Constructions of Authenticity at Scottish Historic House Museums

Collections ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-161
Author(s):  
Anna Venturini
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
House Museums ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Museum Professionals ◽  
Museum Objects ◽  
Historic House Museums ◽  
Historic House ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

This study investigates how authenticity is perceived and negotiated by curators at a selection of Scottish historic house museums (HHMs). Many HHMs are preserved so as to recreate the dwellings of remarkable historical personalities, thus showcasing a unique blend of period artifacts, replicas, and original objects once in the possession of their inhabitants. Focusing on three different case studies, this research investigates how these authentic museum objects are displayed to and interpreted for the public; how relevant their authenticity is from a curatorial perspective; what are the factors influencing curatorial perceptions of authenticity; and how (or, if) HHMs help visitors negotiating the inauthenticity of replicas and period objects displayed onsite. While most studies have examined constructions of authenticity at tourism sites and in terms of their impact on consumers’ behavior, this work aims to shed light on how museum professionals conceive of authenticity within the under-researched context of HHMs, by discussing the outcomes of interviews with curators at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Cottage (Alloway), Broughton House (Kirkcudbright), and Ellisland Farm (Auldgirth).

Safe Containers for Dangerous Memories

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Sarah Pharaon ◽  
Sally Roesch Wagner ◽  
Barbara Lau ◽  
María José Bolaña Caballero
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North Carolina ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
House Museums ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Historic House Museums ◽  
Historic House

Since 1999, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience has worked with historic house museums around the world who assist their visitors in connecting past and present, use dialogue as a central strategy in addressing needs in their immediate community, and encourage visitors to become active in the social issues their sites raise. Featuring case studies from Coalition members Centro Cultural y Museo de la Memoria (Montevideo, Uruguay), Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation (Fayetteville, New York), and the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice (Durham, North Carolina), this article reviews the revolutionary approaches Sites of Conscience take toward addressing challenging histories and their contemporary legacies.

scholarly journals Museus-casas: um olhar fenomenológico.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Câmara
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenological Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
House Museums ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Historic House Museums ◽  
Historic House ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Look ◽  
The Moment

The goal of this paper is to prepare a phenomenological research, with a view to the spatiality of “historic house museums”. This character is revealed through the consideration that any object has a multitude of meanings that only if limited at the moment that it enters into this relationship. Our starting point is the duplication of the object "historic house museums”: as an object to the inhabitant of the house and its constructions of meaning; and as an object facing the look and visitor expectation of the house, one who scrutinizes the shifting and intangible border that separates and unites time, space and significances woven by home-resident-visitor relationship. It is known that it is impossible to reconstruct with absolute and unquestioned loyalty the "aura" of the house of former times. The absence of residents and the spatio-temporal displacement are some of the factors that prevent a direct look at the house per se. What differentiates the "historic house museums”of other museums and stimulates the visitor, a peculiar receptivity, namely the curiosity to know, although displaced from their space-time and move themselves, the secret spaces of a historical character. Unlike the elements revealed by the inhabitant of the house, which belong to the scope of the public and exposed, we have with the "historic house museums”, the opportunity to access the intimate universe of the inhabitant, recreating the data, re-coloring environments. In this regard, the house open to visitors is revealed as favorable platform to a aestheticize that makes objects expressions, as does the visitor active artist intimate space. Keywords: Phenomenology, intimate space, "historic house museums”, Aesthetics

Did They Really Wear That? Authenticity and the Construction of Historical Dress-ups

Collections ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-128
Author(s):  
Rosalind Mearns
Keyword(s):  
Historical Evidence ◽  
House Museums ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historic House Museums ◽  
Historic House ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Experimental Archeology ◽  
Selection Of

An experimental archeology framework was used to examine the construction of historical dress-ups at a selection of historic house museums in the southwest of England. Of the twenty properties within the study area, thirteen were found to have dress-up installations with volunteers most commonly constructing the garments. Forty-eight dress-ups from six properties were then selected for further investigation. All of these garments were found to have made only limited reference to archeological and historical evidence in their construction. This then distorted their ability to authentically represent clothing from the past. Using these results, the challenges surrounding historical dress-ups will be explored and a new set of practical guidelines for their construction will be proposed.

The Propaganda Feedback Loop

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
The Other ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Public ◽  
False Reporting ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
Crowd Out ◽  
Selection Of

This chapter presents a model of the interaction of media outlets, politicians, and the public with an emphasis on the tension between truth-seeking and narratives that confirm partisan identities. This model is used to describe the emergence and mechanics of an insular media ecosystem and how two fundamentally different media ecosystems can coexist. In one, false narratives that reinforce partisan identity not only flourish, but crowd-out true narratives even when these are presented by leading insiders. In the other, false narratives are tested, confronted, and contained by diverse outlets and actors operating in a truth-oriented norms dynamic. Two case studies are analyzed: the first focuses on false reporting on a selection of television networks; the second looks at parallel but politically divergent false rumors—an allegation that Donald Trump raped a 13-yearold and allegations tying Hillary Clinton to pedophilia—and tracks the amplification and resistance these stories faced.

Veiling Esther, Unveiling Her Story

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Silverstein
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Religious Background ◽  
Literary Context ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Selection Of

This book examines the ways in which the biblical book of Esther was read, understood, and used in Muslim lands, from ancient to modern times. It zeroes-in on a selection of case studies, covering works from various periods and regions of the Muslim world, including the Qur’an, premodern historical chronicles and literary works, the writings of a nineteenth-century Shia feminist, a twentieth-century Iranian dictionary, and others. These case studies demonstrate that Muslim sources contain valuable materials on Esther, which shed light both on the Esther story itself and on the Muslim peoples and cultures that received it. The book argues that Muslim sources preserve important, pre-Islamic materials on Esther that have not survived elsewhere, some of which offer answers to ancient questions about Esther, such as the meaning of Haman’s epithet in the Greek versions of the story, the reason why Mordecai refused to prostrate himself before Haman, and the literary context of the “plot of the eunuchs” to kill the Persian king. Furthermore, throughout the book we will see how each author’s cultural and religious background influenced his or her understanding and retelling of the Esther story: In particular, it will be shown that Persian Muslims (and Jews) were often forced to reconcile or choose between the conflicting historical narratives provided by their religious and cultural heritages respectively.

Dwelling: transforming narratives at historic house museums

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina J. Hodge ◽  
Christa M. Beranek
Keyword(s):  
House Museums ◽  
Historic House Museums ◽  
Historic House

Historic House Museums

Parnassus ◽  
1934 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
A. Philip McMahon ◽  
Laurence Vail Coleman
Keyword(s):  
House Museums ◽  
Historic House Museums ◽  
Historic House

scholarly journals Workload-Aware Views Materialization for Big Open Linked Data

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Tomasz J. Zlamaniec ◽  
Kuo-Ming Chao ◽  
Nick Godwin
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Linked Data ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Selection Method ◽  
Large Dataset ◽  
The Public ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Access Patterns ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Selection Of

It is a trend for the public organizations to digitalize and publish their large dataset as open linked data to the public users for queries and other applications for further utilizations. Different users’ queries with various frequencies over time create different workload patterns to the servers which cannot guarantee the QoS during peak usages. Materialization is a well-known effective method to reduce peaks, but it is not used by semantic webs, due to frequently evolving schema. This research is able to estimate workloads based on previous queries, analyze and normalize their structures to materialize views, and map the queries to the views with populated data. By analyzing how access patterns of individual views contribute to the overall system workload, the proposed model aims at selection of candidates offering the highest reduction of the peak workload. Consequently, rather than optimizing all queries equally, a system using the new selection method can offer higher query throughput when it is the most needed, allowing for a higher number of concurrent users without compromising QoS during the peak usage. Finally, two case studies were used to evaluate the proposed method.

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