Report: Museologists, scholars and students meet at the Museum

On December 12, 2013, museum professionals, scholars, students and all those interested in trends in contemporary museum science and new approaches to “objects” and “artifacts” met at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews for the “New Museums, New Collections” conference. 

Among the topics presented were the issues of creating collections (for example at the World War II Museum, the Warsaw Rising Museum, the Museum of Polish History), elaborating narratives and presenting artefacts (National Museum in Krakow, the Archaeological and Historical Museum in Stargard), using objects in exhibition narratives in historical, community and biographical museums, anthropological, historical and sociological interpretations of the role of “objects” and the presence of “things” in contemporary science and theoretical discourses.

The concluding panel discussion was particularly animated and inspiring. This fascinating panel, which included museologists, historians and anthropologists, all representing different views, illuminated a number of issues related to “things”, collecting and gathering.

The conference “New Museums, New Collections. The Place and Role of Collections in Historical Museums” accompanied the “Biographies of Things. Gifts in the Collection of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews” exhibition.

Supported from the Norway and EEA Grants by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway

www.eeagrants.org, www.norwaygrants.org