The National Museum of History: A Taiwanese Institution Operating Outside of Traditional Museology

• Main Authors: Amanda Tammy Lee, 李安廷
• Other Authors: Yatin Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/80434476242272499944

碩士 === 國立臺北藝術大學 === 文創產業國際藝術碩士學位學程 === 102 === This research examines the National Museum of History in Taipei, Taiwan as a specific case of a museum that conducts special exhibitions outside the scope of its mission as the most effective way to attract visitors and financing. The purpose of examining this museum is to compare traditional museology (developed in Western culture) to how a museum outside of this context actually operates. This study seeks to broaden the scope of museology for future discourse that may consider how museological practices change and adapt outside of Western culture or the sustainability of traditional museum models. The study begins by recounting the histories of museums in Chinese and Japanese society beginning in the mid to late 1800s, which are in fact the history of museums in Taiwanese society (Chu, 2011; Kim, 2010). Discussion of the present state of museums in Taiwan, but in particular the National Museum of History, will draw from sources that claim collaborating across sectors allows museums to function with greater accesses to funding, media coverage, and therefore audiences (Tien, 2006). A qualitative comparative historical research is employed using the National Museum of History''s archival data, the author''s own observations and informal interviews with museum staff and other professionals, as well as other literature to delineate and analyze the National Museum of History''s current situation and threat of being seen as little more than a venue for special exhibitions and draw conclusions about the direction museology in practice may take.