Domain of scholarship and professional practice within the field of folklore studies
Museum folklore is a domain of scholarship and professional practice within the field of folklore studies (
folkloristics).
Characteristics
Some museum folklorists work full-time in museums of
ethnography,
ethnology,
cultural history, or
folk art, often as educators,
curators, and directors. Others work in other settings, such as in
public folklore programs, academic departments, community-based organizations, and consultancies. Such folklorists either partner with museums in the development of scholarly and public programs or study the history and impact of such work.[1]
Key themes in museum folklore include policies and practices relating to tangible and
intangible cultural heritage,[2][3] museums as
sites of conscience,[4] museums and cultural tourism,[5] and museums as sites of innovation relative to the digital preservation, presentation, and access to cultural heritage collections.[6] Museum folklore practice has often focused on ways of animating the object-centered nature of the museum through events and activities that bring the people behind heritage collections into engagement with museum audiences, as through such activities as museum-based
artist in residency programs,
folk festivals, and art and craft sales markets.[7]
There is significant interaction and overlap between museum folklore and the neighboring field of
museum anthropology, as well as the interdisciplinary field of
material culture studies.[8][9][10][11] Museum folklore is often understood as a sub-area of the wider realm of
public folklore.[12] In North America, the historical connections linking anthropology and folklore studies more broadly are of particular relevance to museum folklorists because many early leaders of the American folklore society were also anthropologists active in museums.[13] In Europe, what is here referred to as museum folklore would often fall within the field of European
ethnology.[14] Museum folklore is also often understood as a part of the sub-field of
folklife studies.[15]
^Berlinger, Gabrielle A. (2015). "Ethnography as a Strategy in Museum Preservation". Practicing Anthropology. 37 (3): 34.
doi:
10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.34.
^Dewhurst, C. Kurt; MacDowell, Marsha (2015). "Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Museum-Based International Collaborative Partnerships". Practicing Anthropology. 37 (3): 54–55.
doi:
10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.54.
^Hertz, Carrie (2015). "Finding the Local in the Global in the 21st Century". Practicing Anthropology. 37 (3): 56.
doi:
10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.56.
^Jackson, Jason Baird (2015). "Interconnections: Folklore Studies and Anthropology at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures". Practicing Anthropology. 37 (3): 20–23.
doi:
10.17730/0888-4552-37.3.20.
^Baron, Robert; Spitzer, Nicholas R. (2007). Public Folklore (3rd ed.). Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
ISBN9781604733167.
OCLC607552460.
^Darnell, Regna (1973). "American Anthropology and the Development of Folklore Scholarship: 1890-1920". Journal of the Folklore Institute. 10 (1–2): 23–39.
doi:
10.2307/3813878.
JSTOR3813878.
^Niedermüller, Peter; Stoklund, Bjarne (2004). "Special Issue: Museum and Modernity". Ethnologia Europaea. 33 (1): 1–93.
^Bronner, Simon J. (2006). Encyclopedia of American Folklife. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe.
ISBN9780765680525.
^Lurie, Nancy (1932). "A Lesson for Curators". African Arts. 16 (2): 90.
JSTOR3335845.
^Crowley, Daniel; Dundes, Alan (1982). "William Russel Bascom (1912-1981)". Journal of American Folklore. 95 (378): 465–467.
JSTOR540751.
^Redman, Samuel J. (2015). "Museum Tours and the Origins of Museum Studies: Edward W. Gifford, William R. Bascom, and the Remaking of an Anthropology Museum". Museum Management and Curatorship. 30 (5): 444–461.
doi:
10.1080/09647775.2015.1076708.
S2CID161806193.
^Stocking, George (1988). Objects and Others: Essays on Museums and Material Culture. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
^Becker, Mary Druke (2006). "William N. Fenton (1908–2005): Relationships, Research, and Museums". Museum Anthropology. 29 (1): 44–49.
doi:
10.1525/mua.2006.29.1.44.
^Bronner, Simon (1985). "Stewart Culin, Museum Magician". Pennsylvania Heritage. 11 (3): 4–11.
^Stoklund, Bjarne (2004). "Between Scenography and Science: Early Folk Museums and their Pioneers". Ethnologia Europaea. 33 (1): 21–36.