This toolkit helps Museum Studies students make the most of the MSUM minor. It explores museum studies internships and graduate programs, and surveys the exhibition requirement. It is rooted in new museum theory. Navigate the toolkit by using the ≡ button at the top right.
New Museum Theory
New museum theory is several decades old. It’s the idea of making museums more inclusive, accessible, and engaging to audiences of all backgrounds. As Megan McCoy explains it, “The purpose of museums, according to new museology, is to be relevant and useful to their communities, and to serve society and its development.” In other words, museums have to come down off their pedestals and discover their audiences.
This is incredibly important. History should reflect all stories, and to do that, New Museum Theory has to be at the center of our conversations. Here are a few resources to help you consider new museum theory.
Books
- New Museum Theory and Practice: An Introduction by Janet Marstine (2006)
- This book outlines how museums have shifted from neutral collectors of objects to active, socially engaged institutions.
- The book argues that museums shape meaning through choices in display, architecture, conservation, and policy. Its essays explore themes such as representation, feminist curatorial practice, ethics, community collaboration, and the impact of digital technologies. By combining theory with real case studies. The book encourages museums to be transparent, inclusive, and self-critical.
- Overall, Marstine presents the “new museum” as a space that acknowledges its power and responsibility while actively working to create more equitable and reflective cultural narratives.
- Radical Museology by Claire Bishop (2014)
- This book argues that some contemporary museums are moving away from spectacle and market-driven displays toward politically engaged, research-based practices.
- Focusing on three European museums, Bishop shows how they reinterpret their collections to highlight marginalized histories, question dominant narratives, and provoke critical thinking.
- She describes this as a “radical” model in which museums act as active political and social agents rather than neutral spaces.
Articles
- “Is the Museum-Visitor Relationship Being Redefined?” by Mathilde Pulh and Rémi Mencarelli
- The article argues that Web 2.0 technologies are reshaping how museums relate to visitors.
- Instead of passive audiences, visitors become collaborators who create and share content. This shift offers greater accessibility and engagement but also challenges curatorial authority and the traditional museum’s role as a controlled, expert-led space.
- “Introduction: Museums and the Education Turn: History, Memory, Inclusivity” by Jens Andermann and Silke Arnold-de Simine
- The article argues that modern museums are increasingly embracing roles as educational, social, and inclusive institutions.
- Andermann and Simine emphasize how museums now foreground history, collective memory, and representation are not just aesthetic display. The piece frames this “educational turn” as part of a broader shift in museology.
- “Critical Museum Theory/Museum Studies in Canada: A Conversation” by Lianne McTavish, Susan Ashley, Heather Igloliorte, Kirsty Robertson, and Andrea Terry
- The article investigates how the ideals of the “new museology” have been adopted in practice across publicly funded museums in Britain.
- Drawing on interviews with museum staff, McTavish et al find that structural constraints, professional hierarchies, ambiguous policies, and institutional pressures limit full implementation, leaving adoption partial and uneven.