The pandemic has brought several changes to the lives of people. Museums all over the world were forced to shut their doors when the coronavirus struck. During this period, people started relying on digital content and there was a lot of emphasis on the virtual world for engaging the visitors and to keep history alive.
The digital and communication departments of a museum generally hold the responsibility of ensuring the content regarding collections care reaches the public with authenticity adding value to them. There have been many incidences where new content has been added to various departments marking history, but due to the restrictions imposed by covid, this value addition has been difficult to share with people.
To help the communication, members of various other departments are sharing their insights and additions with the audience online using digital channels. Many educators are having prepared videos that are read aloud and revised lesson plans for parents to teach their children who are at home as the schools are closed. On the other hand, live streaming of the animals at the zoo has been initiated by animal trainers and keepers.
With the increase in this digital era, one can gather all relevant information about connecting to collections care using social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube videos. Apart from this, various organizations also stream live videos that can be watched sitting at home.
There are also people whose love for history and information has made them experts while sitting at home. The resources collected by them go beyond artifacts and you can find resources in the form of books, live stream videos, and advice and insights by these experts.
Below is a random list of resources for and from home.
Museums
These are some of the museums across the world that offer online exhibits and tours.
American Museum of Natural History
Is the world’s known scientific and cultural institutes known for their scientific collections and exhibitions serving as a guide to presenting the world’s different cultures to the planet as a whole? Post pandemic, the scientists of the museum have giving virtual tours and field trips to the audience across the world live along with guided field tours exploring the behind the scenes. You can take quizzes as well.
British Museum, London
This British museum is home to many artifacts on its premises. While on a virtual tour of this museum, you can also get a glimpse of the Egyptian mummies as well as the ancient Rosetta Stone.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
Has a large collection of 500 drawings, more than 200 paintings, and over 750 personal letters of the famous tragic painter Vincent van Gogh. His works have been well preserved in this museum and all his fans can get the opportunity of virtually seeing all his works under one roof.
MASP, Sao Paulo
The Museum De Arte de Sao Paulo is the first modern museum in Brazil that works on a non-profit basis. The placing of artworks is done in such a way that they appear to be hanging in mid-air. Going on a virtual tour will help you to get the real experience of these works of art.
Pergamon Museum, Berlin
The Pergamon Museum in Berlin is one of the largest museums in Germany. The museum houses several artifacts which are ancient and rare such as the Pergamon Altar and the Ishtar Gate of Babylon. Sitting across the world, you can still take a virtual tour of this museum and its artifacts.
Books
Below is a list of books by Barbara Appelbaum that will help you read about various artifacts, museums, and curators including how to professionally start your own collection if you want to.
Preserve, Protect, and Defend: A Practical Guide to the Care of Collections
This book provides a lot of information about the many aspects of a museum and the collections and artifacts housed in it. Ways to maintain these collections and also members associated. This book is a great read for relevant information for curators, art historians, museum educators along all the professionals associated with the museum.
Conservation Treatment Methodology
This book is a must-read for any collection care professional or conservator. One can find a detailed approach towards making conservation treatment. It will help conservators to take the right decision and for the treatment of properties of all cultures irrespective of material or type.
Guide to Environmental Protection of Collections
This book speaks all about the various methods of caring for historical artifacts, art collections, natural history collections, or any other cultural material. Any individual who owns some kind of collection but doesn’t have any technical knowledge about the maintenance of collections will find the book very useful.
Hope this article brings out the historian in you and gives you all the relevant information about collections care virtually.
