Collections 2008 series
The ‘Material histories: objects as sources?’ symposium features speakers from across Australia considering the different ways curators, achaeologists, historians and anthropologists have approached physical evidence. Includes many examples of the ways material culture is being used in museums and galleries.
Viewpoints on material culture
Margaret Anderson, Guy Hansen, Professor Fred Myers and Dr Mike Smith
Collections 2008 series, 30 May 2008
Archaeologist Mike Smith, curator Guy Hansen, historian Margaret Anderson and anthropologist Fred Myers reflect on the way their four different disciplines have approached physical evidence at the 2008 National Museum Collections Symposium.
Showcases I – examples of material culture research in museums
Christine Hansen, Susannah Helman, Matthew Higgins and Alison Mercieca
Collections 2008 series, 30 May 2008
Four National Museum of Australia curators provide examples of material culture research into a boomerang, tools used by Hmong gardeners, a dress worn at the opening of Parliament House in 1927 and objects from the Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme.
Showcases II – examples of material culture research in museums
Matthew Churchward, Dr Ian Coates, Erika Dicker, Karen Schamberger and Craig Wilcox
Collections 2008 series, 30 May 2008
Curators outline examples of material culture research in Australian museums through objects including a wall-hanging crafted in a refugee camp, a military jacket, a wool collection, mining models and Australian Inland Mission Frontier Fête material.
Collections used to interpret the past: panel and audience discussion
Professor Graeme Davison, Professor Paula Hamilton, Philip Jones and Dr Maria Nugent
Collections 2008 series, 30 May 2008
Leading historians reflect on the ways in which collections can be used to interpret the past, and the issues and problems faced in doing so, in wrapping up the National Museum’s Collections 2008 symposium on material histories and objects as sources.
