New Start (of Sorts)

I first began this blog last winter for a class on regional material culture. I'd like to think that my posts through the winter and into the spring were thoughtful and somewhat interesting. However, as I was busy over the summer and into the fall, the posts got much shorter & more focused on recent museum news, with very little analysis or interpretation.

Good news, though! I'm taking another class with the same professor, focusing this time around on historic house museums. She's asked us to again keep a journal of some kind. So, I'm using the new class as an excellent excuse/reason/vehicle to recommit myself to this blog. Look forward to deeper, more contemplative posts over the next few months!

This Week's Museum News

• No 'Lucy' Exhibition for Cost-Cutting Museum

• Smithsonian Will Open Early for Inauguration Visitors

• Museums Look Inward for Their Own Bailouts

• This letter is follow up on the response to the National Academy's Museum's current financial troubles: What a Collection is Worth
  

Belated Museum News

As usual, from the New York Times.

• Museum Director is Briton of the Year (I particularly like the first line of this short article, which reads, "In the looking-glass world across the Atlantic, where cultural, not political, figures win person-of-the-year accolades . . . "

• Vanderbilt Museum is Fighting for its Life

• Seeing the Beauty in 5,000 Bugs on the Wall

• Branded a Pariah, the National Academy is Struggling to Survive, along with these two letters responding to the article.