The Paley Center for Media’s Post

Why 9:04? The question itself is meaningless out of context. On September 11, 2007 the New-York Historical Society and museum created one of the most poignant exhibitions I have seen, and I have seen many. It was entitled “here is New York: remembering 9/11” The punctuation is specific. It is not a sentiment with a beginning or end. Instead, it was a collection of artifacts found in the dust and remains of the Twin Towers. One of the pieces was a watch, mostly ripped apart and broken save for the numbers and hands on its face, reading simply 9:04. I have no idea who owned it. I have no idea what happened to them. I have no idea what their life was like at 9:03, or at 9:05, or any point before or afterwards for that matter. I never will. I just remember staring at this small time piece. My time had started rather recently working with the New-York Historical Society, and I am ever grateful for it. That would be my first real introduction both to New York’s museums and the collective memory of the City. That was 2007. I still remember the watch, and the captured time. I still also remember 9/11. I doubt time will erase that fact, however it is measured. Never Forget. #neverforget #newyorkcity #museums Photo c/o: NYHS.

MUSEUM WORD OF THE WEEK: #illumination The importance of light levels in a museum and the role of light in any professional gallery, is not just a standard. Light helps set the tone of any visit to an exhibit. It creates the atmosphere, accentuates texture, colour, and shape but more critically, light levels also preserves. Light levels also sets the mood and is conducive to learning and curiosity. Illumination, light sources and light levels renders colour is particularly important in a museum context. Good lighting contributes to a good museum experience. Lighting isn't just for visibility, it's a core curatorial and conservation concept. Source Dictionary of Museology (2023) by Routledge & ICOM. See, https://lnkd.in/ddu9Rpqr.

#Meltology: "underground museum, so, just another melted building", how much plasma-release, what amount of mass-liquefaction, when continents shifted at compressional-boundaries, when this world had a complete societal-reset, magnificent cities already built, subjected to a #massextinction event, not only emptying them all out, but sinking every city west of Appalachias, washing over entirety of central America, covering over our final working pyramidal-complexes, shifting every starfort from position, causing all the churchbells to ring, no "myth", breaking many, removed & captured in photographs, well documented... #1812Project: ...just as all the overwhelming evidence describing #Sungrazer #C1811F1's devastation, one massive bolide resurfacing entire #MississippiEmbayment #Dec16_1811, erasing the lives of countless millions, along with most every animal, plants, trees... ...the Wichita river ran through Mississippi, named by the Washita tribe, meaning "tall-trees", not "tall-reeds", for all the huge redwoods, like in Cali., this impact wiped almost all this tribe away, the remainder became pseudoslaves to the Choctaw & Cherokee on "the trail of tears" taking many names out west, why it is now in Kansas, when the French explorer D'Iberville saw all the oysters at the mouth, he renamed this river the Pearl river, it used to run down by Jackson island, which had held the volcanoe "Burning-mountain", that had fallen during this event, along with "Midnight" in Humphreys county, not "66mya", though that's currently what's in textbooks... ...this is how badly our #History has been falsified, but #Ourstory, it really is, so much more important, so much more amazing than all that nonsense we were instructed, "a key on a kitestring" really?!. https://lnkd.in/ew6f95JA "how the west was won" -bring back our lost #Antiquitech-"find the truths behind the myths" #shockdynamics #impactphysics #planetarydefense #educationreform https://lnkd.in/eqHA9R2W

Smithsonian Open Access: (Click on:) si.edu/openaccess "Anyone can download, share & reuse millions of the Smithsonian's images from the Smithsonian's 21 museums, 14 research & education centers, and the National Zoo. The tools you need to create, imagine and discover are right at your fingertips." (Direct quote from the Smithsonian.) (Click on photo below or on si.edu/openaccess)

Thoroughly enjoying working with the Ammba Digital team on another client but this is another great read. We need to focus on digitally enabling our local services to continue to drive customer excellence and improved cost savings. #ammbadigital #digital #digitaltransformation #localgovernment #efficiencies #rationalisation

We have been crunching the numbers on the industrial heritage survey that we have been doing for Historic England and The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Some headlines from our work so far… - 48% of sites are owned by a preservation trust or society; 25% are in local authority ownership - 45% of sites are accredited museums - On average each site spent £192,163 on repairs and maintenance over the last three years - 53% of sites had found it ‘quite difficult’ to secure public sector funding in the last three years; only 40% had sought sought private sector support - The majority of volunteers are over 65 years old; 74% of sites said they found it ‘fairly difficult’ or ‘very difficult’ to attract new volunteers, and especially young volunteers - Over 40 million people visited independent designated industrial heritage sites during the last three years, the majority of whom were non-specialist family audiences Still lots more to unravel — but a mixed picture, with lots of scope for future development. The full report will be out later in the summer, and we will do a more comprehensive update in the next few weeks. (Photo taken at the brilliant Beamish Museum!) #heritage #museums #industrialheritage #culturalheritage #industrialarchaeology #heritagetourism #industrialhistory

This is what I learned from several courses at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester #heritage and its concepts were constructed by the power or the majority. #museum is one of the powers. People believe that a museum is a valid knowledge institution. Hence, whatever the museum puts on display is a trustworthy statement. Museum play a significant role in declaring both tangible & intangible heritage. Thus, it is essential for a museum to have experts and professionals who are related to the museum, collections, and its mission. Museum needs to act ethically and professionally as public trust the institution as a knowledge centre. https://lnkd.in/gnfeDB-a

We love digital and we love the cultural sector. So a review of digital services in libraries, museums and archives for the Welsh Government was right up our street. Learn more about our review and how it underpins the government's Cultural Strategy and policy going forwards: https://lnkd.in/eyue9_Vn #Digital #Libraries #Museums #Galleries #Archives #Change #Transformation #Digitaltransformation #GLAMSector

Most museum collections are in storage. But when did these objects start being considered as 'reserve collections' or the problem of 'too much stuff' rather than as actively-used study collections? In the latest volume of Artefacts I trace how ideas of collections use changed over the 20th century, and offer some thoughts as to how even ubiquitous or generic items (the sort that often sit overlooked on storeroom shelves) might spark research questions. Yes, even this boring-looking black box voltmeter has potential. In another chapter, Sam Alberti, James Inglis, Louis Volkmer and I look at who's actually publishing research on science and technology collections, and where. Artefacts Volume 13, 'Understanding Use: Objects in Museums of Science and Technology' is available open-access. https://lnkd.in/eHynQYxT Thanks to Tim Boon, Liz Haines, Arnaud Dubois, Kate Steiner and the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press team! #museummonday #museums #collections #storage #history #histSTM #research #openaccess

Museums can be a bit coy about their own institutional histories, and not all of them are very good and documenting themselves. Here's my story of how I reconstructed a history of Museum of Cornish Life using its historic catalogues, and what this says not just about the institution, but also about the effect of professional procedures. Museums Will Forget: Critical Approaches to Catalog-Centered Historical Research https://lnkd.in/eDaASf_k