This indispensable guide to museum lighting, written by distinguished conservation scientist David Saunders, is the first new volume of its kind in over thirty years. Author David Saunders, former keeper of conservation and scientific research at the British Museum, explores how to balance the conflicting goals of visibility and preservation under a variety of conditions. Beginning with the science of how light, color, and vision function and interact, he proceeds to offer detailed studies of the impact of light on a wide range of objects, including paintings, manuscripts, textiles, bone, leather, and plastics. With analyses of the effects of light on visibility and deterioration, Museum Lighting provides practical information to assist curators, conservators, and other museum professionals in making critical decisions about the display and preservation of objects in their collections.

An essential resource for all museum professionals as well as trustees, architects, designers, and government agencies involved with the dynamic world of museums and galleries.

The Museum Environment, Second Edition deals with the behavior and conservation of the various classes of museum exhibit. This book is divided into six sections that provide museum specifications for conservation. This text highlights the three contributing factors in the deterioration and decay of museum exhibits, namely light, humidity, and air pollution. Each section describes the mechanism of deterioration and the appropriate “preventive conservation . The changes in this edition from the previous include the electronic hygrometry, fluorescent lamps, buffered cases, air conditioning systems, and data logging and control in historic buildings. This book is of great value to conservation researchers and museum workers.

Fully updated to include the many changes that have occurred in the last decade, this second edition provides a basic guide to all aspects of museum work and staff experience from museum organization, through collections management and conservation, to audience development and education.

Planning Successful Museum Building Projects provides comprehensive, practical guidance on planning, financing, implementing, managing, and evaluating all kinds of museum construction projects.

Written by a museum professional and based on a course taught for many years, The Anatomy of a Museum is an engaging and accessible volume that provides a unique insider’s guide to what museums are and how they operate. An insider’s view of the rarefied world of the museum that provides a refreshing and unique account of the reality of the workings of museum life The material has been successfully tested in a course that the author has taught for 14 years Miller has extensive experience at all levels of museum work, from painting walls for exhibitions to museum directorship Clearly and engagingly written, the book covers all the component parts and various disciplines of museum operations, and opinions and perspectives are drawn from a deep knowledge of the field Includes useful pedagogical material, including questions, discussion topics, and a range of anecdotes

Great exhibits are never an accident. Planning effective exhibits is a demanding process that requires the designer to consider many different aspects and navigate numerous pitfalls while moving a project from concept to reality. In Museum Exhibition Planning and Design, Elizabeth Bogle offers a comprehensive introduction and reference to exhibition planning and design. This book focuses on both the procedural elements of successful planning, like the phases of exhibit design and all associated tasks and issues, and on the design elements that make up the realized exhibit itself, such as color, light, shape, form, space, and building materials. This helpful guide includes: Breakdown of the design and development project phases used by professional planner/designers Principles of good design as they pertain to: color, light, shape, form, space, line, balance, accent, rhythm, proportion, and scale Criteria to evaluate an exhibit and measure its success Discussion of construction contracts and procedures Discussion of building materials and their advantages and disadvantages Glossary of museum and design terms for easy reference Bogle has translated her years of experience as an exhibition planner into a guide for practitioners of all sizes and levels of experience. For the solo practitioner, perhaps working with limited or no staff in a small institution, Bogle walks through every task that will be faced as the project develops. For the staff member of a larger institution or firm, this book serves as a checklist, reinforcing the instruction that comes from peers and previous experience. Museum Exhibition Planning and Design is a useful tool for anyone interested in or involved in bringing their exhibits to life.

Recent decades have witnessed an explosion of museum building around the world and the subsequent publication of multiple texts dedicated to the subject. Museum Architecture: A new biography focuses on the stories we tell of museum buildings in order to explore the nature of museum architecture and the problems of architectural history when applied to the museum and gallery. Starting from a discussion of the key issues in contemporary museum design, the book explores the role of architectural history in the prioritisation of specific stories of museum building and museum architects and the exclusion of other actors from the history of museum making. These omissions have contemporary relevance and impact directly on the ways in which the physical structures of museums are shaped. Theoretically, the book places a particular emphasis on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Henri Lefebvre in order to establish an understanding of buildings as social relations; the outcome of complex human interactions and relationships. The book utilises a micro history, an in-depth case study of the ‘National Gallery of the North’, the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, to expose the myriad ways in which museum architecture is made. Coupled with this detailed exploration is an emphasis on contemporary museum design which utilises the understanding of the social realities of museum making to explore ideas for a socially sustainable museum architecture fit for the twenty-first century.