Treasures on Earth: Museums, Collections and Paradoxes - Softcover

Professor Thomson, the Director of the world-respected Oxford University Museum, questions the role that today's museums have to play in contemporary society and uncovers the paradox of the modern collection in this fascinating and challenging work. Our nation's museums are physical manifestations of our culture and history, dynamic entities in which we not only preserve the past and interpret the present, but where we also launch our dreams for the future. They are vitally important, so why then are many museums seriously short of funds and some failing? We find ourselves caught in a dilemma, wanting to preserve and utilise as much as possible of our cultural and natural heritage but being unable to save it all. In this book, Professor Thomson examines the glories and tribulations of museums and asks some probing and inconvenient questions.

At best museums are dynamic entities in which we not only preserve the past and interpret the present, but where we also launch our dreams for the future. However, if they are so important, why are museums in trouble, with most of them seriously short of funds and some actually failing? We want to keep and use as much as we can of our cultural and natural heritage but find ourselves no longer able to afford to save it all, if indeed we ever could. Professor Keith Thompson examines the state of museums and asks some searching questions: Do we really need all those collections? Must everything be saved? Who are museums for? Who will pay? Who will choose?