Art research collections continue to be impacted by the lingering effects of economic uncertainty and the global COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in reduced or stagnant budgets and staffing cuts. These impacts have coincided with a period of institutional reflection and examination of the fundamental role of cultural heritage institutions in…

Caring for many objects is one of the more challenging aspects of the museum profession. In museums that collect cultural belongings, utilizing best care practices ensures that objects of cultural heritage can be studied and appreciated by the peoples whose cultures they represent. Thus, providing collections care is necessary to support learning…

This is a case study of a hearing-impaired researcher who was coparticipant in a study of learners with sensory and intellectual impairments in six European museums. The fieldwork for this project was based in London, Madrid, Oviedo (northern Spain), and Vienna, with partners and technological and university partners in Spain, Serbia, Austria, and…

The development of accessible elements in museum exhibitions is an important pursuit that needs a well-defined process. Educators at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, working with accessibility professionals and blind or low-vision user/experts, discovered the value of co-designing tactile models with the people who would eventually…

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the way many schools and museums operate. Using a case study of a collection of digital resources for kids and families, the authors share their recipe for successful collaborations both in and outside of their museum. With a practitioner focus, the authors highlight the importance of not forgetting the…

Purpose: This article focuses on the study of the shaping of pedagogy as a discipline in Spain prior to the Civil War. Its aim is to identify those elements that helped pedagogy become constituted as a distinct field of knowledge that could offer rigorous insight into the world of education. Design/methodology/approach: The article uses the…

In this article I make the case for including queer narratives in historic house museums, both because including queer history in public history settings is important in its own right and as a way to invigorate museum interpretations and appeal to wider audiences. I dispel concerns about "outing" historical actors and describe some…

Homeless families are a vulnerable population not often engaged with directly by science centers. In 2019, the Museum of Life and Science formalized and strengthened a partnership with Families Moving Forward, the largest temporary homeless shelter serving families in Durham County, North Carolina. This partnership aimed to engage families in a…

This article offers insights from an on-going research project titled, "Experimenting Interpretation," which explores pedagogical approaches to guided visits that enable visitors to encounter and interpret multi-sensory contemporary art through attunement to embodied knowledge and affective responses. The case study discussed here was…

This case study traces the initial investigations in developing a culturally responsive intervention in museum education and curation entitled Elusive Desires. I explore the ways in which curatorial and pedagogical work in an art museum may disrupt traditionally held notions of "Canadian art," the archive, and belonging. Embracing an…

Repatriation of archival materials holds great potential for decolonizing archaeological archives. This paper argues that while repatriation of human remains and cultural objects is required by law under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), traditional manuscript archives can and should be subject to the same…

This paper was written as a response to a perceived shift in attitude towards the concept of the future and the heightened presence of future themes within museum and gallery education. The four case studies discussed in this paper are institutions based in the south of Sweden that all participated in a local art biennial in October 2019 entitled…

This book takes a look at the affordances of engaging second/foreign language students in educational projects that bridge the gap between the classroom and the museum. Studies on language learning and teaching beyond the classroom have shown that students learn in different settings and through different types of activities and that their…

In this article, the tree is used as a metaphor for the birth, nourishment, growth, stress, pruning, resilience, and regeneration of decolonial work to indigenize museum education. At the center of this work is Indigenous peoples, perspectives, and ways of knowing and being. This principle has guided the work of the authors who assert that when…

Informal Science Centers provide educational experiences for people across the country daily. While the terminology is often similar, there are differences between institutions, often determined by mission, organizational structure, and experience. The purpose of this study was to identify shared experiences and unique characteristics of eight…