Museum Manners

The Sensory Life of the Early Museum

Bibliographic Data

ID9075650
AuthorsConstance Classen (Concordia University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume40
Issue4
Pages895-914
Publication date2007-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Social History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-4529 • E-ISSN: 1527-1897
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1353/jsh.2007.0089
OpenAlexW2071617963
LanguageEN
Citations received52
References cited9

Many contemporary museums are challenging the traditional "hands off" ethos of the museum with innovative, interactive exhibitions. Yet such exhibitions are still exceptions to the rule of sensory restraint which is generally expected to govern the behaviour of museum visitors. Artifacts for the most part are only to be seen—not felt, smelt, sounded and certainly not tasted. Yet, this rule of sensory restraint is not intrinsic to the museum. Accounts of visits to early museums indicate that visitors interacted with and learned about the exhibits on display through all of their senses. Such multisensory interaction was not simply due to lax regulations, but was motivated by a range of social customs as well as by contemporary aesthetic and scientific norms. The present exploration of the sensory life of the early museum enlarges our understanding of the social history of museums and also contributes to the developing fields of the history and anthropology of the senses

Art · Art history · Library science · Media studies · Social life · Sociology · Anthropology · Computer Science · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Museums and Cultural Heritage · Photography and Visual Culture

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub