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E-book
Author Walker, William S., 1978-

Title A living exhibition : the Smithsonian and the transformation of the universal museum / William S. Walker
Published Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 2013

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Description 1 online resource (xi, 291 pages) : illustrations
Series Public History in Historical Perspective
Public history in historical perspective.
Contents Introduction : the changing universal museum -- The universal museum : shaping cultural exhibition at the Smithsonian -- History and technology : a new museum, a new era -- Open education : the Festival of American Folklife and the transformation of space at the Smithsonian -- Inclusion or separation? The Anacostia Neighborhood Museum and the Festival of American Folklife's American Indian programs -- Finding national unity through cultural diversity : the Smithsonian and the Bicentennial -- A family of humankind : the making and unmaking of a museum of man at the Smithsonian -- Epilogue : Is it possible to see it all?
Summary Since its founding in 1846 “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” the Smithsonian Institution has been an important feature of the American cultural landscape. This book examines the tangled history of cultural exhibition at the Smithsonian from its early years to the chartering of the National Museum of the American Indian in 1989. The author tracks the transformation of the institution from its original ideal as a “universal museum” intended to present the totality of human experience to the variegated museum and research complex of the twenty-first century. The author pays particular attention to the half century following World War II, when the Smithsonian significantly expanded. Focusing on its exhibitions of cultural history, cultural anthropology, and folk life, this book places the Smithsonian within the larger context of Cold War America and the social movements of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Smithsonian Institution -- History
SUBJECT Smithsonian Institution fast
Subject Public history -- United States -- History
Museum exhibits -- Political aspects -- United States
ART -- General.
Cultural policy
Museum exhibits -- Political aspects
Public history
SUBJECT United States -- Cultural policy
Subject United States
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781613762691
1613762690