The Rise of Popular Literacy in Victorian England: The Influence of Private Choice and Public Policy. By David F. Mitch. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992. Pp. xxiii, 340. $34.95.

1995 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-174
Author(s):  
Peter H. Lindert
1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 412-422
Author(s):  
Dina M. Copelman

2000 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-39
Author(s):  
Valerie Holman

When national museums and galleries were still a relatively new form of public institution, official policies of accessibility and popular education were frequently expressed through a sustained use of metaphor drawn from the discourse of the book. Museums became repositories of knowledge or sources of information on good design, and the visitors readers of objects. Such rhetorical devices could prove counter-productive, for they were based on assumptions, not facts, about the extent of popular literacy and the nature and diversity of reading practices, and yet this form of conceptualisation affected the form, content and quantity of early museum and gallery publications.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document