This document discusses new approaches for museums to take with their collections. It suggests digitizing collections to make them more accessible, circulating physical objects to new locations, partnering with arts and community groups to use objects, and collecting traces of history online to preserve ephemeral experiences. The document provides six specific ideas for museums: 1) digitize and record collections, 2) circulate physical objects, 3) don't print plastic replicas but use real objects, 4) create regional museum networks for sharing, 5) partner with arts organizations, and 6) collect online collections to preserve digital content.

1. Sheila
Brennan
@sherah1918
sbrennan@gmu.edu
Associate
Director of
Public Projects
LETTING THE
COLLECTIONS OUT
LETTING THE
EPHEMERAL IN

2. EPHEMERAL EXPERIENCES

3. http://snapchat.com
THE “EPHEMERALNET”

4. Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, England
EPHEMERAL COLLECTIONS?

5. COLLECT, PRESERVE, STORE

6. Visitors at the National Museum of
American History, looking not
touching.
RARE LOOK BEHIND THE CASE

7. Memory Boxes, Red Location Museum, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
NEW MUSEUMS

8.  Digitize existing collections.
 Circulate objects.
 Don’t print plastic replicas, use real things.
 Create (better) museum networks for sharing.
 Partner with arts and community groups to use objects.
 Collect online.
SIX IDEAS TO CONSIDER

9. 1. DIGITIZE, RECORD

10. Take some
objects
out of storage.
De-accession.
Let them
degrade
gracefully.
2. CIRCULATE OBJECTS
Smithsonian storage

11. DON’T DUMP IT ALL

12. NPS Arlington House, Arlington, VA
CAN I SIT IN THAT CHAIR?

13. Why make arti-fakes when you can use the real thing.
http://makerbot.com
3. DON’T PRINT PLASTIC REPLICAS

14. OBJECTS ARE POPULAR

15.  Share Expertise, concentrate thematically and chronologically
4.CREATE REGIONAL COALITIONS

16. http://www.mckittrickhotel.com/#SleepNoMore
5. PARTNER WITH ARTS COMMUNITY

17. aMuse event,St. Catharine’s Museum, Ontario, Candada
OR COMMUNITY CENTERS
No bicycles
were harmed
in this event.

18. http://braceroarchive.org
6. COLLECT TRACES ONLINE

19. http://historyharvest.unl.edu
CREATE ONLINE COLLECTIONS

20. University of Nebraska-Lincoln student participating
in a community History Harvest.
BE ACTIVE

21. Sheila
Brennan
@sherah1918
sbrennan@gmu.edu
Associate
Director of
Public Projects
THANK YOU!