Small museums — more tango than foxtrot (the salsa gets you nowhere!)

Abstract

Small museum collections reflect the vast history of their communities and are vital in maintaining that ongoing history. The imperative of continuing to collect contemporary history to fulfil their ongoing mission has now become, with the advent of technology, much more difficult, and quite different in its execution. The first part of this paper presents an overview of challenges faced by small, community, volunteer run museums and collections. It portrays a recognisable ‘small, community, volunteer run museum or collection’, referred to throughout as ‘small museums’. It is we sincerely hope a characterisation, not a caricature. Personal experience informs the second part of this paper.

Keywords:

• Community museums
• Cultural materials conservation
• Regional collections
• Community engagement
• Conservation policy
• Fields of Research (FOR) Classification: 210202 Heritage & Cultural Studies
• 210203 Materials Conservation
• 210204 Museum Studies

Author biographies

Susan Reynolds OAM has been active in the Yackandandah Museum since 1978. Susan holds a Graduate Diploma in Community Museum Management James Cook University 1991.

Trevor Matthews was YDHS Secretary, 1986–1989, and has been assisting with Collection Management since 2019.