Museums In Between Social Duty and Controversy Assignment

Museums In Between Social Duty and Controversy - Assignment Example Traditionally museums have collected and exhibited fine art, natural history, ancient history, and ethnography. Due to this lack of interest in historical collections, the 1976 exhibitions in Western Australia contained "nothing about Aboriginal history: it remained elsewhere within a safer context of anthropology. There were few women. A large model of Queen Victoria and a little later a very genteel parlor scene constituted the sole female presence in the gallery." (Anderson, Selling) These were two of the major issues that later have shaken the tranquil world of Australian museums. Aborigine history and women's contribution to social development have superficially been approached and even diminished by setting specific exhibitions in locations that belittle their importance - as for instance is the case of the Powerhouse Museum reopening exhibit in 1988. (Anderson, Selling) Feminist groups have become increasingly displeased with the dim presence of women's history in public exhib its. They have also protested against the male predominance in museums managements and "have formed a separate association within the museum professional organization, to promote debate on this issue and to raise the profile of women in the profession." (Anderson, Selling) At the Powerhouse Museum, "women are largely absent", or whenever present, they "are cast as the passive recipients of technological advance"(ibid). It goes the same with the Museum of Victoria, which is 1985 exhibited the "Story of Victoria" where women are present in a small section that dealt with "women's suffrage and with one of the women's early strikes"(ibid) but nothing more.