Ethnological Exhibits in Natural History Museums

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This research focused on the ways in which museums communicated ethnological information to the public. By doing so, it aimed to investigate the significance of the museums as an "ethnological communication tool" so as to explore better ways of defining their function in the society in the future. In particular, the research paid attention to the representation of "Ainu" culture.The research focused primarily on four issues--formation of Ainu collections by professional curators ; exhibition of Ainu culture and history done by professional curators ; educational programs that target elementary school students ; programs that promote exhibitions.The focus on collections was achieved by comparing and contrasting the museum's collection with that of others abroad. The issue of exhibition was investigated by exploring how the visitors to our museum understood the exhibits. As for the promotional programs, we analyzed posters that were used in the past and investigated the ethnological understandings and views that were reflected in their designs. We also reviewed how the Ainu culture was exhibited abroad and compared it with domestic exhibits. Finally, we made an educational program to teach elementary school children the significance of Ainu traps.Ethnological materials do not come into existence in vacuum. Rather curators play an active role in their collection and exhibition. In that sense, curators' views are meaningful and important. At the same time, we confirmed that the exhibits do not necessarily communicate the curator's messages to viewers. In addition, we found out that ethnological information communicated through other means such as posters also plays a significant role.We hope to continue our research further by incorporationg the methods of museum reviews in the future. By doing so, not only do we wish to evaluate exhibits in a more objective manner, but also we hope to find ways to change the contents of our exhibits in a more effective way.