2019
DOI: 10.1080/09647775.2019.1612270
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Using object biographies to understand the curation crisis: lessons learned from the museum life of an archaeological collection

Abstract: The challenges related to the management of an increasing number of often poorly documented orphaned archaeological museum collections, described in literature as a 'curation crisis', are growing. This article proposes that writing collection-level object biographies (referring to the notion of Kopytoff) provides a means to generate useful insights into the longue durée of curatorial processes and to understand how curation crises emerge, how to avoid them, and how to manage orphaned, poorly documented and uno… Show more

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Cited by 11 publications
(3 citation statements)
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“…This is often an impossible standard to meet, given that the Traditional Owners cannot be identified without provenance research, nor can materials be requested by them if their existence is not publicly disclosed. An unintended consequence of this approach is that Australian museum staff exercise an effective monopoly on provenance judgements, and a situation of ‘provenance paralysis’ is reported in some institutions [ 47 ]. The limitations on in-person visits also reduce opportunities for communities to examine or photograph unprovenanced (or under-provenanced) objects with the aim of determining whether or not they rightfully belong to their Country.…”
Section: Cultural Sensitivitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This is often an impossible standard to meet, given that the Traditional Owners cannot be identified without provenance research, nor can materials be requested by them if their existence is not publicly disclosed. An unintended consequence of this approach is that Australian museum staff exercise an effective monopoly on provenance judgements, and a situation of ‘provenance paralysis’ is reported in some institutions [ 47 ]. The limitations on in-person visits also reduce opportunities for communities to examine or photograph unprovenanced (or under-provenanced) objects with the aim of determining whether or not they rightfully belong to their Country.…”
Section: Cultural Sensitivitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It has also gained much traction over the past several decades in archaeology, where scholars have gainfully applied it to objects such as sailcloth and fishing net samples, Irish gravestones, and Chilean rock art (Fowler et al , 2016; Gallardo et al , 1999; Mytum, 2003). It has also been used in museum studies to recover forgotten histories (Poulter, 2013) and trace curatorial histories of archaeological collections (Friberg and Huvila, 2019).…”
Section: Object Biographymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This collections work is situated within evolving, future-oriented, disciplinary dialogues that consider decolonizing archaeology so as to move toward more inclusive practices (Flewellen et al 2021), more responsive and responsible work with regard to repatriation (Dunnavant et al 2021), revising curricula to reflect the changing priorities of the discipline (Quave et al 2021; Thomas 2023), and the growth and role of cultural resource management (CRM; Altschul and Klein 2022). The deeply entrenched “curation crisis” and its pervasive effect across all areas of archaeology (Marquardt et al 1982; Price 2023) also shapes this theme issue. All these topics, and others, show us that some restructuring of our current practices is necessary to protect the core—the “heart”—of the discipline (Lyons et al 2019) and ensure the future vitality of the profession.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%