Relevance of Museum and Museology in Modern Society

About the Book There has been significant development in the museum profession in India. In the field of museum training, India is one of the few countries in the world which now have well organized University Departments of Musicology. Centre for Museology and Conservation in Rajasthan University continues its efforts to promote Muse logical studies. One of the feature of the Center's activities, Seminar was organized and participants from different parts of the country collected and discussed different aspects of the Museology in recent times.

The book contains articles written by the eminent scholars on Museology and Conservation. A large number of articles represent case studies of Museums and give an in- depth insight in the problem faced, method adopted and the finally the result achieved. It has unveiled the different aspects of the Museology in Modern times.

About the Author Professor Vibha Upadhyaya (Professor, Dept of History and Indian Culture, University of Rajasthan) is currently the Director of the Centre for Museology and Conservation. She has twenty eight years of teaching experience with the specialization in Ancient Indian History, Culture, Archaeology, Epigraphy, and Numismatics. She is the member of different Societies, like Epigraphically society of India, Numismatic Society of India.

Innovative Research Association, etc. She is also editor of the 'annual journal' 'Vijnana' (journal, dept of History and Indian Culture).

Sub Editor,. Dr .Rajendra Kumar Sharma (Asstt. Professor Dept of History and Indian Culture) is currently Dy. Director of the Center of Museology and Conservation. He has twenty years of teaching experience with the specialization in Ancient Indian History, Archaeology, Modern world History. He has published a number of articles and also participated in several National and International conferences.

Foreword Museology and Art conservation is a comparatively newer discipline in the academic world.

Its need was felt in the 20th c. when public and private museums required trained personnel for running a good museum, conserve and preserve artifacts for posterity and to perform its role in society. An ideal museum serves all age groups, social strata and professionals working in different areas.

History of collecting artifacts, unusual and interesting examples of flora, fauna, birds, animals and insects is older than modern museum and its purpose. Places of worship had their collections, kings and nobles had their own family treasures, soldiers had their war bootees and educational institutions had libraries of rare books. These collections of rare items were shown to public from time-to-time as also to visiting dignitaries, but access was limited. In the 19th c. India, tremendous need for museums was felt for two reasons:

huge amounts of archaeological findings were accumulated from all over the country and to save the handmade products which were disappearing after the industrial revolution. In princely India, the ruler felt the need to have a zoo, garden and museum for their people to educate them on the British pattern.

In the beginning Museum remained associated with Archaeological findings and decorative art objects especially ancient history, sculptures, paintings, coins and arms etc.

But all the museums in princely India had branches of zoology, geology and botany, which opened venue for science museum.

Gradually, museums expanded in scope and size especially after independence National Museum of India was established. To begin with great stalwarts like Rai Krishnadas, Y.O. Krishnaswamy, C. Sivararnarnurthy, Dr. Moti Chandra, and Y.S. Agrawala were Sanskritist and historians.

Then need for a regular course in Museum practice was felt and for running the newly established museums and Universities like Baroda, Calcutta and Varanasi also started in Museology. National Museum also organizes short-term training courses for young museum workers, which includes tours to various Indian museums and gives the opportunities to see other collections, display, conservation, working system and visitors coming to study them.

The Government ofIndia also organized museum camps through Ministry of Education for training young people. These camps were held in major museums of India, known for their excellence in collection and service like the Prince of Weles Museum, Mumbai, State museum at Lucknow and Trivandrum on Textile and Decorative arts, Art in general, and Documentation respectively. Subject experts were invited from Universities and museums who spoke on their area of specialization.

The State of Rajasthan though extremely rich in archaeological wealth and decorative arts, did not have any special programme for museum training until recently, hence the University of Rajasthan took lead and started a Masters' degree course in Museology and Conservation in 2006, first under the aegis of the Deptt. of History and Indian Culture and then established a centre independently.

The centre organized its first Seminar in which teachers and students participated, which proved highly encouraging, all presented papers on different aspects of museums and its role in education, including collections, documentation, display, labels and museums' changing role in society.

This neatly produced volume contains 28 articles, of which 5 are in Hindi and 23 in English all related with various types of museums, nature of collection, management and their relevance in a country like India where tourism is growing so fast. The articles assembled in here, I am sure, will interest students and will be useful for scholars as well.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages