ICOM International Council of Museums - Museo Estancia Jesuitica ...

Museology and History:
A local Perspective
Lynn Maranda 1 – Canada
The peoples of a locale, and via them, their museums, explore a meaning of ‘history’
through the use of sentimentality and emotional attachment to convey their sense of
being a people. This approach to museum material is not done with consideration to
the astringent idea of history, but takes into consideration a populace interest in seeing
relationships that have sentimental value. These relationships, however, are not truly
historical.
History tracks the chronological causes and effects in human activity. The tracing of
cause and effect leads to an explanation of the evolution of human activity, of why it is
that we exist in the present. Museums use the term ‘history’ in a vernacular sense to
evoke nostalgia, not to give explanations of cause and effect. The primary tools at the
museum’s disposal are the three-dimensional objects from a bygone age which it
collects and preserves. Museums are permanent repositories for these objects which
are used to illustrate anecdotes and events from the past and which impart a sense of
what it was like to live in earlier times. They do not effect historical consequence.
Museums are unique to themselves and find legitimacy as collectors and storehouses
of precious material culture objects which may or may not have historical importance.
While, for example, a musket may come from a particular era, this does not mean it
has historical significance. For all intents and purposes, it is a relic and no more.
Nevertheless, it is of interest to see objects from the past and speculate on their
relation to past events. This is, however, ‘curiosity’ speaking, not an explanation in the
sense of historical importance.
History is more like a living organism, while objects are matter of the earth. Museums
provide windows into the past and create ‘human dioramas’ of an age, but this has nothing
to do with history. History and the keeping of ‘history’, therefore, are not synonymous.
While museum objects remain permanently consistent to themselves, history is an evolving
process. As history evolves, the meaning and significance of these objects can change to
take on ‘attributes’ of then current ideologies. For example, the Marxist ‘peoples revolution’
would interpret history commensurate with their peculiar form of ideology, and as this
change occurs, museum objects can become subject to new interpretations.
Real or imagined representation, conjecture, hypothesis, are all within the museum’s
vocabulary. Objects are used to illustrate historical events, or historical events are chosen
to coincide with or constructed around available objects. Subjects that cannot be illustrated
using objects are either marginalized by being given fleeting mention through words or by
illustrations, or ignored altogether. Occasionally, objects are fully detached from the
historical storyline and serve only as decorative embellishments. Regardless, all
interpretations of the past are based on fabricated perceptions made in the present.
Local interest museums abound with virtually every community taking part in collecting
materials and displaying information related to its own past. In fact, the community
museum is a ‘growth industry’ of sorts, and those communities which have ‘something’
1 Lynn Maranda, Vancouver Museum, Canada.
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