PREREQUISITES:
MLIS students should enroll in LIBR 539K.
MAS and Dual students: Completion of the “Term 1” MAS Core courses
GOAL: International in scope, but grounded locally, this course will introduce students to the theoretical, historical, and methodological context for the care and stewardship of material culture collections in libraries, archives, and museums (and beyond). Students will gain a critical awareness of the context of ideas of heritage and material culture broadly, of how material culture was collected or stolen from around the world, as well as the ways that institutions and individuals are seeking to repair these legacies today. Students will also gain an introductory understanding of the practical skills required for the management of material collections, including understanding key policies and an introduction to daily practices of collections care and provenance research.
OBJECTIVES:
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify and analyze the historical issues facing contemporary collections of material culture in libraries, archives and museums.
- Analyze and discuss how institutions manage, preserve, and create access and barriers to material culture.
- Apply an Information and Archival Studies approach to evaluating the policy, legislation, and governance implications for material culture collections.
- Evaluate the key challenges facing individuals, institutions and communities who care for or steward collections of material culture.
- Communicate the theoretical trends and concerns in the study of material culture and contribute to material culture research.
CONTENT:
- Caring for objects, belongings and information
- Objectivity and Scientific Empiricism
- Hungry museums: Collecting and extracting around the globe
- Settler colonialism and extractive collecting on the Northwest Coast
- Cultural heritage in an international perspective
- Repatriation and return: Laws, policy, protocol
- Classification and control of material culture
- Digital repositories and data stewardship
- The idea of property
- Caring for collections
- Reparative work in museums