Directors’ Perspective: A Transatlantic Discussion on the Role of Museums

ABSTRACT

In November 2019, the Smithsonian hosted the Transatlantic Seminar for Museum Curators and Educators: Museums as Spaces for Social Discourse and Learning. The program brought together German and American museum professionals and was co-sponsored by the Leibniz Institution, the Smithsonian Institution, and Fulbright Germany. On July 20, 2020 Britta Horstmann and Barbara Stauffer, two of the seminar participants, had the pleasure of sitting down with museum directors from two of the sponsoring organizations: Volker Mosbrugger, Director General of the Senckenberg Society for Natural Research, a member of the Leibniz Institution, and Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The lively conversation covered a variety of topics, ranging from the imperative of sharing stories about an object’s provenance to the power of harnessing citizen scientists to the importance of digitization, and suggested ideas for how U.S. and German museums might create a cooperative network for the future. While their perspective(s) are based on their experience(s) with large natural history museums, many of these themes are relevant for smaller, non-science museums as well.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural history
• education
• provenance
• citizen science
• digitization
• international cooperation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara Stauffer

Britta Horstmann is Deputy Head of Division Research and Senior Research Manager for the eight museums of the Leibniz Association. She deals with research, collections development, and exhibitions that support the strategic objectives of the Association and implements an action plan for the Leibniz Research Museums (Aktionsplan Leibniz-Forschungsmuseen). Britta has worked at several research institutions, including the Museum für Naturkunde–Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.

Britta Horstmann

Barbara Stauffer is Chief of Community Programs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, where she supervises a team that develops programming for local families, teachers and students, youth, adults, and citizen scientists. Her professional interests include community engagement, audience cultivation, and building museum identities. Her academic and professional background includes degrees in history and cultural geography, as well as twenty years in exhibition development and serving as a Noyce Leadership Fellow.