Study On Contemporary Collecting In Local Museums In The UK

With the evolution of museum functions,museums,especially local museums,have shouldered responsibilities not only to preserve our history but also to reflect and record the changing society and respond to its needs.But museums have neglected the collection of contemporary society and representation of some groups and individuals to various extents.Contemporary society is characterized by mass-production,disposability,and popular culture,which means contemporary materials disappear easily.The failure of prompt collecting will result in information loss in the future.Against such background,contemporary collecting has been introduced to capture the society with rapid response to what happened in the recent past and what is happening,approaching and collecting from various individuals,groups,and communities,which is essential in museum practices.Local museums in China,however,lack practical experience and theories concerning contemporary collecting.The importance of contemporary collecting has been recognized and highlighted with the growing needs of collecting Covid-19.In this case,this paper is expected to draw attention to contemporary collecting and provide inspiration to local museums in China by introducing and analysing practical experience and theories of contemporary collecting in local museums in the UK's local museums.This paper has five chapters.The first chapter is an introduction,including reasons for conducting this research,literature review,and methodology.The second chapter is about local museums and contemporary collections.The definitions of local museums and contemporary collecting are discussed respectively.And the overview of local museums in the UK is introduced,and the scope and benefits of contemporary collecting are stated.The third chapter is the scope and materials evaluation of contemporary collecting in the UK's local museums.The first section is to analyse the scope of contemporary collecting by reviewing policies and reports from the British government and some authoritative heritage organizations.Then this paper elucidates how significance assessment applies to the selection of materials during contemporary collecting.At last,three cases are used to help further understand how the scope and significance assessment affect the selection of materials.The fourth chapter is about contemporary strategies used in local museums,analysing three representative cases and their pros and cons.The last chapter draws the conclusion,summarising gains and addressing possibilities in future research.