The Future of Natural History Museums

Natural history museums are changing, both because of their own internal development and in response to changes in context. The Future of Natural History Museums considers these changes and the reasons behind them and begins to develop a cohesive discourse that balances the disparate issues that our institutions will face over the next decades.

Historically, the aim of collecting from nature was to develop encyclopaedic assemblages to satisfy human curiosity and build a basis for taxonomic study. Today, with global biodiversity in rapid decline, new reasons emerge to build and maintain collections, which also need to cater to audiences who are more diverse, numerous, and technically savvy. This book explores key elements of this topic and, through commentary and synthesis, develops a cohesive picture of the trajectory of the natural history museum sector in the next 20 to 50 years. Arguing that institutions must learn to embrace new technology, the book considers how they might retain the authenticity of their stories and the value placed on their objects in the process.

This book contributes to the study of collections, teaching and learning, ethics, and running non-profit businesses and will be of interest to museum and heritage professionals, academics and senior students in Biological Sciences and Museum Studies.

Eric Dorfman is Director of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History and President of the International Council of Museums Committee for Museums and Collections of Natural History (ICOM NATHIST). He is Deputy Chair of the ICOM Ethics Committee (ETHCOM) and co-authored ICOM Code of Ethics for Natural History Museums. He is a board member of Visit Pittsburgh, an Adjunct Professor at University of Pittsburgh and on the editorial board of Museum Worlds: Advances in Research. Prior to his current position, he was Director of Whanganui Regional Museum in New Zealand and lectured in the Museums and Heritage Studies Department of Victoria University of Wellington.