Museums enjoy considerable media attention. Much is pleasant.
But coverage can also be about difficulties. Major controversies
can erupt at a moment's notice. Oddly, most are brought to the
public's attention by museum outsiders. PERPETUAL MUSEUM
ISSUES: An Insider's Essays 1987 - Now is an exception. It offers one
practitioner's perspectives on a host of issues. Steven Miller has
decades of museum experience as a curator, director, consultant,
and trustee. The content presents warnings he gave to the field
that continue to be relevant. Topics discussed touch on personnel
matters, exhibitions, collections, governance, along with inclusion,
equity, and diversity practices. Definitions of community and
mission are explored along with debates about collecting and
how to explain public trust duties for what museums own. The
highly controversial practice of removing collections is analyzed.
Known in the trade as deaccessioning, the author is a specialist
in the subject.
