Making Histories in Museums – serie

This book is the first in 30 years to take transport museums seriously as vehicles for the making of public histories. Drawing upon many years'' experience of visiting and working in transport museums around the world, the authors argue that the sector''s historical roots are more complex than is usually thought. Written from a multidisciplinary perspective but firmly rooted in the practice of making public histories, this book brings the study of transport museums firmly into the mainstream of academic and professional debate.

Museums are a city phenomenon, one element within a suite of cultural institutions which most major urban centres support. In the 19th century, museums were established as evidence of urban sophistication, a credential of new and enlightened local government. They aimed to provide vistas significantly broader than the local. Today, however, the agenda is very different. Within the majority of cities there are museums dedicated to exploring the city itself. The contributors consider the making of city histories from very different perspectives and within a number of theoretical frameworks. They use case studies and comparisons of practice; in particular, good practice is highlighted and potential ways forward explored.

This exciting new series recognizes the tremendous potential of museum-based histories and the ways in which they can engage people with ideas about the past. People encounter and use museums on many different levels - personal, social and intellectual - and access meanings that best fit their agendas. Histories in museums can stimulate the imagination, provoke discussion and increase our ability to question what we know. From this it can be deduced that history in museums is as much about the present as it is about the past; as much about how we feel as about what we know; as much about who we are as about who we have been.The first volume in the series, Making Histories in Museums, examines museological features, but deals particularly with hte historiographical issues that have presiously been underplayed. Each contributor looks at theoretical frameworks within a specific field of study, using case studies and comparisons of practice. Good practice is highlighted and potential ways forward explored. The book establishes the themes that will be the subject of more detailed study in later volumes.This series will prove an invaluable resource for all those concerned with or interested in museums - museum professionals, museum students, historians and students of history, as well as the general reader.