Mapping Museums: The history and geography of the UK independent sector 1960-2020

摘要：这个跨学科项目旨在绘制和分析1960-2020年间英国独立博物馆部门的出现、特征和发展。从1970年到，大约有1,300家新博物馆在英国开业。这些新的场馆绝大多数是独立的，由社区和特殊利益集团以及个人收藏家创建，它们与公共部门的博物馆有很大的不同，以至于它们被认为是该行业的一场革命。英国现在大约有1600家独立博物馆，尽管它们的数量惊人地激增，但我们对它们知之甚少。区域和国家资助机构和博物馆协会收集关于独立博物馆的数据，但没有交叉引用，仅限于它们的具体职权范围和感兴趣的领域。他们没有记录博物馆何时开放，如果关闭，小型博物馆往往完全从视野中消失，可用的信息无法绘制或轻松搜索。在研究的第一阶段，我们将整理和补充现有信息，以建立1960年至2020年所有英国博物馆的数据库，进而建立一个数据库，可根据包括位置、成立日期、主题、大小、博物馆类型和这些属性的组合等因素进行搜索。这些信息将以可视方式绘制地图，并将以开放源码格式在由毕晓普斯盖特研究所主持的项目网站上免费提供。在研究的第二阶段，我们将使用数据库来识别独立博物馆的出现、发展和关闭的模式，然后通过使用进一步的可视化、英国艺术理事会工作人员的焦点小组、历史研究和对博物馆工作人员的广泛系列采访来解释这些趋势(或异常)。这项研究将提供英国第一个权威的独立博物馆数据库，以及它们最近发展的第一个历史。它对博物馆研究、艺术管理、文化研究以及文化和社会历史的学者来说很重要，因为它将：1.提供独立博物馆部门的细致入微的历史概况。2.详细分析博物馆部门在一段时期内的大规模扩张和变化。确定曾经或现在是地方或国家关注的主题。让英国博物馆热潮的正统历史受到质疑。5.展示小型独立博物馆部门的规模和多样性，以及非专业文化产品的规模和种类。为未来的研究人员提供资源。这项研究还将对艺术资助者和政策制定者以及独立和公共部门博物馆的工作人员有利，因为它将：1.使我们了解独立博物馆的出现和关闭的因素。2.追踪独立博物馆的出现与具体资金流之间的关系。揭示了博物馆行业的地区差异。4.提供关于其部门的坚实知识基础，从而提高基于证据的倡导和决策的能力。我们还预计这项研究将引起公众的兴趣，因为它将：1.制作一份可供业余历史学家使用的口述历史档案。提高对志愿者运营组织的认识。为志愿者运营的博物馆提供他们所在行业的概述。

Summary: This inter-disciplinary project aims at mapping and analysing the emergence, character, and development of the UK independent museums sector from 1960-2020. Between 1970 and 1989, approximately 1300 new museums opened in the UK. The vast majority of these new venues were independent, were founded by community and special interest groups, and individual collectors, and they differed from public-sector museums to such an extent that that they were judged to have 'revolutionized' the sector. There are now some 1600 independent museums in the UK, but despite the extraordinary boom in their numbers we know very little about them. Regional and national funding bodies and museums associations collect data on independent museums, but it is not cross referenced and is limited to their specific remits and areas of interest. They do not keep records on when museums opened and if they close, small museums often fall from view entirely, and the information that is available cannot be mapped or easily searched.In the first phase of the research we will collate and supplement existing information to establish a dataset of all UK museums from 1960-2020 and, in turn, build a database that is searchable according to factors including location, date of foundation, subject matter, size, type of museums, and combinations of these attributes. This information will be mapped visually and will be freely available in open source format on a project website to be hosted by the Bishopsgate Institute. In the second phase of the research we will use the database to identify patterns in the emergence, development and closure of independent museums and then seek to account for those trends (or anomalies) through the use of further visualisations, a focus group with Arts Council England staff, historical research, and an extensive series of interviews with staff in museums. This research will provide the first authoritative database of independent museums in the UK, and the first history of their recent development. It is important for academics in museum studies, arts management, cultural studies, and cultural and social history in that it will:1. Provide a nuanced historical overview of the independent museum sector. 2. Provide a detailed analysis of a period of massive expansion and change within the museum sector.3. Identify subjects that were or are of local or national concern.4. Bring orthodox histories of the UK museum boom into question. 5. Demonstrate the scale and variety of the small independent museum sector, and hence of non-professional cultural production.6. Generate resources for future researchers.The research will also have benefits for arts funders and policy-makers, and for staff in independent and public-sector museums in that it will:1. Inform our understanding of the factors that underpin the emergence and closure of independent museums.2.Track correlations between independent museums' emergence and specific funding streams.3. Reveal regional differences across the museum sector. 4. Provide a solid knowledge base about their sector and thereby improve capacity for evidence-based advocacy and decision-making.We also anticipate the research being of interest to a general public in that it will:1. Produce an oral history archive that can be used by amateur historians.2. Raise awareness of volunteer-run organisations.3. Offer volunteer-run museums an overview of their sector.