CENTERING THE MUSEUM

Drawing on Elaine Heumann Gurian’s fifty years of museum experience, Centering

the Museum calls on the profession to help visitors experience their shared humanity
and find social uses for public buildings, in order to make museums more central
and useful to everyone in difficult times.
Following the same format as Civilizing the Museum, this new volume includes
material written especially for a re-emergent time and relevant public lectures not
included in the author’s previous book. Divided into six separate content clusters, with
over twenty different essays, the book identifies many small, subtle ways museums can
become welcoming to more — and to all. Drawing on her extensive experience as a
deputy director, senior advisor to high-profile government museums, lecturer and
teacher around the world, the author provides recommendations for inclusive actions
by intertwining sociological thinking with practical decision-making strategies. Writ-
ing reflectively, Elaine also provides heritage students and professionals with insights
that will help move their careers and organizations into more equitable, yet successful,
terrain.
Centering the Museum will be an excellent companion volume to Civilizing the Museum
and, as such, will be a useful support for emerging museum leaders. It will be especially
interesting to academics and students engaged in the study of cultural administration, as
well as museum and heritage practitioners working around the world.

Elaine Heumann Gurian has worked in the museum field since 1968, first as a
community activist, then a director of museum education, and subsequently a
professional deputy director for institutions dedicated to social justice and during
the process of transforming themselves to address and embrace formerly margin-
alized groups.
CENTERING THE
MUSEUM
Writings for the Post-Covid Age

Elaine Heumann Gurian

First published 2022
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Elaine Heumann Gurian
The right of Elaine Heumann Gurian to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book

ISBN: 978-0-367-56050-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-56044-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-09622-1 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003096221

Typeset in Bembo
by Taylor & Francis Books
 To my family–real and imagined,
pals, and soulmates,
too many to name,
who grew older with me,
or brought their younger selves to play.

You have been my anchor, guide, and comfort.

My gratitude for your company knows no bounds.
CONTENTS

About the author x

List of Abbreviations xii
Foreword xiv
Acknowledgments xviii

Introduction: Centering the Museum 1

Museum Basics: Definition and Principles 8

PART I
The Museum Visitor’s Exhibition Quest: Personalization,
Complexity, and Multiple Outcomes 9
1 The Essential Museum: Decoupling the Content from the
Object, 2006 11
2 Introducing the Blue Ocean Museum: A Layered Installation of
the Nearly Immediate Future, 2007 27
3 The Importance of “And”: Using Complexity Theory to
Counter Simple Exhibitions, 2017 41
viii Contents

PART II
Museum Administration Techniques Must Mirror
Philosophy: Fairness and Justice Toward Staff 55
4 Institutional Trauma: The Effect of Major Change on Staff,
Revised 57
5 Brave Directors: The Profile of the Exceptionally Just Director,
2006 69
6 Boston Stories: Lessons from the Past Practice of the Boston
Children’s Museum, 2008 78
7 Curator—From Soloist to Impresario: Reforming the Curator’s
Relationship to Information, 2009 100
8 Wanting to Be Third on Your Block: How the “Classic”
Director Creates Change, 2009 116
9 Intentional Civility: Reexamining Our Assumptions of Staff,
Visitors, Community, and Content, 2012 124

PART III
Museums Have Agency: Useful Activism in Museums 139
10 Babar: Controversy Surrounding Time and Context, 2010 141
11 Museum as Soup Kitchen: Museums as Venues for Social
Service, 2009 150
12 Maybe This Time: A Personal Journey Toward Racial Equity
in Museums, 2016 160
13 Modeling Decency, Sir!: Intentionally Welcoming Visitors of
Opposing Political Views Is a Vital Task of Inclusion, 2017 174

PART IV
Museums’ Obligation to Provide Public Space: Placing
Museums in a Broadened Civic Sphere 193
14 One Meter Square: A Poetic Essay about the Importance of
Humble Pieces of Civic Land, 2010 195
15 Public Spaces for Strangers: How Museums’ Physical Assets
Should Contribute to Communal Peace, 2017 197
 Contents ix

PART V
Museums Are Part of Larger Systems: Dissolving
Boundaries to Provide Coordinated Society-wide Benefits 209
16 Museum Opportunities: Through Another’s Eyes: Michael
Hulme and Climate Change, 2011 211
17 Expanding the Known: Museums Should Join in Education
Reform, 2013 222

PART VI
Memoir Snippets: The Professional Uses of Personal
Experience 241
18 Thinking About My Museum Journey: Lessons Learned and
Lists of Fundamental Concern, 1999 245
19 Activism From the Inside: A Family Teaches Political
Awareness, 1985 250
20 The Museum Family: An Award Speech About Invented
Relatives, 2004 255
21 How Mentoring Works: 1984 259
22 The Role of Consultants: 2003 267
23 What I Learned From Children: 1984 270
24 Gay in Multiple Parts: 2000 275
25 My Charge to the Next Generation: A List of Personal Advice,
2017 281
Conclusion: Centering, the Finale: A Reflection on the Covid
Time, 2020 284

Index 290
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo by Josef E. Gurian

 About the Author xi

Elaine Heumann Gurian has worked in the museum field since 1968, first as a
community activist, then a director of museum education, and subsequently a
professional deputy director for institutions dedicated to social justice and during
the process of transforming themselves to address and embrace formerly margin-
alized groups. Starting in 1993, she has been a senior consultant to many govern-
ment institutions worldwide—local and national—dedicated to presenting a more
fulsome and complex portrait of their history and people. Throughout her entire
career, Gurian has been a teacher, writer, and mentor to community-based activist
students and practitioners within the heritage field. Her work continues as an elder
with the publication of this book.
ABBREVIATIONS

AAM American Alliance of Museums

AAM/EdCom AAM Education Committee
AAMC Association of Art Museum Curators
ALA American Library Association
Beaubourg Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
BLM Black Lives Matter
BCM Boston Children’s Museum, Boston, MA
BOCES Boards of Cooperative Educational Services
CCL Center for Curatorial Leadership
CCS Center for Civil Society
CGA Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
CHM Charleston Museum, Charleston, SC
CPTED Crime Prevention Through Environment Design
DAM Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
DIA Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
DZS Detroit Zoological Society, Detroit, MI
ESA Educational service agencies
FB Facebook
ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
ICOM International Council of Museums
IMLS Institute of Museum and Library Services
MA Museum Association, UK
MAH Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
MAK Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
MET Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
MMI Museum Management Institute
MOA Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada
 Abbreviations xiii

MOMA Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

MPSM My Primary School is in the Museum program
NMA National Museum of Australia
NMAAHC National Museum of African American History and Culture
NMAI National Museum of the American Indian
NMNH National Museum of Natural History
NAGPRA Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
NASM National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC
NECSI New England Complex Systems Institute
NEMA New England Museum Association
NYT New York Times
P21 Partnership for 21st Century Skills
PPS Project for Public Space
PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
ROM Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada
SCP Situational Crime Prevention
TBM The Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY
TMG The Museum Group
USHMM United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
FOREWORD
Américo Castilla

It’s early in the morning at Paddington Station, and I’m waiting for someone.
We’re catching the Cardiff train together to give talks at St Fagans National
Museum of History. We’ve been invited to debate about cultural rights and share
our ideas with museum professionals. Before long, I see an approaching figure. She
looks just like an immigrant from decades past in full flight, her stick authoritatively
beats time directing the ballast of her big suitcase, always handy in the event of
imminent exile. This is my friend Elaine.
Everything seems to point to the fact that, without such wanderings, there would
be no philosophy. Nor would there be without reflections on friendship. This is
maybe why we’ve been having a twenty-year conversation on the hoof. And when
our wanderings seem to lead our thinking toward the vertigo of flight, perhaps we’re
no longer in the dog days of flânerie but the urgent times of mass migration, brazen
corruption, and short mercy. In this realm of sudden bombshells that we live in,
shifting down a gear and starting to talk can prove exasperating in light of the general
acceleration. Friendships against the rising tide recall the opposition between these two
questions: is it that there are no friends at the end of the road, as Aristoteles is quoted
by Nietzsche, or that there are no enemies, as only Friedrich Nietzsche would dare, in
the throes of madness, rephrase many centuries later.
The landscape of Patagonia, the jagged backdrop of the Andes, the tropical scenery
of the Argentine Littoral, the urban extremes of Buenos Aires, London, and New
York, the human tides of Colombia and Mexico: these have been some of the settings
for our conversations about museums’ likings and needs. Our interlocutors are groups
of young people whose interests and curiosity sharpen Elaine’s and my own ideas, and
make them ever more complex. Before the Trump administration, Elaine would
never have dreamt of going into exile. But the extremism born of overweening arro-
gance that only the excessive accumulation of money and power seems to rouse
brought her to a breaking point. And yet, at the brink of the abyss, stick in hand,
 Foreword xv

Elaine resolved to turn her attention to a new question: “What if there are no ene-
mies?” That eventuality would turn the indulgent principles of museums (a recurrent
theme of our discussions) upside down. These institutions are so self-satisfied when
announcing their willingness to admit people of all genders, races, or religions, while
generally failing to ensure they all have a reason to visit without fearing rejection. In
the vocabulary of museums, anyone is seen as “friendly” as long as they comply with
their written or unwritten laws of etiquette, most of which come—like many of their
collections—from an imposed hierarchical colonial order. But Elaine’s new hypothesis
extends empathy to those we explicitly don’t like or privately reject and ushers in a
fresh turning point in social ethics.
Just as Nietzsche seems to take refuge in madness in order to admit that extreme of
acceptance of those we dislike, so does Elaine, only that secured instead by the wisdom
of her long years of service to her colleagues. But anyway, the ethical problem is still a
complex one, and Elaine has coined the saying “up to here but no further” to place a
limit on genuinely irreconcilable assumptions—of which there are plenty. This was
the case that arose at the meeting of El Museo Reimaginado 2019 [Reimagining the
Museum 2019], which we organized and participated in together in Medellín,
Colombia. It went like this. Prompted by the initiative of the Museum of Anti-
oquia, located at the socially troubled heart of the city, where prostitution and
drug-trafficking are rife, the museum, which houses a collection of works by the
artist Fernando Botero reflecting the abundance of sex workers, invited those
practising their trade locally and organized under the name “The Downtown
Warriors,” to work as exhibition guides. In fact, they provided the participants of
our gathering with an example of the interest of these guided tours, which exhib-
ited their own bodies as a space of political dispute. But the next day, in a session at
our Conference, one speaker argued that the truly disruptive thing would have
been if the guides were the pimps managing the prostitutes, rather than the pros-
titutes themselves. Would the tour, if guided by the body trafficker, be a case of
“up to here and no further”? Instead of the direct narrative of someone who is the
protagonist and victim of a social situation, we would be guided, according to the
speaker, into a narrative of speculation and domination without body risk.
Be that as it may, the maxim expresses an individual resistance, which Elaine
suggests to those working in museums who, even if they don’t have the power to
make institutional ethical decisions, can influence everyday events from their more
modest desks. Micro-policies of resistance look like forms that we can all imple-
ment, and that may be able to instigate a turn, hopefully, an institutional one. At
this stage of capitalism, we can see that unnecessary accumulation and consumption
artificially multiply our personalities for us to renew what is individually super-
fluous, as also are the resonant social scenes, in benefit of the few while leaving a
growing number of vulnerable subjects helpless. It is here, in this sphere of aliena-
tion, that the formula of inequity acquires its existential consistency, just the way
pimps do on their scale. As the Brazilian thinker Suely Rolnik teaches us, it is in
these spheres too that our own micro-policies of resistance need to be imple-
mented, regardless of any risk of failure (Rolnik, 2017).
xvi Foreword

The now unsustainable crackling of the prevailing world social order requires
thought and action, and those of us in a position to promote ideas and schemes
have the obligation to reconsider the needs and roles of cultural institutions if they
are to truly serve their social contexts. The established ethical codes are inadequate.
The colonial order as a form of knowledge still predominant in museums, as well
as their exhibitions and implicit messages, have reached a point where they are so
obvious that it becomes intolerable not only for the natives of the countries pil-
laged for the assets on display, but for any citizen who treats equality as a priority.
If museums are, as Elaine defines them, public civic spaces to encourage strangers
to gather peacefully, they must avoid symbolic shows of dominance that cause
offence and deter this gathering of equals.
The unsuccessful discussion at the 2019 ICOM World Assembly about defining
what a museum is leads us to a ground zero from which to weave fresh meaning.
The fact is that 70.4 percent of the world’s museum delegates refused to discuss this
definition, which described them as:

democratising, inclusive and polyphonic spaces for critical dialogue about the
pasts and the futures. Acknowledging and addressing the conflicts and chal-
lenges of the present, they hold artefacts and specimens in trust for society,
safeguard diverse memories for future generations and guarantee equal rights
and equal access to heritage for all people. Museums are not for profit. They
are participatory and transparent, and work in active partnership with and for
diverse communities to collect, preserve, research, interpret, exhibit, and
enhance understandings of the world, aiming to contribute to human dignity
and social justice, global equality and planetary wellbeing.

Why might a museum wish not to be described in these terms?

What this refusal makes apparent is that, were the definition accepted, the
capacities installed in museums should be modified to incorporate suitable experts
responsible for their new functions. It also makes it clear that these characteristics
are not currently being achieved. The leading museums’ exhibitions are focused on
well-educated, largely white, high-spending, middle-class tourists more interested
in looking at exceptions than normal social occurrences. If this were the case,
almost none of the specific characteristics of the new definition would be needed.
However, if we look at the planet’s citizens as a whole, we see that the number of
people never to have set foot in a museum is above 70.4 percent, among other
things, because they don’t see them as places sensitive to their problems and
representations. This gap between the indulgence of peers in a kind of mutual
appreciation society and other “different” people, whose admission cards aren’t
really recognised, calls for thinking like that found in this book of Elaine Gurian’s.
Back in 1972, UNESCO organized a meeting in Chile about the mission of
Latin American museums. The discussions of the regional experts were truly
innovative, not to mention revolutionary. The novelty, as mentioned by Huges de
Varine, ICOM president at the time, was the proposal of an integrated museum
 Foreword xvii

that takes into account all society’s problems and empowers museums as dynamic
instruments of social change for the benefit of all humankind, not just the well-
educated. Latin America has pioneered this comprehensive social policy that has
been successfully extended to Mexican community museums and sustainable eco-
museums in France, Portugal, Quebec, and Scandinavia. Elaine’s twenty years’
teaching experience in South America has revitalized many of the concepts out-
lined in the enthusiastic context of Salvador Allende’s interrupted road to socialism.
There are hundreds of Elaine’s disciples leading this renewed mission.
Thinking about change is present in the minds of many of the actors in the field
of museums around the world. They are free spirits who understand that the
institution is appropriate as a positive influence on a time when there is a demand
for life: human, environmental, animal … a demand for joint, supportive action to
create new and socially generous places for speech. The possibility of social change
is a content already inscribed in the current shape of society: it is immanent to the
present, and while the refusal to discuss it publicly demonstrates the predominance
of a certain structure of privilege, it also highlights the vitality of its opponents.

I see them [the free spirits] already coming, slowly, slowly; and perhaps I shall
do something to speed their coming if I describe in advance under what
vicissitudes, upon what paths, I see them coming?.
(Nietzsche, 1996)

This sentence of Nietzsche’s encapsulates Elaine’s plan. The philosopher who

distrusted everything nevertheless kept faith with young people, the potential
continuators of his work. Elaine’s writings reflect the fundamentally human vicis-
situdes we need to come back to. Or rather, that should be expanded on by new
generations concerned with the potential and future of museums.
Américo Castilla

Américo Castilla is the Director and Founder of Fundación TyPA, Secretary of

Cultural Heritage of Argentina (2016), and previously National Director of Heri-
tage and Museums of Argentina (2003–2007).

References
Nietzsche, F. (1996). Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Cambridge
University Press.
Rolnik, S. (2017). The Spheres of Insurrection: Suggestions for Combating the Pimping of
Life. E-flux Journal, 86.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Each of us bears the imprint

Of a friend met along the way;
In each the trace of each.
For good or evil
In wisdom or in folly
Everyone stamped by everyone.
(Levi, 1985)

In a long life, one makes and remakes family, friends, and mentors. Like Levi’s
poem one has been changed at the end of each day by the influences of others. I
find myself drawn to reading acknowledgments in other people’s books. Vanity
sometimes suggests that my name may be on the list. When that happens, I am
very pleased and hope seeing my name in print will impress my grandchildren. On
other rare occasions, I know some of the people who are named and think the
author has good taste in friends. And sometimes I am interested in knowing if the
author, who I do not know, is generous, and if not, that tends to determine my
attitude toward the writing.
All acknowledgments inadvertently omit someone of importance, and both the
author and the overlooked feel terrible afterward. In addition to singling out cer-
tain names, I have decided to characterize essential groups that have sustained me,
hoping that everyone connected to each will find themselves recognized and
appreciated. Categories seem the only way even to begin to thank all those who
have come unbidden to my aid. Even so, the thanks I owe surely extends further,
and the failure to spell that out is mine alone. Here is my mea culpa: deep in the
culture of constant guilt, I want you to know that I am already pre-emptively
sorry.
 Acknowledgments xix

To the Taylor & Francis publishing people, most especially Heidi Lowther for
her endless good cheer and patience, thank you, and I thank her assistants Katie
Wakelin and Kangan Gupta. I did not think I wanted to publish another book, but
Heidi’s request that I do so came at a perfect time. I was going to be sealed into
my home with a newly installed right hip while Covid-19 was swirling about
outdoors. Writing this book has made the homebound time seem magical rather
than limiting, and the lack of conflicting demands was a significant gift.
To my friends and colleagues who are writing professionals, my constant thanks:
Anne Butterfield, who taught me to write in the 1970s and 1980s by allowing me
to edit her ghostwriting so it said what I wanted and has collaborated on grants
ever since; Ellen Hirzy, who copyedited and straightened out my published books,
including this one, and allowed me to give her ideas on the museum education
books she edited for others; and my husband and partner Dean Anderson, who
reads and edits everything I write in as many versions as I need with a quizzical
look and a generous use of track changes. My life as a learning-disabled writer
would not have happened without them.
I know it is unusual for authors to give thanks to places, but much of my life is
affected by the areas where I live and work. I currently reside in three different
worlds. Two are physical spaces that oscillate according to the seasons, and the
third is a metaphysical place that has physical characteristics. I spend roughly half
the year just outside Washington, DC, in South Arlington, Virginia, in a small
economic and ethnically diverse neighborhood called Barcroft. In the winter, I live
on Vieques, a small United States island in the Caribbean off the northeastern coast
of Puerto Rico. I have created a life in both places for more than thirty years. They
are both my “real” homes. I thank both sets of neighbors for always being exactly
as neighbors should be: available, practical, and generous.
I wish to acknowledge and credit the actual places I have called home:

 Apartment 4W at 106–15 Queens Blvd., Forest Hills, New York, from 1941
to 1949 during World War II, which shaped a life surrounded by relatives,
other Jewish immigrants, inadequate public schooling, friends who taught me
stamp collecting, pitching hardball, tree climbing, speaking German at home,
and worrying about the Holocaust in a faraway land.
 From 1949 to 1954, my neighbors and school friends, now forever siblings,
from 88 Beverly Road, Kensington, Great Neck, New York.
 Now I live part-time in Barcroft, which has about 1,500 families. Though it
fills only about one square mile, it is one of the few DC-area neighborhoods
that is multi-everythinged—ages, ethnicities, economic levels, races, religions,
and citizenship statuses. Half the population lives as family units, the public
schools are excellent, and neighbors are generally kind and supportive of each
other even though they don’t speak the same languages. The education level
of South Arlington residents is fascinating. Thirty-three percent have advanced
degrees, and a similar number have a high school diploma or less. New mil-
lion-dollar infill houses are arriving, yet sections of housing remain where a
xx Acknowledgments

large percentage of our neighbors are food insecure from the Covid-19 pan-
demic and economic recession, and are fed weekly by the neighborly other
half through organized direct food packages.

For over a decade, we have been blessed to have our entire life in Barcroft
overseen by the Trone family—Margie, Mark, and Lily. And Chris Bolcik and
Steve Cline, tech wizards, friends, and protectors. Without them we would be lost.
For five months a year, I move to Vieques, which our US government on multiple
levels forgot during and after Hurricane Maria. I admire the local Viequense residents
who had so much pluck they united to overcome that abandonment. Although I have
been a winter resident there for more than thirty years, I remain a non-Spanish
speaking “North American”—a useful soul, but one who can never be fully integrated
into the local Hispanic mainstream.
My Vieques gratitude demands some names. I am grateful to the Cordero-Cruz
family—Dayanara Cruz-Maldonado, Jose Luis Cordero, Danailis, Jaelis Dayan, and
Zahid Cordero-Cruz—for being my island family, support, translators, and organizers of
all aspects of our life and for doing so with constancy, humor, integrity, and inventiveness.
After Maria hit, I was asked to join the board of directors of ViequesLove, a not-
for-profit that works toward disaster preparedness and relief. I have learned how
the most inventive manage community survival with unending creativity. I thank
my fellow board members and ViequesLove’s intrepid principals—founder Kelly
Thompson, Mark Martin Bras, Paul Lutton, and Jorge Fernandez-Porto—for
allowing me to participate.
Thanks to all my island friends, who breakfast at Rising Roost, dine at Coqui
Fire, keep me honest, and provide useful company, cogent insights, and good
books. I must name Harry and Ellen Parker, museum friends of more than forty-
five years, who invited us to the island thirty-two years ago and remain family.
And Colleen McNamara, who can be found weekly at the breakfast table helping
to strategize a better Vieques future.
The third place I live, additionally and spiritually, is both conceptual in nature
and widely diverse geographically. I write to and keep in touch with a group of
smart and engaging folks called “Pals,” who don’t always know each other but
remain mutually supportive. And once in a while I see one or another of them.
They understand that actually and metaphorically sharing ideas is a form of
friendship, and I have been doing so with some of them dating back to the 1950s.
While the places we first met have country and city names, the neighborhoods
dear to me are always a tiny section of an overall area. People think I travel a lot,
but they are wrong. I get on the airplane a lot, but I am almost always going to a
series of home-like locations where I am privileged to be the long-time consultant
on a project. There, I know how the supermarket works, use a weekly public
transport pass, have a coffee shop where they serve me my “regular” every morn-
ing, and frequent the available take-out where staff help me decode the mysteries
of the local cash currency. I check in on the people I love, one location at a time.
To the following places with appreciation:
 Acknowledgments xxi

 My Boston Children’s Museum bosses, teams, colleagues, board members, and

neighbors, my many housemates, and my children’s friends who hung around
the many suppers and meetings at 240 Clinton Road, Brookline, Massachusetts
from 1970 to 1987.
 The moveable but specific location where every year, my AAM family would
convene for the annual membership meeting, and I would feel loved, exhila-
rated, politically trained, intellectually enriched, and exhausted.
 My many bosses, colleagues, and friends, formerly at the Smithsonian Institution
and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, who continue to live a
subtle revolutionary museum life that masquerades as conformity. The Smithso-
nian is in good hands at last with Lonnie Bunch as secretary, but many did the
nearly invisible preliminary work that allowed him to land in a receptive spot.
 My Detroit-area pals from the Cranbrook Institute, the Charles H. Wright
Museum of African American History, the Museum Studies Program of the
University of Michigan, and the Detroit Zoo, who came serially to get me in
Birmingham off Woodward for many different but engaging reasons.
 West Plaza Hotel in Wellington NZ, where the hotelier always supplied a
bookcase and a set of dishes to my corner room, so I could eat a “Pav” from
the New World Market and walk to my work while first stopping at the Lido
where I learned about hot lemon and ginger and how a public café becomes
family space. I imagine each member of the old Te Papa crowd hanging
together in my mind. We stay in touch now on Zoom, Facebook, and email,
and the whole team has each other’s backs, as we always did. I must thank
Sean Sweeney, who first suggested me, and Ken Gorbey, who hired me. I am
so grateful that Conal McCarthy of that team has made me an adjunct research
associate at the University of Victoria so I can meet and speak to the next
generation and carry on that tradition.
 The serviced apartments in Kingston, Canberra, Australia, where there are
excellent small eateries right outside the door, as well as chattering magpies, so
I could be “at home” as we built the National Museum of Australia under
Dawn Casey. I moved on to Sydney, walking to the Powerhouse for Dawn,
and then walking again to ACME for Katrina Sedgwick. People relocated, and
I got to move with them.
 For the last decade I have been spending whole months in Buenos Aires,
always in a different but beautiful apartment in one Palermo section after
another so that I could bus to work with the extraordinary people of Funda-
cion TyPA. There my compadre, Américo Castilla, who wrote the introduc-
tion to this book, was and is my guide to a life well lived. I love his wife, dog,
friends, and colleagues, I travel with him wherever he wants to convene a
conference, and I have learned so much about doing everything with next to
nothing from all the past and current “TyPA-kins” who created the programs
sponsored by the foundation and for whom I serve happily as honorary abuela.
And, by the way, the ice cream in BA is the best in the world, with dulce de
leche granizado the very best flavor of all.
xxii Acknowledgments

 My many gifted teacher friends at Interlochen Arts Academy, who brought

me in yearly to work with their visual arts seniors, creating a pop-up inter-
active exhibition in five days, and who always reserved the lakefront Frohlich
Lodge as superb accommodation while there.
 The Oswego Hotel, Victoria, BC, where they always have green apples
waiting and I can walk to the Royal BC Museum, stopping on the way for
my daily coffee and late-night dinner, wearing my security badge as if I
worked there, thanks to Jack Lohman, whom I follow wherever he goes. He
always has a super-exciting, devoted, excellent, and kind staff, most especially
Lily Jer-Nakamura, who constantly takes singularly good care of me.
 Kyiv, Ukraine, at Yom Kippur time, where I take bus 24 from my apartment
in the Maidan to my office in the Lavra, and the ticket taker says welcome
back in Ukrainian, which I do not speak. In the museum of the Maidan office,
we greet each other as a long-lost cousins, even though most of us cannot
really speak to each other without the aid of the glorious Dara Sereda who has
translated for me since she answered a Facebook ad at age 17, living on her
own, in a country that had just successfully won the Euro-Maidan liberating
revolution. The director, Ihor Poshyvailo, understands more than anyone I
know that documentation protects one politically and makes things irrefutable.
They and I go nowhere without the cameraman, whom I adore, nicknamed
“Bodyman” (for Bohdan “Bodia” Poshyvailo).
 In 1984, I began to live part-time in London, first in Islington and then in
Kings Cross. I owned a home in Walthamstow for a short time and made
professional friendships that have lasted forever and grow in number every
year. No year seems whole if I do not go to my favorite apartment on York
Way, have breakfast at the Caravan, and then see everyone I care about. That
life now includes pals who live all over the UK but consent to come to
London so we can clap eyes on each other. I cannot do without them. My
thanks especially go to Mark O’Neill, for his annual always-thrilling all-day
conversation from morning train-station pick-up to evening train-station
return.
 And there are other significant people in other places—Ann Arbor, Copen-
hagen, Gothenburg, Jackson, Santa Fe, San Francisco, and elsewhere—who
invited me to work with them, only to find that I would gladly wander with
them as their lives and careers took them onward.

I have seen generations of museum people begin, flourish, and retire, and
throughout it all, I have been privileged to hang around as if I had never gone
away. I find myself walking down the streets in each town, yelling out loud (as is
permitted an old lady) about how happy I am to be back. My life in many places
has a certain storybook aura: I enjoy imagining my life there extending far past the
time that my work has allotted.
Then there is a group of women who, in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, cracked
open the then-sexist museum world by becoming leaders and public figures. Joel
 Acknowledgments xxiii

Bloom labeled them the “women’s mafia” and often gave them mold-breaking
tasks and opportunities. These self-labeled “Go-Girls” met each year at AAM for
dinner, made too much noise, and kept in touch for life, providing each other
continual support. Over and over, I am grateful to each of them who individually
remain in my life. But I must mention that this all started because of Bonnie Pitman’s
birthday, and she remains the leader of us all.
To the founding members of the Museum Group and every member who
joined after that, thank you for twenty-five thoughtful years.
I learn so much from my formal mentors and mentees. Thank you for either
accepting me for guidance when I needed it, or asking for advice I was happy to
give. I will not out you here, but know how proud I am to play a part in your
lives.
I have chosen to walk down the path of my advanced-age work life in the
beloved company of Johnnetta Betsch Cole as my Elder Sister because, as she says
“We still have work to do.”
In addition to those listed above, a long list of people asked me to join them as
teachers in classes or as co-teachers in workshops. We often wander through for-
eign lands and equally foreign ideas, sometimes as a pack, doing sessions that count
on each other’s quirky sensibilities, knowing we can quickly figure out how to
repair the damage we caused during the day over a good meal that night. I am
grateful and in sync with each who took a chance on me, but one person, Jim
Volkert, has reappeared as co-leader in my teaching life over and over again, and
each time I greet that opportunity with joy. Thank you.
A special thank you to Charles and Diane Frankel for their kindness and intrepid
spirit. Thank you for inviting Dean and me to be traveling partners over decades of
adventures into fabulous places, constant good food and drink, and nonstop deli-
cious conversation.
The reality is that throughout my life, a vast number of people have been con-
tinuously generous. Many took on roles that were traditionally or genetically
assigned to others—parents, siblings, teachers, partners, guides. The creation of my
personal pack has been the essential grounding for my well-being. These indivi-
duals have never failed me, and I am deeply grateful to each and every one.
I have reached the age where a child, mentors, relatives, and some of my closest
friends dwell in a nonearthly place, having departed this life. But their memory and
life lessons sustain me every day.
My whole life has been enriched by other people’s parents, who willingly took
on the supporting role I invented for them and then did not look askance when I
showed up for Thanksgiving in their house uninvited. These people, whom I
nicknamed some version of mother or father, knew who they were and made it
possible for me to become an adult even when I was already one. Thank you to all
the members of the Bain, Barry, Conway, Farber, Glatzer, and Holz families.
To my family, birthed and acquired, all loved, all supportive, all thriving in the
direction of their choosing, and all loving of each other, thank you. To my
pseudo-siblings Ken Kay and Karen Christianson, Joan Farber, Franklyn and
Acknowledgments xxiv

Ronald Holz, Aylette Jenness, Rex Moser, Douglas Reese, Judith Wechsler, and to
my actual cousins Alan, Marsha, Ronald, and Elizabeth Cahn, Peter and Barbara
Frank, and Doris Maier, thank you.
I have beloved children (both birthed and welcomed): Erik and Merideth
Anderson, Matt Anderson, Kiara Ghartey Ellozy, David and Ali Gelles, Josef and
Karen Gurian, Ateret Shmuel, Eve and Aaron Wachhaus, and nieces Jen Bisbee
and Deb Regen. And at this time of my life, I lean on them for advice when once
I gave it. The surety of having children one can always count on, cheer for, forgive
and be forgiven is forever sustaining.
And I have grands who enter the world each an engagingly different and fasci-
nating person: Eliana, Kaita, Sam, and Margo Gurian; Lowen, Helena, and Gus
Wachhaus; Briget Stanley and Matt Brown. There are no words of thanks too
extreme to use. There is only thankfulness that they allow me to engage in many
adventures with each, watching their specialness shine.
To my honorary greats, Tristan and Nico Brown, Yousef and Adam Ellozy,
Franny and Clark Gelles, Oriya and Aviv Shmuel, the world looks like it will be in
good hands.
And, finally, again, and always, to my husband, partner, foil, and editor, Dean
Anderson, a man who never misses a moment to be supportive, I can only think
how lucky I am to have chosen such a righteous person to spend my life with, my
unending thanks.

Cover image (paperback version)

The multi-coloured carpet and reflective swing ball - The 2017 Hyundai Com-
mission SUPERFLEX: One, Two, Three Swing! in the Turbine Hall at the Tate
Modern. SUPERFLEX, a Danish collective, known for their interests in unifying
urban spaces and commenting on society with authenticity through art. London,
02 Oct 2017. Credit: Guy Bell/Alamy Live News

Reference
Levi, P. (1985). To My Friends. In Collected Poems, translated by R. Feldman and B. Swann.
Faber & Faber.
INTRODUCTION
Centering the Museum

Introduction
This book, Centering the Museum: Writings for the Post-Covid Age, is about occupy-
ing, helping to orchestrate, and celebrating “the center”—a position between dis-
agreeing parties in dispute often derided as insufficiently principled and wimpy by
those of contesting opinions. Museums should and could become explicators of
complexity by modeling human acceptance of and compassion for uncertainty,
where people come together to learn about, live uneasily with, and tolerate partial
and exploratory resolutions for issues of consequence.

Museum Meaning
Wherever I use the word museum throughout this volume, I am using its broadest
possible definition. The reader will not be surprised that I embrace all institutions that
collect or borrow objects of whatever sort. That would include zoos, botanic gardens,
archives, historic human-made structures often listed as heritage, etc. I include institu-
tions that focus on manufactured experiences like planetariums, living history installa-
tions, and faith-based sites that incorporate intangible heritage, including sacred spaces,
whether natural formations like Uluru or human-constructed ones like Stonehenge.
And I also embrace institutions where the “objects” are displays that have been created,
often for interactivity, as in children’s and science museums. I use technology and phy-
sical interactivity interchangeably and am eager to learn more about artificial intelligence
(AI). I flirt with and sometimes encompass libraries, hiking trail displays, and art-based
climbing structures. However, I exclusively focus on organizations that operate for “the
public good,” known in the United States as not-for-profits, and in other countries are
either embedded in government agencies or established as non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) or charities. I, therefore, omit commercial and for-profit organizations

DOI: 10.4324/9781003096221-1
2 Introduction

that appear “museum-like” in certain of their activities, such as retail stores, shopping
malls, and amusement parks. I have studied and admired their crowd handling and dis-
play techniques and advocate borrowing good ideas from any source I can find. I am not
worried about blurring the definition by importing from elsewhere.
I hope readers of this book will come from the broadest possible range of career
trajectories and institutions. I have often wrestled with defining “museums” and
have published some of those ruminations. For further reflections, see “A Blurring
of the Boundaries” (Gurian, 1995) and “What Is the Object of This Exercise?”
(Gurian, 1999). Both of these definitional discussions can be found in my previous
volume, Civilizing the Museum (Gurian, 2006).

Background
When this volume was being prepared for publication in 2020, the world was deep in
an uncontrolled Covid-19 pandemic with vaccines just beginning their roll-out. The
situation in the United States and worldwide included economic downturns that
showed no sign of abating, a social justice movement (Black Lives Matter (BLM)) with
parallel demonstrations elsewhere prompting some promising early equity develop-
ments (including in the museum world), and a profoundly troubling American pre-
sident and worrisome elected officials in other countries whose behavior, rhetoric, and
actions ignored many of the norms of civil society. All of this was about to conclude in
the most consequential US election of my lifetime. As the book went to the publisher,
Joe Biden had been elected but not yet inaugurated as president. Donald J. Trump was
behaving so alarmingly erratically that many loyalists of consequence had begun to
distance themselves, but only for a short time and not long enough to prevent the
invasion of the US Capitol building.
As you engage with this book, new and subsequent US presidencies may have
come and gone, other countries may have veered to the extreme left, right, and/or
back again. One hopes Covid-19 and its consequences will have receded and been
replaced by a more sociable daily life. When encountered, the “afterwords” at the
ends of most of the following chapters, written during this tumultuous period, may
now seem exaggerated, prescient, or quaint. The times felt almost cataclysmic on
the one hand and unexpectedly tranquil on the other, given the isolation and
quietude of lockdown and quarantine. My days were mostly uninterrupted, set in a
beautiful sequence of seasons unfolding first outside my windows in Arlington,
Virginia, and then in Vieques, Puerto Rico. I had two fully mature and beautiful
gardens to enjoy in their fullness, each created over thirty years of planting.
With the leisure to study far-ranging museum practices during the Covid shut-
down, I was mostly disappointed to find that many institutions in many different
environments, while gradually reopening (with many then shutting down again),
continued to behave as if their prior methods and purposes were fine and the only
changes needed were safe social distancing methodologies, a new infusion of for-
merly marginalized people on staff, and more collections related to minority cul-
tures to round out and update their missions. But I felt otherwise. I thought the
 Introduction 3

closed-down interregnum provided a rare opportunity to reconsider first principles.

I thought the material I had written over the previous decades might suggest a way
forward into a wholesale rethinking of museums based on a far-reaching open-
hearted welcome for all.
For those interested in more thoroughgoing change, the term decolonization was
arising worldwide as a construct for museum repurposing. While not a word I use,
I thought decolonization helped spotlight opportunities for profound reconsidera-
tion. It has always been clear that the origins of many collections, and entire
museums, were tied to conquest and domination. That was not in dispute. What
was under consideration was our present and future positions given that historic
reality. For some people, “spoils of war” was a plausible explanation for keeping
objects on display with only modest historical notation; for others, that reality was
shameful and in need of long-overdue repair. And there were many in-between
positions to choose from.
The truth was that whatever viewpoint you held, the methodology to reach a
successful reconciliation had never been created and still was not clearly envisioned.
The post-Covid, post-BLM decolonized museum is an institution whose creation
awaits our collective efforts. So far, we have seen tiny adjustments, unrealistic
promises, a handful of museum directors as winners and losers with sometimes
quite brutal transitions between them. A promising trend is an increasing number
of new staff hired from formerly underrepresented communities. Yet it does not
seem enough, and I suggest that now is the time for experimentation and messy
try-outs, not only a rush to buying new stuff created by the formerly colonized
while sending old stuff back, or selling old good stuff created by the cultural
majority to buy equally good stuff created by those not represented sufficiently in
the collection—and feeling thereby virtuous enough to be done with it. I am
surprised at how settled this large issue seems to be in many museum adminis-
trators’ minds, while not in mine.
I propose that museums need to be basically rethought within a much broader
context. For all organizations engaged in civic life, societal reconciliation between
the political left and right and amelioration of the effects of income and cultural
inequality are two of the most crucial issues for the foreseeable future. I hope that
this is how and where museums can engage in what my beloved colleague, John-
netta Betsch Cole, described as “speaking across differences.” That phrase, currently
in use in many places elsewhere, could well be considered the prerequisite for the
task of museum centering.
Political pendulum swings have shown how fragile and dangerous our immedi-
ate social environment can be when aggrieved parties are left unsympathetically
seething. We retreat to the peripheries at our peril. Our responsibilities lie in the
center. When I discuss centering, I am not, however, including the extreme ends. I
am against embracing the murderous edges of the spectrum of belief and behavior.
I write about methods for engaging potentially reconcilable adversaries to create a
workable, if uneasy, middle. The boundaries between such, and their respective
extreme fringes, will likely reveal themselves by the presence or absence of civility,
4 Introduction

the principal tool of peaceable disagreement—another related matter addressed in

this volume.
This anthology illustrates various ways for museums to change their policies and
practices to accommodate new patterns of behavior toward building a society that
encourages workable coexistence of irreconcilable differences.

About This Book

Centering the Museum reflects my belief that knowledge of one’s ethical core is
inextricably linked to professional practice and essential to responsible leadership. It
begins with essays organized in five parts—exhibitions, administration, activism,
public space, and civil systems—and concludes with a group of autobiographical
writings called “Memoir Snippets.” All essays written and often published pre-
viously have an updating afterword written in 2020. Other articles written
expressly or wholly transformed for this volume do not. The subtitle, Writings for
the Post-Covid Age, reflects the new environment the museum reader is facing or
has settled into as we move through this turbulent time. This volume is a compa-
nion to my first book, Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heu-
mann Gurian; the two are intended to work both separately and as a set.
The writings in this book reflect the contemporaneous events and personal
philosophies of the times in which they were written, and the dates are noted.
Many were requested as speeches and so had a more colloquial voice than most
papers published in academic journals. Additionally, over the years, my tone has
become more passionate and more personal. Having had my writings taken ser-
iously in the academy for many decades (although I have always remained a
practitioner) I now find myself less interested in creating detached and objective
material. Increasingly I bypass peer-reviewed journals and post my writings on
my website, in the blogs of individuals and organizations, as chapters in
anthologies, and as personal postings to a group of friends I refer to as Pals. I have
discovered to my pleasant surprise that by doing so my work is increasingly
widely read. More importantly, for me, these less formal venues often produce a
contemporaneous response that feeds my person. So, should you have a com-
ment or question as you read this book, please feel free to get in touch with me
at egurian@egurian.com.
The closing section, “Memoir Snippets,” is written in a style I have never tried
before. It is a form of autobiographical retrospective, looking back at my work life
using excerpts from texts written over decades. These writings are both public and
private, but each was composed separately, at a different time, from a personal
point of view, and often at the request of others. Many came as answers to jour-
nalists’ questions or as speeches marking significant professional events. As I reread
them in 2020, I saw each in a different and sometimes unflattering light. When I
found myself disagreeing with my earlier views, I have so noted in this book. And I
have revised many of them to include multiple viewpoints that interweave my
current take on today’s issues in their texts.
 Introduction 5

I have also included recollections about my family and childhood using mem-
ories (and sometimes notes and jottings) written earlier but now put together from
my vantage as an elder. This is not a presentation of a happy childhood of the sort
seen in first-grade readers. The bumpy story is the basis of my lifelong belief in
complexity. The people I love were flawed and tried their best. In certain respects,
their best was not good enough, and reconciliation and acceptance underpin my
museum journey. I look at my own regrets, and I wish the act of writing was an
actual do-over of life itself. But alas, we go around only once and cannot go back
and change events, only comment upon them.
I wrote my “Memoir Snippets” for others who, like me, are trying to succeed
against type or who have an uneven education and/or learning difficulty, or an
imperfect family, a variety of unfortunate experiences, first-hand knowledge of
life’s real tragedies, or strong personal regrets. They are meant to include the
unexpected joy and unplanned fortunate event as well. I hope you will find here
additional support for becoming triumphant through your own tenacity and will-
fulness in whatever challenges you encounter.
I make all my writings available retroactively for free on my own website
because I believe in accessibility and appreciate the finances of many of my stu-
dious colleagues worldwide. Nonetheless, this anthology is published in both print
and ebook forms to facilitate the primary way universities and courses of museum
study have used my material in the past.
Much of this book is a testament to the value of friends and real or imagined
family in one’s work and life, and indeed this book is dedicated to all who have
supported me and each other, sometimes for decades, and give each other gui-
dance, permission, and strength to continue. Américo Castilla is one of my con-
stants. Through his work he has made museums change by sheer force of his
originality and personal indefatigability, serving as an inspiration to others.
Américo lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was educated in part in England, and is
a well-known painter and lawyer who had to flee during the dark days of
Argentina’s military junta. Subsequently, he has helped successive governments
twice as Deputy Cultural Minister under opposing administrations, and guided
private foundations similarly supporting cultural equity. He also created his own
foundation, Fundacion TyPA, which works tirelessly in support of contemporary
museum justice with events and training for the next generation of leadership,
especially in Latin America. I am thrilled that he agreed to write the foreword to
this volume.

My Hope for Museums

I started my museum career naively and idealistically believing that impediments to
greater access and use of museums were inadvertent and needed only to be pointed
out and then enthusiastically removed. The corrective actions I described were, I
thought, logical and practical. But I long ago came to understand that neither the
general public nor those who worked in museums wanted to see much change,
6 Introduction

except around the margins. Most museum employees are generally satisfied with
the work they do, as provided to the same visitors who already appreciate it.
But I still find a steady and encouraging stream of museum staffs who want more
thoroughgoing repair. They tend to be liberal in their politics, activists by nature,
and congenitally unable to refrain from attempts to redirect their institutions. This
smaller part of the museum universe, where I associate myself, mostly admire each
other and often become friends. We have almost all become well known for
espousing inclusive rhetoric, which most everyone (especially young students)
wants to hear but fewer want to put into practice. I sometimes ruefully refer to my
high profile in the field as a substitute for others’ action. Still, speaking out has
some usefulness, and I continue to be deeply engaged in the activity.
I thought about naming this volume Museums for My Mother. In the introduction
to Civilizing the Museum, I summed up my many decades of museum work as fol-
lows: “I have unconsciously dedicated my career to making museums safe and
inviting enough so that my reluctant mother, now dead, might have chosen to
enter” (Gurian, 2006). The sad fact is that she felt uncomfortable entering any
institution, and therefore rarely did so, and I never succeeded in my aspirations.
She believed that institutions were inherently unsafe—especially for the under-
educated, for immigrants, for members of a historically and recently reviled Jewish
remnant—and watching her helped me appreciate minority and immigrant
experiences better than any scholarly study ever could have.
When I was fourteen, I visited a museum by myself for the first time. At the
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York, a security guard followed me
around as if I were suspect. I never forgot the humiliation. Years later, as part of a
professional interview, I railed at a startled fledgling MOMA education officer for
her organization’s profiling of a young, terrified, seemingly White Jewish girl from
Queens some thirty years before—clearly, something that she had nothing to do
with.
But what I did not know then, and do now, is that for my Black colleagues, that
same unwelcome experience of being targeted by security never stops. Sometimes
called “shopping while Black,” many African Americans are followed closely
around a store because they are considered a security risk,

but [shopping while Black] can also include being denied store access, being
refused service, use of ethnic slurs, being searched, being asked for different
forms of identification, having purchases limited, being required to have a
higher credit limit than other customers, being charged a higher price, or
being asked more rigorous questions on applications.
(Wikipedia contributors, 2020)

Being followed was my first unescorted introduction to museums. I had rarely

visited one before, and I clearly showed my insecurity because I didn’t know how
it all worked. Why did the MOMA security officer follow me? I imagine the jus-
tification was guarding valuable stuff. If thieves might arrive at any moment,
 Introduction 7

anyone not conforming to the customary visitor profile could be such a person and
should be watched. I clearly have never forgiven MOMA as an institution. I am
“exotic-looking,” as I was once told by a regal White museum director, using a
phrase he hoped I would find charming rather than the euphemism it is. I am not
exactly a person of color, just a Jew from Queens.
As the subsequent recipient of many such comments, I still hope for systemic
welcome in the way museums operate. In this era of social upheaval, I implore
museums to take the time to study and implement many small but meaningful
changes in policy and practice that will make their spaces feel safe and inviting for
everyone. I hope that this new volume will help create that spirit of welcoming to
all, in every possible way.

References
Gurian, E. H. (1995). A Blurring of the Boundaries. Curator, 38(1), 31–39.
Gurian, E. H. (1999, Summer). What Is the Object of This Exercise? A Meandering
Exploration of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums. Daedalus, 128(3), 163–183.
www.anu.edu.au/hrc/publications/hr/issue1_2001/article04.htm.
Gurian, E. H. (2006). Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian.
Routledge.
Wikipedia contributors (2020). Shopping While Black. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.
php?title=Shopping_while_black&oldid=995655848.
Introduction
Gurian, E. H. (1995). A Blurring of the Boundaries. Curator, 38(1), 31–39.
Gurian, E. H. (1999, Summer). What Is the Object of This Exercise? A Meandering Exploration
of the Many Meanings of Objects in Museums. Daedalus, 128(3), 163–183.
www.anu.edu.au/hrc/publications/hr/issue1_2001/article04.htm.
Gurian, E. H. (2006). Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian.
Routledge.
Wikipedia contributors (2020). Shopping While Black.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shopping_while_black&oldid=995655848.

The Essential Museum

Chew, R. (2002, March/April). In Praise of the Small Museums. Museum News, 36–41.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. , & Rochberg-Halton, E. (1981). The Meaning of Things. Cambridge
University Press.
de la Peña McCook, K. (2001). Poverty, Democracy and Public Libraries. In N. Kranich (Ed.),
Libraries & Democracy: The Cornerstones of Liberty (pp. 28–46). American Library Association.
http://nosferatu.cas.usf.edu/lis/faculty/mccook.html.
Duncan, C. , & Wallach, A. (2004). The Universal Survey Museum. In B. M. Carbonell (Ed.),
Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts (pp. 51–80). Blackwell.
Falk, J. H. , & Dierking, L. D. (2000). Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the
Making of Meaning. AltaMira Press.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books.
Gurian, E. H. (2001, January). Function Follows Form: How Mixed-Used Spaces in Museums
Build Community. Curator, 44(1), 87–113.
Gurian, E. H. (2005a, September/October). Free at Last, the Case for Free Admission. Museum
News, 84(5), 33–35, 61–66.
Gurian, E. H. (2005b). Threshold Fear. In S. Macleod (Ed.), Reshaping Museum Space:
Architecture, Design, Exhibitions (pp. 203–214). Routledge.
Hein, G. E. (1998). Learning in the Museum. Routledge.
Heritage Preservation (2005). A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the
State of America’s Collections. www.heritagepreservation.org/HHI/summary.html.
Hoskins, J. (1998). Biographical Objects: How Things Tell the Stories of People’s Lives.
Psychology Press.
Jacobs, J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random House.
Latour, B. (2000). The Berlin Key or How to Do Words with Things, translated by L. Davis . In P.
M. Graves-Brown (Ed.), Matter, Materiality and Modern Culture (pp. 10–22). Routledge.
One Spot . (2018, October 2 ). 4 Types of Content Personalization. www.onespot.com/tools-
resources/4-types-of-content-personalization/ (accessed December 1, 2020 ).
Ramirez, J. (2001, January 23 ). New York Museum Opens Vaults to Public. Associated Press.
Silverman, L. H. (2002). The Therapeutic Potential of Museums as Pathways to Inclusion. In R.
Sandell (Ed.), Museums, Society, Inequality (pp. 69–84). Routledge.
Wedde, I. (2005). Making Ends Meet: Essays and Talks 1992–2004. Victoria University Press.

Introducing the Blue Ocean Museum

Barabási, A.-L. (2002). Linked: The New Science of Networks. Perseus.
Barber, B. R. (1998). A Place for Us: How to Make Society Civil and Democracy Strong. Hill &
Wang.
Berlin Declaration. (2003, October 22 ). Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the
Sciences and Humanities . Paper presented at the Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences
and Humanities, Berlin, Germany.
Bohlen, C. (2001, May 8 ). Museums as Walk-in Closets: Visible Storage Opens Troves to the
Public. New York Times.
Centre for Civil Society . (2004). What Is Civil Society?
www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CCS/what_is_civil_society.htm (accessed March 11, 2007 ).
CLM2134 (2007). Online Video Editors and a Quick Survey of Web 20 Video Sites.
www.ideum.com/blog/2007/01/31/online-video-editors-and-a-quick-survey-of-web-20-video-
sites/.
Eikenberry, A. M. (2006, September 28–30 ). Network Governance and Social Equity . Paper
presented at the 2006 SECoPA Conference, Athens, GA.
Grossman, L. (2006, December 25 ). Person of the Year – You. Time.
www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html?aid=434&from=o&to=http%3A//w
ww.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1569514%2C00.html.
Kim, W. C. , & Mauborgne, R. (2005). Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market
Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant. Harvard Business School Press.
Munley, M. E. , Roberts, R. , Soren, B. , & Hayward, J. (2006). Envisioning the Customized
Museum: An Agenda to Guide Reflective Practice and Research. Unpublished manuscript. In
Principal / In Practice, Institute for Learning Innovation.
Rainie, L. (2006). How the Internet Is Changing Consumer Behavior and Expectations . Paper
presented at the ThinkTank06, Seton Hall University. www.pewinternet.org/.
Rheingold, H. (2002). Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. Perseus.
Simon, N. (2010). The Participatory Museum. Museum 2.0.
Surowiecki, J. (2004). The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and
How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations. Doubleday.
Wikipedia contributors (2007a). Robert Putnam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Putnam
(accessed March 11, 2007 ).
Wikipedia contributors (2007b). Web 2.0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2 (accessed March
8, 2007 ).

The Importance of “And”

Anderson, S. (2011). Museum Objects and Complexity.
https://museumgeek.xyz/2011/06/08/museum-objects-and-complexity/.
Bowles, S. , & Gintis, H. (2013). A Cooperative Species: Human Reciprocity and Its Evolution.
Princeton University Press.
Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Harvard University Press.
Cohen, L. , Manion, L. , & Morrison, K. (2007). A Routledge Companion Website in Research
Methods in Education, 6th edn [Additional Resource].
http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415368780/A/ch1doc.asp.
Cohen, R. (2016, December 16 ). Pax Americana Is Over, Opinion. New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/opinion/trumps-chinese-foreign-
policy.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Froger-
cohen&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=l
atest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection.
Costa, A. L. (2008). Describing the Habits of Mind. In A. L. Costa & B. Kallick (Eds.), Learning
and Leading with Habits of Mind: 16 Essential Characteristics for Success (pp. 15–41). ASCD.
Cuban, L. (2010). The Difference between “Complicated” and “Complex” Matters.
https://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/the-difference-between-complicated-and-
complex-matters/.
Gallos, J. V. (2006). Reframing Complexity: A Four Dimensional Approach to Organizational
Diagnosis. In J. V. Gallos (Ed.), Development, and Change: Organization Development (pp.
344–362). Jossey-Bass.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books.
Gurian, E. H. (1992). The Importance of “And”. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Patterns in Practice:
Selections from the Journal of Museum Education (pp. 88–89). Museum Education Roundtable.
Gurian, E. H. (2006). Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian.
Routledge.
Gurian, E. H. (2018). On the Importance of “And”: Museums and Complexity. In S. Macleod , T.
Austin , J. Hale , & O. H. Hing-Kay (Eds.), The Future of Museum and Gallery Design (pp.
54–64). Routledge.
Hui, C. , & Richardson, D. M. (2017). Invasion Dynamics. Oxford University Press.
Jacobson, M. , & Working Group 2 (1999). Complex Systems and Education: Cognitive,
Learning, and Pedagogical Perspectives. In Planning Documents for a National Initiative on
Complex Systems in K-16 Education. New England Complex Systems Institute.
Kaput, J. , Bar-Yam, Y. , Jacobson, M. , Lemke, J. , & Uri, W. (1999). Planning Documents for a
National Initiative on Complex Systems in K-16 Education. https://necsi.edu/planning-
documents-for-a-national-initiative-on-complex-systems-in-k16-education.
Levy, D. L. (2000). Complexity Theory in Organization Theory and Strategy. In J. Rabin & G. J.
Miller (Eds.), Handbook of Strategic Management. CRC Press.
Noah, T. (2016, December 5 ). Let’s Not Be Divided. Divided People Are Easier to Rule.
Opinion. New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/trevor-noah-lets-not-be-
divided-divided-people-are-easier-to-rule.html.
Piaget, J. , & Inhelder, B. (2008). The Psychology of the Child. Basic Books.
Poole, N. (2012). Powering the Museum of Tomorrow. Paper presented at the CIDOC 2012,
Helsinki.
http://network.icom.museum/fileadmin/user_upload/minisites/cidoc/ConferencePapers/2012/poo
le-keynote.pdf.
Poole, N. (2014). Change. https://medium.com/code-words-technology-and-theory-in-the-
museum/change-cc3b714ba2a4#.8923mfg1c.
Rivett, G. (2014, November 19 ). Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield Warns Young Brains Being
Re-Wired by Digital Technology. ABC Radio Adelaide.
Siemens, G. (2006). Knowing Knowledge. Lulu.com.

Institutional Trauma
Brumgardt, J. R. (1995). Mitigating Staff Stress in a Natural Disaster: The Charleston Museum,
Charleston, S.C. In E. H. Gurian (Ed.), Institutional Trauma: Major Change in Museums and Its
Effect on Staff (pp. 59–74). American Association of Museums.
Center for the Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders (2020). What Is Trauma. Center for the
Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders. https://centerforanxietydisorders.com/what-is-
trauma/ (accessed December 6, 2020 ).
Cooper, C. (1978). Work Stress. In P. B. Warr (Ed.), Psychology at Work (pp. 286ff.). Penguin.
Cooper, C. L. (2018). Managerial, Occupational and Organizational Stress Research.
Routledge.
Gayed, A. , Milligan-Saville, J. S. , Nicholas, J. , Bryan, B. T. , LaMontagne, A. D. , Milner, A. ,
Madan, I. , Calvo, R. A. , Christensen, H. , & Mykletun, A. (2018). Effectiveness of Training
Workplace Managers to Understand and Support the Mental Health Needs of Employees: A
Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 75(6),
462–470.
Gurian, E. H. (Ed.) (1995). Institutional Trauma: Major Change in Museums and Its Effect on
Staff. American Association of Museums.
Heaney, C. A. , Price, R. H. , & Rafferty, J. (1995). Increasing Coping Resources at Work: A
Field Experiment to Increase Social Support, Improve Work Team Functioning, and Enhance
Employee Mental Health. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(4), 335–352.
Jung, C. G. A. (1971). Psychological Types (Vol. 6). Princeton University Press.
King, A. S. (1990). Evolution of Leadership Theory. Vikalpa, 15(2), 43–56.
Myers, I. B. (1962). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: Manual. Consulting Psychologists Press.
National Center for PTSD (2020). For Leaders: Supporting Your Staff During the Coronavirus
(Covid-19) Pandemic. www.ptsd.va.gov/covid/COVID_leaders_support_staff.asp.
Smith, R. (2020). How CEOs Can Support Employee Mental Health in a Crisis. Harvard
Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/05/how-ceos-can-support-employee-mental-health-in-a-
crisis.

Brave Directors
Gardner, H. (1993). Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity Seen through the Lives of Freud,
Einstein, Picasso, … Basic Books.
Gurian, E. H. (2010). Wanting to Be Third on Your Block. Museum Studies, University of
Michigan Working Papers in Museum Studies, 5.
https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/77461/5_gurian_2010.pdf?sequence=
1.
Lerner, A. J. L. , & Loewe, F. (1960). Camelot: Finale Ultimo [album]. Sony Music.
Von Oech, R. (1986). A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, &
Warrior to Be More Creative. Harper & Row.

Boston Stories
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Basic Books.
Gurian, E. H. (1995). Moving the Museum. In E. H. Gurian (Ed.), Institutional Trauma: Major
Change in Museums and Its Effect on Staff (pp. 33–58). American Association of Museums.
Gurian, E. H. (2013). Managing the Organization. In M. Maher (Ed.), Boston Stories: The
Children’s Museum as a Model for Nonprofit Leadership (pp. 125–1468). Boston Children’s
Museum.

Curator—From Soloist to Impresario

AAM (1991). Excellence and Equity: Education and the Public Dimension of Museums: A
Report (0931201144).
Ames, M. M. (2005). Museology Interrupted. Museum International, 57(3), 44–51.
https://doi.org/doi:10.1111/j.1468-0033.2005.00528.x.
Anderson, C. (1990). Australian Aborigines and Museums, a New Relationship. Curator, 33(3),
165–179.
Association of Art Museum Curators (2007). Professional Practices for Art Museum Curators.
www.collegeart.org/pdf/AAMC_Professional_Practices.pdf.
Gurian, E. H. (1990, March/April ). Let Us Empower All Those Who Have a Stake in Exhibitions.
Museum News.
Gurian, E. H. (1992). The Importance of “And”. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Patterns in Practice:
Selections from the Journal of Museum Education (pp. 88–89). Museum Education Roundtable.
(Also in Journal of Museum Education, 16(3), Fall 1991, 3–17.)
Gurian, E. H. (2004). Singing and Dancing at Night. In L. E. Sullivan & A. Edwards (Eds.),
Stewards of the Sacred (pp. 89–96). American Association of Museum in cooperation with
Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University.
Gurian, E. H. (2010). Curator from Soloist to Impresario. In F. Cameron & L. Kelly (Eds.), Hot
Topics, Public Culture, Museums (pp. 95–111). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Harper, D. (2001). Online Etymology Dictionary. www.etymonline.com/word/curator.
Hobbs, S. D. (2002). The Barbarians from Poughkeepsie Are in the Museum: What Now?(a
Review Essay on Computers and Museums). MPublishing, University of Michigan Library.
Kennedy, R. (2008, January 30 ). Learning to Mix Business with Art. New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/arts/design/30cura.html.
Krysa, J. (2006). Curating Immateriality: The Work of the Curator in the Age of Network
Systems. In J. Krysa (Ed.), Curating Immateriality: The Work of the Curator in the Age of
Network Systems. Autonomedia (DATA browser 03). www.data-
browser.net/03/DB03introduction.pdf.
Lang, W. L. (2003, November ). Museum Teams: Two Exhibits and Their Lessons. Anchorage
Museum History Charrette, Anchorage, Alaska.
www.anchoragemuseum.org/expansion/documents/Lang_talk.pdf.
Lewis, G. (2007). Memory and Universality: A Unesco Debate.
https://icom.museum/en/resources/publications/?q=Memory+and+universality%3A+a+UNESCO
+debate&y=&type=.
McIlvaney, N. (2000). Rethinking the Exhibit Team: A Cyberspace Forum. Exhibitionist, 19(1).
www.umsl.edu/~museums/exhibitionist/00vol19_1/Forum.html.
O’Neill, M. (2007, October 2007 ). Kelvingrove: Telling Stories in a Treasured Old/New
Museum. Curator, 50(4), 379–400.
Onciul, B. (2013). Community Engagement, Curatorial Practice, and Museum Ethos in Alberta,
Canada. In V. Golding & W. Modest (Eds.), Museums and Communities: Curators, Collections
and Collaboration (pp. 79–97). Bloomsbury.
Proctor, N. (2010). Digital: Museum as Platform, Curator as Champion, in the Age of Social
Media. Curator: The Museum Journal, 53(1), 35–43.
Roberts, L. C. (2000). Educators on Exhibit Teams: A New Role, a New Era. In J. S. Hirsch & L.
H. Silverman (Eds.), Transforming Practice (pp. 89–97). Museum Education Roundtable. (Also
in Journal of Museum Education, 19(3), Fall 1994, 6–9.)
Rounds, J. , & McIlvaney, N. (2000, Spring). Who’s Using the Team Process? How’s It Going?
Exhibitionist, 19(1), 4–7.
www.umsl.edu/~museums/exhibitionist/00vol19_1/WhoUsingTeams.html.
Russo, A. , Watkins, J. , Kelly, L. , & Chan, S. (2008). Participatory Communication with Social
Media. Curator, 51(1), 21–32.
Scholz, T. (2006). The Participatory Challenge. In J. Krysa (Ed.), Curating Immateriality: The
Work of the Curator in the Age of Network Systems. Autonomedia (DATA browser 03).
www.data-browser.net/03/.
Weil, S. (1999). From Being About Something to Being for Somebody: The Ongoing
Transformation of the American Museum. Daedalus, 128(3), 229–258.
Winch, T. , West Jr, W. R. , & Kidwell, C. S. (1994). All Roads Are Good: Native Voices on Life
and Culture. Smithsonian Institution Press.

Wanting to Be Third on Your Block

Greenberger, A. (2020, June 8 ). Controversy over Museums’ Black Lives Matter Statements
Continues as Critics Pillory British Institutions. ArtNews. www.artnews.com/art-
news/news/british-museums-black-lives-matter-statements-controversy-1202690203/.
Gurian, E. H. (2002). Choosing among the Options: An Opinion About Museum Definitions.
Curator: The Museum Journal, 45(2), 75–88.
Gurian, E. H. (2006). Civilizing the Museum: The Collected Writings of Elaine Heumann Gurian.
Routledge.
Gurian, E. H. (2010). Museum as Soup Kitchen. Curator (New York, N.Y.), 53(1), 71–85.
doi:10.1111/j.2151-6952.2009.00009.x.
Weiss, D. H. , & Hollein, M. (2020, July 6 ). Our Commitments to Anti-Racism, Diversity, and a
Stronger Community. www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2020/the-mets-plans-for-anti-
racism.
Intentional Civility
1
Billante, N. & Saunders, P. (2002). Why Civility Matters. Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and
Ideas, 18(3), 33–36.
Buccino, D. L. , Forni, P. M. , Freedman, N. M. , Greene, R. E. , Stack, T. , & Stevens, D. W.
(2003). Baltimore Workplace Civility Study. http://catalog.umd.edu/docno=003194484.
Bullying Statistics . (2013). Stop Bullying, Harassment, and Anti-Bully in School/Work.
www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-statistics.html (accessed March 23, 2013 ).
Carr, D. (2001, September/October ). Balancing Act: Ethics, Mission, and the Public Trust.
Museum News, 28–32, 71–81.
Carter, S. L. (1998). Civility: Manners, Morals, and the Etiquette of Democracy. Basic Books.
Duncan, C. (1995). Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums. Routledge.
Field, J. (2003). Social Capital. Routledge.
Fraser, J. (2004, July ). Museums and Civility. Curator: The Museum Journal, 47(3), 252–256.
doi:10.1111/j.2151%966952.2004.tb00123.
Gurian, E. H. (1995). A Blurring of the Boundaries. Curator, 38(1), 31–39.
Gurian, E. H. (2014, October ). Intentional Civility. Curator: The Museum Journal, 57(4),
473–484. doi:10.1111/cura.12086.
Martin, J. S. , & Chaney, L. H. (2012). Global Business Etiquette: A Guide to International
Communication and Customs (2nd ed.). Praeger.
Obama, B. (2011). Remarks by the President at a Memorial Service for the Victims of the
Shooting in Tucson, Arizona. www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/12/remarks-
president-barack-obama-memorial-service-victims-shooting-tucson.
Severson, K. (2012, March 8 ). Number of U.S. Hate Groups Is Rising, Report Says. New York
Times. www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/us/number-of-us-hate-groups-on-the-rise-report-
says.html?_r=1&.
Spath, T. S. , & Dahnke, C. (2014, February 5 ). The Institute for Civility in Government.
www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civility/.
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics . (2020). Indicators of
School Crime and Safety: 2019 (NCES 2020-063), Indicator 10.
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=719.
Wikipedia contributors (2020a). Civility. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civility (accessed
December 10, 2020 ).
Wikipedia contributors (2020b, December 8 ). Hippocratic Oath.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath (accessed December 9, 2020 ).

Babar
Butler, S. R. (1993). Contested Representations: Revisiting “into the Heart of Africa”. MA
Thesis, York University.
De Brunhoff, J. (1960). The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant. Random House Books for
Young Readers.
Lerner, B. (2009). Nelson, Christine. Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors [Exhibition
Catalogue]. New York: The Morgan Library and Museum, 2008. Contemporary French
Civilization, 33(1), 209–211.
Maher, M. (2013). Boston Stories: The Children’s Museum as a Model for Nonprofit Leadership.
Boston Children’s Museum.
Marche, S. (2012, June 15 ). New York Times Magazine, 60.
www.Nytimes.Com/2012/06/17/Magazine/How-to-Read-a-Racist-Book-to-Your-Kids.Html.
O’Harrow, S. (1999). Babar and the Mission Civilisatrice: Colonialism and the Biography of a
Mythical Elephant. Biography, 22(1), 86–103.
Radsken, J. (2016, June 10 ). Babar Comes to Harvard. The Harvard Gazette.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/06/babar-comes-to-harvard/.
Readers Comments (2020). The Story of Babar.
www.goodreads.com/book/show/356321.The_Story_of_Babar.
Sandell, R. , & Nightingale, E. (2012). Museums, Equality, and Social Justice. Routledge.
Schildkrout, E. (1991). Ambiguous Messages and Ironic Twists: Into the Heart of Africa and the
Other Museum. Museum Anthropology, 15(2), 16–23.
Sjostrom, J. (2019, June 19 , updated June 25, 2019). Former Norton Museum Director Figures
in Exhibition About 30-Year-Old Mapplethorpe Controversy. The Palm Beach Post.
www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20190619/former-norton-museum-director-figures-in-exhibition-
about-30-year-old-mapplethorpe-controversy.
WendyLibrarian (2018). Banned and Challanged Books. Edmonton Public Library.
https://epl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/69128707/70680896?page=2 (accessed December
26, 2020 ).
Wieland, R. (2018). Babar the Elephant – Racism, Sexism, and Privilege in Children’s Stories.
Good Men Project, Media. https://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/babar-the-elephant-
racism-sexism-and-privilege-hesaid/ (accessed December 26, 2020 ).
Wilson, F. (1994). Mining the Museum: An Installation. W.W. Norton.

Museum as Soup Kitchen

American Alliance of Museums (2020). Museums-Health-and-Wellness-Compendium.
www.aam-us.org/programs/about-museums/museums-health-and-wellness-compendium/
(accessed December 10, 2020 ).
Anderson, D. (2000). Museum Education in Europe. In J. S. Hirsch & L. H. Silverman (Eds.),
Transforming Practice: Selections from the Journal of Museum Education, 1992–1999 (pp.
24–31). Museum Education Roundtable. (Also in Journal of Museum Education, 19(1), Winter
1994, 3–6.)
Gurian, E. H. (2002). Choosing among the Options: An Opinion About Museum Definitions.
Curator, 45(2), 75–88.
Gurian, E. H. (2005, September/October ). Free at Last: A Case for Eliminating Admission
Charges in Museums. Museum News, 84(5), 33–35, 61–66.
John, A. , Pirkis, J. , Gunnell, D. , Appleby, L. , & Morrissey, J. (2020). Trends in Suicide During
the Covid-19 Pandemic. BMJ, 371, m4352. doi:10.1136/bmj.m4352.
Manjarrez, C. , Rosenstein, C. , Colgan, C. , & Pastore, E. (2008). Exhibiting Public Value:
Government Funding for Museums in the United States. Institute of Museum and Library
Services.

Maybe This Time

Bennett, T. (1995). The Birth of the Museum, History, Theory, Politics. Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1989). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Harvard University
Press.
Dillenschneider, C. (2013). High Propensity Visitors: The True Attributes of People Attending
Museums and Cultural Centers (Data). http://colleendilen.com/2013/10/23/high-propensity-
visitors-the-true-attributes-of-people-attending-museums-and-cultural-centers-data/.
Foucault, M. (1973). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. Vintage
Books.
Gurian, E. H. (2014). Intentional Civility. Curator, The Museum Journal, 57(5), 473–484.
doi:10.1111/cura.12086.
Gurian, E. H. (2018). Maybe This Time. In Johnnetta Betsch Cole & Laura L. Lott (Eds.), Facing
Change: Insights from the American Alliance of Museums’ Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and
Inclusion Working Group. American Alliance of Museums.
Habermas, J. (1991). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a
Category of Bourgeois Society. MIT Press.
Heaton, J. (2016). Museums and Race. www.tronviggroup.com/museums-and-race/.
McIntosh, P. (1990). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Independent School,
Winter. http://ted.coe.wayne.edu/ele3600/mcintosh.html.
Moore, P. (2014). The Danger of the “D” Word: Museums and Diversity.
http://incluseum.com/2014/01/20/the-danger-of-the-d-word-museums-and-diversity/.
Museums and Race Convening (2016). Reflecting on Museums & Race 2016: Transformation
and Justice. https://museumsandrace2016.wordpress.com/blog-2/.
MuseumWorkersSpeak (2015). Aam 2015 “Rogue Session”.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3UU5M-r8dW7M3Jac2d6NmZXcFk/view.
NAGPRA (1990). Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. 101 Congress, US.
www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/SITEMAP/INDEX.htm.
Savage, E. (2015). A Call to Action. http://artsinachangingamerica.org/2016/02/09/a-call-to-
action/.
Schonfeld, R. , Westermann, M. , & Sweeney, L. (2015). The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Art
Museum Staff Demographic Survey. https://mellon.org/media/filer_public/ba/99/ba99e53a-48d5-
4038-80e1-66f9ba1c020e/awmf_museum_diversity_report_aamd_7-28-15.pdf.
Simon, H. (2015, October 19 ). Black Lives Matter Too, blog. Huffington Post.
www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-simon/black-lives-matter-too_b_8316882.html.
Smithsonian Institution Office of Policy & Analysis . (2001, June ). Increasing Museum Visitation
by under Represented Audiences: An Exploratory Study of Art Museum Practices.
www.si.edu/Content/opanda/docs/Rpts2001/01.06.UnderRepresentedAudience.Final.pdf.
Thomas, D. A. , & Ely, R. J. (1996). Making Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing
Diversity. Harvard Business Review, September–October , 70–91.
Trivedi, N. (2015). Oppression> A Museum Primer.
http://incluseum.com/2015/02/04/oppression-a-museum-primer/.
Wallace Foundation (1991–2000). Youthalive! Program Grants and Programs/Past Initiatives.
www.wallacefoundation.org/learn-about-wallace/GrantsPrograms/our-initiatives/Past-
Initiatives/Pages/Youth-Alive.aspx.
Wikipedia contributors (2016). Jewish Quota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_quota
(accessed February 29, 2016 ).

Modeling Decency, Sir!

1
Army-McCarthy Hearings in Washington, D.C . (1954, June 9 ). Mccarthy-Welch Exchange,
“Have You Left No Sense of Decency?”. www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-
mccarthy.html.
Carr, N. (2020). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. WW Norton &
Company.
Dillenschneider, C. (2013, October 23 ). High Propensity Visitors: The True Attributes of People
Attending Museums and Cultural Centers (Data). Know Your Own Bone.
http://colleendilen.com/2013/10/23/high-propensity-visitors-the-true-attributes-of-people-
attending-museums-and-cultural-centers-data/.
Drezner, D. W. (2020, May 27 ). Norms, Some Thoughts About Norms, Values and Power.
Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/05/27/how-trump-administration-
weaponizes-norms/.
Drutman, L. (2017). Political Divisions in 2016 and Beyond. Voter Study Group, June .
Ekins, E. (2017). The Five Types of Trump Voters. Democracy Fund Voter Study Group, June.
www.voterstudygroup.org/reports/2016-elections/the-five-types-trump-voters (accessed June
21, 2017 ).
Farris, M. (2016, June 23 ). I Helped Start the Moral Majority. Trump Is the Opposite of What
We Wanted. “Lesser of Two Evils” Isn’t How Principled Christians Should Vote. Washington
Post. www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/23/i-helped-start-the-moral-
majority-trump-is-the-opposite-of-what-we-wanted/?utm_term=.df8662ec126f.
Frum, D. (2016). The Seven Broken Guardrails of Democracy. The Atlantic, 31.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/05/the-seven-broken-guardrails-of-
democracy/484829/.
Gazi, A. (2014). Exhibition Ethics-an Overview of Major Issues. Journal of Conservation and
Museum Studies, 12(1), 1–10.
Golman, D. , Boyatzis, R. , & McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with
Emotional Intelligence. Harvard Business School Press.
Gopnik, A. (2017). Norms and Cliffs in Trump’s America. The New Yorker.
Greenwood, M. (2018, June 7 ). Jeb Bush: “I Can’t Imagine Having to Attack Someone to Make
Yourself Look Strong”. The Hill. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/391220-jeb-
bush-i-cant-imagine-.
Gurian, E. H. (1995, Fall). Offering Safer Public Spaces. Journal of Museum Education, 20(3),
14–16.
Gurian, E. H. (2014, October ). Intentional Civility. Curator-the Museum Journal, 57(4),
473–484. doi:10.1111/cura.12086.
Gurian, E. H. (2019). Modeling Decency, Sir. In E. Gokcigdem (Ed.), Designing for Empathy:
Perspectives on the Museum Experience (pp. 325–344). Rowman & Littlefield.
Harris, G. (2018, March 22 ). Tillerson Says Goodbye to “a Very Mean-Spirited Town”. New
York Times. www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/us/politics/tillerson-farewell-state-department-
tweet.html.
Linenthal, E. T. (2017, April 21 ). How Museums Are Quietly Resisting President Trump, an
Expert Explains Why Museums Are Subtly Leading the Resistance. [Interview]. Vox.
www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/4/21/15331340/museums-resistance-president-trump.
Maguen, S. , & Litz, B. (2009). Moral Injury in the Context of War. PTSD Research Quarterly,
23(1). www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/co-occurring/moral_injury_at_war.asp.
Merriam-Webster (2018). Norm. www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/norm.
Merritt, E. (2015, February 3 ). Trust Me, I’m a Museum. Center for the Future Of Museums
Blog. www.aam-us.org/2015/02/03/trust-me-im-a-museum/.
Nyhan, B. (2017, September 5 ). Why Norms Matter…. Politico.
www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/05/why-norms-matter-politics-trump-15535.
Obama, B. (2010, May 1 ). Commencement Speech University of Michigan. Time Magazine.
https://time.com/4340774/obama-commencement-speech-transcript-university-of-michigan/.
Obama, M. (2016, July 25 ). Democratic National Convention Speech. Washington Post.
www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/07/26/transcript-read-michelle-obamas-
full-speech-from-the-2016-dnc/.
Pearson, T. (2015, June 29 ). Normative Shifts and Change. Simplexity Analysis.
www.simplexityanalysis.com/blog/2015/6/23/normative-shifts-and-change.
Remnick, D. (2016). Introducing a New Series: Trump and the Truth. The New Yorker, 9(2), 16.
www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/introducing-a-new-series-trump-and-the-truth.
Spera, C. , Wentzel, K. R. , & Matto, H. C. (2009). Parental Aspirations for Their Children’s
Educational Attainment: Relations to Ethnicity, Parental Education, Children’s Academic
Performance, and Parental Perceptions of School Climate. Journal of Youth and Adolescence,
38(8), 1140–1152.
Stephens-Davidowitz, S. , & Pabon, A. (2017). Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What
the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are. HarperCollins.
Trump, D. J. (2020, July 5 ). Remarks by President Trump at the 2020 Salute to America.
www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-2020-salute-america/.

One Meter Square

Gurian, E. H. (2009). One Meter Square. In G. Sacco (Ed.), M2. Museo Castagnino + MACRO.
Public Spaces for Strangers
Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (2015). Public Realm Definition. Abu Dhabi Urban Planning
Council. www.upc.gov.ae/prdm/public-realm-definition.asp (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
arXiv archive page (2013). The Science of Familiar Strangers: Society’s Hidden Social Network.
www.technologyreview.com/view/516846/the-science-of-familiar-strangers-societys-hidden-
social-network/ (accessed December 13, 2020 ).
Ary (2005). Public Space. UrbanDictionary.com.
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=public%20space.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. Routledge.
Billante, N. & Saunders, P. (2002). Why Civility Matters. Policy, 18(3), 31–36.
http://103.14.52.105/images/stories/policy-magazine/2002-spring/2002-18-3-nicole-billante-
peter-saunders.pdf.
Clarke, R. V. G. (1997). Situational Crime Prevention. Criminal Justice Press.
English Oxford and Spanish Dictionary (2019). Stranger. www.lexico.com/definition/stranger
(accessed December 13, 2020 ).
Fraser, J. (2004, July ). Museums and Civility. Curator: The Museum Journal, 47(3), 252–256.
doi:10.1111/j.2151%966952.2004.tb00123.
Gurian, E. H. (2005). Threshold Fear. In S. Macleod (Ed.), Reshaping Museum Space:
Architecture, Design, Exhibitions (pp. 203–214). Routledge.
Gurian, E. H. (2009). One Meter Square. In G. Sacco (Ed.), M2. Museo Castagnino + MACRO.
Gurian, E. H. (2014, October ). Intentional Civility. Curator-the Museum Journal, 57(4),
473–484. doi:10.1111/cura.12086.
Gurian, E. H. (2017). Public Spaces for Strangers: The Foundation for Peacebuilding and
Implications for Heritage Institutions. In D. Walters , D. Laven , & P. Davis (Eds.), Heritage and
Peacebuilding (pp. 25–38). Boydell & Brewer. doi:10.7722/j.ctt1pwt5bz.10.
Holmes, H. (2020, June 16 ). Nyc Performance Spaces Have Stepped up to Help Protesters,
and Museums Should Too. Observer. https://observer.com/2020/06/open-your-lobby-initiative-
protesters-brooklyn-museum/.
Lee, M.-H. (2014). Moscow’s “Hipster” Culture Minister Talks Public Space and Community
Building. The Calvert Journal: A Guide to the New East.
http://calvertjournal.com/news/show/3461/moscow-hipster-culture-minister-talks-public-space-
community-building-gorky.
Mellinger, W. (2011). Encountering Strangers in Public Places: Goffman and Civil Inattention
(Vol. 2014). W. W. Norton & Co. www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2011/12/encountering-
strangers-in-public-places-goffman-and-civil-inattention.html.
Mitchell, D. (1995). The End of Public Space? People’s Park, Definition of the Public and
Democracy. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 85(1), 108–133.
NYC Planning (2017). Nyc’s Privately Owned Public Spaces. NYC Department of City Planning.
www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/plans/pops-inventory/pops-inventory.pdf
(accessed January 3, 2021 ).
Oldenburg, R. , & Brissett, D. (1982, Winter). The Third Place. Qualitative Sociology, 5(4),
265–284.
Pogrebin, R. (2014, February 4 ). Moma’s Proposal for Sculpture Garden Pleases and Riles
New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/arts/design/momas-proposal-for-sculpture-
garden-pleases-and-riles.html?_r=0.
Project for Public Spaces (2015). Project for Public Spaces. www.pps.org/reference/grplacefeat/
(accessed February 5, 2015 ).
Soules, M. (2017). Jürgen Habermas and the Public Sphere. www.media-
studies.ca/articles/habermas.htm (accessed December 13, 2020 ).
Virginia State Government (2008). Crime Prevention in Public Spaces. Recreational Planning
Documents, p. 1. www.dcr.virginia.gov/recreational_planning/documents/pra-cpips.pdf.
Wikipedia contributors (2015). Public Space.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Public_space&oldid=644774765 (accessed February
5, 2015 ).
Wikipedia contributors (2020). Quality of Life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quality_of_life&oldid=986050547.
Wolf, K. L. (2010, February 5 ). Crime and Fear: A Literature Review. College of the
Environment, University of Washington. www.greenhealth.washington.edu
http://depts.washington.edu/hhwb/Thm_Livable.html.
Ye, J. (2013). Notes on the Familiar Stranger: Thinking through Ambivalent Encounters in
Public Spaces. Part One. Online Media Blog, Max Planck Institute. www.mmg.mpg.de/online-
media/blogs/2013/notes-on-the-familiar-stranger-thinking-through-ambivalent-encounters-in-
public-spaces-part-one/.

Museum Opportunities
Cameron, F. (2011). From Mitigation to Creativity: The Agency of Museums and Science
Centres and the Means to Govern Climate Change. Museum and Society, 9(2), 90–106.
Davis, J. , Gurian, E. H. , & Koster, E. (2003, October ). Timeliness: A Discussion for Museums.
Curator, 46(4), 353–361.
Hulme, M. (2009a, December 2 ). The Science and Politics of Climate Change: Science Never
Writes Closed Textbooks. It Does Not Offer Us a Holy Scripture, Infallible and Complete. Wall
Street Journal.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574571613215771336.html.
Hulme, M. (2009b). Why We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy,
Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press.
Hulme, M. (2011a). Shakespeare’s Climate. In B. Smith (Ed.), The Cambridge Shakespeare
Encyclopedia: Vol.1 Mapping Shakespeare’s World. Cambridge Shakespeare Encyclopedia.
https://mikehulme.org/shakespeares-climate/.
Hulme, M. (2011b, February 9 ). Interview with Mike Hulme on Climate Change and
Consumption [Interview]. Sage Publications. www.theoryculturesociety.org/blog/interview-with-
mike-hulme-on-climate-change-and-consumption?rq=mike%20hulme.
Hulme, M. (2013). Exploring Climate Change through Science and in Society: An Anthology of
Mike Hulme’s Essays, Interviews and Speeches. Earthscan.
Hulme, M. (2019, May 2 ). Narrative and Science Speech, British Academy Workshop on
Narrative and Science, Royal Society.

Expanding the Known

Adams, M. (2005). Optimizing Homeschoolers’ Experiences in Museums. Master’s Thesis, John
F. Kennedy University.
Bastian, R. (2020, July 19 ). How Educational Inequality in America Could Be Impacted by the
Homeschooling Pod Frenzy. Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/rebekahbastian/2020/07/19/how-
educational-inequality-in-america-could-be-impacted-by-the-homeschooling-pod-
frenzy/#43725db472cb.
Bouchrika, I. (2020, June 25 ). 101 American School Statistics: 2020 Data, Trends &
Predictions. PhD Thesis. www.guide2research.com/research/american-school-statistics
(accessed December 15, 2020 ).
Cameron, F. , & Kelly, L. (2020). Hot Topics, Public Culture, Museums. Cambridge Scholars
Publishing.
Chen, G. (2020, December 15 ). Why 82% of Public Schools Are Failing? Public School
Review. www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/why-82-of-public-schools-are-failing.
Cuddy, D. (2010, February 19 ). Whaling Museum Apprenticeship Program Launched. South
Coast Today.
Duncan, A. (2010, August 12 ). Obama’s Goal for Higher Education. Forbes.
www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/america-education-reform-opinions-best-colleges-10-
duncan.html?sh=2a803f476fee.
Galinsky, E. (2010). Mind in the Making. The Seven Essential Skills Every Child Needs.
HarperCollins.
Herz, R. S. (2007). Critical-Thinking Skills in the Museum. Journal of Museum Education, 32(2),
95–99.
James, W. , & Cullum, A. (2020, June 10 ). Strategy for Rapid Provision of Fit-for-Purpose
(Primary) School Accommodation in Existing Cultural Settings During Times of Social
Distancing. Kings College London. http://myschoolatthemuseum.site/wp-
content/uploads/2020/06/Strategy-for-Rapid-Provision-of-School-Accommodation-in-Cultural-
Settings_I4.pdf (accessed January 5, 2021 ).
Krugman, P. (2011, March 7 ). Degrees and Dollars. New York Times.
www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/opinion/07krugman.html?_r=1&ref=paulkrugman.
Moyer, M. W. (2020). Pods, Microschools and Tutors: Can Parents Solve the Education Crisis
on Their Own? New York Times.
Paine, S. , & McCann, R. (2009). Engaging Stakeholders.
www2.ed.gov/notclamped/programs/readingfirst/support/stakeholderlores.pdf.
Wikipedia contributors (2020, December 16 ). 21st Century Skills.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=21st_century_skills&oldid=994533482 (accessed
December 16, 2020 ).

Thinking About My Museum Journey

Gurian, E. H. (1999). Thinking About My Museum Journey. In B. Pitman (Ed.), Presence of
Mind: Museums and the Spirit of Learning (pp. 31–35). American Association of Museums.

Activism From the Inside

Di Liscia, V. (2020, April 3 ). Moma Terminates All Museum Educator Contracts. Hyperallergic.
https://hyperallergic.com/551571/moma-educator-contracts/.
Weschler, L. (1984). The Passion of Poland, from Solidarity through the State of War.
Pantheon.

The Museum Family

Gurian, E. H. (2004, September/October ). The Family in the Museum. Museum News, 83(5),
70–71.

The Role of Consultants

Ciccotti, S. , Gurian, E. H. , Thomas, S. , Levenson, J. A. , Ringel, G. , & Wolf, S. (2003,
March/April ). The Rise of the Consultant (Elaine Heumann Gurian, Selma Thomas, Jay A.
Levenson, Gail Ringel and Sheldon Wolf on the Increasing Number of Consultants in the
Museum World). Museum News, 82(2), 44–48.
Gay in Multiple Parts
Jenness, A. (1990). Families: A Celebration of Diversity, Commitment, and Love. Houghton
Mifflin.
Lambert, B. (1992, January 17 ). Malcolm Arth, 61, Anthropologist and Educator. New York
Times. www.nytimes.com/1992/01/17/obituaries/malcolm-arth-61-anthropologist-and-
educator.html.
Spence, T. , & White, M. (1995). The Illness and Death of the Chairman. In E. H. Gurian (Ed.),
Institutional Trauma: Major Change in Museums and Its Effect on Staff (pp. 103–110). American
Association of Museums.
Wikipedia contributors (2020, December 15 ). Act Up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ACT_UP&oldid=994422313.