The Hancock Museum Analysis
Museums play an important role in both production and legitimisation of historical knowledge and identities. (Desforges and Maddern, 2004.) However, the impressions and perceptions that individuals receive in a particular place, can differ from person to person. In this section of this assignment, I will discuss the approaches and ideas that led me to my own impressions of the place I visited, the Hancock Museum.
Within the museum the first approach I took was in ascertaining what representation of history the museum wished to show to the audience. Representation is the idea of presenting something (in this instance, from the past) to an audience (who in this case, are in the present and therefore cannot actually experience the “reality” of …show more content…
I then continued to consider approaching how heritage plays a role within the purpose of the museum and the impression it leaves. Johnson argues that museums play an important role in how heritage and history within modern society, and I began to consider how this is approached within the museum. Heritage is a highly personalised notion however (Johnson, 2014) and as someone who is not local to the area, the impression that the representation of the museum left upon me was not as subjective/emotive as it might be for local people to the area. Therefore, it allowed me to notice that in some cases, there was a sense of selectivity within the narrative of many of the (human) areas of history (Wishart, 1997) that someone who has a greater emotional attachment with the history of the area may overlook. In this case, this meant that in the aspects of the museum that focussed on local heritage (such as that of the area that focussed on Hadrian’s wall) often had a positive spin placed on them, suggesting that the author may be influenced by the heritage of the area that personalises it, as Johnson argues. It could be argued that the museum therefore fails in its purpose to deliver an accurate portrayal of local history as it is unable to be objective in its analysis of the history is intends to depicts (Buttner,
Within the museum the first approach I took was in ascertaining what representation of history the museum wished to show to the audience. Representation is the idea of presenting something (in this instance, from the past) to an audience (who in this case, are in the present and therefore cannot actually experience the “reality” of …show more content…
I then continued to consider approaching how heritage plays a role within the purpose of the museum and the impression it leaves. Johnson argues that museums play an important role in how heritage and history within modern society, and I began to consider how this is approached within the museum. Heritage is a highly personalised notion however (Johnson, 2014) and as someone who is not local to the area, the impression that the representation of the museum left upon me was not as subjective/emotive as it might be for local people to the area. Therefore, it allowed me to notice that in some cases, there was a sense of selectivity within the narrative of many of the (human) areas of history (Wishart, 1997) that someone who has a greater emotional attachment with the history of the area may overlook. In this case, this meant that in the aspects of the museum that focussed on local heritage (such as that of the area that focussed on Hadrian’s wall) often had a positive spin placed on them, suggesting that the author may be influenced by the heritage of the area that personalises it, as Johnson argues. It could be argued that the museum therefore fails in its purpose to deliver an accurate portrayal of local history as it is unable to be objective in its analysis of the history is intends to depicts (Buttner,