What is the Object of this Exercise? A Meandering Exploration of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums
Author(s)
Gurian, Elaine Heumann
Abstract
Museums possess a unique ability to preserve the history and spirit of people in a way that is both relevant and meaningful to them. This is evident especially in the midst of war and conflict, when such institutions of memory are destroyed in order to break the sense of civility of a nation. Objects, in and of themselves, are not the heart of a museum, and the author explores key questions in order to understand the nature of objects. What is most important, rather, is the collective history preserved by memory institutions such as museums, which helps localities to remain civilized and preserve the evidence of our existence.
