A brief history of museums

Museums didn't suddenly spring into being, but evolved over time.
The basic nature of a museum; its educational purpose based on the collecting and preserving of objects has long been established, and won't be changing in the foreseeable future, but todays professional museum is different from its ancestors.

Two related natural tendencys of people which are universal and timeless is the desire to collect, and to show off these objects.
Once a collection exists, the common tendency of the owner is to have other people see and admire it. This, then, creates museums.
Notable collections in the past have belonged to wealthy and powerful individuals.

The museum of Alexandria was essentially like those of today.
Alexandria was a greek city founded by Alexander for the administration of conquered Egypt.
In about 209BC a centre of learning dedicated to the muses was established (hence museum)

Dr. Alma Wittlin's 6 different kinds of collection

Collections are made with different motivations and for different purposes.

These 6 kinds of collections are based on the motivations of those who have assembled the collections.

1. Economic hoard collections (a pirates treasure).
2. Social prestige collections (the art collection of a newly rich family, conspicuous consumption)
3. Magic collections (the bones of saints in churches)
4. Collections as expressions of group loyalty (trophy collections in a high school lobby)
5. Collections as means of emotional expression (those that result from an overwhelming drive to collect)
6. Collections as a means of stimulating curiosity and inquiry (the clothing and tools of primitive tribes assembled from afar at a world fair)

Though some motivations which were at work in the past are not now considered appropriate for building the collections of a public museum, they may still be powerful driving forces behind the decisions of the museum trustees and others who have connections to our museums.

Museology definition

Museology is museum science.
It is concerned with:

the study of the purposes and organisations of museums.

•  the study of this history and backgrounds of museums
• their role in society
• specific systems for research
• conservation
• education
• organisation
• relationship with the physical environment
• the classification of different kinds of museums

Museography is the body of techniques related to museology. It covers methods and practice in the operations of museums.

Basic museum terms

Accession: one or more objects acquired at one time from one source constituting a single transaction between museum and a source.

Registration: assigning a permanent number for identification purposes to an accession and recording this number according to a system.

Cataloguing: Assigning an object to one or more categories of an organised classification system.

Significance: having meaning or importance, hence, concerning museums, serving the educational purpose of a museum. A significant object in the museums collection is one that can be used educationally.

Docent: originally, a university level teacher who was not a member of the regular faculty. In the museum context, a docent is a trained volunteer teacher guide.


Alienation: The loss of museum objects from the collection, for whatever reason.


Fungible: a legal concept, having to do with the replacement of one thing by another. In museum work the term is used to describe the collection of zoos, botanical gardens and similar biological institutions. The objects in the collection are not permanent since all living things die, but as new specimens are added, the collection on a whole continues.

Museum definition

A museum is a private of public institution in the service of society.
It collects objects of scientific, historical or artistic value.
It is devoted to the acquisition and conservation of these objects.
It researches and displays these objects for the development of society, for study, education and enjoyment.