Modern Museum Management

This book is a scholarly effort to examine various aspects of Museology and Museography. It discusses the origin of the word "museum" — its definition, types of museums, famous museums of the world that have developed since the eighteenth century and the development of museums in India. It deals with the educational role of museums: its provision of non-formal, visual, recreational education through creating awareness by its various activities. It is concerned with different aspects of museum architecture. In a detailed study of museum management and maintenance, it takes up the mode of collection, documentation, exhibition and conservation of diverse items, as well as museum ethics and museum security. A special effort has been made to clarify the terms and concepts like marketing, orientation, evaluation, communication and administration which are deeply related to museums. The book deals with the role of some international organisations and conventions with regard to collection and preservation of materials. The attempt has been to simplify the subject and present its methodologies with clarity. This book will interest students of Museology and Conservation as also Museum Professionals as it provides useful guidelines about Curatorship.

Dr S.P. Gupta (1931-2007) had been the Chairman of Indian Archaeological Society, New Delhi. A distinguished archaeologist and an art historian, Dr Gupta had been awarded several gold medals and the Sir Mortimer Wheeler Prize for excellence in archaeology. He had worked and lectured in more than 30 countries of the world. He had authored a number of books including Disposal of the Dead and Physical Types in Ancient India (1971); Tourism, Museums and Monuments (1975); Archaeology of Soviet Central Asia and the Indian Borderlands — two volumes (1978); The Roots of Indian Art (1980) — the French edition of which was published in 1990; The Indus Saraswati Civilization (1996); Elements of Indian Art (2002) and Cultural Tourism in India (2002). He had also edited many books and published about 50 articles in various national and international journals-and books.

Mohit Srivastava (b. 1978) since 2004 has been working as a Curator with the Indraprastha Museum of Art and Archaeology, New Delhi. He did his MA in 'Ancient Indian History' and also in 'Museology'; and cleared UGC-NET Exam (1999). Mr Srivastava was earlier Asst. Curator-cum-Manager (2002-04) with the International Roerich Memorial Trust at Naggar, Kullu (Himachal Pradesh). He has also published research articles in different journals of India.

"MUSEUM is for the people, with the people, and of the people" is the basic theme on which the book is written. The book critically examines the museums and the extent to which they are fulfilling the expectations of the people, and provides a useful guideline for their improvements. This book was the dream of Late Dr S.P. Gupta which he could not fulfill during his life. Today is a great day. The book is finally being printed and he would definitely be very happy in heaven. This work covers all aspects of managing a museum —establishment, administration, acquisition of objects, security, marketing, conservation methods etc. — in short, this will serve as a comprehensive guide book for students of museology and for those in the museum profession.

I would like to thank my great teachers Late Dr G.N. azk, Dr AK. Das, Dr Satya NT-rat Tripathi and Shri M.C. Gupta for their support and guidance from time to time. I express my sincere gratitude to Shri K.N. Dikshit, Shri O.P. Tandon and Shri S.S. Biswas of Indian Archaeological Society for their valuable suggestions. I am also thankful to my colleagues Shri Kulbhushan Mishra and Shri Bharat Singh for their support and encouragement. Thanks are also due to Shri Susheel Mittal of D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd. and his staff for their hard work during the publication of this book and for bringing out this book in an attractive manner.

**Contents and Sample Pages**