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The Museum in America: Innovators and Pioneers. By Edward P. Alexander, with a foreword by William Seale. (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press,1997. Pp. 224, foreword, index.)
Registration Methods for the Small Museum, 3rd edition. By Daniel B. Reibel. (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1997. Pp, 192, introduction, four appendixes, bibliography, index.)
Introduction to Museum Work, 3rd edition. By G. Ellis Burcaw. (Walnut Creek, Calif.: AltaMira Press, 1997. Pp. 237, preface, recommended sources, index.)
Three new books dealing with various issues in the museum world have joined the growing number of books examining collection and documentation, exhibition, interpretation, and education in a museum setting. Two of the books, Registration Methods for the Small Museum and Introduction to Museum Work are in their third editions, attesting to the popularity and need for museum manuals. The other book, The Museum in America, briefly discusses the history of museums in this country by looking at influential people, both men and women, whose visions shaped the different kinds of museums and historical societies to which we have become accustomed. All three authors are well known in the field and have much practical experience, their careers spanning 40 years or more. This fact, of course, has its advantages and disadvantages. Years of personal, hands-on experience is readily apparent and makes the books useful and authoritative, full of actual examples and invaluable anecdotes. On the other hand, the authors' insufficient understanding of the new directions museums are taking, especially in regard to technology, and a lack of sensitivity in relation to depictions and classifications of non-Western peoples and their art are particularly jarring considering the immense dependency on these books and how many new museum professionals are being trained to think according to superficial guidelines set by the authors, particularly G. Ellis Burcaw.
In Museums in America, Edward Alexander describes 13 people who have helped define the American museum with their vision and determination. The chapter for each person follows the same format, one that gives brief background on the individual and how she or he has changed the institution where she or he worked and, as a consequence, influenced subsequent museums. The book, although a little structurally repetitive, makes for a sporadically interesting read, especially for those unfamiliar with the history...