,2003, pp. 19-21. 16. Blake Gumprecht, “The American collegetown”, lecture delivered at the Department ofGeography, 30 March 2001, Arizona StateUniversity, Tempe, Arizona.17. MacDonald, S., “Exhibitions of power and pow-ers of exhibition: an introduction to the politicsof display” in The Politics of Display: Museums,Science, Culture, ed. S. MacDonald, London,Routledge, 1998, p. 1-24.

9

The traditional manner in whichresearch in University Museums

has been and is perceived obscures the pos-sibilities for other fruitful work that wouldbenefit their collections, their museums andtheir researchers. We intend to show in thispaper that by looking at how “research”is defined, then broadening the scope,University Museums can tap into a rangeof resources, financial and intellectual,which otherwise will be lost to them, at thevery moment when resource constraintsare tightening.

The ICOM Code of Ethics for Museumsdefines research as follows: “Research to establish provenance, or for interpreta-tion, publication, and other appropriatepurposes, should be encouraged. While thelevel of research may vary from museumto museum, it should relate to institutionalobjectives and conform to established legal,ethical and academic practices includingthe conditions defined by national and inter-national copyright legislation.” 1

We are not convinced that this is an adequate definition in terms of the widen-ing role that University Museums shouldplay within the sector … unless, “otherappropriate purposes” and “institutionalobjectives” are more widely interpreted thanappears to have been the case when thisdefinition was being prepared. Traditional“research” has focused substantially on col-lections, occasionally on museological con-

cerns, and relatively infrequently on organ-isational and managerial matters. Wherethe researcher is within the museum sec-tor (universities, independents, military, themetropolitan galleries, or national muse-ums and galleries) will probably determinethe nature and quantity of the researchactivity undertaken, but essentially the pro-cess remains much the same.

TYPES OF RESEARCH

Without wishing to “compartmentalise”either institutions or individuals, we wouldoffer the following simplified matrix, to illus-trate the point, noting the predominantexpectation of research output from varyingorganisations (see fig. 1).

As indicated in the matrix, the “expec-tation” among University Museum curators,and even among professionals outside theuniversities, is that significant amounts of auniversity curator’s high quality time will be

devoted to researching the collections anddeveloping a strong research programme.In contrast, the curators do not spend qual-ity time in museological and organisationalresearch activities, and these programmesare weak in University Museums. Univer-sity Museums use the output in these areasfrom other museums (e.g., nationals). Exam-ples of output include lighting levels, visitoranalysis, or simply how we manage our-selves. However, over-dependence on others’research is changing, and the multiplicity offunding sources dictates that this welcomechange will be reinforced by external pres-sures placed upon us. Research is increas-ingly produced for a new audience and anew purpose, largely oriented towards“accountability”, but our methods for pur-suing research remain rooted in an expec-tation that the “best” research is collectionsbased, intended for sharing with otheracademics and specialists. If we are torespond creatively to the new demands, thenwe must also cast around for novel ways ofpursuing research with new partners.

EXAMPLES OF NEW OPPORTUNITIES

Let us now turn to some specific exam-ples, which demonstrate the need for awider interpretation and may serve as mod-els that can be adapted to individual insti-tutions. The Revelation project carried outpioneering work in developing and demon-strating the value of advanced technologyfor storing and communicating high-fidelitysound, images, moving-images, three-dimensional models and sophisticated inter-face programmes. This £665,000 three yearScottish Higher Education Funding Coun-cil (SHEFC) funded project was intendedto act as a catalyst for multi-disciplinaryresearch into computer-supported educa-tional communication and self-managedstudy. The Revelation project provided aplatform which encouraged close collabo-ration between the Hunterian Museum &Art Gallery (HMAG) and the Departmentof Computing Science; a non-traditionalMuseum partner. Several successful cross-disciplinary projects were undertaken,including: The Hominid Evolution, Romans

10

University Museums: Collaboration with Non-TraditionalAcademic Departments

Résumé Les musées universitaires : des collaborations avec des départements univer-sitaires non traditionnelsLes auteurs montrent comment, dans les musées universitaires, la recherche tradition-nelle qui prend les collections comme point de départ cède petit à petit le terrain auxcompétences axées sur l’organisation et la gestion. Les progrès techniques actuels,l’apparition de nouveaux publics et la pluralité des sources de financement offrent denouvelles possibilités de partenariat au niveau international et de collaboration avec lesunités d’enseignement de l’institution mère. Ces études de cas décrivent les avantagestrès divers qui en résultent, tant pour le Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, qui assureainsi ses activités de conservation et ses sources de revenus, que pour les départementsuniversitaires, les enseignants et les étudiants qui participent à ces partenariats à titrepersonnel.

Resumen Museos universitarios: colaboraciones con departamentos académicos notradicionales Los autores muestran cómo, en los museos universitarios, los métodos tradicionales deinvestigación basados en las colecciones van dando paso a las competencias organiza-cionales y de gestión. Los avances tecnológicos actuales, los nuevos tipos de público ylas numerosas fuentes de financiación han abierto nuevas posibilidades de colaboracióna nivel internacional y en el seno de los departamentos académicos de las instituciones.Estos estudios de caso se proponen ilustrar la amplia gama de oportunidades de con-servación y obtención de ingresos de que disfrutan los departamentos académicos, elpersonal y los estudiantes del Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery.

Ewen Smith Deputy Director of the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery, University ofGlasgow, Glasgow, Scotland

Jim Devine Head of Education & Digital Media Resources, Hunterian Museum & ArtGallery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland

Research Output

Institutions Collections Museology Organisational

Nationals � � �Metropolitan �Independent � �Military �University �

Fig. 1:Areas of research in different institutions.

in Scotland, and Scottish Ballads, whichbrought together expertise from the Hunte-rian, Computing Science, Forensic Medicine,The Glasgow-Strathclyde School of ScottishStudies, and Schools in Scotland and theU.S.A. Under the aegis of Revelation, theHunterian also led a field study to Knossosin Crete to create a virtual tour of the entirearchaeological site of the Palace of Knossos.This was done in partnership with theBritish School of Archaeology in Athens andthe Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

In addition to re-asserting old, and estab-lishing new partnerships with universitydepartments, opportunities have arisen outof our collaborative activities using newtechnologies to present cultural content,to establish links with like-minded organ-isations overseas. In particular we have forsome six years now had a mutually bene-ficial skills-sharing programme with theSmithsonian Institution. Smithsonian-Hunterian Advanced Digitisation Experi-ments (SHADE) grew out of opportunitiesprovided by Revelation, and forms the sus-tainable element of that project.

The Smithsonian Institution and HMAGon their respective sides of the Atlantic, haveestablished leading edge practices in thefield of digital imaging for the scientific andcultural heritage sector. This project bringstogether the expertise of the Education andDigital Media Service at the HunterianMuseum and Art Gallery, University of Glas-gow, and the Center for Scientific Imagingand Photography at the Smithsonian Insti-tution. SHADE builds on skills-sharing activ-ities between staff at SI and HMAG to fur-ther develop the potential of emergenttechnologies for the presentation of museumcollections through digital media to an ever-widening audience.

The Hunterian has also established aworking relationship with NASA’s edu-cational resource development team atthe John C Stennis Space Center in Missis-sippi. Staff there have acted as externalreviewers of Hunterian student projectsfocusing on exploration and discovery, (e.g.Captain Cook and Lewis and Clark) and arelooking at ways of involving the Hunterianwith NASA education projects.

STUDENT GAINS

The new millennium saw the imple-mentation of the HMAG Summer Scholar-ships scheme. In 2000, two students par-ticipated in the pilot scheme and such wasthe success of that experiment that in 2001the number of scholars had grown to eight.A further eight students benefited fromparticipation in the scheme this past aca-demic session. A variety of projects wereput forward by departments within theHunterian and the University of Glasgow,from the digital cataloguing of archivalmaterial to the completion of projects fornational schemes such as Scottish CulturalResources Access Network (SCRAN) andthe lottery-based New Opportunities Fund(NOF). Applicants have been drawn froma wide range of academic departmentsincluding: Anatomy, Archaeology, ArtHistory, History, Classics, ComputingScience, Geology and Zoology. KerryAntoniak, a third year Zoology student, hadthis to say about her experience:

“During the summer of 2002 I wasawarded a Hunterian Scholarship to cata-logue the British and Irish Odonata (drag-onflies) collection held in the ZoologyMuseum.... I soon became familiar with thecomplex anatomical terms and felt able to

identify the specimens accurately... Whenthe scholarship was completed it was thefirst insect order from the Hunterian’s col-lections to be fully catalogued.... I will con-tinue to work on a voluntary basis on thecollection because the experience has beentruly enjoyable and valuable.

The scholarship has given me experi-ence in general skills such as prioritising,decision-making, setting goals and organi-sation. These are all skills that I can use inmy future studies as well as my career. I havealso learned a great deal about the impor-tance of museums and my desire to work inmuseums has only increased while doingthis project. I feel I now have a number ofskills that will help me pursue a career inthis field.”

Geoff Hancock, the Curator supervisingthis project, commented: “The [dragonfly]collection can now be made availableactively to others. Articles/ notes will beinserted in appropriate journals, newslet-ters, etc., to this effect. It is now possible todevise a meaningful collecting policy for thisgroup of insects.”

And from where do the resources comethat might facilitate such work? As a matterof design, and necessity, these projects areoverwhelmingly collaborative. That routehas provided us with access to fundingstreams otherwise unavailable to themuseum sector. Examples such as “Reve-lation” demonstrate this facility perfectly.However, in addition, we have committedsubstantial sums of money from our endow-ment funds, where the terms and conditionsallow, to foster scholarship and researchinto the collections. The best examples ofthese are to be found in the various strandsof the Scholarship Scheme. It is also worthnoting here that investment from our own

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Extracted “morphing” sequence of Homo Habilis © Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow.

Les musées universitaires de Sciences ettechniques jouent un rôle essentiel par

rapport à la recherche dans les universités,les centres scientifiques et les institutionsqui travaillent dans le domaine des scienceset des techniques, par la transmission de cesavoir au public.

Les instruments (ustensiles, outils,machines, appareils, ordinateurs avec leurlogiciel, etc.) utilisés par les laboratoires etles départements universitaires dans le cadred’une recherche, ou issus de celle-ci(machines, livres, rapports de projets), con-stituent des collections d’importance his-torique pour les universités.1 Ces instru-ments sont des témoignages matériels del’histoire des sciences et des techniques, ainsique de l’histoire de l’université elle-même.2

Ces instruments détiennent une valeurpour l’histoire des sciences et des techniquesdans la mesure où ils sont collectionnés,documentés et exposés dans leur contexte,c’est-à-dire avec toutes les informations lesconcernant. Si on prend le cas des objetsethnographiques, ils doivent être placés dansun environnement culturel et social,3 accom-pagnés d’ informations sur la méthodologiede recherche et sur les personnes qui y ontcontribué,4 ainsi que sur les questions déon-tologiques soulevées.5 Le processus derecherche peut aussi s’illustrer par des pho-tos, des vidéos, etc.

Les résultats des différentes recherchesparviennent au public par des moyens

divers, si toutefois ils y arrivent, mais il estrare que les chercheurs puissent jouer unrôle actif dans ce processus. Il échoit doncaux Musées universitaires de devenir le lienentre les universités et la société, en con-tribuant, avec l’aide des chercheurs, audéveloppement et à la diffusion de la con-naissance scientifique.

L’Université de Patras est une des uni-versités les plus dynamiques de la Grèce dansle domaine des sciences exactes et des tech-niques. Au sein de ses départements, desrecherches importantes sont réalisées dansles différents champs scientifiques, mais mal-heureusement les résultats parviennentrarement au public, même s’ils l’intéressent,comme l’environnement, les séismes, labiotechnologie, la génétique, les différentesapplications des ordinateurs, etc. Le muséede Sciences et techniques de l’Université dePatras, un musée en préparation,6 assume lesfonctions classiques d’un musée mais il tientaussi à jouer un rôle primordial dans le trans-fert des résultats des recherches au public.

Les différents types de collections dumusée sont enrichis par des objets utiliséset produits dans le cadre des recherches réal-isées par les laboratoires et les départementsde l’université, afin qu’ils deviennent desarchives de recherches, ouvertes au pub-lic. Une série de collaborations avec desgroupes d’étudiants est prévue, avec le sou-tien des professeurs et des laboratoires, afinde documenter les objets et donner l’image

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Le musée de Sciences et techniques:archives de la recherche universitaireouvertes aux différents publics

Abstract The Science and Technology Museum: archives of university research for a wideaudienceThe objects used in university research, and the products of research, can become avaluable part of University Museum collections. As such, they can be interpreted to the public in the crucial context of the research process. Patras University’s newScience and Technology Museum is engaged in collecting, documenting, interpretingand exhibiting research items. To make these items relevant to a wide audience, themuseum is gathering information on each item, including the scientific methods usedin the research, a description of the role of the object in the research project and thecontribution of research personnel.

Resumen El Museo de Ciencias y Técnicas: archivo de la investigación universitaria,abierto a un amplio públicoLos objetos utilizados en investigaciones universitarias y productos de las mismas pue-den enriquecer las colecciones de los museos universitarios. Como tales, se exponen alpúblico en el contexto específico del proceso de investigación. El nuevo Museo deCiencias y Técnicas de la Universidad de Patras colecciona, documenta, interpreta yexpone objetos relacionados con la investigación. Con el fin de hacer más atractivosestos objetos a un público más amplio, el museo recopila e difunde información rele-vante sobre cada uno de ellos, incluyendo los métodos científicos utilizados durante lainvestigación, la descripción del papel del objeto en el marco de la misma y la contri-bución del personal especializado.

Penelope Theologi-GoutiArchitecte-Ethnologue, musée de Sciences et techniques de l’Université de Patras, Rion-Patras,Grèce

resources has succeeded in “leveraging”funding from other sources.

CONCLUSION

Our experience indicates enormous sat-isfaction in the outcomes for The Hunterian,for the academic departments engaged (andalways looking for “real world” projects tocomplement some often abstract pedagogy),and for the students themselves, whoseassessed projects have been of a very highstandard (good for degree awards), andwhose c.v’s. are substantially enhanced byreference to their work with us (good foremployability).

However, the process is not yet complete.Despite considerable efforts to forge newpartnerships, we are still just at the begin-ning of “imagineering” potential outputsfrom our research activity. This is particu-larly true of opportunities that may be offeredto us by information and communicationtechnologies, whether in collections, muse-ological, or organisational research, for datacollection, analysis, or dissemination. Ourexpectation is in all of these, but in some stillto be imagined. A Report commissioned bythe European Union states “alternativeresearch means devising, adopting and mak-ing use of innovative methods and facilitiesfor managing, accessing, interpreting andpreserving Europe’s rich cultural and scien-tific heritage. It is about turning informa-tion lying in various heritage repositories intoactive knowledge, readily accessible throughnew channels, such as the Internet or mobilephones, and specific to our needs.” 2

It has the pronounced potential for, andis almost certainly going to be optimallyutilised in an interactive manner, so that theresearch output, however defined, is not“concluded” but remains work-in-progress.Crucially, for our purposes, and for our plan-ning purposes particularly, “because ICTtechnologies are systemic, they will have aneffect upon all practices and procedures ofan institution”.3 Research will not be exempt.Collaboration in novel directions will realisesome of our wildest dreams.

In the future, we will be looking to fillgaps in pedagogical research, focusing onhow people use, and learn, from museum collections made available using digital

media. n

References

1. ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums (2002), p. 21,para. 8.3.2. The European Union’s IST-funded DigiCULTStudy Report, May 2002, Section 1.3. Ibid., Section 2.

Des normes seront établies concernantla typologie de la recherche sur les scienceset techniques, le type d’information à enreg-istrer et à documenter pour chaque champ,et les nouveaux modèles, méthodes, tech-niques et systèmes pour créer, procéder,administrer, communiquer, accéder, exploiteret exposer le contenu des collections derecherche, de manière qualitative et quan-titative.

Des expositions thématiques serontdéveloppées sur la base d’une recherche surun thème comme l’éducation, les sciencesnaturelles, les mathématiques, la science etles techniques des ordinateurs, les séismesou la biotechnologie. Chaque expositioncomprendra une phase de :• Collection d’objets, d’informations, de doc-

uments, leur classification, documenta-tion et évaluation

• Développement d’une base de donnéespour mieux administrer les collections

• Organisation en parallèle des pro-grammes pédagogiques

• Développement des applications multi-média autour de l’exposition

Le musée de Sciences et techniques del’Université de Patras a donc l’intention decréer des archives de recherches accessi-bles aux différents publics, d’exposer lesrésultats de ces recherches et de réussir àrapprocher l’Université de la société danslaquelle nous vivons. n

References

1. De Haan, P., “A public oriented and educationalMuseum” in Managing University Museums,OECD, 2001, p. 121.2. De Clercq, S. and Lourenço, M., “A Globe isjust another Tool – Understanding the Role ofObjects in University Collections”, ICOM StudySeries UMAC, 2003, pp. 4-6. 3. Theologi-Gouti, P., « Collections ethno-graphiques et documentation muséale », ICOMStudy Series CIDOC, 1996, pp. 21-23. 4. Tucci, P., “Disseminating Scientific Culture”,Museologia, vol. 2, nos. 1-2, Spring 2002, p. 87. 5. King, L., “University Museums in the 21st cen-tury”, Managing University Museums, OECD, 2001,p. 25. 6. Theologi-Gouti, P., “A New Museum in an AncientLand: Patras University Science and TechnologyMuseum”, Museum International, UNESCO, vol.206, p. 25.7. Cornelia Weber, “From independent u-collec-tions to a Wissenstheater”, Museologia, vol. 2, nos.1-2, Spring 2002, p. 87.

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la plus complète de la recherche par l’enregistrement de chaque étape et chaqueaspect du processus. Un système manuel dedocumentation des collections est déjà enplace, et le musée a en vue de développerun système électronique plus complexe, quiservira également à la création des collec-tions muséales électroniques de nouvellegénération, ce qui permettra d’organiser desexpositions et de rendre la recherche acces-sible aux différents publics.

Ce projet de documentation comprendl’enregistrement des résultats, des produits,des méthodologies et des profits de larecherche universitaire en sciences et tech-niques, en utilisant tous les moyens d’in-formation disponibles, tels que interviews,questionnaires, vidéos, photos, etc. Il s’agiten même temps d’élaborer des archives pou-vant être consultées par les différents publics(étudiants, spécialistes d’autres disciplines,personnes venant de l’industrie, grand pub-lic, etc.).

Le développement d’expositions thé-matiques7 sur les collections de la rechercheuniversitaire devrait améliorer l’accessibil-ité et l’acceptabilité de la recherche, tout encontribuant à la valorisation et à une pluslarge exploitation de l’héritage scientifiqueet technologique de l’université. Ces servicesseront accompagnés d’une structurehumaine, matérielle et technique qui per-mettra le rapprochement entre le public etles collections.

Topographical plan of the new Patras University Science and Technology Museum, designed by Ioannis Vedourakis,Architect © PatrasUniversity

of science, and its relation to other areas ofculture.

THE CHANGING FACE OF UNIVERSITY COLLECTIONS

During the first half of the twentieth cen-tury, history of science was often practisedas a branch of intellectual history, with afocus on great men of science and theirideas. Recently, there has been an empha-sis on the activities which are seen to beat the heart of the scientific enterprise,including conducting observations, exper-iments, demonstrations, fieldwork, andexplorations, as well as engaging in variousspecimen collecting activities. Increasingly,historians of science are turning from themethods of intellectual history to embraceother approaches to the study of past sci-ence. Historians of science are utilising amuch wider range of types of primary evi-dence than simply written documents, suchas scientific instruments, experimental appa-ratus, teaching models and specimens ofvarious sorts, as well as images (includingillustrations, diagrams, building decorations,photographs and portraits). University col-lections hold a great deal of such artefacts,which serve as valuable sources for the his-tory of science, but the study of this mate-rial presents challenges to historians accus-tomed to dealing solely with written sources.These objects and collections should notsimply be preserved for the future, and dis-played as inspirational relics, but must beexplored, ‘read’ and opened up as impor-tant historical ‘documents’ in their ownright.

These artefacts have only in some casesbeen deliberately collected and preservedas part of University Museums. Science col-lections have often been formed through theresearch and teaching interests of membersof the university. Collections were built upover time as faculties sought to gathertogether objects, specimens, models andinstruments useful in study and teaching.As universities became centres for research,collections often reflected the research andteaching programmes undertaken. Manyuniversity science museums were foundedto provide a place of operation for distin-guished professors, particularly as scienceteaching was increasingly formalised dur-ing the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twenti-eth centuries. So, for example, within theMuseum for the History of the University ofPavia in Italy, the Physics Section containsthe collection developed by the Professor ofPhysics, Alessandro Volta (1745-1827). Manyuniversities assembled medical collections;the Museum Vrolik at the University of Ams-terdam has its basis in the anatomical,

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Universities house a wealth of scientif-ic material, in some cases assembled

over centuries. The Whipple Museum of theHistory of Science at the University ofCambridge holds a large collection of nine-teenth- and twentieth-century botanicalteaching diagrams, transferred from theDepartment of Plant Sciences; some of thesewere produced by John Stevens Henslow,the Professor of Botany who was the teach-er and life-long friend of Charles Darwin.Collecting activity still thrives within ouruniversities, and collections continue tobe used in teaching and research. The rich-ness and variety of the historical materialhoused within university collections, includ-ing museums, libraries and archives, is sur-prising to many visitors, students and schol-ars. Today these collections offer a veryspecial vantage point from which to viewour scientific culture; they represent richrepositories of important (and in many cas-es, unique) primary source materials forthe history of science.

The sources for history of science withinacademic collections are vast, diverse, andnot always obvious. The university was amediaeval invention but, in the mediaevaland early modern periods, there was nobody of knowledge and practices whichwould map directly on to our modern under-standing of ‘science’. Here, the phrase ‘thescientific enterprise’ will be used to refer toareas of study, research and practice whichtoday would be regarded as part of science.Within universities, over the last 1,000 years,scholars and students have engaged in a

range of activities associated with ‘the sci-entific enterprise’, including (while notingsome degree of overlap): (1) the productionof science (as research); (2) education(including teaching and training); and (3)the dissemination of ideas and practices towider audiences, both within and outsidethe university community. Each of theseactivities involved the use of material objects,including instruments, models, images andtexts.

Many European universities werefounded during the mediaeval and earlymodern periods, when academic attentionwas centred on theology, law and medicine.What today would be recognised as scien-tific subjects were part of university studyand research; natural philosophy was partof the broader study of philosophy, andastronomy was taught and practised, some-times with a link to medical studies. Dur-ing the second half of the nineteenth andtwentieth centuries, science faculties andlaboratories developed and flourished withinmany universities, becoming important cen-tres for research. At the beginning of thetwenty-first century universities areregarded as the natural home of much ofthe scientific enterprise. It is not surprisingthat members of the public, students andscholars all look to universities, and theirmuseums, for evidence and interpretationof the role of science within society, as wellas the history of scientific endeavour. Uni-versities, with their long histories of involve-ment in scientific pursuits, are the naturalrepositories of much evidence for the history

The History of Science throughAcademic CollectionsLiba TaubDirector and Curator, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Department of History andPhilosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K.

Résumé L’histoire des sciences vue à travers les collections universitairesLes universités, qui ont une longue histoire de participation à la recherche scientifique,sont les conservatoires naturels des témoins matériels de l’histoire des sciences et desrapports entre la science et d’autres champs culturels. Les sources de l’histoire des sci-ences présentes dans les collections universitaires sont d’une grande richesse ; on ytrouve des matériels aussi divers que des instruments scientifiques, des appareils des-tinés à des expériences, des maquettes d’enseignement et des spécimens de toutesorte ainsi que de l’iconographie (illustrations, diagrammes, ornements architecturaux,photographies, portraits, etc.). Les collections universitaires constituent un observa-toire privilégié de notre culture scientifique ; ce sont des gisements de sources origi-nales importantes – et souvent uniques – de l’histoire des sciences.

Resumen La historia de la ciencia a través de las colecciones universitariasLas universidades tienen una larga historia de participación en proyectos científicos.Por lo tanto, son una valiosa fuente de información que documenta la historia de laciencia y su vínculo con otras áreas de la cultura. Las colecciones universitarias cuen-tan con material tan diverso como instrumentos científicos, aparatos de experi-mentación, modelos de enseñanza, especímenes de todo tipo e imágenes (ilustra-ciones, diagramas, decoraciones, fotografías, cuadros, etc.). Las colecciones universi-tarias nos brindan una visión privilegiada de nuestra cultura científica. Asimismo,cuentan con numerosos objetos importantes y, en muchos casos, únicos para la histo-ria de la ciencia.

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pathological and zoological specimens col-lected by the two professors Vrolik (fatherand son). Today, most medical museums arewithin universities and are used for teach-ing and research.

In some instances, the holdings withinUniversity Museums have no close associ-ation to university work itself, but are impor-tant or interesting objects that have beengiven to or acquired by the university or itsmembers. The foundation collection ofapproximately 1000 antique scientific instru-ments and a similar number of rare bookswhich were donated by Robert S. Whippleto the University of Cambridge for a historyof science museum had few, if any, linksto the University itself. Nevertheless, sincethe receipt of the founding collection, theWhipple Museum has served as a magnetto attract other scientific objects, many ofwhich do have a university provenance.

Within many universities there areimportant research and teaching collectionswhich have not been brought under the aus-pices of a formal museum. At the Universityof Cambridge, the Department of Pure Math-ematics and Mathematical Statistics has alarge collection of teaching models, still inuse for educating mathematicians, but alsostudied by historians and philosophers ofmathematics.

Not all academic collections of scientificmaterial have been deliberately acquiredand preserved. In some cases, what has beenaccumulated has been done so fortuitously.There is potentially important historicalmaterial that is still being used (or hasalready been discarded) in existing sciencedepartments, in laboratories, cupboards andstorerooms; some of this material deservesto be preserved for future study. Much of thescientific material which is to be found inacademic and other museums is the resultof accidental survival (or rediscovery). Theprovision of primary sources for the studyof twentieth- and twenty-first century sci-ence should not be left completely to thewhims of chance; opportunities for deliber-ate collection and preservation should beseized now.

THE AESTHETIC DIMENSION

With reference to the “historically inter-esting” material which survives, it may seemsurprising that often very little actuallyrelated to research has been preserved. Thisis the case for a variety of reasons, not leastbecause pieces of equipment were often“cannibalised” for other experiments withinthe lab, being recycled into other workinginstruments. And in many cases the

equipment and material objects of thescientific enterprise are not visually appeal-ing.

Nevertheless, some of the instrumentsand models preserved in academic collec-tions are striking examples of elegant work-manship or beautiful design. In certain set-tings, the material culture of science, whichincludes instruments and illustrations, istreated purely as art, and scientific objectsare displayed as purely as art objects. Fromthe point of view of interpretation, suchinstruments are highly ambiguous as evi-dence of ‘technical progress’, yet they mayprovide evidence for the broader social andcultural roles of the scientific enterprise,and also for the flourishing of crafts asso-ciated with the manufacture of such objects.

Of course, the artistic value alone of cer-tain scientific artefacts and instruments mer-its their inclusion in some collections. Atthe University of Cambridge, it is the finearts museum, the Fitzwilliam, which is theofficial repository of particularly fine medi-aeval astrolabes and early modern sundi-als which are highly valued for their deco-rative value. Subsequent to the foundingof the Whipple, as a museum of the his-tory of science, these objects were trans-ferred and are still on display and muchadmired by visitors today.

But it is worth noting that finely-madeobjects, rather than crude prototypes, tendto be those that are displayed even in thoseinstitutions primarily committed to historyof science. This may suggest to visitors thatthe valued objects of the scientific enterpriseare always beautiful and appealing or, at theleast, visually striking. Such displays may,however unintentionally, communicate aparallel message about the practice of ear-lier science as well, leading visitors to thebelief that the (past) pursuit of science wasalways elegant and refined, unlike today’sscience, which is often understood asfraught with dangerous and difficult choices.

THE ETHICS OF DISPLAY

Today we are well aware that science isnot always politically correct or easy, asmany on-going debates regarding the suit-ably of certain collections (e.g. of humanremains) demonstrate. Within our univer-sities, we often have evidence of researchrelated to such debates. In some museums,as part of the effort to provide an appeal-ing experience for visitors, some collectionsand objects which are seen to be commu-nicating the “wrong” message may beremoved from public view, for examplesome specimen collections, or ethnographicobjects of particular kinds, which are

Diagram by John StevensHenslow, Professor of Botany,University of Cambridge.Wh5133 © Whipple Museum of the History of Science,Cambridge University

regarded as politically incorrect or offen-sive. But, to limit these objects and collec-tions from view may leave visitors with adistorted impression of past science.Whether or not we choose to display andinterpret such material is one of the chal-lenges we face, as academic institutionscommitted to education and intellectual free-dom. Our scientific holdings can be displayedand interpreted in ways in which the vari-ous contexts and questions engaged in andconfronted by researchers, teachers andpupils are presented; students and museumvisitors will thus gain a richer appreciationof the objects, beyond their physical beautyor curiosity. Our holdings of historic (evenpotentially problematic) scientific materialcan and should be interpreted in ways whichindicate that science and technology are partof the fabric of our culture.

In some universities there is an activeacademic programme of teaching andresearch in history of science. Collections-based teaching plays an important rolewithin several university history of sciencemuseums, including the Museum of the His-tory of Science at Oxford, the WhippleMuseum of the History of Science at Cam-bridge, and the Historical Collection of Sci-entific Instruments at Harvard. Students areencouraged to work on material within thecollections as part of their research require-ment and also have opportunities to con-tribute to displays and exhibitions. Otherinstitutions are working to develop similarprogrammes. As an illustration of this, stu-dents and staff at Southwestern University,a small liberal arts college established inGeorgetown, Texas in 1840, worked togetherto create an exhibition related to the historyof scientific work within their own institu-tion. Each student chose an object in the uni-versity’s previously uncatalogued collectionof scientific apparatus (ca. 1870-1950), andresearched both its former use and thebroader history of science that would helpto contextualise that piece of apparatus. Thecollection is now better understood and used,while students and staff had an unusualopportunity to broaden their understandingand share their work with others.

Many of our academic collections andmuseums serve as public windows on ouruniversities; such displays offer importantopportunities for introducing members ofthe public and the university to the historyof science within our institutions. n

Acknowledgments

In November 2001, as part of the Euro-pean Month of Academic Heritage, the Euro-pean Union Project ‘Academic Heritage and

European Universities: Responsibility andPublic Access’ organised a conference at theUniversiteitsmuseum at Utrecht. I spoke on‘Academic Heritage as a primary source ofinformation on the history of science: On theRole of University Collections and Museumsin the History of Science, Technology andMedicine’, and I am grateful to membersof the project and the audience for sharingtheir insights and helpful comments. I wouldalso like to thank Elizabeth Green Mussel-man (Southwestern University) and NicoBertoloni Meli (University of Indiana) forsharing information about activities withintheir own institutions, and Dr Peter Tirrell,as well as the referees, for helpful commentson an earlier draft.

References

Bennett, J., “Museums and the history of scienceat Oxford and Cambridge”, The British Journal forthe History of Science vol. 30, 1997, pp. 29-46.Bennett, J., “Can science museums take historyseriously?” in S. Macdonald (ed.), The Politics ofDisplay.Butler, S., Science and Technology Museums, Leices-ter University Press, 1992.Durant, J. (ed.), Museums and the public under-standing of science, Science Museum in associa-tion with the Committee on the Public Under-standing of Science, 1992.Pearce, S. (ed.), Exploring Science in Museums,Athlone, 1996.Farmelo, G. and J. Carding, (eds.), Here and Now:contemporary science and technology in museumsand science centres; Proceedings of a conferenceheld at the Science Museum, London 21-23 Novem-ber 1996, Science Museum with the support of theEuropean Commission Directorate General XII,1997.MacDonald, S. (ed.), The Politics of Display: Muse-ums, Science, Culture, Routledge, 1998.Field, J.V. and Frank A.J.L. James, Science in Art:Works in the National Gallery that illustrate thehistory of science and technology, British Societyfor the History of Science, 1997.MacDonald, S., “Supermarket science? Consumersand the public understanding of science”, in Mac-Donald, S. (ed.), The Politics of Display, p. 1-24. Taub, L., “On the Role of Museums in the His-tory of Science, Technology and Medicine”, (com-missioned guest editorial), Endeavour 22 (2), 1998,pp. 41-43.Taub, L., “Introduction: Universities in Europe -The circulation of ideas” in Alligators and Astro-labes: Treasures of University Collections in Europe,Halle, Academic Heritage and European Univer-sities: Responsibility and Public Access Project,2001.

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Le musée de Sciences est, depuis l’ori-gine et le Mouseion d’Alexandrie, un

lieu d’étude et de recherche. Les collec-tions conservées dans les universités euro-péennes ont été des outils de recherche etd’enseignement ; elles sont plus que jamaisouvertes aux chercheurs et la création de“ réserves visitables ” dans les musées, c’est-à-dire accessibles à tous ceux qui ont unprojet de recherche, est maintenant la règle.Qu’en est-il du rapport entre ces collectionset ce que l’on a coutume d’appeler “ le grandpublic ” ?

LES “SCIENCE CENTRES”,UN MODÈLE DÉPASSÉ ?

Prenons l’exemple de la France au débutdes années 1980 ; la vulgarisation dessciences est une priorité nationale, le minis-tère de la Recherche crée un “ programmemobilisateur ” pour le développement de laculture scientifique et technique avec le soucide rapprocher les citoyens du monde de larecherche et des technologies nouvelles ; lesanciens abattoirs de La Villette deviennentCité des Sciences et de l’Industrie. De nom-breux Comités scientifiques établissent leprogramme d’une future exposition per-manente évolutive, Explora, en misant surune muséographie interactive qui fait unelarge part à l’audiovisuel. A l’époque, les col-lections, uniques au monde, du Conserva-toire national des arts et métiers (CNAM)sont à l’abandon et le Palais de la découverte,faute de moyens, peine à conserver son rôlemajeur de démonstration de “ la science entrain de se faire ”. Or que fait-on ? À la Citédes Sciences, on minimise le rôle des objetsd’une part, de la médiation humaine d’autre

part et l’on crée, de toutes pièces, un géantde la “ culture scientifique et technique ” qui,deux décennies plus tard, a toujours du malà trouver ses références et ses publics, mal-gré un budget et des ressources humainessans comparaison avec les autres “ muséesde sciences ”. N’est-il pas temps enfin dereconsidérer la place de l’objet et de la leçonde sciences qu’il permet au cœur de l’insti-tution muséale ?

LES ATOUTS DES MUSÉES UNIVERSITAIRES

A Paris, le musée du Conservatoire natio-nal des arts et métiers, ainsi que la Galeriede l’évolution du Muséum national d’his-toire naturelle viennent d’être rénovés ; sur-tout, le CNAM, par exemple, a repris unepolitique d’acquisition pour reconquérir sonrôle de témoin des innovations techniquesles plus contemporaines. Nous avons là lecas de grands établissements d’enseigne-ment supérieur et de recherche ; nous pou-vons aussi citer le projet muséal de l’Uni-versité de Montpellier II, ou les efforts faitspour réhabiliter les collections anatomiquesDelmas-Orfila-Rouvière de l’Université RenéDescartes à Paris V qui doivent se retrouverdans un futur Musée du corps.

Ainsi les Musées universitaires qui sontriches d’hommes et d’objets peuvent resterou redevenir des lieux de partage du savoiravec des publics toujours plus nombreuxqui viennent chercher au musée une exper-tise sur des questions de sciences qu’ils netrouvent pas toujours à l’école, dans lapresse, à la télévision ; au musée, il y al’émotion en plus ou plutôt, il y a d’abordl’émotion, source première d’une curiosité

nécessaire pour tout apprentissage ; biensûr, le musée et en particulier le Musée uni-versitaire ne peut pas tout faire. Simplement,son rôle peut être unique par cette média-tion qu’il permet en facilitant la rencontreentre des chercheurs et leurs objets ou ter-rains de recherche à l’université. Les grandsmusées scientifiques ont bien compris queleurs collections étaient un atout plus qu’unecharge ; ainsi à Londres, le Natural HistoryMuseum vient d’ouvrir un nouveau bâti-ment, le Darwin Centre, qui replace les col-lections, autrefois en réserve, au cœur dumusée et les rend accessibles, grâce à la pré-sence de chercheurs-médiateurs, à tous lespublics.

DANS LES MURS MAIS AUSSI «HORS LES MURS»

Les collections des Musées universi-taires sont aussi une chance pour desétablissements qui ont la possibilité d’êtreprésents grâce à leur site Web dans unréseau mondial. Le musée du Conserva-toire national des arts et métiers, en 1994,a été le premier musée en France à dispo-ser d’un site Web par lequel on avait accèsà la base de données des collections (80000objets, 15 000 dessins et plans techniques) ;encore faut-il que les inventaires soientcorrectement tenus et c’est une bellerevanche pour les documentalistes et tousceux qui travaillent sur les dossiersd’œuvres que de voir leur travail de fourmiacquérir, grâce à Internet, une notoriétéinternationale. Sans être des universités,d’autres établissements de recherche jouentaussi un rôle de premier plan dans la pré-servation et la valorisation du patrimoinescientifique ; citons les Observatoires et enFrance, ceux de Nice ou de Marseille enga-gés dans des programmes muséaux quipermettront de redécouvrir des lieux de sciences mal connus du grand public(ainsi à Nice, les bâtiments construits à lafin du XIXe siècle par Charles Garnier etGustave Eiffel pour créer l’Observatoireidéal voulu par un mécène éclairé, RaphaëlBischoffsheim).

Les nouveaux réseaux d’informationpermettent aussi la transmission à distancedes “ leçons de science ” qui sont donnéesdans les universités. En 2000, une expé-rience originale, L’université de tous lessavoirs, a été conçue et réalisée par le pro-fesseur Yves Michaud, faisant figurer lessciences dans le cadre d’une programma-tion qui traitait de l’ensemble des arts, dessciences et des lettres. Les sciences font par-tie de la culture et il importe de favorisertoutes les initiatives qui, en replaçant lemusée dans un champ social, favorisent leséchanges et l’interdisciplinarité.

Le musée de Sciences: quel rôle pour les Muséesuniversitaires ?

Abstract University Museums and their role for Science MuseumsUniversity Museums were the first Science Museums.The advent of Science Centres(in the 1980s, in the case of France) temporarily obscured the vital role played by Uni-versity Museums in implementing policies for the dissemination of knowledge.Their col-lections and their links with research mean that University Museums are ideally equippedto present and popularise specialist knowledge. But more resources should be devotedto them, and the work of their staff and in particular of academics who take time outof teaching and research to design science lessons for all types of visitor about the objectsor fields related to their research, should receive greater acknowledgement.

Resumen Museos de Ciencias: ¿cuál es el lugar de los Museos Universitarios?Los museos universitarios dieron origen a los museos de ciencia. La creación de cen-tros de ciencia o science centres (en Francia en la década de los ochenta),eclipsó duranteun tiempo el papel fundamental de los museos universitarios en el marco de una polí-tica de difusión del saber. Gracias a sus investigadores y sus colecciones, estos museosposeen todas las bazas necesarias para transmitir el saber científico. Sin embargo,necesitan mayores recursos y que se reconozca la labor de su personal, particular-mente el papel desempeñado por los profesores-investigadores que dedican parte desu tiempo a crear, a partir de sus objetos o áreas de investigación, enseñanzas científi-cas para todos los públicos.

Dominique FerriotProfesseure des universités au Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, Paris, France

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UN NOUVEL AVENIR

Ainsi les Musées universitaires ont-ilsété successivement, à l’origine des muséesde sciences, puis négligés par leurs admi-nistrations et leurs autorités de tutelle etaujourd’hui redécouverts parce qu’ils peu-vent mieux répondre aux attentes légitimesde publics variés. Pour faire face à cetteattente, il convient cependant que les muséesuniversitaires soient mieux dotés et davan-tage reconnus. Reconnus, cela signifie parexemple que le travail de communicationde la science soit réellement perçu commel’une des missions des enseignants-cher-cheurs ; c’est le cas dans les textes ; mal-heureusement, lors des Comités d’évalua-tion, la pratique suit rarement la théorie.Cela signifie aussi donner au musée l’auto-nomie nécessaire à l’intérieur de son éta-blissement de rattachement pour que sesresponsables puissent avoir un rapportdirect et rapide avec les publics du musée.Il convient aussi de veiller à ce que des bud-gets de fonctionnement décents permettentaux Musées universitaires de tenir leur rangdans la communauté muséale et par

rapport à leurs missions statutaires, enmatière d’acquisition notamment. LesMusées universitaires sont à nouveau l’undes avenirs du musée de Sciences. Cetteconviction n’ôte rien à la légitimité et à laqualité des nombreuses initiatives qui contri-buent au développement de la culture scien-tifique et technique par d’autres moyens queceux du musée. Simplement il est temps deredonner aux Musées universitaires leurplace et leur importance au service de cetenjeu majeur qu’est l’enrichissement d’unsavoir mieux compris, mieux maîtrisé etmieux partagé. n

Cabinet de Charles. Au premier plan, œil artificiel montrant les causes de la myopie et de la presbytie. Au deuxième plan, appareil à roues dentées pour faire mouvoir des plans circulaires diversement colorés © Musée des arts et métiers/P. Dolémieux/Métis

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and anatomical theatres played an impor-tant role in the transformation of knowledgefrom a discursive to a visual venue.1 TheItalian natural scientist Ulisse Aldrovandicharacterised his collection as a theatre of nature, and the French naturalist PierreBelon described the botanical gardens inPadua as theatres of the earth.2 It should be noted that in those days museums and laboratories frequently assumed theshape of a theatre - such as a theatrumanatomicum.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, initiator andfirst president of the Berlin Society of Sci-ences, pursued the idea of a theatrum nat-urae et artis: a combination of research andtheatre, in which a staging of science withobjects from collections of the arts, natureand technology as well as from kitchen gar-dens, gardens with medicinal herbs and zoo-logical gardens functioned as the actors. Hisseminal concept of a theatre of knowledge 3

was based not only on the visibility of knowl-edge and on living impressions but also onthe fun and pleasure to be derived from theexperience 4. A project team of the HumboldtUniversity in Berlin referred to Leibniz’sconcept in their design of the exhibition The-atre of Nature and Art 5, in which the uni-versity for the first time presented its entirespectrum of collections. The exhibits cre-ated a panorama of the history of humanknowledge and they formed an organic asso-ciative complex that addressed all of thehuman senses. Throughout the entire runof the exhibition a coherent programme ofevents with lectures, demonstrations, the-atrical readings, workshops for children,

symposia and concerts added an element ofliveliness to the exhibition halls. Theseevents were based on the experiences ofmuseums experts, but also profited enor-mously from the pool of ideas and creativ-ity present in a modern university. The pro-duction was so successful that the HumboldtUniversity plans to continue and to developfurther the staged concept in a permanenttheatre of knowledge. Our key concept forthe theatre of knowledge is that of the activepresentation of objects from different sphereswithin their settings, combining this popu-larised form of presentation with entertain-ment and pleasure.

At present university collections andmuseums are experiencing a real renais-sance in Germany. These collections areincreasingly becoming an object of generalinterest both in academia and in the broaderpublic6. I will argue that the universitymuseum — with its variety of disciplines andcollections, as well as its access to the expertsand equipment of academic departments —is a nearly perfect basis for such a theatre ofknowledge.

THE OBJECT AND ITS CONTEXTS

Today’s predominant form of educationis book- and Internet-oriented. Thereforeyoung people rarely gain experience in deal-ing with real objects. In the past, teaching– together with research - has been one ofthe main rationales for universities main-taining collections. These collections werefundamental for teaching and research. Inthe course of time teaching methods shiftedaway from collections-based learning. A the-atre of knowledge places the object in thecentre again and attempts to reaffirm thepowerfully evocative qualities of objects.However, in contrast to previous teachingmethods, the theatre does not focus on onesingle aspect or discipline. Instead its aim isto enable a comprehensive view on the sub-ject in all of its varied facets and to conveythe context in which the respective objectplays a special role.

The following examples illustrate thisapproach. A simple, rarely asked questionshall serve as starting point: “How did thisparticular object make its way into this col-lection?” Usually, we see the exhibited resultand cannot imagine the long and complexprocess from the first impulse to collect theobject to the endpoint of its display. “Howdid the world’s largest assembled dinosaurskeleton come into the Berlin (University)Museum of Natural History?” This queryrefers to the skeleton of a Brachiosaurusbrancai, which belongs to an extensive col-lection of dinosaurs excavated by the

Résumé Le Musée universitaire comme “théâtre du savoir”Pour les Musées universitaires, le théâtre du savoir est un nouveau concept de diffusionde la connaissance scientifique à un plus large public. Ces musées représentent unlarge éventail de disciplines et de collections et ont accès aux experts et aux équipe-ments des départements universitaires. Ils offrent de ce fait une bonne base pour la réa-lisation de ce nouveau paradigme.Les éléments clés en sont la présentation dynamiqued’objets provenant de sphères différentes, inscrits dans les divers aspects de leur contextehistorique, culturel et scientifique, et une mise en scène volontairement tournée versle public.

Resumen El Museo Universitario como “Teatro del conocimiento”El teatro del conocimiento es un nuevo concepto que los Museos Universitarios puedenhacer suyo para difundir el saber científico a un público más amplio. Estos museos, alcontar con variadas especializaciones y colecciones, así como un contacto privilegiadocon los expertos de los departamentos académicos y acceso al material de los mis-mos, son el punto de partida idóneo para la creación de un nuevo paradigma cuyoselementos clave son la presentación dinámica – siempre enfocada al público - de obje-tos provenientes de diferentes esferas, integrados en múltiples contextos históricos, cul-turales y científicos.

Cornelia WeberGeneral manager, researcher and lecturer, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik, HumboldtUniversity, Berlin, Germany

The University Museum as a “Theatre of Knowledge”

Theatre derives from the Greek wordtheatron: a place of seeing. A theatre

performance is a unique communicativesetting. It is characterised by the high expec-tations of the audience with their atten-tion intensely focused on the stage. The sto-ry line is often known in advance.Nevertheless, the audience wants the sto-ry to be told professionally and entertai-ningly and with all of the expected visualand auditory sensations. The challenge isto keep the audience’s attention and inter-pret the material in such a way so that notonly new connections within the play aremade apparent but also so that new insightsabout the outside world and the audience’sown life become possible.

These self-evident observations shouldsuffice as a motivation as to why it is worth-while exploring the concept of the museumas a theatre of knowledge. This newparadigm is particularly suitable for themuseum within a university. On the onehand, the university itself can be describedas a theatre of knowledge. On the otherhand, university collections are often of ahighly diverse character and not adequatelypresentable within the framework of con-ventional and more static forms of exhibi-tion. Pioneering the concept of a theatre ofknowledge is a great chance for UniversityMuseums to impart scientific knowledge toa broader audience.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In early modern Europe the rise ofmuseums, laboratories, botanical gardens

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of what it means to undertake an excava-tion and develop a specific idea. They willalso learn of the uncertainties implied inany paleontological reconstruction. Pale-ontology is a field of hits and misses, inwhich the discovery of a new find can dra-matically alter the way we interpret the past.Learning about different excavations,debates, interpretations and theories meansportraying science, scientific ideas and con-cepts within their cultural context, a con-text made transparent with its protagonists,its motives and aims, its errors and suc-cesses. This transparency opens the waytowards a dynamic view of science and sci-entific knowledge.

For the museum as a theatre of knowl-edge, this approach implies that those piecesof the mosaic that cannot be displayed shallbe presented in other ways. Appropriateforms of performances, such as theatricalreadings, public lectures and documentaryfilms, must be utilised. Workshops, exer-cises and behind-the-scenes tours will allowa closer look at such working methods asdigging, drawing, mapping, labelling, cat-aloguing and packing. Besides the sheerquantity of factual information and enjoy-able entertainment, people will obtain thechance to come close to the researchers andtheir current work. In the language of the

performing arts, the link to the universityguarantees a modern play with dynamicpresentations, great actors and best prop-erties. Remember, with the theatre of knowl-edge the museum’s visitors are the theatre’saudience!

An object from the classical archaeo-logical collection can tell a similar story. It would be highly interesting to learn something about the parallels and, evenmore so, about the differences between theexcavations of dinosaurs and antiquities!

APPEALING TO THE SENSES

A good exhibit is not necessarily aunique artefact or find but rather somethingthat appeals strongly to the senses, captur-ing the visitor’s imagination and stimulat-ing further thinking. Not only dinosaurswere collected in East Africa, but also spears,shields and tusks and even human skulls.The film Headhunting by M. Baer (2001)forces us to pose the question as to exactlyhow human skulls came into anthropolog-ical collections for research purposes in thepast. In the film a young Tanzanian com-puter scientist, the great-grandson of theEast African chief Mkwawa who had foughtthe German colonialists for seven yearsbefore his death in 1898, goes “headhunt-ing” in European museums and archives.He tries to figure out why German colonialofficers cut off the head of his dead great-grandfather and took it to Berlin a centurybefore. In the Peace Treaty of Versailles of1919 a provision demanded that the skullbe returned to Mkwawa’s people in EastAfrica. The Germans however refused formany decades to carry out this provision.9

We cannot here further elaborate on thevalue of this illustrative example of teach-ing colonial history and of the confrontationwith ethical questions, but much more couldbe said about this case.

At that time German explorers in EastAfrica also collected and preserved indige-nous music, which was recorded withportable phonographs and later analysed atthe university in Berlin. We need only to fol-low the traces of the collectors to find fas-cinating topics.

The theatre should appeal not only tothe eye and to the ear but also to the touch.Looking at and studying objects is only oneaspect of human experience; the next mostimportant one is touching. University col-lections usually have a surplus of originalmaterial that can be used for experimentalor educational purposes. Redundant or lessimportant objects are sometimes simplythrown away or are neglected and left ininaccessible premises. These items should

German Tendaguru expedition between1909 and 1913. Tendaguru, situated in south-eastern Tanzania, has yielded one of themost important assemblages of Late Juras-sic dinosaurs.7 Apart from the scientificnotes, a wealth of transmitted material existswhich can give us an idea of the great exer-tion needed to realise such an expedition.An example of this is E. Hennig’s descrip-tion of the project8. This account gives usinsights into the daily life of an expeditionthat we do not think of when we are look-ing at a dinosaur, such as the financing ofthe undertaking, the march to TendaguruHill, the organisation of the daily work rou-tine, involving indigenous laborers, the cli-mate of the region, the physical risks taken,the atmosphere of camp life and the trans-portation of the excavation finds to Europe.The expedition documentation also includesthree oil paintings completed by Ina Reckat Tendaguru Hill and several scientificdrawings. Usually the aesthetic qualitiesof scientific drawings, often made by highlyskilled scientists, are irrelevant. Here, theopposite is the case.

There may be some who have difficultywith the mosaic pieces that together formthe context of the dinosaur’s excavation. Butthose capable of more imagination will taketo the complete and many faceted picture

A huge limewood skull for teaching and learning which can be dismantled into its constituent bones.The model was awarded thegold medal at the St. Louis World Fair in the United States in 1904. © Barbara Herrenkind

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Históricamente, el coleccionismo haestado unido a la docencia, particu-

larmente en el campo de las ciencias natu-rales. Herbolarios, animales, objetos cientí-ficos han sido utilizados como herramientasde estudio e investigación. Sin embargo, en España, estos fondos se han convertidoen objetos guardados o perdidos en algún almacén o, en el mejor de los casos, en piezas meramente contemplativas.Evidentemente, una de las funciones de losmuseos es proteger los objetos pero losmuseos universitarios no tenemos que serni actuar como el resto de los museos. Sibien es cierto que, al igual que estos, somosresponsables de conservar, cuidar, inves-tigar y difundir fondos, nosotros tenemosuna función y objetivos diferentes. Nuestramisión es respetar la memoria históricapara investigarla, estudiarla y aplicar loconocido a las necesidades actuales. Losmuseos o colecciones universitarias son,además, museos de museos, ya que reúnenfondos de distinta naturaleza en los cam-pos del: arte, la arqueología, la etnografía,las ciencias naturales y la ciencia y tecno-logía, entre otros.

En España, la situación de los museosuniversitarios es descorazonadora. Salvocontadas excepciones, las colecciones nohan sido catalogadas, lo que ha resultadoen la desaparición de objetos, la pérdidade documentación, el deterioro de las pie-zas y robos. Podemos citar el ejemplo de laUniversidad de Alicante, que, a pesar de

ser una universidad muy joven que cuen-ta con tan sólo 23 años de existencia, nocomenzó a inventariar su patrimonio sinohasta hace muy poco, en 2002. Desde elprincipio, la labor de catalogación depiezas del MUA (Museo de la Universidadde Alicante) se limitó a aquellas obrasque estaban más a la vista, dejando delado el resto del patrimonio artístico universitario. En este caso, no se disponíade personal suficiente, ni de medios pararealizar un inventario más extenso.Además, la mayor parte de las energías secentraban en la realización de exposicio-nes de obra externa y en la gestión queestas conllevan. Sin embargo, cabe desta-car que, actualmente, el Rectorado y elVicerrectorado de Extensión Universitaria,encargado de la cultura, están apoyando lacatalogación de todo el patrimonio univer-sitario, teniendo en cuenta, que el propie-tario de este patrimonio es la universidad,no los lugares donde están depositadas laspiezas. De este modo, se evitan feudos queimpiden que las obras estén al servicio dela comunidad universitaria y del resto dela sociedad. Según Ley Española, la únicapersona jurídica propietaria de todos losfondos patrimoniales es la Universidad ,no las facultades ni los departamentos, deahí la necesidad de la centralización de lascolecciones.

Aunque parezca increíble, este trabajoen una universidad joven puede resultarsumamente complicado. Se han presentado

Asociación de Museos y ColeccionesUniversitarios Españoles

Abstract The Association of Spanish University Museums and CollectionsThis article sets out to provide a clear definition of Spanish University Museums and theircollections, and shows how their common objectives differentiate them from other muse-ums. Historically, University Museums have played a key role in student and faculty training and research.Furthermore, they serve as art laboratories,providing a place whereart schools can exhibit their work and experimentations. Spanish universities have intheir care rich collections composed of artistic, scientific and bibliographical material.However, these resources remain unknown to the universities themselves and to theircommunities.We need to raise awareness at university level of the importance of con-serving, preserving, and promoting these collections.

Résumé L’Association des musées et collections universitaires espagnolsCet article veut offrir une vision claire des musées universitaires espagnols et de leurscollections et montrer en quoi leurs objectifs communs les distinguent d’autres musées.Historiquement, les musées universitaires et leurs collections occupent une place essentielledans l’enseignement et la recherche, auprès des étudiants comme du corps enseignant. Ilsjouent également un rôle de laboratoires artistiques en offrant aux écoles d’art des lieuxd’exposition pour leurs œuvres et leurs expérimentations. Les universités espagnoles ontsous leur garde des collections d’une grande richesse, constituées de fonds artistiques,scientifiques et bibliographiques. Ces ressources restent pourtant mal connues des universités elles-mêmes et de la communauté universitaire. Il nous faut sensibiliser la communauté universitaire à la nécessité de conserver, de préserver et de promouvoir cescollections.

María Marco SuchTécnico Superior de Arte, Coordinadora de la Sala de Exposiciones Aifos, Universidad de Alicante,Alicante, Españaalso play a role in the theatre of knowledge,

especially in laboratories where school-agedchildren will get the opportunity to searchand discover things by themselves. It makesa great difference whether you have evertouched a real dinosaur bone or not!

CONCLUSION

Not all universities will have theresources of the Humboldt University atBerlin. But collaborations with local muse-ums would be highly desirable in anycase. Today the gap between the achieve-ment of the sciences and their appreciationin public consciousness is painfully appar-ent to many. A theatre of knowledge couldbridge the gap: using dynamic presenta-tions of objects from different spheres which are embedded in their multifacetedhistorical, cultural and scientific contextsas well as audience-centred staging of theseobjects. n

References

1. Findlen, P., “Die Zeit vor dem Laboratorium:die Museen und der Bereich der Wissenschaft1550-1705” in H. Grote, Macrocosmos in micro-cosmo. Die Welt in der Stube. Zur Geschichte desSammelns 1480-1800, Berliner Schriften zurMuseumskunde 10, Opladen, 1994, p. 191-207;193.2. Findlen ibid., p. 193.3. Unfortunately, the translation “theatre of knowl-edge” does not carry all the connotations pre-sent in the German term “Wissenstheater”.4. Bredekamp, H., “Leibniz’ Theater der Natur undKunst”, in H. Bredekamp, J. Brüning, C. Weber(eds.), Theater der Natur und Kunst. Theatrum nat-urae et artis. Essays, Berlin, 2000, pp. 12-19.5. Theatre of Nature and Art. Treasure-trove of Knowledge, Berlin, 2000/01 (www2.hu-berlin.de/hzk/theatrum)6. The universities of Dresden, Göttingen, Greif-swald and Münster published books about theircollections, the university of Halle exhibited partsof its holdings, and others are currently in the pro-cess of creating dedicated museums. For anoverview of German university collections see:http://www2.hu-berlin.de/kulturtechnik/samm-lungsdatenbank.php7. Heinrich, W.-D., “The Taphony of Dinosaursfrom the Upper Jurassic of Tendaguru (Tanzania)Based on Field Sketches of the German TendaguruExpedition (1909-1913)” in Mitteilungen aus demMuseum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Naturwis-senschaftliche Reihe, vol. 2, 1999, pp. 25-61.8. Hennig, E., Am Tendaguru. Leben und Wirkeneiner deutschen Forschungs-Expedition zur Aus-grabung vorweltlicher Riesensaurier in Deutsch-Ostafrika, Stuttgart, 1912.9. http://www.einekopfjagd.de/headhunting.htm.The film is based on the book of M. Baer and O.Schröter, Eine Kopfjagd. Deutsche in Ostafrika.Spuren kolonialer Herrschaft, Berlin, 2001.

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permanecen desconocidos, incluso dentrode la propia universidad.

El ciclo de conferencias sobre elParimonio Universitario Español organi-zado por la Universidad de Valladolid en elaño 2001 fueron sumamente útiles, ya que,por primera vez, reunieron a los técnicosencargados del patrimonio universitariotales como profesores, gestores universita-rios, conservadores y becarios. Todos con-cordábamos en la falta de apoyo con la quecontamos y la dificultad que supone, enuna universidad, trabajar en un campoque se considera ajeno a la propia idiosin-crasia universitaria. Esta base de datosrealizada por la Universidad de Alicantesirvió de punto de partida para la creaciónde un listado de museos universitariosespañoles. El resto de las universidadesreunidas ayudaron a ampliar y esclarecerla información disponible. Además, seincluyeron otras universidades que no estu-vieron presentes pero de las que se obtuvonoticias posteriormente. A este nuevo lista-do se le añadieron más campos: universi-dad, nombre del museo o colección, depar-tamento responsable, director, técnicos,otro personal, dirección, código postal,ciudad, provincia, teléfono, fax, direcciónde Internet y e-mail de contacto. Esta infor-mación puede consultarse en la páginaWeb: www.lib.mq.edu.au/mcm/world/.

Estas gestiones fueron el primer pasopara la creación de una futura asociaciónde profesionales de este campo que desea-ban unir fuerzas para poner sobre la mesalas cuestiones principales, , buscar unasolución a los problemas comunes y con-cienciar al gobierno de nuestras universi-dades de la importancia del patrimoniocomo sello identificador de cada institu-ción. Las colecciones son la historia queha hecho de una universidad lo que es yno otra cosa. Son también las páginas enlas que se escriben su evolución y desarro-llo.

El objetivo de esta asociación es difun-dir el patrimonio universitario español.Los profesionales del cuidado del patrimo-nio nos brindamos apoyo para hacer fuer-za en cada una de las universidades, paraaprovechar los recursos disponibles y tra-bajar en proyectos comunes destinados aconservar los bienes y difundirlos entrelas universidades, mediante exposicionescompartidas o exposiciones de los fondosde cada universidad en otras.

Para terminar, debo recalcar que con-sidero fundamental el trabajo que se estárealizando y que ha alcanzado repercu-sión internacional. Todos y cada uno denosotros somos conscientes de lo impor-tante que es el patrimonio universitario,

de la tradición de nuestros museos y delorgullo que nuestras colecciones suponenpara la comunidad universitaria. n

AgradecimientosQuiero agradecer a Lorena Cantó y

Julie Cole la ayuda que me han prestado,respectivamente, con la base de datos y larecogida de información.

casos en los que difícilmente se puedeobtener documentación sobre las obrasencontradas. Antes de 1994, año en quecomenzó a constituirse la colección quealberga el MUA, se adquirieron obras,sobre todo pinturas para adornar despa-chos, pero se tomaban como simple orna-mento sin tener en cuenta su valor comoobjeto artístico. Este hecho ha dado lugara una serie de dificultades para conocer suprocedencia, el tipo de adquisición, suvalor y los criterios de selección de las pie-zas. Aunque el trabajo es arduo, tambiénes gratificante, sobre todo por la ayuda quenos han proporcionado las personas quellevan trabajando en la Universidad desdesus comienzos. Podemos catalogar estalabor de arqueológica, de reconstrucciónde un pasado perdido, pero que, en esen-cia, constituye la historia de la institución.Si este problema se ha dado en una uni-versidad nueva, el mismo adquiere unamagnitud desbordante en le caso de lasuniversidades históricas, ya que en ellas eltiempo y los recursos humanos se multi-plican.

Para llevar a cabo el proyecto deMuseo Universitario y plantear los objeti-vos de un museo universitario, laUniversidad de Alicante estudió la tradi-ción de los museos de origen anglosajón,por ser los más conocidos. Así descubri-mos que países como Inglaterra, con unaamplio pasado en este campo, atraviesanpor problemas muy graves en el manteni-miento de sus colecciones. En el caso deEspaña, había que estudiar, primero quenada, la tradición de museos y coleccionesuniversitarias y, en segundo lugar, suscaracterísticas y funcionamiento. Se reali-zó un primer sondeo por medio de cartasy llamadas telefónicas, ya que no existíaningún tipo de dato ni de control al res-pecto. De este modo, se elaboró un listadode colecciones y museos universitariosespañoles que fue entregado a PeterStanbury, presidente del ICOM-UMAC,para incluirlo en la página Web que estabaconstruyendo la Macquarie University deNew South Wales (Australia).

El UMAC se preocupa por el patrimo-nio de las universidades, su estado, man-tenimiento, difusión y protección. PeterStanbury ha realizado una labor sobresa-liente, ya que no sólo se dedicó a resolverlos problemas existentes en su país, sinoque fue más allá al crear una Web quealberga los museos universitarios de todoel mundo y que dio paso a la constitucióndel citado Comité. El éxito del UMAC radi-ca en la unión de los profesionales con elpropósito de reclamar derechos para losmuseos universitarios que, generalmente,

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The modern university cannot be anivory tower; however, community

engagement, if not tackled strategically, canbe a “bottomless pit”. To ensure sustainabilityand mutual satisfaction, the outreach needsto be well planned and affordable.

Every university institution needs toformulate a distinctive mission, focus onpriorities and engage in business planningto forge a competitive edge in research andeducation. Likewise in its outreach work,which ideally builds on and complementsits academic strengths.

Macquarie University in Sydney,Australia, engaged an American consultant,Professor Ernest Lynton, in 1994 to helpformulate a Community Outreach Planwhich developed from and strengthenedits teaching/research/outreach nexus. Thesame year, I developed a three phasechronological outreach model, summarisedbelow:1. Early development of community out-

reach, characterised by:• Uncoordinated staff initiatives• Individual and institutional attempts

to harness community support, andresponses to community requests

• Fortuitous interaction as a major seed ofoutreach

• Little strategy or systematic integrationwith academic strategic directions

• Limited quality assurance• Limited coordination 2. Significant outreach, characterised by:• Increasing demand from communities,

and use of resources in meeting demands

• Concern by staff about recognition andrewards for involvement in outreachwork

• Growing realisation of the need for con-scious choices

• More systematic identification of therange and scope of outreach activitiesand key external constituencies

• Reviews of quality and effectiveness• Emergence of distinctive, coherent

themes3. Structured and coordinated outreach

work characterised by:• Nurturing of distinctive, coherent themes,

related to key features of the mission• Organisational structures for strategic

planning, and coordination mechanismsfor outreach

• Setting priorities to optimise the matchbetween internal resources and externalneeds

• More integrated approach to expectationsand responsibilities of staff, to balancingdemands and workloads, and recognis-ing excellence

• Systematic harnessing of input and feed-back from staff and key external con-stituencies

• Systematic and comprehensive qualityassurance

• Rational pricing and subsidising policies

When Macquarie now embarks onmajor outreach work, it endeavours tostructure and implement it in ways consis-tent with Phase 3, as it did when the ArtGallery opened in 2000, with the Vice-Chancellor and President (the author)

as Director/Curator. This enables theUniversity to avoid the problems it oftenexperienced with its outreach programmesin earlier years – that is, in Phases 1 and 2.

PHASE 3 CHARACTERISTICS AS APPLIED TO THE

NEW GALLERY

1. Nurturing of distinctive themes andbuilding on strengths. The Community Out-reach Plan identifies a manageable num-ber of coherent themes, related to key fea-tures of the institutional mission, one ofthem being arts and culture. Macquariepositions itself as a leader in promotingpolicies for recognising, sustaining andenhancing University Museums and Col-lections (UMAC). Macquarie offers Aus-tralia’s only undergraduate museum stud-ies course. There is a dearth of public artmuseums in northern Sydney, providingboth a need and an opportunity whichMacquarie, with its University Museumsand Collections experience and art collec-tions, could readily fill. The Sculpture Park(operating jointly with the Art Gallery) wasalready Australia’s largest public sculpturecollection.

2. Strategic planning and relevanceto the community outreach plan. While thefirst three of the five goals in Macquarie’scommunity outreach plan are not directlyrelevant to the visual arts, dealing asthey do with the provision of informationservices (Goal 1), research-based services(Goal 2) and continuing education pro-grammes (Goal 3), the Gallery clearlypromotes Goal 4 (“to serve as a culturalcenter for Macquarie’s community and theregion by supporting the arts”) and Goal 5(“to share capacity in Macquarie’s physicaland intellectual infrastructure and facili-ties”). The Director prepared a plan wellbefore the Gallery opened which was usedas teaching material for professional devel-opment seminars for museums.

3. Planned physical facilities. TheGallery was designed to professional stan-dards when the new Administration Build-ing was conceived. Public spaces of thebuilding were fitted with professionaltracking and light controls, to furnish addi-tional secure exhibiting spaces. The build-ing’s foyer accommodates groups visitingthe Gallery, including school children. TheFunction Room, with catering facilities,was designed for convenient interaction,while ensuring that food and drink do notcome into contact with exhibits. The build-ing’s security staff provide professionalprotection for exhibits, and direct Galleryvisitors.

Outreach: a Structured and Coordinated Approach

Résumé Actions de proximité : structure et coordinationEn utilisant une analyse en trois étapes des actions de proximité des universités et,commecas d’étude, la galerie d’art d’une université australienne, l’article préconise l’approchela plus affinée, étape 3, afin de favoriser un engagement durable, d’intérêt réciproque,au service de la communauté. Les actions de proximité de l’étape 3 sont ciblées,stratégiques, bien conçues et bien exécutées, mettant en œuvre les atouts institution-nels et les axes prioritaires de la mission universitaire.Ainsi, les actions de proximitédes musées universitaires seront plus volontiers reconnues et encouragées en tant qu’ac-tivité institutionnelle fondamentale.

Resumen Actividades de envolvimiento comunitario – un enfoque estructurado y coordi-nadoEste artículo analiza las actividades de envolvimiento comunitario de las universidadesy realiza el estudio de caso del museo de una universidad australiana. Recomienda a lasuniversidades que establezcan relaciones sostenibles y mutuamente beneficiosas consu comunidad recurriendo a la fase más elaborada de dicho análisis. Esta fase selectivay estratégica requiere una planificación y una realización perfectas, ancladas en lospuntos fuertes de cada institución y en sus prioridades académicas. De este modo, lasactividades outreach de los museos de universidades serán percibidas como una activi-dad institucional fundamental y, como tal, recibirán el apoyo necesario.

Di YerburyEmeritus Professor,Vice-Chancellor and President of Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia,Chair of the New South Wales UMAC Committee

4. Coordination mechanisms includeMacquarie’s UMAC Committee, and thecombined organisation of school visits tothe University Museum. Collaborationbetween Macquarie UMAC staff, and othercultural staff such as photographers, digi-tal designers and video-makers, provides amutually supportive community. Co-ordi-nation with conferences and academic pro-grammes includes internships for artsadministration students. Promotion is facil-itated by the central marketing unit, whichpublishes Culture on Campus, a free e-newsletter and website. The Gallery hasbeen very successful in attracting freeadvertising and media coverage includingreviews.

In 2001, Macquarie launched, withAdLib, its Museums and Collections Information Management System(www.lib.mq.edu.au/mcm/). With thou-sands of image-based records, users cancatalogue, track and search the various col-lections, while staff can deliver via the Webto new audiences, including remoteschools. The database also supports Muse-ums Studies.

5. Strategic priority-setting. The Galleryteam includes an Education Officer inrecognition of the priority afforded tooutreach to schools. This is managed ona structured, coordinated basis, withattention to the High School Certificatesyllabus and the special needs of institu-tions in Macquarie’s School Partners Program. Educational kits for different age groups are prepared for each exhibi-tion.

6. Staff responsibilities and inputs.By employing dedicated, professionalstaff, the Gallery avoids the commonproblem (which surveys suggest exists inmany Australian UMAC) of academicor general staff being employed primarilyfor other purposes, whose UMAC duties areoften not formalised in workloads. At Mac-quarie, the Central Operating Budget assistswith staffing the University Museum. Staffsystematically contribute to planning andorganising exhibitions, and are invited tocurate selected shows as part of their pro-fessional development.

7. Strategic alliances and inputs. TheGallery has mounted collaborative andexchange exhibitions with the NationalGallery of Australia and regional galleries.Many museums have generously loanedworks to Macquarie for its UniversityMuseum exhibitions while, in turn, signifi-cant items in University Collections areloaned to museums. As a non-commer-cial gallery, it can also co-operate withcommercial outlets to host invited guest

exhibitions, with potential buyers directedto the commercial gallery.

8. Systematic quality assurance and feed-back. Comments are sought from all visi-tors, and written evaluations and feedbackobtained from teachers accompanyingschool groups. A conservation expertemployed by the University to service allmuseums and collections on campus con-tinuously monitors temperature, humidity,lighting, etc, providing fortnightly reports;inspecting collections and advising onpreservation; arranging conservation andrestoration where necessary; and providingspecialist input on physical aspects of qual-ity assurance.

9. No-fees policy. Macquarie providescertain outreach activities on a non-charg-ing basis, eg, free community concerts,films introduced with expert talks, and vis-its to the Gallery and other collections. Thebenefits it receives in return for theGallery’s outreach work include access topotential students, the good will of teach-ers; access to many other museums andgalleries and their holdings; positive publicrelations; community support; and verygenerous donations of artworks from artistsand owners on a tax-deductible basis.

CONCLUSION

Several Australian University Museumsexperience problems in relation to build-ings and facilities, collections managementincluding physical care, staffing, databasesand cataloguing, and services. With accu-mulating funding pressures, some Aus-tralian University Museums are regardedas a dispensable drain on overstretchedresources rather than an integrated coreactivity.

Opening a new Art Gallery in such chal-lenging times could have been an unpopu-lar proposition. Instead, it was recognised(in terms of the University’s outreach mis-sion statement) that this venture, along withall other outreach work, should be on thebasis of a “sustainable and mutually bene-ficial interface between selected, high pri-ority needs” in the community, and “Mac-quarie’s expertise, functions, artisticactivities and infrastructure”. The earlystage of such outreach work is charac-terised by fortuitous interactions; the sec-ond phase involves a “growing realisationof the need for conscious choices”; whilePhase 3 outreach is more selective andstrategic, and matched to institutionalstrengths and priorities in the academicmission. Starting out with the Phase 3approach made the Gallery viable from theoutset. n

References

“Cinderella Collections: University Museums &Collections in Australia” in Report of the Univer-sity Museums Review Committee, AGPS, 1996.“Transforming Cinderella Collections: The Man-agement and Conservation of Australian Univer-sity Museums, Collections & Herbaria” in Reportof the DCA/AV-CC University Museums ProjectCommittee, AGPS, 1998.Di Yerbury, “The Cinderella Collections: AnAustralian Fairy Story” in Managing UniversityMuseums, OECD, 2001.

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their perspectives. Some museums withinternational ethnographic collections – thePitt Rivers Museum at Oxford Universityis one – are developing new kinds of part-nerships with source communities – engag-ing in dialogues on the ownership, care, doc-umentation and interpretation of universitycollections 3. Such partnerships have thepotential to offer multiple interpretations ofobjects previously presented according towestern academic taxonomies.

NATIONAL COLLABORATION

At a national level, non subject-based col-laborations have perhaps greater potentialand here government incentives can play amajor role. In England, the WideningParticipation initiative, instigated by a 1997Government report into higher educationand backed by substantial funding, encour-ages universities to accept a broad studentintake4. The initiative is particularly aimedat the older-established institutions that havetraditionally admitted a disproportionatenumber of students educated at private, asopposed to state-run, schools. Many such uni-versities also administer museums and someof these have seized this opportunity todemonstrate their potential as shop windowsfor the university. To function effectively inthis role they must engage more actively andopenly with their target audiences. Govern-ment guidelines stress that partnership willbe crucial to success, and suggest a rangeof possible partners for universities, includ-ing local and regional government, schools,colleges and community forums.

University College London (UCL) hasrecently appointed a Collections EducationOfficer, funded through the WideningParticipation initiative. She works closelywith target primary and secondary schools,and with play and youth services admin-istered by the local education authority.Her role is to develop collections-basedprogrammes, including outreach hand-ling sessions, museum visits with spe-cialists on hand, summer schools, universityexperience days and a range of eventsfor young people and their parents. Suchprogrammes have the potential to benefiteach partner. They help to raise educationalaspirations among people who would nototherwise have considered university anoption. In addition, they enable the uni-versity to attract a more diverse studentbody, and its museums to serve a broaderaudience more representative of the localcommunity. All of the institutions involvedin these partnerships have access to Widen-ing Participation funding and are essen-tially working to the same political agenda.

In the last few decades, many UniversityMuseums and collections have experi-

enced a period of self-doubt, a crisis of con-fidence. Funding for higher education wasincreasingly stretched, and in many insti-tutions this coincided with changes in teach-ing priorities. As a result, some collectionswere neglected by their parent institutions1.Others were simply thrown out. The moresuccessful museums reinvented themselves,restructuring, reviewing their objectivesand attracting new audiences. For some, newpartnerships became essential to survival.

Many University Museums house inter-nationally important collections and werealready experienced in collaboration withintheir specialist disciplines for the purposesof research. Others were compelled bythe harsher economic climate to adopt morestrategic approaches and forge new kinds oflinks. A study carried out in England in thelate 1990s 2 found that 78% of UniversityMuseums and collections had links – long-term or project-based – with local govern-ment in their area, and some also workedclosely with regional arts providers.

Given the late 20th century consensusthat University Museums were in crisis,it might be expected that these new part-nerships would be born of desperation. Most university collections were and areacutely aware of their weaknesses and ofwhat they stand to gain from partnership,such as:• Better management of resources (money,

people, collections)• New audiences• Expertise in working with new audiences• Access to new sources of funding• Higher public profile through community

and mass media

University Museums have perhaps beenless quick to articulate their strengths andpotential, which include:• Specialised collections accumulated for

teaching and research• Specialised supporting libraries and

archives• Access to cross-disciplinary expertise,

including research skills• Tradition of quality provision (e.g. hands-

on access)• Access to higher education and research

funding• Higher public profile through association

with an academic institution

An understanding of such complemen-tary strengths is critical even to informalcollaborations but essential for partnersentering longer-term or more formalrelationships, particularly where strongexternal incentives, such as grant funding,may require unusual alliances. Wherecompatibility exists, though, such externalincentives – global, national, regional orlocal – can nurture and sustain partnerships.

INTERNATIONAL PARTHERSHIPS

International partnerships have tradi-tionally tended to focus around sharedsubject specialisms; projects to developresearch programmes, touring exhibitionsor publications. The growth of digital tech-nologies – online catalogues and learningresources, subject portals – offers hugepotential to increase such links, and sub-stantial funding is available from, forinstance, the European Union, to enablecollaborations to take place. Meanwhilespecialist disciplines are slowly broadening

Desperately Seeking Sustainability:University Museums in Meaningful Relationships

Résumé Les Musées universitaires en quête d’associations durablesL’auteur décrit les atouts que les Musées universitaires peuvent apporter aux partenairespotentiels : l’accès à des collections, bibliothèques et archives spécialisées ; une solidecompétence interdisciplinaire ; l’acquisition d’un savoir approfondi et d’une notoriété,conférés par l’association avec une institution universitaire. L’auteur, qui reconnaît queles Musées universitaires ont tardé à prendre toute la mesure de leur potentiel, décritl’évolution et l’enrichissement qu’ont amené des partenariats récents. Elle les examinedu point de vue local, régional, national et mondial.

Resumen Buscando desesperadamente la sostenibilidad: museos universitarios y colaboraciones relevantesLa autora ilustra las ventajas de las que pueden beneficiarse los potenciales colaboradoresde los museos de universidades: acceso a colecciones, bibliotecas y archivos especializa-dos, así como a conocimientos multidisciplinares, aprendizaje en profundidad y proyección pública. Si bien los museos universitarios han tardado en tomar concienciade sus posibilidades, la situación está cambiando, como lo demuestra una serie de nuevas y exitosas colaboraciones que la autora analiza desde una perspectiva local,regional, nacional y global.

Sally MacDonaldManager, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London, London, U.K.

The availability of government andother funding has provided a power-ful incentive for the forging of new part-nerships. In the United Kingdom, theHeritage Lottery Fund (HLF) through itssupport of publicly-oriented heritage pro-jects has transformed museum provi-sion in recent years. The availability ofthis funding prompted a partnershipbetween The Petrie Museum of EgyptianArchaeology at UCL and two local author-ity museum services in Croydon andGlasgow, and enabled the creation of atouring exhibition from the Petrie collec-tion5. The exhibition drew on recentresearch but was geared to non-academicaudiences and presented ancient Egypt ina new and challenging way, examining,amongst other things, the politics ofarchaeology and the ethics of displayinghuman remains. University Museumshave perhaps greater potential than, say,national museums to experiment withnew display methods, and to provoke con-troversy and debate. Croydon and Glasgowmuseums, as host venues, brought theirown expertise to the project. They werefully involved in exhibition design andinterpretation to ensure that it would caterfor their local audiences, and they usedtheir extensive contacts and experienceof outreach work to construct events andmarketing programmes to attract a newaudience, such as young people from eth-nic minorities, who might not otherwisevisit such an exhibition. All partners ben-efited from this collaboration, and a little-known university collection was seen byover 90,000 people.

REGIONAL INITIATIVES

University libraries have alreadydemonstrated the potential for imaginativeregional partnership, collaborating withlocal authority libraries in geographicaland subject-based networks. The aim isto maximise resources and enhance public service by sharing their holdings,working together on research and pro-viding combined training programmes.In Sunderland, in the North East ofEngland, academic and public librariesnow operate a single reader’s ticketscheme, offering all library users access tothe general and specialist resources ofthe whole region.

Such regional collaborations are nowbeing proposed for museums; and fundingis being sought to establish a system ofregional museum “hubs” one in each ofthe nine English regions6. Each hub con-sists of several larger museums, some

including University Museums. The hubsare intended to become centres of excel-lence, ensuring that regional resources aretruly focused on the needs of regionalaudiences. These new structures encour-age University Museums to work withother museums in their regions, to betterserve their existing audiences and toattract new ones. Some already have experience of such creative partnerships.In 1992 management of the HancockMuseum, owned by the University ofNewcastle upon Tyne, was transferred byformal agreement to Tyne and WearMuseums Service, which already ran sev-eral museums in the region. Under theagreement, the university retained owner-ship of the Hancock collections but Tyneand Wear Museums agreed to manage theHancock on behalf of the university. As aresult, the Hancock now benefits from pro-fessional programming, marketing andinterpretation and the expertise of a largeand diverse staff team. Many more peoplealso now have access to the Hancock

collections; visitor figures rose from80,000 in 1992 to 120,000 in 1999, and yetthe Hancock remains very much aUniversity Museum, with the collectionsused in teaching across a range of aca-demic departments.

Elsewhere, new building projects, andthe need to find funding for them, haveacted as a catalyst for regional and localpartnerships. The National Library ofWomen, owned by London’s GuildhallUniversity, forged a partnership with theLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets to plana new home for the collection, the projectenvisaged as a cornerstone for regenera-tion in a poor area. Such strategic planningenabled the National Library to attractfunding from area regeneration budgetsand from HLF, neither of which wouldhave funded a project designed solely foracademic use. The new Women’s Library,opened in 2002, includes facilities for schol-ars and the general public and illustratesthe direction university collections musttake if they are to access public funding.

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A young visitor encounters an octopus at the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL. Participationnetworks have opened up University Museums to wider audiences. Photo Andy O’Connell © Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL

2. Bennet, O. et al., Partners and Providers: Therole of HEIs in the provision of cultural and sportsfacilities to the wider public, Bristol, Higher Edu-cation Funding Council for England (HEFCE), no.99/25, 1999. 3. Peers, L., “Sharing Knowledge”, Museums Jour-nal, May 2002, pp. 25-27. 4. Higher Education Funding Council for England(HEFCE), Strategies for widening participation inhigher education, Bristol, no. 01/36, 2001. 5. MacDonald, S., “An Experiment in Access”,Museologia, no. 2, 2002, pp. 101-8. 6. Resource, Renaissance in the Regions: a new visionfor England’s museums, London, Resource, 2001.

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Some of the most effective partnershipscan be made at a very local level. A recentinitiative at Cambridge University involvedfour University Museums – of zoology,geology, history of science and archaeolo-gy/ anthropology – working together onan outreach project to raise their profilewith local audiences. A project establishedby two adjacent university museums inOxford – the Oxford University Museum ofNatural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum– likewise aims to attract a more diverseand local audience. Both projects haveachieved considerable success throughplanned, shared marketing and mobile andoff-site promotions. They have raisedimportant but basic issues to do with sig-nage, opening hours and working practices.And both now face a challenge of sustain-ing change once the external project fund-ing that helped initiate them runs out.

The Egypt Centre, a museum run bySwansea University, has developed animpressively strong volunteer programme– including its own young volunteersgroup – with volunteer training and devel-opment at the heart of its work. The Centreis taking advantage of project funding todevelop their services for disadvantagedchildren, as part of its objective to workconstructively with children with specialneeds. Partner schools in the Swansea areanominate children who could benefitfrom the programme, which is designedto increase children’s confidence andaspirations. Although the project fundingis short-term, the museum’s commitmentto volunteer development bodes well forthe partnership to be sustained even with-out external support.

CONCLUSION

Some partnerships of the kind citedhere may only need to be short term.Others require longer to mature, and willneed time and effort to sustain. Supportfrom outside will help but a partnershipcan only work when it answers genuineneeds on both sides, when partners valuetheir own and others’ contributions, andwhen everyone is clear about what isexpected of them. The potential benefitsfor University Museums in entering rela-tionships are enormous; new ways ofunderstanding collections and better waysof using them, new audiences, new skills,and a far brighter future. n

References

1. Museums Association, Museums and HigherEducation, London, Museums Association AnnualReport, 1991.

er museums take the opportunity to do frontend evaluation to test ideas for new exhi-bitions with target audiences. Audienceresponse is then built into curatorial direc-tion and exhibition design. It seems to methat University Museums have not consid-ered their audiences’ needs with suchintense interest.

COMMUNITIES, AUDIENCES,VISITORS, CLIENTS

There are a number of terms here –communities, audiences, visitors. I shouldpause and indicate where these overlap andwhere they diverge. Communities are likefamilies, although the cords that tie themtogether may not be as secure as the famil-ial bond. Communities have a commitmentand sense of ownership, in this case withthe museum and its programmes.Audiences, on the one hand, are assem-blies of listeners2, whose involvement withthe museum is quite limited. Visitors, on theother, are implicitly or explicitly, invitedto the museum. They may give their opin-ions about what they see and what theydo or they may hardly communicate withthe museum and its staff. Scholars haveidentified three types of attitudes that prevail towards visitors –those of stranger,guest and client – sometimes co-existing,sometimes in conflict.3 According to thisresearch, when a museum affords prima-cy to the collection, visitors are likely toremain strangers; when a museum empha-sises its educational programmes, visitorsbecome the responsibility of the museum,like guests. Museums that prioritise theirresponsibilities and accountabilities to theirvisitors develop a client relationship with them.

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Gwyn Hanssen Pigott (born 1935) Pale suite with cups, 2001. Twelve glazed, wood-fired porcelain vessels, wheel thrown 13.5 x 92 x 16 cm. Purchased 2001. Photographer: Brian Hand © Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.

National and State museums appearconfident about the identification of

their communities as their purpose is toplay a public role. Through the resonanceof their collections with their immediateenvironment, the local community is espe-cially attracted to the museum. So too is awider community enticed by the ‘block-buster’ and specialist exhibitions thatexpand visitors’ horizons by showing rareand precious things or new discoveries.

University Museums have developed ina scholarly environment, often with a lim-ited public function, if one exists at all.When University Museums chase the pub-lic outside the university campus, it seemsthey lose touch with the point of differencethat makes them unique – the relation-ship with the university itself, their keystakeholder. Building partnerships with uni-versity faculties, and extending these part-nerships into the business or public sec-tors, is likely to create a more sustainablebase from which to develop UniversityMuseums. Such business alliances can alsoprovide credibility for funding of museumprogrammes in times of fiscal restraint inthe university sector.

Some University Museums seem to dis-appear into the university environment,their collections pitched to students andstaff as an adjunct to teaching and researchprograms, existing for reasons other thanmuseological,1 which may be entirelyappropriate. Such collections may sufferthrough use, sometimes through neglect,and, often, through a lack of collectionmanagement, possibly becoming a liabili-ty to the university rather than an asset.Other University Museums that set aboutcompeting with the more open world ofnon-University Museums, while promotinga public role, may be disadvantaged by an

insufficiency of resources in comparisonwith those available to government-fundedmuseums.

I have not always worked in muse-ums, let alone University Museums.However, of my eleven years in museums,four were spent in a national art gallery,four in a university art museum not co-located with the university and the pastthree in a cultural precinct, including anart museum, sited in the heart of the uni-versity campus. While my experience relatesto art museums, it is relevant, I believe, tomost if not all University Museums. WhatI’ve learnt is that seeing the museum fromthe perspective of the visitor rather than thecollection is a critical success factor.

Visitor experiences are very much onthe minds of museum workers these days.Evaluation of visitor experiences consumesmuch time in many museums. Some larg-

Challenges for University Museums:Museums, Collections and their Communities

Résumé Une gageure pour les musées universitaires : musées, collections et communautésParmi les difficultés auxquelles sont confrontés les musées universitaires, certaines affec-tent tout autant les musées non universitaires tandis que d’autres sont spécifiques à l’en-vironnement universitaire. Cet article examine l’intérêt des relations qui peuvent sedévelopper entre les musées et leurs différentes communautés – qu’il s’agisse du public,des visiteurs ou des partenaires – et suggère que l’identification de la communautémuséale semble un processus plus complexe pour les musées universitaires que pourleurs homologues non universitaires.

Resumen Retos de los museos universitarios: los museos, sus colecciones y sus comunidadesLos museos universitarios se enfrentan tanto a los desafíos de los museos no universi-tarios como a aquellos específicos a los museos universitarios. Este artículo estudia laimportancia de las relaciones que deben fomentarse entre los museos y sus comunida-des (público, visitantes o accionistas) y recalca que la identificación de la comunidad deun museo universitario es más compleja que la de los demás tipos de museos.

Sue-Anne WallaceDirector, QUT Cultural Precinct, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

RE-FOCUSING UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS ON THEIR

CLIENTS:THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

So a different approach for UniversityMuseums is from the perspective of theclient rather than the collection. Theclient/museum relationship is critical to allmuseums but perhaps none more so thanUniversity Museums that have tended toneglect this aspect of their work, focusingon the object/museum junction.

If I ask my Australian university col-leagues about the clients for their museums,the answers I am most likely given relateto the number of public visitors enteringthe museum. Attracting these visitors andsatisfying their needs serves the civic dutyof the university. But in times of economicbelt tightening, when funds for teaching andresearch are at risk, such audiences mayseem marginal to the university’s core busi-ness.

At QUT we focus on the university com-munity as our key client. While we attracta significant audience to the Art Museum(estimated at 30,000 in 2002) and theCultural Precinct (estimated at 70,000 in2002) through educational and public pro-grammes, the key to our success is the part-nerships we have formed with the schoolsand faculties of the university, our com-munities and, moreover, our stakeholders.8

For this reason, while not neglectingthe public, at QUT Cultural Precinct we focuson the university community as our keyclient. Although the partnerships that can bedeveloped with the teaching and researchareas may be the most challenging, they arelikely, ultimately, to be the most rewardingfor the university, the museum and the public. n

AcknowledgmentsValuable, constructive comments by

Peter Tirrell and Steven de Clercq havehelped tighten the focus of this paper. Mythanks to them both for their support dur-ing a challenging period.

References

1. For example, the University of Adelaide’s InsectReference Collection for undergraduate teaching,not open to the public and the University ofMelbourne’s Herbarium, for research and teach-ing purposes only, cited in the report TransformingCinderella Collections, Canberra, Department ofCommunications and the Arts, and the AustralianVice-Chancellor’s Committee, 1998, p. 302 and p. 260.2. Oxford English Dictionary.3. Doering, Z. D., “Strangers, Guests, or Clients?Visitor experiences in museums”, Curator. TheMuseum Journal, vol. 42, no. 2, 1999, pp. 74-87.4. De Clercq, S., Lourenço, M., “A Globe is justanother Tool. Understanding the Role of Objects

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John Wilson (born 1955) Figure and bird, 1997. Colouredochres, feathers, bark, fibre and string on ironwood. Purchased1998 with funds provided by Barclay Mowlem ConstructionLimited through the QUT Foundation © John Wilson

What happens in University Museums?I have suggested that University Museums,having largely grown around their collec-tions, have taken collections as the corner-stone of their existence, rather than theiraudiences.4

The Queensland University of Technol-ogy (QUT) Art Collection was begun in 1945,while the museum, QUT Art Museum, onlyopened in May 2000. Before the collectionwas housed in the museum, it had consid-erable significance to the university.5 It beganas a teaching collection. The audience, there-fore, was the teaching faculties and the stu-dent body. However, as the focus of teach-ing shifted, the collection had less directpedagogical relevance. Nevertheless, it didretain significant visibility as an increas-ing percentage of the collection was installedin public areas of the university.

With curatorial staff to support the devel-opment of the collection, it continued toexpand through judicious purchases andgifts, doubling in size during the 1990s.A push to open a museum to house the collection was finally successful in 1999,enabling the works of art to be appreciatedby wider audiences, both university and pub-lic, and enhancing significantly the univer-sity’s commitment to serving the broadercommunity of Brisbane and Queensland.Universities, however, expect more thanpublic acknowledgement in return fortheir investments in museums. Some further benefit must accrue to the campusto justify the resources expended on build-ing museums and maintaining their oper-ations.

THE VIRTUE AND PRESTIGE OF COLLECTIONS

It has been claimed that in the nineteenthcentury, public art museums became signs ofpolitically virtuous states, while in the twen-tieth century one read that museum fever con-tinues unabated.6 Such virtuous and fever-ish activities could be seen as catalysts foruniversities to build museums and to enlargeexisting museums, thereby enhancing pub-lic access to their collections. Furthermore,most Australian universities include a com-mitment to community service in their char-ters, so support of a university museum,open to the public, is seen as recognitionof this civic duty.

At the same time, there is significantprestige that can accrue to the universitybecause of the value of the objects or worksin the collection, along with their prove-nance. If university research led to the dis-covery of the objects now publicly displayed,then the university museum provides anopportunity to celebrate such scholarship.

This is true, for example, of museums focus-ing on archaeological, anthropological orscientific finds, such as the NicholsonMuseum at the University of Sydney or Mac-quarie University’s Museum of Ancient Cul-tures. Art museums that show the work ofcurrent or former university staff and stu-dents may similarly promote the reputationof the university, its teaching and research.

Yet such virtue and prestige are largelyignored by some University Museums, moreintent on appealing to mass culture7 thanuniversity values. Appealing though massculture may be – it is after all our quotidianenvironment – it is not necessarily going toreflect the values of the university, whichsurely relate to pedagogy and prestige asmuch as entrepreneurship.

in University Collections”, ICOM Study SeriesUMAC, pp. 4-6.5. Rainbird, S., Selected Australian Works, Bris-bane, Queensland University of Technology, 1995.6. Duncan, C., Civilizing Rituals inside public artmuseums, London, Routledge, 1995, p. 21. 7. For an enlightened overview of mass culture seeHall, P., “The marriage of art and technology” inCities in Civilization, London, Phoenix Giant, 1998,pp. 503 - 608. 8. At QUT Cultural Precinct, a suite of programmesfor specific audiences (young children and seniors)has been developed in partnership with teach-ing and research units of various faculties anddivisions, including the schools of Early Child-hood, Nursing, Human Movement Studies, Designand Built Environment, Humanities and HumanServices and faculties of Creative Industries, Busi-ness and Science.

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There is evidence that academies oflearning undertaking and promoting

research and teaching existed in manyplaces during the Classical periods ofancient Greece and then Rome, and thatthese certainly included important librariesand works of art, and probably museum-type collections as well, in at least somecases. The most famous were the 4th

century B.C. Greek Lyceum - most closelyassociated with Aristotle and his followers,and the great Library and Museion found-ed by Ptolomy Sotor in 290 B.C. inAlexandria, Egypt, which remained amongstthe most important places of learning in theworld for at least 600 years and numberedArchimedes amongst its most distinguishedmembers. Though less is known aboutthem, such academic centres existing inother regions and cultural traditions as well,particularly Asia, where there seem to havebeen academies of some kind in ancientMesopotamia even earlier than in Greece,and the tradition of scholarly communitiesand special centres for them was alreadyflourishing by the latter part of the first mil-lennium A.D. in the Oriental and Muslimworlds perhaps 1,300 years ago.1

However, it is generally accepted thatthe modern concept of a university, nowcopied and adapted in all parts of the world,is essentially a European one and arguablyone of the most important European con-tributions to world culture. The first uni-versity was Bologna, Italy, founded in 1088,and this was followed in the next centuryby Paris, France (1170) and Oxford, England(1167). At least 16 more were established inthe course of the 13th century, and by 1500,often regarded as the end of the Middle Ages,at least 77 of Europe’s present-day univer-sities were already established, ranging fromPoland and Slovakia in the east, Sweden,Denmark and Scotland in the north, Portu-gal in the west, Sicily in the south.

THE EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS

European universities were one of themost important pioneers in the establish-ment of museums, which frequently devel-oped out of the need for teaching andresearch collections for use in a wide rangeof academic fields, particularly the naturalsciences, anthropology and classical archae-ology and antiquities, the earliest of which

European Cooperation in theProtection and Promotion of theUniversity Heritage

Résumé La coopération européenne pour la protection et la promotion du patrimoine uni-versitaireLes universités, qui sont l’une des principales contributions de l’Europe à la culture uni-verselle, ont amassé tout au long des neuf derniers siècles un patrimoine considérable,qu’il soit d’ordre matériel (édifices historiques, musées et collections) ou immatériel.Dans un monde soumis aux influences du marché, les universités subissent de fortescontraintes qui les incitent,pour assurer leur survie,à négliger l’héritage que leur a léguél’histoire. Cet article revient sur deux projets récents,“ L’Europe : campagne pour unpatrimoine commun ” et “ Universeum : patrimoine universitaire et universités – Res-ponsabilité et ouverture au public ”, projets qui ne sont que les prémices d’une grandecampagne qu’il faudra mener dans la durée pour mieux faire connaître la valeur histo-rique irremplaçable – et l’intérêt toujours actuel – du patrimoine universitaire de l’Eu-rope.

Resumen Cooperación europea para la protección y la promoción del patrimonio de lasuniversidadesLas universidades,que constituyen una de las más importantes contribuciones europeasal mundo de la cultura, han acumulado a lo largo de los últimos nueve siglos un consi-derable patrimonio tanto tangible (edificios históricos,museos y colecciones) como intan-gible. Para sobrevivir en el mundo actual, regido por una lógica comercial y de mer-cado, las universidades se ven sometidas a una fuerte presión externa para que descuidenel patrimonio que han heredado.Este artículo describe dos proyectos recientes:“Europa:Una Campaña a Favor del Patrimonio Común” y “Universeum: Patrimonio Académicoy Universidades – Responsabilidad y Acceso al Público” que son sólo el comienzo de loque no dejará de convertirse en una importante campaña a largo plazo para concienciarsobre la vital importancia tanto histórica como actual del patrimonio universitario euro-peo.

Patrick J. BoylanProfessor of Heritage Policy and Management, City University, London, U.K.

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can be dated back to the late Mediaevalperiod. Most of these historic universities,and very many others founded in more mod-ern times, have a very rich material heritagein terms of their numerous specially devel-oped historic buildings, which from the late17th century construction of the original Ash-molean Museum in Oxford began to includespecial buildings to accommodate thesecollections and the related teaching andresearch.

It is probably fair to argue that collec-tions-based and hence museums-based uni-versity research and teaching reached itshigh point in the mid- to late-19th centurywhen the museum collections were centralto much of the leading edge research of theday: work on the classification, progressionand evolution of life in geology (particularlypalaeontology), botany and zoology, andin the emerging new sciences of anthro-pology, ethnography and archaeology. As aresult many University Museums have verylarge collections of material, which remainof fundamental and permanent importancein terms of both contemporary studies oftaxonomy (the classification and naming ofpast and present life forms) or as evidenceof past human cultures and societies.

However, over the past few decades uni-versity (and wider) science has moved inradically different directions, with far greateremphasis on areas such as geological struc-ture and sedimentology and other processesin the case of geology, on research and teach-ing at the cellular, biochemistry and nowgenetic levels within biology, and on thesociology and social anthropology in thecase of the human sciences. Similarly, manyof the historic buildings that universitieshave built and occupied over perhaps a mat-ter of centuries are regarded as no longersuitable for today’s current needs, which callfor much larger lecture rooms, laboratoriesetc. all equipped to meet contemporaryteaching and research needs.

More recently still, the past decade or sohas seen a quite dramatic change in the pri-orities and operations of many universitiesas institutions as a result of a combinationof pressures. These include in many, per-haps all, European countries governmentpolicies pressing universities to adopt muchmore commercial attitudes towards themanagement of their resources, and seek-ing very large-scale expansion in studentnumbers to provide increased access to uni-versities, which has rarely if ever beenadequately funded by the governmentsdemanding such developments. (To take oneexample, the United Kingdom government’sown figures show that over the past 20 yearsthe annual funding per student in British

universities has fallen by more than 40%,while the ratio of students to academic staffhas worsened by over 100%.)

CHANGING PRIORITIES

Under such pressures universities andother higher education institutions areinevitably focusing their priorities onto whatthey regard as their current core areas ofactivity in teaching and research, and arequestioning the future of those activities,which are not seen to be paying their waywithin the new market-driven academicworld. Thus, when whole subject areas andindividual courses that do not cover theirway in terms of student numbers, externalresearch grants or other funding are calledinto question, or even closed down com-pletely, a university’s expenditure on its her-itage buildings and - particularly its - per-haps ancient - museums is similarly beingthrown into sharp relief, and may well facevery real uncertainty (or worse) in relationto their future.

However, such short-term and narrowviews of the university’s inherited past,whether in physical form, such as historicbuildings or University Museums, or intan-gible, such as traditional colourful institu-tional and student traditions, is seriouslymisguided. Instead, the heritage of ancientuniversities (and indeed much younger insti-tutions) should be recognised, protected,promoted and celebrated. Indeed, in theincreasingly competitive and market-ledworld in which higher education has to oper-ate these days there is a strong case for pos-itively exploiting this in student recruitment,fund-raising and other marketing efforts, asa growing number of universities, both oldand relatively young, are now recognising.

PROTECTING EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY HERITAGE

In the face of what was seen as a veryreal threat to up to 900 years of Europeanuniversity heritage, in 1999 the Council ofMinisters representing the 42 Member Statesof the Council of Europe authorised theCouncil’s Higher Education and CulturalHeritage Divisions to undertake a majorstudy of issues relating to both the mate-rial and intangible heritage of European uni-versities within the framework of the“Europe: A Common Heritage Campaign”.Co-financed by the European Union, a twoyear programme of meetings and studieswas initiated on the theme of university her-itage as part of the promotion of Europe’scommon cultural heritage, with the activecooperation of historic universities in vari-ous countries including Belgium, Croatia,

Estonia, France, Italy, Lithuania, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain andTurkey. Four study conferences were heldin the universities of Alaca de Henares(Spain), Montpellier (France), Bologna(Italy) and Krakow (Poland) to explore dif-ferent aspects of the university heritage andto explore cases studies and practical waysof both defending this and - more important- actively promoting its importance bothto society as a whole, and not least to theuniversities themselves. The “Heritage ofEuropean Universities” project is now com-pleted with the publication of a substan-tial final report in November 2002 with con-tributions from 15 authors together with thetexts of a number of key Council of Europepolicy documents relating to both highereducation and the cultural heritage2

Another recent project with similaraims, but focused most specifically on coop-eration between a number of important uni-versity and other academic museums andcollections, was also supported by the Euro-pean Union through a grant under the EU’sCulture 2000 programme. This was initi-ated under the title “Universeum: AcademicHeritage and Universities – Responsibilityand public access”, and coordinated by theMartin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg(Germany), working in partnership withmuseums of the Universities of Amsterdam,Groningen and Utrecht in the Netherlands,Bologna and Pavia in Italy, Oxford and Cam-bridge in the United Kingdom, Leipzig inGermany and Uppsala in Sweden, as wellas the Humboldt University, Berlin and theRoyal College of Surgeons, London.3

The aim was to share knowledge andexperiences and to undertake joint projectswith the aim of enhancing access to the col-lections at all levels. Priorities includedestablishing directories of collections (notjust museums) within the respective aca-demic institutions, to stimulate awarenessof the collections through travelling exhi-bitions, conferences and symposia,exchanges and loans, and scholarly researchand teaching, together with the developmentof common use of electronic media, with aview to creating a “virtual” museum ofresources to promote access to the academicheritage, (Universeum, 2002). One impor-tant achievement was the mounting in eachmuseum in the autumn of 2001 of specialexhibitions on subjects of common interestand promoting the other partners in the net-work, supported by access to an electronicguide to all the institutions covered. Thiswork continues, and a permanent websiteto continue both the academic and profes-sional exchanges and public informationand promotion of the various museums and

collections was launched by Halle in June2002.

These projects are seen as just a start ofwhat will have to be a major long-term cam-paign, not least within the universities them-selves in the first instance, but also with gov-ernments and the general public, to greatlyimprove knowledge of the vital historicimportance, and continuing contemporaryrelevance, of the European university her-itage, including the very many importantUniversity Museums. In particular, withinthe Council of Europe, discussions and stud-ies continue on possible ways to take fur-ther what the report itself describes as “avast agenda that has to be addressed byhigher education authorities, heritage pro-fessionals, public authorities, local com-munities, international organisations,whether governmental or non-governmen-tal, volunteer associations and certainlymany other bodies”.4 n

References

1. For a more detailed introduction to the rela-tionship between universities and museumsthroughout history and today, see Boylan, P.J.,“Universities and Museums: Past, Present andFuture”, I y II Jornadas de Museos Universitarios,Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, 1999, pp. 11-21; reprinted in Museum Management andCuratorship, vol. 18, no. 1, 1999, pp. 43 - 56; seealso UMAC’s University Museums and CollectionsWorldwide Website: http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/mcm/world/ 2. Council of Europe, 2002: “Heritage of EuropeanUniversities” (Website: http://www.coe.int/T/E/Cultural%5FCo%2Doperation/education/Higher%5Feducation/Activities/Heritage_of_European_Universities/default.asp); Sanz, N., and Bergan, S., (eds.), TheHeritage of European Universities, Strasbourg,Council of Europe Publishing, 2002.3. “Universeum, 2002. Academic Heritage andUniversities: Responsibility and Public Access”(Website: http://www.universeum.de/).4. Sanz and Bergan, 2002, p. 173.

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